We named our re-enactment unit in honour of the 191st Rifle Division. Our goal is to study its history, the battles it fought, its weaponry and preserving its memory.
The 191st Rifle Division participated in WWII, or the Great Patriotic War (as the Soviets named it), from June 22nd until the end of the war. From the first day to the last. The division started its military operations near Narva and Kingisepp by defending the Oranienbaum Bridgehead, later on it would play a vital role in the defense of Leningrad & Tikhvin. For the liberation of Tikhvin in 1941, the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle and the prestigious “Red Banner” title. Later it participated in the toughest battles near Lubany and Sinyavino, Myasnoy Bor.
The division broke through the Leningrad Blockade in 1943 and participated in the complete removal of the Blockade in the 1944. It liberated Novgorod for which they received the honorary title of “Novgorodskaya”. As the war went on, the division fought in Narva, the Baltic states, Poland and completed the war in Germany, participating in the northern part of the Berlin Offensive. The division’s combat history was massive, and so were its losses. It had to be reformed 15 times from the casualties it sustained in intense fighting since many commanders were wounded or killed.
The division’s size ranged from 14,000 to only 119 soldiers throughout its deployment. Their contribution to the defense of Leningrad can not be understated: they held back the Nazis at Narva and Kingisepp for 33 days – the longest time anyone has ever held a position against the Nazis until that point in the war.
It not only defended, but also counter-attacked, preventing the Germans from gaining a foothold and thus exhausting and destroying some of Germany’s best assault formation in Army Group North. This gave Leningrad time to strengthen its defenses and evacuate people and factories. For the first time in the history of World War II, the German army was halted by the defenders – at the Voronka River near the village of Kernovo. At this small river, the conquerors of Europe did not advance even a single step. This spot and Oranienbaum Bridgehead became the westernmost border of the USSR.
The division was later transferred to the eastern region near Peterhof. The Germans were advancing to Peterhof which was on the way to the Gulf of Finland. By reaching the Gulf of Finland, the Germans would be able to destroy the Soviet Baltic Fleet stationed nearby in Kronstadt. Georgy Zhukov arrived near the fighting and standing on the beach in front of Kronstadt he said: “Hold out until the end! If not, the Germans will shoot the fleet with their artillery. Without the fleet, Leningrad will not be held.”
The soldiers of the 191st held their ground.
They were 14,000 strong at Narva, 9500 thousand at the Voronka River, and when they were transferred to the defense of Tikhvin – there were only a little more than a thousand left…
It was just one of the 186 divisions in the Western front of the USSR.
In Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), the Piskarevsky cemetery has this inscription: “Nobody is forgotten and nothing is forgotten.”
In the 1960’s, WWII veterans in Kernovo on the bank of the Voronka River installed a memorial stone. On it, it is written: “Here the defense was held by the 191st Rifle Division…” They, the surviving participants in the defense of Leningrad, made this monument in memory of their fallen comrades.
Those veterans are no longer with us.
We took it upon ourselves to continue the memory of those who fought, we strive to revitalize the history of the 191st Rifle Division. There is a scanned “Journal of Combat Operations” on the site under “Memory of the People”. There are memoirs of the participants. There is a book written about the 191st Rifle Division – “From Leningrad to Schwerin.” There is a site “Feat of the people”, where you can find award sheets of the soldiers in this division. There are forums that show relatives of the participants in the 191st where you can find a lot of information – burial places, funerals, letters, photos and family stories.
Join us, there is much work to do! All you need is a desire to participate.
For us, our main goal is to not forget them, to preserve their stories. By remembering, it means that the soldiers of our 191st Rifle Division, and their comrades in other divisions did not give their lives in vain.
Sergeant Major of the Reenactment Unit
of the 191st Rifle Division
Eremeev, Sergei