114th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

114th Rifle Division (July 14 1939 - June 1946)
Active	1939 - 1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Continuation War Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive Liberation of Finnmark
Commanders
Notable commanders	Mjr. Gen. M.I. Panfilovich

The 114th Rifle Division began service in July, 1939 as a standard Red Army rifle division, as part of the pre-war expansion of the Soviet forces. It remained on the Svir River front and had a relatively uneventful war facing the Finns until the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive began on June 10, 1944, from which point it saw much more active service. Following the Finnish surrender the division was transferred to 14th Army in the Arctic, from where it helped to defeat and pursue the German forces from Lapland into Norway.

Formation

The division began forming on July 14, 1939, at Irkutsk in the Transbaikal Military District.

On June 22, 1941, the division was still in that district. Its order of battle was as follows:

• 363rd Rifle Regiment
• 536th Rifle Regiment
• 763rd Rifle Regiment
• 405th Light Artillery Regiment
• 480th Howitzer Regiment
• 206th Antitank Battalion
• 294th Sapper Battalion
• 274th Signal Battalion
• 146th Reconnaissance Company

In July, the 114th joined the 36th Army in the same district, but in September was alerted for transfer to the west. It was eventually assigned to the Southern Operations Group of 7th Army in Karelia, facing the Finnish Army along the front of the Svir River until June, 1944. During most of this time it was part of the 4th Rifle Corps.