4th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 4th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army active from 1921 to 1946.

The Division was activated 1919 near Petrograd during the Russian Civil War, and fought on the western front of that war and in the Soviet-Polish War. Until 1923 its headquarters was at Minsk. During the 1930s the Division was part of the 5th Rifle Corps, stationed in the Belarussian Military District. It was moved north in 1939 and fought in the Winter War, including at the Battle of Kelja, later joining the newly formed 13th Army. In July 1941 the Division was part of the 3rd Rifle Corps of the Transcaucasian Military District. By an order of 23 July 1941, the 3rd Rifle Corps became the 46th Army, as of 1 August 1941, and the 4th Rifle Division thus became part of the 46th Army. In the middle of April 1942 the Division under Colonel I.P. Roslogo was fighting as part of the 12th Army. In August 1942 it participated in the Battle of the Caucasus. The Division was disbanded after heavy combat in November 1942.

It was reformed 1943 in the Moscow Military District and from April 1943-May 1944 it was part of the Baltic Front's 11th Army. Later reassigned to 48th Army. By January 1945, now part of the 25th Rifle Corps of the 69th Army, it took part in the fighting for the Puławy bridge in Poland; much weakened by the battle, its effective strength was reduced to not more than six battalions. In April 1945, still part of the 69th Army, it took part in the Battle of Berlin. It was disbanded in June 1946.

The Division was reformed again in 1955 by renumbering the 160th Rifle Division in the Transcaucasian Military District but then disbanded 1956.

Order of Battle 1941-1945

 * 39th Rifle Regiment
 * 101st Rifle Regiment
 * 220th Rifle Regiment
 * 40th Artillery Regiment

Distinctions and Divisional Decorations

 * 1923 : Received the honorific title "In the name of the German Prolétariat";
 * 1945 : Name of "Beshitsa". inscribed on the Divisional banner.

Bibliography and See also

 * Robert Poirier and Albert Conner, Red Army Order of Battle, Presidio, USA
 * http://samsv.narod.ru/Div/Sd/sd004/default.html (in Russian)