16th Rifle Division

The division was originally formed in 1918.

At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa the 16th Rifle Division (1st formation) was part of Northwestern Front's 27th Army, reporting directly to Army headquarters along with the 67th Rifle Division and 3rd Rifle Brigade.Orbat.com/Niehorster, [http://niehorster.org/012_ussr/41_oob/baltic/army_27.html 27th Army Order of Battle, 22 June 1941] It was destroyed at Mga amid the first German drive on Leningrad.

File:Lithuanian soldiers, liberated from the former Lithuanian corps of the Red Army, greeted in Vilnius, Lithuania during the June Uprising, 1941.jpg, liberated from the Lithuanian Rifle Corps of the Red Army, warmly greeted in Vilnius during the June Uprising, 1941]]

When the 16th Division was reformed after its destruction, it was named 'Lithuanian' for political purposes.

After Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia, were occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, the Lithuanian Army was reorganized into the Lithuanian People's Army and soon the Red Army's 29th Rifle Corps. At the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, Lithuanians massively deserted, killed non-Lithuanian commanders and joined the anti-Soviet June Uprising.{{Cite web |title=Литовские формирования в составе Красной армии 1940 – 1945 гг. |trans-title=Lithuanian formations in the Red Army 1940-1945 |url=https://runivers.ru/doc/d2.php?SECTION_ID=6961&PORTAL_ID=6369 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105145423/https://runivers.ru/doc/d2.php?SECTION_ID=6961&PORTAL_ID=6369 |archive-date=5 November 2014 |access-date= |website=runivers.ru |language=ru}} Out of the 16,000 soldiers of the 29th Rifle Corps, only 2,000 retreated with the Red Army. The Corps' remnants retreated to Velikiye Luki by mid-July. The corps was officially disbanded on 23 September 1941.

Despite this disaster, Lithuanian communists, including Antanas Sniečkus and Mečislovas Gedvilas, sought to establish a new Lithuanian unit. Similar national military units formed from the ethnicities of the other Baltic republics were the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps and the 130th Latvian Rifle Corps. In mid-1943, compared to the 7th and 149th Estonian (81% and 63% Estonian respectively) and 43rd Latvian Guards (38.8% Latvian) Rifle Divisions, the 'Lithuanian' division had the lowest percentage (36.5%) of the titular Baltic ethnicity.{{Cite book |last=Simon |first=Gerhard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KqbDwAAQBAJ |title=Nationalism And Policy Toward The Nationalities In The Soviet Union: From Totalitarian Dictatorship To Post-stalinist Society |date=2019-04-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-71311-8 |language=en}} The purpose of the divisions was not only military but also political as their members were important for the planned post-war Sovietization of the occupied Baltic states.{{Cite book |last=Simon |first=Gerhard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4KqbDwAAQBAJ&q=16th+Lithuanian+Division |title=Nationalism And Policy Toward The Nationalities In The Soviet Union: From Totalitarian Dictatorship To Post-stalinist Society |date=2019-04-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-71311-8 |language=en}}

The 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division was created on 18 December 1941.{{Cite book |last1=Avanzini |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nozOe8rxKusC |title=Armies of the Bear |last2=Crofoot |first2=Craig |publisher=Tiger Lily Publications LLC |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-9720296-3-6 |language=}} The decision to form it was made by the State Defense Committee, following requests by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania and the LSSR's government. It was decided that it would be formed in the Moscow Military District, in Balakhna, Gorky Oblast.{{Cite web|title=Арон Шнеер. Плен. Глава 7. 16-я Литовская дивизия|url=http://www.jewniverse.ru/RED/Shneyer/glava7kr_ar%5B2%5D.htm|access-date=2021-06-01|website=www.jewniverse.ru}} Personnel came from remnants of the 184th Rifle Division (former 29th Rifle Corps), the Lithuanians that were longtime inhabitants of Russia and any Lithuanian-speaking refugees that had fled Lithuania after the German invasion. However, out of 23,000 refugees from Lithuania, 15,000 of them were Jewish.{{Cite web|last=Iškauskas|first=Č.|date=21 June 2015|title=Nėjo į nacių legioną, bet tarnavo sovietiniame (7)|url=http://alkas.lt/2015/06/21/c-iskauskas-nejo-i-naciu-legiona-bet-tarnavo-sovietiniame/|access-date=28 August 2020|website=Alkas|language=lt}} Lithuanians born in Russia and Lithuanian-born Russians were drafted into the division, because there was insufficient numbers of Lithuanians to form a division.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/KhaosOdenslandArchiveDocstheMisanthropicMisogynist/EncyclopaediaJudaicaV.17ra-sam/page/n551/mode/2up?q=Lithuanian+Division|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica|publisher=Thomson Gale|year=2007|isbn=978-0-02-866097-4|editor-last=Skolnik|editor-first=Fred|edition=2nd|volume=17|location=United States of America|pages=550}} The officers were recruited from among the Vilnius Infantry Academy's graduates, who the Soviet government immediately evacuated following the beginning of the German invasion to Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast.

