122nd Guards Rifle Division

The 122nd Guards Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army. It was formed in June 1945 from the 249th Estonian Rifle Division. The division was stationed in Estonia and disbanded in 1946.

122nd Guards Rifle Division (June 28, 1945 – 1946)
Active	June 28, 1945 – 1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Garrison/HQ	Tartu
Decorations	Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours	Estonian

History

The division was formed on June 28, 1945, from the re-designated 249th Estonian Rifle Division. On the same date the entire 8th Estonian Rifle Corps was raised to Guards status as the 41st Guards Rifle Corps. On its formation the 122nd Guards inherited the honorific title and decorations of the 249th,[1] with its full title being 122nd Guards Rifle Estonian, Order of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner Division.[2]

This re-designation took place nearly two months after V-E Day, but before the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, so technically the 122nd Guards can be considered a wartime formation, although it did not see combat in Manchuria. The division was stationed in Tartu and was disbanded there in 1946.[2]

References

1. Charles C. Sharp, "Red Guards", Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Vol. IV, Nafziger, 1995, p 89
2. Feskov et al 2013, p. 431

• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.