293rd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

293rd Rifle Division (July 18, 1941 – January 21, 1943) 293rd Rifle Division (July 15, 1943 – 1946)
Maj. Gen. Pavel Filippovich Lagutin, commander of the 1st formation of the 293rd Rifle Division
Active	1941–1946
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Division
Role	Infantry
Engagements	Operation Barbarossa Battle of Kiev (1941) Kursk-Oboyan operation Second Battle of Kharkov Case Blue Battle of Stalingrad Operation Uranus Operation Ring Soviet invasion of Manchuria
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner (2nd Formation)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Maj. Gen. Pavel Filippovich Lagutin Col. Stepan Mikhailovich Sgibnev

The 293rd Rifle Division began service as a Red Army rifle division shortly after the German invasion. It was largely based on what would become the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of July 29, 1941. The division was initially assigned to 40th Army of Southwestern Front when that Army was formed on August 26. It served in several clashes with the German 2nd Panzer Group in the vicinity of Korop and was therefore outside the area encircled by 2nd and 1st Panzer Groups in September, spending the winter along the front near Kursk. It fought in the unsuccessful Soviet offensive on Kharkiv in May, 1942 as part of 21st Army, suffering significant casualties in the process. During June and July the remnants of the division fought along the Don River against the German summer offensive until it was pulled back into the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding. It returned to the front in October, again as part of 21st Army, near Stalingrad, where it played a leading role in the encirclement and destruction of German 6th Army in January 1943, for which it was raised to Guards status as the 66th Guards Rifle Division as the battle was still ongoing.

A second 293rd Rifle Division was raised a few months later in Transbaikal Military District and remained in the Far East until August 1945 when it took part in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria as part of 36th Army in Transbaikal Front. In the course of this campaign it crossed the Greater Khingan Mountains was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its role in the defeat of the Kwantung Army. It remained in the Far East until it was disbanded in 1946.