69th Guards Rifle Division

The 69th Guards Red Banner Rifle Division (Russian: 69-я гвардейская стрелковая Краснознамённая дивизия) was a infantry division of the Soviet Ground Forces.

It was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in February 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 120th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

It originally served in the Stalingrad Group of Forces, mopping up in the ruins of that city after the Axis surrender there before eventually being assigned to the 21st Guards Rifle Corps of 4th Guards Army and moving north to the Kursk area in the Steppe Military District. The division would remain under these Corps and Army commands, with short exceptions, for the duration of the war. It entered combat during the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive in August and continued fighting toward the Dnieper River and Kiev during the autumn and early winter. In early 1944 it took part in the encirclement battle at Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi and was soon rewarded with a battle honor. The 69th Guards then fought its way to the Dniester River where it took part in two offensives, the second of which in August finally took the city of Iași; this victory won the division the Order of the Red Banner. Now that Romania had been driven out of the Axis the division's combat path moved into the Balkans. The 69th Guards spent the remainder of the war fighting in Hungary and Austria; it's regiments would all receive recognition for their roles in the battles for Budapest as they advanced into Austria. After the war the division remained in the Southern Group of Forces and in 1953 was converted to the 70th Guards Rifle Division.