278th Rifle Division

278th Rifle Division
Active
  • July – Dec. 1941
    (1st formation)
  • Jan. 1942 – Jan. 1943 (2nd formation)
  • July 1943 – fall 1945
    (3rd formation)
Country Soviet Union
Branch Red Army
TypeRifle division
EngagementsWorld War II
Battle honours
  • Khingan (2nd formation)

The 278th Rifle Division (Russian: 278-я стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II, formed three times.

The division was first formed in the summer of 1941 and destroyed in the Bryansk pocket in the fall of that year. Reformed in January 1942, the division's second formation became a guards' division for its actions in the Battle of Stalingrad. Formed a third time in the summer of 1943 in the Soviet Far East, the division fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August and September 1945 before being disbanded in the fall of that year.