- 150th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 150th Rifle 'Idritskaya' Division ( _ru. 150-я стрелковая дивизия 'Идрицкая') was a formation in the
Red Army fighting on the Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 to 1945. It gained most fame as the formation whose soldiers famously raised the Soviet flag over the Reichstag near the end of the war.The nickname ‘Idritskaya’ was given to the division on July 23, 1944 by the order № 207 for it’s heroic battle in the town of Idritsa. The Division fought at
Schneidemühl ,Königsberg , andBerlin .History
The Division was formed three times, being initially established at
Vyazma in September 1939, operating as part of the 9th Army on 22 June 1941, then, after theSecond Battle of Kharkov , being wiped out at Izyum in May 1942. It was recreated at Turga in August 1942. It was then re-created for the third time in September 1943.When formed for the third time, its structure was comprised of the 127th, 144th and 151st brigades. Initially this division fell under the command of the 34th Army. But during some time in early 1944 it was transferred to the 6th Guards Army, and then finally it was assigned to the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army, of the
1st Belorussian Front , under which it would stay on the offensive all the way fromNevel ,Pskov Oblast toBerlin .On April 22, 1945, when victory for the Soviet Army was near, an order from the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army designated the 150th Division to be one of 9 divisions to receive a special banner solely for the purpose of raising it over the Reichstag as a sign of the Soviet victory.
Red Army photographerYevgeny Khaldei took the picture of soldiers Kovaliev and another comrade of the Division's 756th Rifle Regiment hoisting the flag (called theVictory Banner ) onMay 2 ,1945 on the roof of theReichstag building . [A largely symbolic move, as the building had not been the seat of German power since the 1933Reichstag fire ] An earlier flag had been raised the day before while the building was being fought over with remaining German soldiers. However, as the flag was raised after dusk, there was no chance to take a picture. After taking the shot with the flag Khaldei rushed back toMoscow , and it was later decided that the true persons on the photo, Kovaliev and his comrade, were not politically correct. So they becameMeliton Kantaria (a Georgian, like Stalin) andMikhail Yegorov (a Russian).On April 26, 1945 for its heroic overnight victory at lake
Voshvanzee 150th Rifle Division was awarded theOrder of Kutuzov , second degree.In December 1946 the division was disbanded.
Commanders
*Colonel Yakovlev Leonid Vasilyevich (September 1943 - April 1944)
*Major-general Shatilov Vasily Mitrofanovich (May 1944 - December 1946)ee also
*
List of Soviet Union divisions 1917-1945 References
ources
* [http://militera.lib.ru/memo/russian/shatilov_vm2/index.html "Шатилов В.М." Знамя над рейхстагом. 3-е изд. М.: Воениздат, 1975;]
* [http://www.ng.kz/gazeta/164/hranit/index.shtml?001 Наша газета]
*http://samsv.narod.ru/Div/Sd/sd150/default.html
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