The 14th Rifle Division () was an infantry division of the Red Army. Formed in Moscow in 1922, the division spent most of the interwar period at Vladimir. After moving to the Kola Peninsula during the Winter War, the division fought on that front during the Continuation War. After the end of the Continuation War it became the 101st Guards Rifle Division.
History
Origins and pre-1941 service
The 14th Rifle Division traced its lineage back to the formation of guard battalions in Moscow in early 1919, which exclusively served on guard duty. The guard battalions were reorganized into the Separate Guard Regiment in 1920, and a 10 November order combined the 3rd Separate Rifle Brigade of the Internal Service Troops (VNUS) and guard units in Moscow and Moscow Governorate into the 1st Rifle Division of the Internal Service Troops (VNUS), commanded by former commandant of Moscow Nikolay Yakovlev. The 1st Rifle Division of the Internal Service Troops was redesignated as the 36th Rifle Division of the Field Troops by a 4 March 1921 order. The division was part of the Moscow Military District and was disbanded by an order of 8 October 1921 with its troops used to form the 35th Separate Rifle Brigade.
In June 1922, the 35th Separate Rifle Brigade was reorganized as the 14th Moscow Rifle Division of the Moscow Military District. The division included the 103rd Podolsk, 104th Kolomna, and 105th Serpukhov Rifle Regiments from the brigade, and a Separate Training and Education Regiment. The artillery of the division was formed from different artillery units: the 1st Battalion from the Separate Consolidated Training Battery of the 48th Rifle Division, the 2nd Battalion from the 1st Light Training Mechanized Artillery Battalion of the Western Front, and the 3rd Battalion from the 3rd Light Training Battalion of the 35th Brigade. On 3 June the Separate Training and Education Regiment was reorganized as the 40th Rifle Regiment. The 104th Rifle Regiment was redesignated as the 41st Rifle Regiment, and the 103rd and 105th Rifle Regiments combined to form the 42nd Rifle Regiment.
The 14th Rifle Division completed its formation on 1 July. The division became a territorial unit in September 1924, and as a result the 40th and 41st Rifle Regiments and division headquarters relocated to Vladimir. By 1935, the 41st Rifle Regiment was based at Murom and the 42nd Rifle Regiment at Kovrov. The division relocated to Vologda in the Leningrad Military District in October 1938. Its regiments were based in Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Cherepovets. In September 1939, the regiments were each expanded to division strength, resulting in the formation of the new 88th and 168th Rifle Divisions. On 11 September 1939, after mobilization, the division was moved to the Murmansk area with its headquarters in that city, with two rifle regiments defending the coast of the Barents Sea.
During the Winter War, it covered the Soviet border on the northern and northeastern coast of the Kola Peninsula as part of the Murmansk Group of the 14th Army. Companies from the division's 95th Rifle Regiment were operationally detached to the 104th Rifle Division and fought with that unit in battles in north Finland. The division continued to serve with the 14th Army after the end of the Winter War.