347th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 347th Rifle Division began forming in mid-September 1941, as a Red Army rifle division, in the North Caucasus Military District. It was soon assigned to the 58th Army while both it and its Army continued to form up before entering combat in November, as part of the offensive that first liberated Rostov-on-Don. During the German summer offensive in 1942 the division retreated back into the Caucasus, fighting to defend the routes to the oil fields at Baku, until the German forces began to retreat after their defeat at Stalingrad. During 1943 and early 1944 it continued to serve in the southern part of the front, taking part in the liberation of Crimea, before being transferred to the Baltic States region, serving in Latvia and Lithuania for the duration of the war, compiling a distinguished record of service along the way. In 1946 it was reformed as a rifle brigade, and its several successor formations remained part of the Red (later, Soviet) Army until 1959, when it was finally disbanded.

Formation

The division officially formed on September 16, 1941, at Krasnodar in the North Caucasus Military District. Its order of battle was as follows:

1175th Rifle Regiment

1177th Rifle Regiment

1179th Rifle Regiment

907th Artillery Regiment

Col. Nikolai Ivanovich Seliverstov was assigned to command of the division on the day it began forming, and he continued in command until mid-September 1942; he returned to command on September 28 with the rank of Major General, and remained in that post until May 8, 1943.

About a month after forming, the division was assigned to 56th Army, which was also in the process of forming up near Krasnodar. In November it moved, with its Army, to join Southern Front and take part in the offensive that liberated Rostov-on-Don for the first time and drove 1st Panzer Army back to the Mius River.