Throughout 1942, the division was being formed and trained, still located in the Moscow Military District. In December 1942, the division was made part of the Bryansk Front. Thereafter, it was part of the Central Front.

File:16th Rifle Division of the Red Army participating in fighting in the Oryol Oblast in the summer of 1943.jpg in the summer of 1943]]

Formation and training of the division came to an end by February 1943 and the division entered the war on 21 February 1943 at Alekseyevka, 50 km southeast of Oryol. This brought the division into the path of the Wehrmacht's Operation Citadel. The division fought in the Battle of Kursk, where it served with the 42nd Rifle Corps of the 48th Army, Soviet Central Front.

In the first days of the battle, the 16th Rifle Division withstood the attack of the German 383rd Infantry and 18th Panzer Divisions, that were accompanied by 120 planes.[http://www.tashv.nm.ru/BoevojSostavSA/1943/19430701.html Combat Composition of the Soviet Army] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421091838/http://tashv.nm.ru/BoevojSostavSA/1943/19430701.html |date=21 April 2008 }}, 1 July 1943 lists the 16th as part of 42nd Rifle Corps along with 202nd and 399th Rifle Divisions After suffering serious losses, the Soviet armies eventually emerged victorious. Between 20 February and 24 March 1943, the division lost 1,169 dead and 3,275 injured men.[http://www.lka.lt/download/9473/karo_archyvas.pdf Raudonosios armijos 16-oji lietuviškoji šaulių divizija: kelias nuo suformavimo iki katastrofos prie Aleksejevkos (1941-1943 m. vasaris-kovas), page 337] During this battle a private named Viktoras Jacenevičius, was wounded, taken prisoner and then tortured to death by the Germans. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}

After Oryol was captured as part of Operation Kutuzov, the division was removed from the Central Front in August–September 1943. On September 28, the division was once more part of the army and was made part of the Kalinin Front's 4th Shock Army, which soon became the 1st Baltic Front.

File:16th Rifle Division of the Red Army marching through the village of Stoniškiai, Lithuanian SSR in October 1944.jpg in October 1944]]

During Operation Bagration, the division was placed in the reserves. Along with the 3rd Belorussian Front, the 1st Baltic Front invaded Belarus and much of Lithuania. Later in June, the division was made part of the 4th Shock Army, but it was not deployed to heavy combat due to the division's political importance.{{Cite book |last=S. Dunn Jr |first=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPG3DAAAQBAJ |title=Soviet Blitzkrieg: The Battle for White Russia, 1944 |date=2008-02-12 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-1-4617-5169-4 |pages=91}} However, in July, the division was assigned as part of the second Soviet occupation of the Baltic states. On 2 August 1944, division had arrived at Šiauliai's suburbs, which was home to their commander, Vladas Karvelis. The division was stationed there for one month, and reinforced with Lithuanian forced conscripts.

In mid-August the city of Šiauliai was hit by the German Šiauliai offensive. The Wehrmacht divisions were armed with 900 armoured vehicles and artillery pieces. For three days the 16th Division stood its ground, and in the end as the German attack ran out of steam the Division emerged victorious. On 31 October the division was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for "courage and valor" in breaking through German defenses west of Šiauliai.{{Sfn|Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union|1967|p=532}}

As the Red Army occupied Lithuania a second time, conscription into the Red Army began on Lithuanian territory in August 1944. In total, 108,378 Lithuanians were conscripted in August 1944–April 1945. Thus, the number of Lithuanians in the 16th Lithuanian Rifle Division increased from 32.2% on 1 July 1944 to 68.4% on 27 April 1945. A part of the conscripted Lithuanians were made into the 50th Lithuanian Reserve Rifle Division.{{Cite book |last=Alexiev |first=Alexander R. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXakDwAAQBAJ&dq=16th+Lithuanian+Division&pg=PT52 |title=Ethnic Minorities In The Red Army: Asset Or Liability? |date=2019-04-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-71294-4 |language= |chapter=The Western Nationalities}}

On 31 January 1945, the Lithuanian division received orders to join the fight against the Germans in the Courland Pocket. The German resistance was strong and elements of Army Group Courland did not surrender to the Soviets until 8–9 May at the end of World War II in Europe.

