Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license.
Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat.
We can research this topic together.
WW2 Soviet Red Army formation
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (December 2013) Click for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Russian Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|ru|181-я стрелковая дивизия (1-го формирования)}} to the talk page.
The 181th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Red Army during World War II that was active from 1940-1945.
First formation
It was formed in August–September 1940, after the forced annexation of Latvia to the USSR, based on the Kurzeme and Vidzeme Divisions of the Latvian Army. The division wore the old uniforms of the Latvian Army with Soviet insignia and were also equipped with weaponry of the former army, which made them stand out from other units of the Red Army. It became part of the 24th Rifle Corps. It was stationed in Riga.
It was part of the 'operational army' during World War II from 22 June 1941 to 16 October 1941.
On June 22, 1941, it was stationed at summer camps in the Gulbene area in an abbreviated format. Here until July 29, the division was expanded to full wartime strength.
From the beginning of the war desertion of Latvians began, and from June 29, 1941, according to some sources, they began their demobilization. More precisely, Latvians were simply released from house to house, previously disarmed - all more than 2,000 people (mostly from old time required). The division was completed with personnel of the interior regions of the USSR. The main body (about 30% of the total force) came from the central and southern areas of the current Pskov Oblast. However, the core personnel were Latvian. The combat training level of the Latvian Riflemen was quite high - many of them received awards and honors from the commanders in the war, including for their period of stay in the 181st Division.
The division was wiped out at Staraya Russa in September 1941.
The division was formally disbanded after defeats during Operation Barbarossa on 16 October 1941.
Second formation
It was briefly recreated at Stalingrad, wiped out at Kalach in August 1942.
Robert G. Poirier and Albert Z. Conner, The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War, Novato: Presidio Press, 1985. ISBN0-89141-237-9. Poirer and Conner primarily used the wartime files of the German Foreign Armies East ('FHO') intelligence section, of which substantial sections are now held by the U.S. National Archives.
Soviet Union.svg){kind=small}
Red Army
Divisions of the Soviet Union 1957–1989