The 82nd Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in March 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 321st Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War, including briefly in the Soviet Army.
It was redesignated after the Battle of Stalingrad in recognition of the division's service during the battle, specifically the encirclement and the siege of the German forces in the city, and later for its pursuit of the defeated Axis forces in Operation Little Saturn. It re-entered the fighting in July 1943 as part of the 29th Guards Rifle Corps of 8th Guards Army during the battles for the liberation of the Donbas region and won a divisional honorific in October. During the winter it saw extensive action in the great bend of the Dniepr River before advancing toward Odessa in the spring, where it won its first divisional decoration. The 82nd Guards continued a record of distinguished service through the rest of the Great Patriotic War. Following the fighting along the Dniestr River in the spring of 1944 it was reassigned with its Army to the 1st Belorussian Front and took part in the later part of the Soviet summer offensive, eventually helping to carve out the bridgehead across the Vistula River at Magnuszew. From this springboard, after heavy defensive fighting, it advanced across western Poland and into Germany in early 1945 and gained many distinctions in the battles for Poznań. On the approaches to Berlin it cleared the town of Müncheberg which gave its Front an opening to the German capital. Following the Battle of Berlin the division and its subunits received further distinctions in the aftermath of the German surrender and it continued to serve postwar in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany but despite an admirable record it was gradually disbanded from mid-1946 to mid-1947.
Formation
The 82nd Guards was one of nearly twenty Guards rifle divisions created in the aftermath of the fighting for Stalingrad. It was officially redesignated on March 19, 1943 in recognition of the 321st Rifle Division's steadfast qualities in the encirclement and siege of the German 6th Army in the Battle of Stalingrad, and in particular its pursuit of the defeated Axis forces from the Caucasus steppes. It officially received its Guards banner on April 11. At that time its order of battle became as follows: 242nd Guards Rifle Regiment (from 484th Rifle Regiment) 244th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 488th Rifle Regiment) 246th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 493rd Rifle Regiment) 185th Guards Artillery Regiment (from 986th Artillery Regiment) 86th Guards Antitank Battalion 83rd Guards Reconnaissance Company 91st Guards Sapper Battalion 111th Guards Signal Battalion 88th Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 85th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 87th Guards Motor Transport Company 84th Guards Field Bakery 80th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1857th Field Postal Station 1176th Field Office of the State Bank The 489th Antiaircraft Battery which had been part of the 321st was disbanded the same day the division received its banner. The division continued under the command of Maj. Gen. Ivan Alekseevich Makarenko, who had commanded the 321st since August 24, 1942. At the time it was formed it was noted that 70 percent of the division's personnel were of Yakut or Buryat nationality.
When the division was redesignated it was under command of the 5th Tank Army in Southwestern Front, and remained in that Army into April, when it was reassigned to 62nd Army as that army was being reformed as the 8th Guards Army. The 82nd was quickly assigned to the new 29th Guards Rifle Corps, and remained under these two commands for the duration of the war and into the postwar era.
Into Ukraine
8th Guards Army saw its first action in the Izium-Barvenkovo Offensive which began on July 17 but apart from gaining several new bridgeheads over the Donets River this attack was largely abortive. A second effort began on August 13 and although Southwestern Front was initially unable to penetrate the front of 1st Panzer Army south of Izium the Southern Front broke through the recreated 6th Army beginning on August 18. By August 23 1st Panzer was also in trouble with its army corps south of Izium reduced to a combat strength of just 5,800 men and unable to hold a continuous line. On the 31st Field Marshal E. von Manstein was finally authorized to withdraw both armies to the Kalmius River, effectively beginning the race to the Dniepr. In a slashing attack on the morning of September 6 Southwestern Front rammed through a mechanized corps and nine rifle divisions north of the boundary between the two German armies, unhinging the Kalmius line.