UNIT HISTORY

95th Rifles - 75th Guards - Origional Members

95th Rifles Division (1941-1942)

The 95th Moldavian Rifle Division of the 35th Rifle Corps of the 9th Army (under General-Major A.I. Pastrevich) was raised in the Odessa region about May 1, 1941. From 5 November 1941 until 4 July 1942 (250 days), the Soviet Army defended Sevastopol against German invaders. Despite being greatly outnumbered the Soviet forces defended the city until it was evacuated when food and ammunition ran out. Several military divisions including the 95th Rifles managed to hide in the mountains to survive and fight using guerilla tactics against the Nazis. Sevastopol was awarded the Title of "Hero City" on 1 May 1945, and is one of only four "Hero Cities" in the USSR (the others being Leningrad, Stalingrad, and Odessa.)

After July of 1942, 95th Rifles were then re-supplied, re-armed, and re-manned for the next heroic action. In Stalingrad as part of the 62nd Army, the 95th Rifle Division arrived in the city in late September 1942 with strength of roughly 7000 soldiers. By 8 October, the strength was 3075; on 14 October the division was evacuated with approximately 500 men. Other divisions suffered similar casualties.

The 6th German Army began the offensive towards Stalingrad in 1942. Heroic defenders fought for more than 140 days under increasing enemy numbers. Under the command of Colonel Vasili Akimovich Gorishny , the 95th Rifles fought valiantly on Mamayev Kurgan, where it took quite a beating, and also later around and in the Barrikady Factory complex where the 95th met their demise. On 19 November 1942, the Soviet Army launched a counter-offensive, surrounding and defeating the entire 6th German Army. The 95th Rifles Division was then decommissioned, and the survivors (along with other survivors from destroyed units) were formed into the elite 75th Guards Rifle Division on March 1, 1943.

75th Guards Rifle Division (1943-1945)

95th Rifles - 75th Guards - Origional Members - Top

Out of the rubble of Stalingrad (March 1943), the newly formed 75th Guards (along with the entire RKKA) had a new found outlook on the war. This was the turning point for the Soviets in the Great Patriotic War. Operation Barbarosa and its fascist invaders were stopped at Stalingrad and pushed back all the way to Berlin. The 75th Guards Rifle Division was formed as part of the 62nd Army, but quickly transferred to the 13th Army on the Central Front (10 May 1943). As soon as the German thrust from the north against Kursk was defeated in late July 1943, the 75th Guards were shifted to the 70th Army then to the 60th Army on the Central Front (later the Belorussian Front) where they fought through the wooded central region between Bryansk and the Dnieper River.

From the end of 1943 to August 1944, the 75th Guards were part of the 65th Army, fighting in the Pripyet Marshes. In September 1944, they were shifted again to the 61st Army of the 1st Belorussian Front, where they remained to the end of the war.

In the 61st Army, the 75th Guards Rifle advanced on the northern flank of the offensive into central Poland (January 1945), and then north of Berlin in the last month of the war. The capture of Berlin was one of the bloodiest military operations of WWII. With both sides combined, 3.5 million servicemen participated with 52,000 cannons, 7750 tanks and more than 10,000 planes. Soviet forces outnumbered fascist forces, but the Fritzes had transformed Berlin into a fortress city, with fortifications built on the streets. Severe fighting continued until the Soviet flag was hoisted over the Reichstag on 6 May 1945. On 7 May the Fascist forces surrendered the Anglo-American Allies. Finally on 13 May 1945, Marshal Chuikiv accepted a German surrender the Red Army. The 75th Guards Rifle Division ended the war facing the US 9th Army in Northern Germany. Its final wartime honorary title was:

"75th Guards Bakhmachskaya ,
Twice Order of the Red Banner,
Order of Suvorov II Class
Rifle Division"

Origional Unit Members

95th Rifles - 75th Guards - Origional Members - Top

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