213th Rifle Division

The 213th Rifle Division (213-я стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the Red Army during World War II.

History
The 213th Rifle Division began forming on 15 December 1941 at Kattakurgan, assigned to the Central Asian Military District. It was commanded by Major General Pyotr Shevchenko. The 213th included the 585th, 702nd, and 693rd Rifle Regiments, the 671st Artillery Regiment, and the 387th Sapper Battalion, along with other smaller units. It remained in the district until early 1943, guarding the Soviet–Afghan border near Kerki and Termez. The 213th was transferred to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK) on 25 February of that year. In mid-March, it joined the 64th Army (soon to become the 7th Guards Army) of the Voronezh Front and was sent to the Gremyachye area. At the end of March, its units fought in fierce offensive battles to seize the railway station of Kreyda, then in April and May, as part of the 25th Guards Rifle Corps of the army, defended the line of the Seversky Donets near Belgorod. Shevchenko was sent to the rear for treatment of an illness in June and was replaced by Colonel Ivan Buslayev.

The 213th fought against the attacks of the 4th Panzer Army and Army Detachment Kempf during the Battle of Kursk in July. Remaining with the 7th Guards Army for the Soviet offensive that began in August, it transferred to the 37th Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front in November after the Battle of the Dnieper. The division spent most of 1944 with the 48th Rifle Corps of the 52nd Army. After advancing through Romania in August and September of that year, the 52nd Army transferred to the RVGK and was moved north to join the 1st Ukrainian Front by November. With the 52nd Army, the division fought in the Vistula–Oder Offensive in January, the Upper Silesian Offensive in March, the Siege of Breslau, and the Prague Offensive in May.

After the end of the war, from late June, the 52nd Army was withdrawn to Poland and then to western Ukraine. Later that year, the 213th was stationed at Lvov, still with the 48th Rifle Corps. When the headquarters of the 52nd Army became that of the 8th Tank Army on 12 June 1946, the division was disbanded with its corps.