334th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

334th Rifle Division (August 1941 – November 1945)
Maj. Gen. Nikolai Mikhailovich Mishchenko
Active	1941–1945
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	Battle of Moscow Toropets-Kholm Offensive Battle of Smolensk (1943) Dukhovshchina–Demidov Offensive Operation Bagration Baltic Offensive Riga Offensive Vistula-Oder Offensive Battle of Königsberg
Decorations	Order of Suvorov 2nd class
Battle honours	Vitebsk
Commanders
Notable commanders	Maj. Gen. Nikolai Mikhailovich Mishchenko Col. Vasilii Tikhonovich Gnedin Col. Nikolai Ivanovich Krasnov Guards Col. Yevgenii Yakovlevich Birstein

The 334th Rifle Division was formed in August 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division in the Volga Military District. For most of the war it followed a very similar combat path to that of the 332nd Rifle Division, sometimes serving on adjacent sectors. It fought in the Battle of Moscow and during the winter counteroffensive was assigned to 4th Shock Army, where it would remain until November 1943. During this offensive it helped carve out the Toropets Salient, where it would remain until the autumn of 1943 when it helped to liberate Velizh and began advancing westward again. In the first days of the 1944 summer offensive the 334th shared credit with several other units in the liberation of Vitebsk and was awarded that name as an honorific. The unit advanced into East Prussia in January 1945, distinguishing itself in the siege of the heavily-fortified city of Königsberg and the clearing of the Baltic coast. It continued to serve briefly into the postwar period.