The division was part of 22nd Guards Rifle Corps, 6th Guards Army towards the end of the war on 1 May 1945.Combat composition of the Soviet Army

After the war, many former soldiers of the division's went to Palestine.

• 156th Rifle Regiment (commander Colonel V. Lunia)
• 167th Rifle Regiment (commander Colonel Vladas Motieka)
• 249th Rifle Regiment (commander Lieutenant Colonel F.Lysenko)
• 224th Artillery Regiment (commander Major Povilas Simonaitis)
• Signal Battalion
• Field Engineer Battalion (commander Major Petras Ciunis)
• Anti-tank Battalion
• Mortar Battalion

{{See also|National military formations of the Red Army}}

File:Lithuanian SSR leadership in the 16th 'Lithuanian' Rifle Division, June 1943.jpg leadership in the 16th 'Lithuanian' Rifle Division, including Antanas Sniečkus, Vladas Karvelis, Justas Paleckis, June 1943]]

According to various sources, 50%,{{Cite book|last=Arad|first=Yitzhak|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofho0003unse/page/896/mode/2up?q=Lithuanian|title=The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust|publisher=Macmillan Publishers|year=1990|editor-last=Gutman|editor-first=Israel|editor-mask=Yitzhak Arad|volume=3|location=New York City|pages=896|isbn=9780028960906 }} up to 80%{{Cite book |last=Weinstein |first=Miriam |url=https://archive.org/details/yiddish00miri/page/182/mode/2up?q=Lithuanian+division |title=Yiddish : A Nation of Words |publisher=Ballantine Books |year=2001 |isbn=0-345-44730-1 |location=New York |pages=182}} or even 85%{{Cite book|last=Eisenberg|first=Azriel|url=https://archive.org/details/witnesstoholocau00azri/page/472/mode/2up?q=%22Lithuanian+Division%22|title=Witness to the Holocaust|publisher=The Pilgrim Press|year=1981|isbn=0-8298-0614-8|location=New York City|pages=472}} of the division was Jewish. Initially, about 45% to 50% of the division was Jewish, with the Jews making up the absolute majority in the infantry regiments.{{Cite book |last=Schaechter |first=Mordkhe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KqhkZ4_NkmwC |title=Language Planning |date=1991 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |isbn=978-90-272-2082-0 |editor-last=Marshall |editor-first=David F. |pages=260}} Thus, the division was nicknamed "The division with the sixteen Lithuanians" or the "Jewish Division". According to a veteran of the division, there was a policy of sending Jews to fight and keeping Lithuanians behind the front as the Soviet military wanted to preserve the Lithuanian character of the division.{{Cite web|last=Lipman|first=Eliezer|title=In the Lithuanian Division|url=https://keidaner.com/266in-the-lithuanian-division/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027094425/https://keidaner.com/266in-the-lithuanian-division/ |archive-date=27 October 2020 }} The Jewish author Miriam Weinstein wrote that 90% of the division's casualties were Jews. By the time the division reached Lithuania, the division was only about 20% Jewish.

As of 1 January 1943, of the 10,250 soldiers and officers of the division, 7,000 of them were ethnic Lithuanians and/or inhabitants of the Lithuanian SSR. The total ethnic make-up of the division was:

• 3720 Lithuanians (36.3%),
• 3064 Russians (29%),
• 2973 Jews (29%),
• 492 of other ethnicities (4.8%).

Although other sources cite figures of 2378 Jews (23.2%) in the division, it is still the highest number of ethnic Jews amongst all divisions of the Red Army.{{cite web|title=Литовцы стояли стеной|url=http://www.redstar.ru/2005/05/06_05/6_01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230014900/http://www.redstar.ru/2005/05/06_05/6_01.html|archive-date=30 December 2007 |access-date=1 January 2008|work=Они Освобождали Родную Прибалтику}} Jews made 13% (136 persons) of all officers in the division and 34.2% of all soldiers in the infantry regiments. 12 soldiers of a division have been awarded the title, Hero of the Soviet Union, of them, four were Jews:

• Major Volf Vilensky ({{ill|Volfas Vilenskis|ru|Виленскис, Вольфас Лейбович}})
• sergeant Kalman Shur ({{ill|Kalmanis Shuras|ru|Шурас, Калманис Маушович}})
• corporal Grigorijus Ušpolis ({{ill|Grigory Ushpolis|ru|Ушполис, Григорий Саульевич}})
• and private Borisas Cindelis ({{ill|Boris Tsindelis|ru|Цинделис, Борис Израилевич}}, posthumously).

