278th Rifle Division

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The 278th Rifle Division was a Soviet infantry division that was formed three times during World War II.

First formation (July–Dec 1941)
- Formed July 10, 1941, at Livny in the Orel Military District. It included the 851st, 853rd, and 855th Rifle Regiments and the 847th Artillery Regiment.
- On August 15, it was assigned to the 50th Army of the Bryansk Front.
- Just before Operation Typhoon (the German invasion of Moscow), the 855th Rifle Regiment was detached to the 3rd Army.
- The division was destroyed in the Bryansk pocket by mid-October 1941 and officially disbanded on December 27, 1941.

Second formation (Jan 1942–Jan 1943)
- Reformed on January 27, 1942, from the 471st Rifle Division at Stalingrad, under Colonel Dmitry Monakhov. It kept the same basic order of battle as the first formation.
- Formation was completed by the end of January 1942; in late April it moved north to the Moscow Military District for technical and training work.
- After the Soviet defeat at Kharkov in May 1942, it was moved south to join the Southwestern Front’s 38th Army. When Case Blue began in late June, the division retreated with the front and, by late July, was with the 21st Army of the Stalingrad Front.
- It fought at Stalingrad, and during Operation Uranus it was part of the 1st Guards Army (the 2nd formation), which became the 3rd Guards Army on December 5, 1942.
- After Uranus, it fought in Operation Little Saturn. On January 3, 1943, it was converted into the 60th Guards Rifle Division.

Third formation (July 1943–Oct 1945)
- Formed again on July 15, 1943, in the Transbaikal Front, with the same basic order of battle.
- Assigned to the 36th Army, and in July 1945 moved to the 17th Army.
- From August 8 to September 3, 1945, it fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, advancing largely unopposed in the Khingan–Mukden operation.
- For its actions, the division received the honorific “Khingan.”
- It was disbanded in the Transbaikal-Amur Military District after October 1, 1945.