157th Rifle Division (August 19, 1939 – March 1, 1943) 157th Rifle Division (May 21, 1943 – February 1946)
Active	1939–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	Siege of Odessa Crimean campaign Battle of the Kerch Peninsula Battle of Stalingrad Smolensk operation Orsha offensives (1943) Operation Bagration Minsk offensive Vilnius offensive Kaunas offensive Gumbinnen Operation East Prussian offensive Soviet invasion of Manchuria Harbin–Kirin Operation
Decorations	Order of Suvorov  Order of Kutuzov (both 2nd Formation)
Battle honours	Neman (2nd Formation)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Col. Vasilii Vasilevich Glagolev Col. Dmitrii Ivanovich Tomilov Col. Dmitrii Semyonovich Kuropatenko Col. Aleksandr Vasilevich Kirsanov Col. Dmitrii Ivanovich Golubev Col. Grigorii Kondratevich Zaitsev Col. Aleksandr Efimovich Vinogradov Col. Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shchennikov Col. Vasilii Aleksandrovich Katyushin Col. Nikolai Fyodorovich Kusakin

The 157th Rifle Division was first formed as an infantry division of the Red Army in August 1939 in the North Caucasus Military District, based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) that would become official the following month. It was still in that District when the German invasion began in June 1941. It entered the fighting in September when it was shipped to reinforce the Separate Coastal Army defending the port of Odesa. After taking part in several actions it was evacuated to Sevastopol and soon went into battle again in a last-ditch effort to prevent German 11th Army from overrunning the Crimea. This failed, and the 157th was forced to trek through the Crimean Mountains to reach Sevastopol, from where it was evacuated back to the Caucasus. At the end of December its 633rd Rifle Regiment formed part of the assault landing force that retook the port of Feodosia and caused the local German corps commander to evacuate the Kerch Peninsula.

The 157th began forming on August 19, 1939, in the North Caucasus Military District, based on a rifle regiment from the 74th Taman Rifle Division. At the outbreak of war it was moved to Taman and began constructing defenses on the Black Sea coast. At this time its order of battle was as follows:

• 384th Rifle Regiment
• 633rd Rifle Regiment
• 716th Rifle Regiment
• 85th Light Artillery Regiment (later 422nd Artillery Regiment)
• 212th Antitank Battalion
• 175th Antiaircraft Battery (later 272nd Antiaircraft Battalion)
• 141st Reconnaissance Battalion [including 15 light tanks] (later 190th Reconnaissance Company)
• 150th Sapper Battalion
• 199th Signal Battalion
• 133rd Medical/Sanitation Battalion (later 152nd)
• 149th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company^[1]
• 124th Motor Transport Company
• 367th Field Bakery
• 157th Divisional Veterinary Hospital
• 492nd Field Postal Station
• 217th Field Office of the State Bank

Col. Vasilii Vasilevich Glagolev had been appointed to command on the day the division began forming. He had previously led the 76th Cavalry Regiment and most recently had served as chief of staff of the 12th Cavalry Division. On August 15 he was moved to command of the 42nd Cavalry Division and was succeeded by Col. Dmitrii Ivanovich Tomilov. Glagolev would later lead four different armies during the war, rising to the rank of colonel general, and was made chief of Soviet Airborne Forces postwar. Tomilov had previously been acting commander of the 86th Rifle Division and came to the 157th from the position of chief of the Combat Training Section, North Caucasus Military District.

By September 17 the division had reached a strength of 12,600 personnel, and on this date Tomilov received orders to prepare to move by sea to the besieged city of Odesa.^[2] As part of the invasion plan, Romanian 4th Army had been tasked with advancing into Ukraine, confronting and defeating Red Army forces west of the Southern Bug River, and capturing the city in a lightning strike.^[3] This offensive, in conjunction with Romanian 3rd and German 11th Armies, had begun on July 2 and gradually pushed back the Soviet 9th and 18th Armies until the line stabilized temporarily between the Prut and Dniestr Rivers.^[4] Gen. G. Nicolae Ciupercă's 4th Army, with 160,000 personnel, faced a daunting prospect as Odesa was heavily fortified with three lines of defense, and the STAVKA was determined to hold it. Eventually the 3rd Army would also have to be committed, along with German reinforcements. The Separate Coastal Army had been formed on July 9 to direct the defense, which began when the port was isolated on August 5; this Army would have to be reinforced and supplied by sea, but Romania had insufficent naval forces to interfere meaningfully. The 1st Armored Division struck the outer defenses on August 10 and came close to taking the city in one stroke, but Soviet reinforcements soon made its position untenable. Further assaults on August 16, 24, 28, and 30 were stopped cold, and General Ciupercă was sacked, being replaced by Gen. Iosif Iacobici. German reinforcements arrived, as did 15,000 Red Army personnel, and when the fighting resumed on September 12 the Romanians again took heavy losses to artillery fire and local counterattacks while gaining very little ground.^[5] From August 28 to September 11 the Romanian forces suffered 31,552 casualties, making a total of 58,859 since the start of the siege.^[6]

