302nd RIFLE DIVISION IN THE BATTLES ON THE DON IN THE SUMMER OF 1942

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the stages in the history of the 302nd Rifle Division of the Red Army - its participation in the battles at the Don in July-August 1942.This unit, formed in the North Caucasus military district, fought in the Crimea in November 1941 - may 1942 and was defeated by Manstein during operation “Trappenjagd”. The remnants of the division were transferred to Taman and began to recover. However, in the summer of 1942, the Wehrmacht launched a series of strategic operations to defeat the South-Western and Southern fronts, capture the Don river crossings, and break through to the oil sources of the Caucasus and the Astrakhan communications hub. To protect the crossings on the Lower Don, the Soviet command deployed the 51st army, which included a number of formations being restored after the defeat in the Crimea, including the 302nd division of Colonel M. K. Zubkov. This unit, which had not completed manning and did not have full weapons, was transferred to positions against the enemy bridgehead at Nikolaevskaya. Despite the significant superiority of the enemy forces (first the 40th Tank Corps, then the 4th Army Corps), the 302nd division fought valiantly, went on the attack and held the assigned positions. However, soon the 51st army was split by enemy tank wedges, and the 302nd division was surrounded, from which it emerged with great difficulty. Despite heavy losses, the unit continued to fight in the eastern districts of the Rostov region until mid-August, when it received an order to withdraw to the northern districts of Kalmykia.The article is based on documents from the Central archive of the Ministry of defense of the Russian Federation, memoirs of veterans and historical works, including foreign historiography.

Keywords

• 51-я армия
• 302-я стрелковая дивизия