160th Rifle Division (1941 formation)

The 1941 formation of the 160th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army, originally formed as the 6th Moscow Militia Division (Dzerzhinskii) in early July 1941. The division gradually completed its formation in the 24th Army of Reserve Front east of Smolensk but was not committed to combat until after it was renumbered as the 160th on September 26. This renumbering was based on a misunderstanding that the original 160th had been encircled and destroyed earlier that month; as a result for the next 18 months there were two 160th Rifle Divisions serving concurrently.

The 1941 formation was swept up in Operation Typhoon in October and came so close to being destroyed itself that it disappeared from the Red Army order of battle at the start of November. It returned to the fighting as part of 33rd Army in late January 1942 but was still so under strength that two of its rifle regiments had to be reformed by wholesale replacements from other divisions and it was not until the late spring that it was fully combat-capable. The 160th played minor roles in the battles around the Rzhev salient into early 1943 and then a more active part in the summer offensive toward Smolensk, under 33rd Army until September when it was transferred to 49th Army, both in Western Front. When that Front was disbanded in early 1944 the division was transferred to 2nd Belorussian Front where it joined 70th Army; it would remain under this army almost continually for the duration of the war, from April as part of the 114th Rifle Corps. Prior to Operation Bagration that Army was reassigned to 1st Belorussian Front and during its latter stage the 160th was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its part in the breakthrough of the German defenses west of Kovel and at the end of August earned the honorific "Brest", along with one of its rifle regiments, for the liberation of that city. Near the end of the year the division transferred back to 2nd Belorussian Front and under that command served in the Vistula-Oder Offensive and the East Pomeranian Offensive; during the latter operation two of its subunits were awarded the honorific "Gdańsk". During the Berlin operation the 160th fought across the Oder River and northward to the Baltic, ending the war in northern Germany. As it was surplus to requirements postwar it was disbanded in June 1945.