304th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

304th Rifle Division
Active	1941–1945
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Operation Barbarossa Battle of Kiev Operation Blue Operation Uranus Operation Ring Taman Peninsula Offensive Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive Vistula–Oder Offensive Prague Offensive
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner (2nd Formation)
Battle honours	Zhitomir (2nd formation)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Maj. Gen. Nikolai Pavlovich Pukhov Col. Serafim Petrovich Merkulov Col. Mikhail Maksimovich Muzikin

The 304th Rifle Division had its roots in the 109th Mechanized Division, which served before the Great Patriotic War as a mixed armor and infantry formation. Soon after the German invasion it was reorganized as a standard rifle division and renumbered as the 304th. It served in the southwestern part of the Soviet-German front for more than a year and a half, fighting under difficult conditions, including the German summer offensive of 1942. The division did not distinguish itself until Operation Uranus in late 1942 and the subsequent Operation Ring, in which it helped defeat the encircled German Sixth Army. In recognition of these successes, even before the German surrender at Stalingrad, it was raised to Guards status as the 67th Guards Rifle Division. A second 304th was raised six months later, based on a pair of rifle brigades, facing the German 17th Army in the Kuban. After helping to liberate this region the division continued in combat through Ukraine and Poland, winning its own distinctions at Zhitomir and an Order of the Red Banner, before ending the war near Prague.