The division's official language, commands and orders were in Russian. Yiddish was sometimes used in drill commands and less formal orders.

Following World War II, the division was made part of the Steppe Military District's 92nd Rifle Corps. In 1947, it became the 44th Rifle Brigade at Vilnius, now with the 2nd Guards Rifle Corps.Feskov et al 2013, p. 441 In December 1950, it became a division again.Feskov et al 2013, p. 149 It was disbanded on 7 July 1956.Feskov et al 2013, p. 150

{{Officeholder table start|showorder=y|showimage=y|officeholder_title=Commander|showtermlenght=y|showparty=n|showdefencebranch=n}}

{{Officeholder table|order=1|image=F.Baltushis-Zhemaitis.jpg|military_rank=Major general|officeholder=Feliksas Baltušis-Žemaitis|officeholder_sort=Baltušis-Žemaitis, Feliksas|born_year=1897|died_year=1957|term_start=3 April 1942|term_end=17 August 1943|timeinoffice={{ayd|1942|04|03|1943|08|17}}}}

{{Officeholder table|order=2|image=|military_rank=Major general|officeholder=Vladas Karvelis|officeholder_sort=Karvelis, Vladas|born_year=1901|died_year=1980|term_start=18 April 1943|term_end=7 September 1944|timeinoffice={{ayd|1943|04|18|1944|09|07}}}}

{{Officeholder table|order=3|image=|military_rank=Major general|officeholder=Adolfas Urbšas|officeholder_sort=Urbšas, Adolfas|born_year=1900|died_year=1973|term_start=8 September 1944|term_end=11 May 1945|timeinoffice={{ayd|1944|09|08|1945|05|11}}}}

{{Officeholder table end}}

• List of Soviet divisions 1917–1945
• Liudas Gira - Lithuanian poet that served in the division from 1942 to 1944.{{Cite book |last=Gitelman |first=Zvi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USW9-xQ85FwC |title=Bitter Legacy: Confronting the Holocaust in the USSR |date=1997 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-33359-9 |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite book|url=https://cloud.mail.ru/public/1336025b4bbd/%D0%A7%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C%201%20(1920-1944).pdf|title=Сборник приказов РВСР, РВС СССР, НКО и Указов Президиума Верховного Совета СССР о награждении орденами СССР частей, соединениий и учреждений ВС СССР. Часть I. 1920 - 1944 гг.|last=Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union|year=1967|location=Moscow|language=ru|trans-title=Collection of orders of the RVSR, RVS USSR and NKO on awarding orders to units, formations and establishments of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Part I. 1920–1944|access-date=30 July 2019|archive-date=27 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327003401/https://cloud.mail.ru/public/1336025b4bbd/%25D0%25A7%25D0%25B0%25D1%2581%25D1%2582%25D1%258C%25201%2520(1920-1944).pdf|url-status=dead}}
• {{Cite book|script-title=ru:Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской|last1=Feskov|first1=V.I.|last2=Golikov|first2=V.I.|last3=Kalashnikov|first3=K.A.|last4=Slugin|first4=S.A.|publisher=Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing|year=2013|isbn=9785895035306|location=Tomsk|language=ru|trans-title=The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces}}

{{Refend}}

• {{in lang|ru}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071230014900/http://www.redstar.ru/2005/05/06_05/6_01.html Они освобождали родную Прибалтику]
• {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.unn.runnet.ru/rus/volgovyt/nizhobl/istor.htm#voina Горьковская область в годы Великой Отечественной войны]
• {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.russian-bazaar.com/ru/content/1099.htm Национальные формирования в Красной Армии и в Вермахте (National units in the Red Army and the Wehrmacht)], Russian Bazaar

{{Soviet Union divisions before 1945}}

{{Soviet Union divisions 1945–1957}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:Jewish military history

Category:Military history of Lithuania during World War II

Category:Military units and formations established in 1918

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1945

Category:Military units and formations awarded the Order of the Red Banner