206th Rifle Division

206th Rifle Division (March 14, 1941 - December 27, 1941) 206th Rifle Division (December 26, 1941 - June 20, 1946)
Active	1941–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	Operation Barbarossa Battle of Kiev (1941) Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive Voronezh–Kastornoye Offensive Battle of Kursk Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation Battle of the Dniepr Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive Uman–Botoșani Offensive First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive First Battle of Târgu Frumos Second Battle of Târgu Frumos Second Jassy-Kishinev Offensive Budapest Offensive Vienna Offensive
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner (2nd Formation)  Order of Suvorov (2nd Formation)  Order of Kutuzov (2nd Formation)  Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (2nd Formation)
Battle honours	Korsun (2nd Formation)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Col. Sergei Ilich Gorshkov Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Nikiforovich Chernikov Col. Fyodor Mikhailovich Kishkin-Ivanenko Col. Nikolai Ivanovich Ivanov Col. Samuil Ilich Tsukarev Col. Viktor Ivanovich Rutko Col. Nikolai Mikhailovich Ivanovskii Col. Vladimir Pavlovich Kolesnikov Col. Aleksei Maksimovich Abramov Col. Fyodor Ivanovich Dremenkov

The 206th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army, first as part of the prewar buildup of forces. Its first formation in March 1941 was based on the last prewar shtat (table of organization and equipment) for rifle divisions. When the German invasion began it was still organizing well away from the front near Krivoi Rog but was soon sent to the Kiev Fortified Sector where it eventually came under command of the 37th Army. It was deeply encircled by the German offensive in September and destroyed, but not officially stricken from the Soviet order of battle until late December.

At that time a new division was forming which was soon redesignated as the 206th, based on the shtat of December 6. It spent the first half of 1942 forming up and was still not fully equipped when it was sent to the front as part of 40th Army in Voronezh Front. It saw its first action in the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive and shortly after in the Voronezh–Kastornoye Offensive, as part of 38th Army, helping to defeat and drive the Axis forces west from the territory that became the Kursk salient. The 206th was on a mostly quiet sector in 40th Army during the Battle of Kursk but then joined the 1943 summer offensive in eastern Ukraine as part of 40th and later 47th Army. In October it was reassigned to the 27th Army, where it remained for the duration of the war. During the winter and spring of 1943/44 the 206th took part in the fighting along the Dniepr and into western Ukraine and, remarkably, was awarded a battle honor and three decorations during just over two months; it also lost two commanders killed or died of wounds between the end of December and the beginning of May. The division, now in 2nd Ukrainian Front, saw heavy fighting in the Târgu Frumos area of Romania during April and May 1944. By mid-summer the vast majority of its personnel were of Kazakh nationality. The 206th then took part in the offensive that drove Romania out of the Axis in August and continued its advance into the Balkans, including the campaigns for Transylvania and eastern Hungary, and ended the war in the 33rd Rifle Corps of 27th Army, now in 3rd Ukrainian Front, advancing into western Austria. This highly distinguished division continued its service into mid-1946, but was then disbanded.