101st Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 101st Rifle Division was a unit of the Soviet Red Army initially formed as a mountain rifle division on 28 August 1938 within the 2nd Separate Red Banner Army in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city.

Origins
Initially the division included the 138th Rifle Regiment formed in 1938 from the 292nd rifle regiment of the Pacific Ocean Fleet, which had been created in 1937 from the 10th Separate Territorial Rifle Battalion of the 4th Bashkirs|Bashkir regiment. In 1940, the division was removed from the roll of first line formations. In June 1942 the division was reorganized into a field rifle division. In 1943 the HQ of the 101st division included: the 128th Mixed Aviation Division, Petropavlovsk Military Naval Base, border security detachment, the 428th howitzer artillery regiment, the 302nd separate rifle regiment, three separate artillery divisions (battalions), the 5th separate rifle battalion, and a number of storage facilities. From 15 January 1945 the division was included in the composition of the Northern Group of Forces of the Far Eastern Front and subordinated to the Kamchatka Defensive Rayon of the Front (Камчатский Оборонительный район (КОР) ДВФ).

August 1945 Order of Battle
In August 1945 the composition of the 101st rifle division was:
 * Headquarters and Staff
 * KAD (Commander of artillery division) (КАД (Командующего артиллерийской дивизии)) command platoon
 * 138th rifle regiment
 * 302nd rifle regiment
 * 373rd rifle regiment
 * 279th light artillery regiment
 * separate training rifle battalion
 * 169th separate anti-tank destroyer battalion
 * 119th separate sapper battalion
 * 103rd separate signals battalion
 * 131st separate medical and sanitary battalion
 * 38th separate chemical protection company
 * 70th field post office
 * divisional sewing repair shop
 * separate anti-aircraft machine gun company
 * 13th mobile field hospital
 * 178th divisional veterinary infirmary
 * 9th field bakery
 * SMERSH counter espionage detachment
 * Armored train of the 19th separate cavalry squadron

For model fulfillment of assignments and displaying combat mastery during the taking of the islands Shumshu and Paramushir in the course of the Kurile desant operation, the Presidium of the Highest Council of the USSR, declared by order of NKO № 0164, the division was awarded the Order of Lenin on 28 September 1945.

The division appears to have been disbanded in 1945–46.

Commanders

 * Major (from 21 September 1940 brigade commander) Gorodnyanskiy Aksentiy Mikhaylovich (August 1938 – 25 October 1940)
 * Colonel, General Major Pichugin Ivan Pavlovich (25 October 1940 – 27 June 1942)
 * General Major Mozhaev Semyon Fedorovich (from 27 June 1942)
 * General Major D’yakov Porfiry Ivanovich (22 September 1943 – 4 November 1945).

Awards
Order of Lenin – Awarded on 14 September 1945.