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The 101st Rifle Division was a formation of the Soviet Red Army initially formed as a mountain rifle division on 28 August 1938 within the 2nd Separate Red Banner Army in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city.^[1]

Initially the division included the 138th rifle regiment formed during 1938 from 292nd rifle regiment of the Pacific Ocean Fleet, which was in turn created during 1937 based on the 10th separate territorial rifle battalion of the 4th Bashkir regiment. In 1940 because of an inspection by the order of Far Eastern Front, the division was removed from the roll of first line formations. In June 1942 the division was reorganized into a field rifle division. In 1943 the HQ of the 101st division were operationally subordinated: an air division (128th mixed aviation division), Petropavlovsk Military Naval Base, border security detachment, 428th howitzer artillery regiment, 302nd separate rifle regiment, three separate artillery divizions, 5th separate rifle battalion, a number of storage facilities. From 15 January 1945 the division was included in the composition of the Northern Group of Forces of the Far Eastern Front and subordinated to the Kamchatka Defensive Rayon of the Front (Russian: Камчатский Оборонительный район (КОР) ДВФ).

In August 1945 the composition of the 101st rifle division was:

Headquarters and Staff

KAD (Commander of artillery division) (Russian: КАД (Командующего артиллерийской дивизии)) command platoon

138th rifle regiment

302nd rifle regiment

373rd rifle regiment

279th light artillery regiment

separate training rifle battalion

169th separate anti-tank destroyer battalion

119th separate sapper battalion

103rd separate signals battalion

131st separate medical and sanitary battalion

38th separate chemical protection company

70th field post office

divisional sewing repair shop

separate anti-aircraft machine gun company

13th mobile field hospital

178th divisional veterinary infirmary

9th field bakery

SMERSH counter espionage detachment

Armored train of the 19th separate cavalry squadron

For the model fulfilment of command’s assignments displaying combat mastery during the taking of islands Shumshu and Paramushir in the course of the conducting the Kurile desant operation, by edict of Presidium of the Highest Council of the USSR from 14 September 1945, declared by the order of NKO № 0164 dated 28 September 1945 the division was awarded the Order of Lenin.

The division appears to have been disbanded in 1945-46.^[2]

Commanders: Major (from 21 September 1940 brigade commander) Gorodnyanskiy Aksentiy Mikhaylovich (August 1938 - 25 October 1940); Colonel, General Major Pichugin Ivan Pavlovich (25 October 1940 - 27 June 1942); General Major Mozhaev Semyon Fedorovich (from 27 June 1942); General Major D’yakov Porfiry Ivanovich (22 September 1943 - 4 November 1945).

[edit] Sources and references

• http://samsv.narod.ru/Div/Sd/sd101/default.html