The 206th Rifle Division was twice formed as an infantry division of the Red Army, first as part of the prewar buildup of forces. Its first formation in March 1941 was based on the last prewar shtat (table of organization and equipment) for rifle divisions. When the German invasion began it was still organizing well away from the front near Krivoi Rog but was soon sent to the Kiev Fortified Sector where it eventually came under command of the 37th Army. It was deeply encircled by the German offensive in September and destroyed, but not officially stricken from the Soviet order of battle until late December.
At that time a new division was forming which was soon redesignated as the 206th, based on the shtat of December 6. It spent the first half of 1942 forming up and was still not fully equipped when it was sent to the front as part of 40th Army in Voronezh Front. It saw its first action in the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive and shortly after in the Voronezh–Kastornoye Offensive, as part of 38th Army, helping to defeat and drive the Axis forces west from the territory that became the Kursk salient. The 206th was on a mostly quiet sector in 40th Army during the Battle of Kursk but then joined the 1943 summer offensive in eastern Ukraine as part of 40th and later 47th Army. In October it was reassigned to the 27th Army, where it remained for the duration of the war. During the winter and spring of 1943/44 the 206th took part in the fighting along the Dniepr and into western Ukraine and, remarkably, was awarded a battle honor and three decorations during just over two months; it also lost two commanders killed or died of wounds between the end of December and the beginning of May. The division, now in 2nd Ukrainian Front, saw heavy fighting in the Târgu Frumos area of Romania during April and May 1944. By mid-summer the vast majority of its personnel were of Kazakh nationality. The 206th then took part in the offensive that drove Romania out of the Axis in August and continued its advance into the Balkans, including the campaigns for Transylvania and eastern Hungary, and ended the war in the 33rd Rifle Corps of 27th Army, now in 3rd Ukrainian Front, advancing into western Austria. This highly distinguished division continued its service into mid-1946, but was then disbanded.
1st Formation
The 206th Rifle Division began forming for the first time on March 14, 1941 at Pavlograd in the Odessa Military District. As of June 22 it was still in that District and its order of battle was as follows: 722nd Rifle Regiment 737th Rifle Regiment 748th Rifle Regiment 661st Artillery Regiment 714th Howitzer Artillery Regiment 35th Antitank Battalion 407th Antiaircraft Battalion 286th Reconnaissance Battalion 374th Sapper Battalion 586th Signal Battalion 361st Medical/Sanitation Battalion 306th Anti-gas Detachment 679th Motor Transport Battalion 467th Field Bakery 358th Field Postal Station 40th Field Office of the State Bank Col. Sergei Ilich Gorshkov took command of the division on the day it began forming, and would remain in command through the entire 1st Formation. On June 22, 1941 it was still in the Odessa District, subordinated to the 7th Rifle Corps along with the 116th and 196th Rifle Divisions. During the next few days the Corps was transferred to the Southwestern Front and sent to the northwest. By July 8 it was fighting near Novograd-Volynskii and later that month the 206th was one of the first units assigned to the Kiev Fortified Sector covering the immediate approaches to the city from the west. The units of the fortified sector were redesignated as the 37th Army in August.
On August 25 the German 2nd Panzer Group began its advance to the south with the objective of linking up with 1st Panzer Group and surrounding most of Southwestern Front. By September 9 it was making rapid progress but Stalin refused to give Col. Gen. M. P. Kirponos permission to pull back from Kiev. On September 15 the German pincers met at Lokhvitsa. The 206th, along with the rest of 37th Army, was deeply encircled and forced to give up Kiev on September 19. The bulk of the division was destroyed the next day but a small group led by Colonel Gorshkov managed to escape, along with another led by the divisional chief of staff, Lt. Col. P. I. Kulizhski, in late October. Gorshkov would go on to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and commanded the 5th Guards Cavalry Corps in the last year of the war. The division was not officially removed from the Red Army's order of battle until December 27.