The 157th began arriving from September 22 to 28,^[7] on transports escorted by the cruisers Krasny Krym, Krasny Kavkaz, Chervona Ukraina, and other warships. It went into action immediately in a combined operation with the 3rd Marine Brigade, which landed at Grigorievka and Chebanka in the rear of the 15th Infantry Division after a 30-minute bombardment from naval guns. This, plus a failed landing further to the east, drew off Romanian reserves. At 0640 hours on September 22 the leading regiment of the 157th attacked the 13th Infantry Division along the rail line from Odesa to Bierezovka. The 22nd Infantry Regiment was taken by surprise. The commander of one of its battalions was killed and his men panicked and fled to the southern outskirts of the village of Kubanka, unhinging the entire position of 5th Corps, leading to the retreat of the 15th Infantry as well. The advance of the 157th's regiment and the 3rd Marines was halted by the 5th Corps reserve of two battalions plus motorized units. The 13th Infantry lost 1,300 casualties, and 5th Corps' heavy artillery was pushed back out of range of the Odesa harbor area.^[8]

On September 29 German forces broke into the Crimea via the Isthmus of Perekop, and the STAVKA realised that Odesa would soon be untenable. Evacuation was first ordered for October 6, but was rescheduled for October 14. A diversionary attack was launched on October 2 on a 4km-wide front by the 157th, the 25th Rifle Division, and the 2nd Cavalry Division against the sector of the Romanian lines held by the Frontier Guard Division and the left flank of the 6th Infantry Division after a powerful artillery preparation. The Red Army forces advanced along the road from Dalnik to Perselenet supported by tanks and aircraft. The sight of tanks caused two Romanian machine gun battalions and one battalion of Frontier Guards to retreat in disorder, but the 6th Infantry held firm. Romanian counterattacks on October 3-4 were able to restore the situation, but Coastal Army evacuated its first 86,000 troops in the meantime. A further Romanian attack on October 8/9 gained ground despite Soviet counterattacks with tanks. General Iacobici issued orders on October 12 for a general assault but two days later the Romanian General Staff noted increased activity by the Black Sea Fleet. Romanian patrols pushed forward on October 15, meeting heavy fire at first, but at 1030 hours the next day elements of the 7th Infantry Division entered the city. A total of some 350,000 soldiers and civilians had been evacuated, including the men of the 157th,^[9] which had begun to leave on October 3.^[10]

The division had been concentrated at Sevastopol by October 19, just as the situation in the Crimea was in crisis. 51st Army's position at Ishun had been broken by Gen. E. von Manstein's 11th Army, which was now in a position to overrun most of the peninsula. The first elements of the 157th were marching up from the port and the commander of 51st Army, Col. Gen. F. I. Kuznetsov, planned to throw them into an immediate counterattack against the salient held by the 73rd Infantry Division, alongside two dismounted cavalry divisions under his deputy, Lt. Gen. P. I. Batov. On the morning of October 20 two of the division's regiments, supported by 122mm howitzer fire, plus T-34s of the 5th Tank Regiment, struck Ishun from the southeast while Batov's troopers attacked from the southwest. The attack made progress at first and the 73rd was forced out of Ishun, fighting a delaying action. The 157th followed out into open ground and came under heavy artillery attack and air strikes. One bombing attack found Colonel Tomilov's command post, wounding him and much of his staff. This caused the attack to falter and the 73rd recaptured Ishun, forcing the 157th back to the Chatyrlyk River before heavy rain brought the fighting to a close. The following days saw continued skirmishing without significant gains by either side.^[11]

The loss of Ishun shocked the STAVKA and Kuznetsov was relieved of his command, being replaced by Batov. By October 24 the 25th and 95th Rifle Divisions had arrived from Odesa, the worse for wear from the fighting there. A new attack against the 73rd Infantry near Ishun went in without adequate artillery support and failed in the face of machine guns, mortars, and air attacks. A further effort the next day also suffered heavy losses and the German command, sensing weakness, committed the fresh 170th Infantry Division south of Ishun. This soon gained some 7km against a collapsing Soviet front. 11th Army had the initiative and von Manstein released another division to push southward, as Coastal Army's forces began a withdrawal to Simferopol after taking 28,000 casualties in the Ishun fighting.^[12]

An improvised mobile force named Brigade Ziegler pursued the Coastal Army and reached the outskirts of Simferopol on October 30. Coastal Army was cut off the next morning, forcing its retreat into the Crimean Mountains toward Alushta. After a long trek it began to reach Sevastopol in early November.^[13] On November 20 the 157th was evacuated to Novorossiysk.

In December the division provided cadre for the headquarters of 44th Army, which was forming in the North Caucasus District.^[14] Colonel Tomilov left his duties on December 5 as he was hospitalized in Grozny to recover from the leg wounds he sustained on October 20. Col. Dmitrii Semyonovich Kuropatenko took over until January 9, 1942 when Tomilov returned.

