216th Rifle Division
The 216th Rifle Division was a Red Army infantry unit that served from 1941 to 1956. It began in March 1941 as the 216th Motorized Division in the Kiev Special Military District, part of the 24th Mechanised Corps with two tank divisions and a motorcycle regiment. Its commander throughout was Colonel Ashot Sarkisovich Sarkisyan. At the start of the German invasion, the division stood in Starokostiantyniv and, in reality, had almost no motorized equipment and was essentially a rifle division.
It was detached to guard a large Red Army supply base at Shepetivka. During July 1941 it fought under Southwestern Front’s 26th Army and later under Southern Front forces as the German advance pressed toward Uman. In late July the 24th Mechanized tried to counterattack behind German lines, but by 8 August the Uman pocket had fallen and the 216th Motorized Division had been destroyed. It was officially removed from the army list on 19 September 1941.
A new 216th Rifle Division was formed in Kharkov to serve as the city’s garrison. In Kharkov, defense coordination problems contributed to the Germans capturing a key bridge in October 1941.
In 1944 the division fought in the Crimea with the 51st Army, which later moved to the 1st Baltic Front. On 6 April 1945 the 216th Rifle Division took part in the Königsberg operation, attacking with the 124th Rifle Corps of the 43rd Army from the northwest and helping break through the second German defense line. By May 1945 it was with the 50th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front.
After the war the division remained with the Fourth Army in the Transcaucasian Military District until 1955, when it was redesignated the 34th Rifle Division at Baku. It was disbanded on 7 July 1956.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:57 (CET).