The 61st Cavalry Division was a cavalry division of the Red Army that served in the first years of the Great Patriotic War. It was formed in September – October, 1941, and saw its first actions to the south of Stalingrad during the German siege of that city in the autumn of 1942. When the Soviet counteroffensive, Operation Uranus, began in November the 61st formed a significant part of the mobile forces of its 51st Army. After the positions of Romanian 4th Army were broken through the division took part in the exploitation to the southwest, but became overextended and vulnerable to the mobile German reinforcements arriving to attempt a breakthrough to their Sixth Army. The 61st suffered such severe losses that it had to be withdrawn to the reserves in December, and was later disbanded.
Formation
The 61st Cavalry Division began forming in September, 1941 in the Central Asia Military District. It was mostly recruited from men of several Central Asian nationalities. It received its first commanding officer, Colonel Nikolai Gadalin, on September 25.
When formed, by the middle of the next month, its basic order of battle was as follows: 213th Cavalry Regiment 219th Cavalry Regiment 222nd Cavalry Regiment 13th Horse Artillery Battalion In November the division was assigned to 4th Cavalry Corps, and it would remain in that Corps as long as they both existed. The 3rd formation of this Corps had been serving in the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran; following this its divisions were transferred to the occupation force while the headquarters and corps assets returned to Central Asia Military District. It was then assigned three new divisions: the 61st, 63rd and 81st Cavalry. In May, 1942, the division came under the command of Colonel Vasily Baumshtein, then, in June, was handed over to Colonel Anatolii Stavenkov, who would remain in command until the end of February, 1943.
The division crossed the Caspian Sea by ship to Astrakhan. At Olya the ships were unloaded by barges. 4th Cavalry Corps, which by now consisted of only the 61st and 81st Divisions, was assigned to 51st Army in Southwestern Front, south of Stalingrad, in October, 1942. In orders issued by Gen. G.K. Zhukov on October 15 to the front commander, Gen. A.I. Yeryomenko, the latter was to: This attempt to relieve 62nd Army, along with several others in October and early November, had no success.
Operation Uranus
At the start of the decisive Soviet counteroffensive on November 19 the 61st was part of the 51st Army mobile group that exploited into the breakthrough of the Romanian Army lines towards the southwest. This mobile group had the 4th Mechanized Corps in the lead, with the 4th Cavalry Corps guarding its left flank. 4th Mechanized ran into trouble from Romanian guns and mechanical breakdowns, so the cavalry was unable to join the exploitation until 2200 hrs. on November 20. Once they did so, they followed in the wake of the tanks to Plodovitoe. At this point, the 61st diverged to liberate the town of Abganerovo, 18 km southwest. The town fell to the 61st, assisted by elements of 4th Mechanized, on the following day, during which time the two cavalry divisions reportedly captured 5,000 Romanian troops between them. While the 81st moved southwest towards Aksai, the 61st was directed southward west of Lake Barmantsak to reach the rear of the Romanian 4th Infantry Division, which was holding up the advance of 91st Rifle Division on 51st Army's left wing. The Soviet cavalry was also anxiously awaiting the arrival of the 126th Rifle Division, which would be needed if the outer encirclement front was to have any holding power against the remnants of 4th Panzer Army and other German counterattack forces.
On the 22nd, while en route to its next objective, the village of Korobkin, the 61st engaged elements of the Romanian 8th Cavalry Division in a battle near Kitov State Farm, 20 km north of the village. Stavenkov's cavalrymen drove their Romanian counterparts back roughly 4 km to the village of Vodianaia. The following day, the division was cooperating with the 91st and 302nd Rifle Divisions, plus two battalions of 76th Fortified Region, to liberate the town of Sadovoe, outflanking the Romanian 4th by capturing the Umantsevo region, 10 km southwest of the town. The coordinated attacks by 61st Cavalry and 302nd Rifle Division forced the regiment of Romanian 8th Cavalry to withdraw 18 km south of Aksai, leaving the bulk of its artillery behind.