The 315th Rifle Division was a standard Red Army rifle division formed for the first time on February 12, 1942, in the Siberian Military District before being sent to the vicinity of Stalingrad, where it was engaged in the futile efforts to break through to the besieged city from the north near Kotluban. After rebuilding, it was part of the southern thrust of Operation Uranus in November, helping to encircle the German 6th Army and also to hold off its would-be rescuers. During 1943 and early 1944 the division advanced through the southern Donbas and into Ukraine, where it was honored for its role in the liberation of Melitopol, before taking part in the liberation of the Crimea in April and May 1944. The men and women of the 315th ended their war on an anticlimactic note, serving for the last year as part of the garrison of the Crimea. However, the unit, and its successors, continued to serve well into the postwar era.
Formation
The 315th began forming on February 12, 1942, at Barnaul in the Siberian Military District. Maj. Gen. Mikhail Semyonovich Knyazev was assigned to command the same day and he would remain in this position for the next year. When it finished forming in the Altaisk region in May it had 12,439 officers and men assigned, 64.4 percent of whom were under 30 years of age. Its basic order of battle was as follows: 362nd Rifle Regiment 724th Rifle Regiment 1328th Rifle Regiment 1012th Artillery Regiment By the end of May the division had moved west and was assigned to the 8th Reserve Army in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command.
Stalingrad Campaign
In August the 315th was first assigned to the 1st Guards Army, to the north of Stalingrad, but it arrived at the front at a moment of particular crisis, just as the German 6th Army's XIV Panzer Corps completed its advance from the Don River to the Volga River, north of the city, on August 23. Col. Gen. A.I. Yeryomenko, commander of the Southeastern Front, ordered the division to reinforce the defenses of 4th Tank Army, on the north side of the "Volga Corridor". Two days later it was part of Group Kovalenko, along with two tank corps and two other rifle divisions, ordered to attack southwards against the corridor. The attack made little progress.
On August 30, the forces of Group Kovalenko were integrated into 1st Guards Army, which had been transferred to Stalingrad Front, but they had already suffered heavy losses in the fighting south and southeast of Kotluban between August 26–28; the 315th was down by about one-third of its initial strength. During a further assault by 1st Guards on September 3 the 724th Rifle Regiment penetrated the corridor and worked its way into the defense of the village of Orlovka, north-northwest of the city, coming under command of 62nd Army. As of September 11, this Army reported the 315th with a strength of 2,873 men, but as only one regiment of the division was under its command, this must refer to the 724th. By September 12, the remainder of the division, less the 724th, had been transferred to 24th Army, still north of the corridor. On the 16th, 62nd Army reported that the remnants of the 315th under its command were part of the Northern Combat Sector, and were continuing to defend their previous positions. The remaining men of the 724th were eventually incorporated into the 124th and 149th Rifle Brigades, which continued to hold their positions at Spartanovka for the duration of the battle.
Meanwhile, the rump 315th was transferred briefly to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding, then into the rear of Stalingrad Front on September 25, along with the rebuilding 87th Rifle Division, first to Kamyshin on the Volga and ultimately to the 10th Reserve Army, positioned 70 – 80 km southwest of Kamyshin. In late October these divisions were officially subordinated to 62nd Army, but they remained on the east bank as a strategic reserve. As the planning for Operation Uranus progressed, its starting date was postponed several times, in part due to delays in making these two divisions completely operational. Gen. G.K. Zhukov sent a message to the STAVKA on November 11 notifying that he was postponing the offensive until the 15th in part because: In the end, rail and road transport remained inadequate and major bottlenecks existed throughout the buildup; when the offensive finally opened on November 19, the two divisions, which were supposed to be in Stalingrad by this time, were stranded at the railroad station at Borisoglebsk.