The 157th was now moved to the Transcaucasian Military District^[15] and was substantially rebuilt with replacements from the 100th Reserve Regiment. As of December 31 the division had 1,023 officers, 2,040 non-commissioned officers, and 9,047 enlisted personnel, for a total of 12,110, very close to the official shtat of December 6. They were equipped with 7,948 rifles, 329 semi-automatic rifles, nine sub-machine guns, 103 light machine guns, 66 heavy machine guns, four antiaircraft machine guns and one 25mm gun, 12 76mm regimental guns, 15 122mm howitzers, a total of 83 mortars of several calibres, and 33 radios. It also had extra weapons that were for the most part allocated to mountain rifle divisions: two 76mm mountain guns and five 107mm mortars, plus four 76mm antiaircraft guns. It also had 1,782 horses, seven cars, 100 trucks, eight tractors, one motorcycle, and 16 specialized vehicles on strength. At about this time as well the 85th Light Artillery Regiment and 212th Antitank Battalion were disbanded while the new 422nd Artillery was formed as a standard "mixed" regiment (76mm cannons and 122mm howitzers), and the 141st Reconaissance Battalion became the 190th Reconnaissance Company.^[16]

The chief of staff of Caucasus Front (later Crimean Front), Maj. Gen. F. I. Tolbukhin, came up with an overly elaborate plan to compromise the positions of German 11th Army in the Kerch Peninsula with many small amphibious landings at multiple points rather than one large landing. This would begin overnight on December 25/26 when five different transport groups would land a total of 7,500 troops from the 224th Rifle and 302nd Mountain Rifle Divisions of 51st Army on separate beaches north and south of Kerch. Despite minimal resistance from the over-extended German 46th Infantry Division the landings were badly hampered by poor planning, adverse weather, and air attacks and they were largely defeated by late on December 28.^[17]

However, as the weather subsided the next phase of Tolbukhin's plan began with the loading of two assault regiments of 44th Army, one of which was the 157th's 633rd, aboard an invasion fleet at Novorossiysk. The fleet comprised two light cruisers (one of which was the Krasny Kavkaz), eight destroyers, 14 transports, and an assortment of small craft. The target was the Crimean port of Feodosia, which was largely held by two battalions of artillery and 700-800 lightly-armed engineers. The fleet approached at 0350 hours on December 29 and began a 13-minute bombardment as light forces landed to secure the harbor entrance. Three destroyers entered to unload naval infantrymen before the Krasny Kavkaz was brought alongside the harbor mole at 0500 to offload 1,853 troops of the 633rd. German guns replied, hitting the cruiser 17 times and setting Turret #2 on fire while the ship returned fire with its 180mm main guns. After three hours the commander, Cpt. 1st Rank A. M. Guscin, successfully pulled away with his mission complete.^[18]

By this time the German command had lost all control of the port and transports were beginning to land vehicles and artillery. As Soviet infantry moved into the city the German gunners and engineers could put up little effective resistance. By 1000 hours the XXXXII Army Corps commander, Gen. Lt. Hans Graf von Sponeck, was informed that the Red Army had most of the city and was still coming ashore; in fact 4,500 men landed in the morning and by day's end large portions of three divisions, including the 157th, had disembarked. Sponeck had no reserves of any size available and the communications to his 46th Infantry were immediately threatened. He ordered the Romanian 8th Cavalry and 4th Mountain Brigades to block to roads to the west and phoned Manstein to ask permission to withdraw the 46th, which was refused. Manstein instead promised reinforcements to retake Feodosia. Sponeck now took the extraordinary step of cutting communications with 11th Army and ordering the 46th to retreat regardless, for which he was eventually court-martialled and executed. He also ordered the two Romanian brigades to counterattack Feodosia on December 30 without artillery or air support. This was quickly repulsed, after which the three divisions (157th, 63rd Mountain Rifle, 236th Mountain Rifle) pushed northward, threatening the isolation that Sponeck feared.^[19]

46th Infantry marched 120km westward in a snowstorm overnight on December 30/31, abandoning vehicles due to lack of fuel and with heavy weapons falling behind, only to find the 63rd Mountain blocking its path at Vladislavovka. Unable to break through the German troops had no option but to move cross-country through the 10km-wide gap that still remained between the 63rd and the Sea of Azov, and they formed a new defensive line on January 1, 1942. The withdrawal allowed 302nd Mountain to take Kerch and 51st Army soon cleared the rest of the Kerch Peninsula, leaving it and 44th Army facing thin German defenses along the roads to Sevastopol, where Coastal Army held out.^[20]

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
• Grylev, A. N. (1970). Перечень № 5. Стрелковых, горнострелковых, мотострелковых и моторизованных дивизии, входивших в состав Действующей армии в годы Великой Отечественной войны 1941-1945 гг [List (Perechen) No. 5: Rifle, Mountain Rifle, Motor Rifle and Motorized divisions, part of the active army during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. p. 77
• Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union (1964). Командование корпусного и дивизионного звена советских вооруженных сил периода Великой Отечественной войны 1941–1945 гг [Commanders of Corps and Divisions in the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Frunze Military Academy. pp. 178-79

• Vasilii Vasilevich Glagolev
• Dmitrii Ivanovich Tomilov
• Dmitrii Semyonovich Kuropatenko
• Aleksandr Vasilevich Kirsanov
• The Battle of Odessa – 1941, WorldWar2.ro