The glorious division of the Red, then Soviet Army after the collapse of the Soviet Union turned out to be a brigade in the Ukrainian armed forces. This year marks one hundred years of the Iron Division. One of the first exploits of the illustrious unit was the liberation of Simbirsk from the White Guards and the Czechoslovak Corps.
Base
The founding day of the Iron Division is July 18, 1918. It was then that the order of the PBC of the 1st Army of the Eastern Front came out on the formation of the 1st combined Simbirsk infantry division. The unit included units of Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk), Samara and Segeley, consisting of volunteers from among local residents. The first chief (as the unit commanders were then called) of the armed formation was the distinguished Armenian revolutionary and civil war hero Gaya Dmitrievich Gai (real name Gayk Bzhishkyants).
In fact, this was the very beginning of the full-scale hostilities of the civil war associated with the rebellion of the Czechoslovak corps, united with the Socialist Revolutionaries. After the conclusion of the Brest Peace, the Bolsheviks pledged to disarm the Czechoslovakians and hand them over to the Germans, in response they put up armed resistance. By July 26, a group of troops under the command of Guy of 3,000 men had made their way from Sergeyev to Simbirsk, and with battles went about 100 versts through the location of white formations.
Obtaining an Honorary Name
The command of the revolutionary 1st Army developed a plan for the Simbir operation, according to which it was planned to launch an offensive on August 25. The commander of the combined Simbirsk division wrote to Tukhachevsky that the soldiers were eager for battle, the enthusiasm of the Red Army was great, and asked permission to advance. After the start of the operation, the armed formation went into battle with about 60 miles and reached the suburbs of Simbirsk. The assault command was appointed the next day - September 12.
Guy recalled that the White Guards stubbornly defended themselves, but parts of the first regiment, led by commander Ustinov, broke through to the southern city blocks. After stubborn battles, by 12:30 Simbirsk was finally taken. Particularly distinguished in battle units were awarded. The Simbirsk division was awarded the Red Flag of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and it officially became Iron. Ulyanovsk remembers these events. In 1927, a monument was erected to the fallen Red Army soldiers, in 1968 - to the head of the unit. The city has a street named after the Iron Division and Guy Avenue.
On the fronts of the Civil War
The combat path of the 24th Infantry Division went further along many fronts of the Civil War. As part of the Turkestan army, she took part in battles with white Cossacks near Orenburg, in successful offensive operations in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. Then the unit was transferred to the western direction, where it participated in the Polish War (Polish-Bolshevik war in the terminology of modern Poland), which ended with the division of Ukraine and Belarus.
At this time, the division was part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Crimea (the so-called army of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). The unit was commanded by the chief M. Muretov. In 1920, Samarskaya was added to the name, and since 1924 Zheleznaya also became the 24th Samara-Ulyanovsk Infantry Division (in connection with the renaming of the city of Simbirsk to Ulyanovsk).
Finnish war
In 1937, in connection with the aggravation of the situation in the north-west of the country, the division was redeployed from the Kiev Military District to Leningradsky. In the Finnish War of 1939-1940, the personnel distinguished themselves in breaking the famous Mannerheim line on the Karelian Isthmus. The fighting was heavy, the Soviet army after a massive artillery shelling managed to inflict significant damage on the Finnish troops, which eventually retreated to a depth of 2 to 10 miles.
The Iron Division participated in Estonia’s accession after an ultimatum was presented by the Soviet government, which required the immediate introduction of additional Red Army units.
At the beginning of World War II
By the beginning of the war, the Iron Division was in Molodechno (Minsk region). According to plans, in the event of war, the unit was supposed to arrive in the Grodno region within five days to enter the 4th Rifle Corps. However, the battle with the German troops had to enter already on the third day near the town of Lida in the west of Belarus. The division held its positions until June 29, fell into the environment from which it emerged in the Mogilev region with relatively small losses, after which the remnants of other units were included in it. With fierce battles, she retreated in the direction of Chernigov and further to Lubny.
In September 1941, the unit fell into a German boiler, was divided into several isolated parts and destroyed. The history of the Iron Division (first formation) officially ended on December 27, 1941, when the unit was disbanded.
Second birth
In the winter of 1941, the 24th Infantry Division (2nd formation) was formed in the Vologda Oblast, which participated in many battles and offensive operations of the Soviet Army, ending the war on May 9, 1945 with the liberation of the city of Letovice, about 100 km from the Czech capital. The combined platoon of the Iron Division took part in the Victory Parade under the banner of the unit, which in 1941 was retired by collective farmer D. Tyapin during retreat along with senior political instructor A. V. Barbashev. After liberation, the banner was found, restored and in 1944 returned to the glorified part.
After the war, a part was stationed in Lviv, now it is the 24th separate mechanized brigade. The paramilitary group participated in the armed conflict in Ukraine. In Samara, Ulyanovsk and many other cities of the former Soviet Union, they remember the exploits of the illustrious division.