43rd Rifle Division

43rd Rifle Division
Active	c.1924- ?
Country	USSR
Branch	Red Army
Type	Infantry Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Second World War, Courland Pocket

The 43rd Rifle Division was a formation of the Red Army, which took part in the Second World War, known to the Soviets as the "Great Patriotic War".

The 43rd Rifle Division was formed in 1924-1925 in the Velikiye Luki region as part of the Leningrad Military District under the name of the 43rd territorial division. Stationed in the Western Special Military District. In autumn 1937 it was relocated directly in Leningrad. The division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for participation in the Winter War. Fought at Oranienbaum.

On June 24, 1941, when the Northern Front was formed, it became part of the 50th Rifle Corps, 23rd Army. In 1941 it fought in the defence of the Karelian isthmus during the Continuation War, from 1941 to 1944 in the Siege of Leningrad, in 1944 in the Leningrad-Novgorod Offensive, the Offensive Krasnoselsky-Ropshinskaya, Offensive Kingiseppsky-Gdovskii, the Baltic Offensive, Offensive Tartu, the Riga Offensive, and the Memel Offensive. In 1945 it fought in the Courland Pocket. With Leningrad Front May 1945.

Bibliography

• “Red Banner Volgaside". Military Publishing, 1984, pp. 367–368 - for a reference to the combat history of the division (Note via Lenskii 2001).