Battle of Uman

The division makes its only appearance in the official Red Army order of battle on August 1 where it is listed as being in the reserves of Southern Front.^[6] During the following two days it de-trained at Novomyrhorod, just east of Uman, and immediately came under attack from 14th Panzer Division, which was helping to complete the encirclement of the Front's 6th and 12th Armies in the Uman Pocket. Hopelessly unprepared, the division simply fell apart; on August 5 the higher command noted that it had "failed to report" and it was officially disbanded the next day.^[7] General Filippov survived the debacle only to be arrested and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, suspended until after the war. He went on to command the 51st Rifle Division and had his sentence annulled in September 1942, after which he served in a variety of staff roles in the Caucasus region until the end of 1943 and then moved to the training establishment until he retired in 1950.

Operations on the Terek

After seizing Maykop on August 10 the 1st Panzer Army, and specifically its XXXX Panzer Corps, turned southeast toward Mozdok and the Terek on the 16th. The Northern Group seemed ill-prepared to resist the advance, being spread over a front of about 420km. 44th Army was on the right flank, defending the Terek from east of Mozdok to the Caspian Sea coast north of Makhachkala with its three rifle divisions, four rifle brigades and scant armor support. Mozdok was taken from elements of the 9th Army on August 25 but reinforcements allowed that Army to hold along the south bank of the Terek. By the following day 1st Panzer Army had come to a virtual standstill. In the first days of September the Soviet defenses were reorganized and by now the 44th Army's front along the Terek ran from northwest of Grozny to Kizlyar facing the 3rd Panzer Division and elements of LII Army Corps screening the panzer army's left flank.^[13]

The LII Corps began its thrust across the Terek in the Mozdok sector at 0200 hours on September 2 as a start to a new offensive on Grozny and Ordzhonikidze, but it was not until late on 18th that the Corps' 111th Infantry Division, backed by the 3rd Panzer, managed break through the Soviet defenses at the western end of its bridgehead. The offensive was renewed on September 25 by the 13th Panzer Division but continued to move at a slow pace. On September 29, to secure the defense of the two cities and prepare to go over to the counteroffensive the STAVKA ordered a redeployment:

To secure the defenses along the Makhachkala axis: a)[Occupy] the southern bank of the Terek River from its mouth to Nogai-Mirzy with 389th, 223rd, and 402nd Rifle Divisions and 3rd and 5th Rifle Brigades, while transferring 402nd Rifle Division from Nakhchivan to the Gudermes region...

Besides thwarting 1st Panzer's advance on the two cities, Maslennikov's stout defense of the Terek line also severely undercut German efforts to resume offensive operations at Novorossiysk and toward Tuapse. The planning for the counteroffensive took place during October 23–25 but in the event the 1st Panzer Army launched its own attack on October 25 and this planning fell into abeyance. 44th Army remained defending the south bank of the Terek from Beno-Iurt eastward and northeastward to Kizlyar. The German offensive made steady gains but was halted on the western outskirts of Ordzhonikidze on November 5.^[14]

Pursuit to Armavir

On November 10 Colonel Zyuvanov was promoted to the rank of major general. Later that month the 223rd was reassigned to 58th Army,^[15] but in December it returned to the 44th.^[16] Beginning on November 27 Maslennikov had launched his first counteroffensive against 1st Panzer Army, since the encirclement of 6th Army at Stalingrad had brought all peripheral German actions to a halt. This effort led to inconclusive fighting in which 58th Army was committed late in the operation between 9th and 44th Armies but was unable to advance. The offensive ended on December 7 and the next day Maslennikov consulted with the STAVKA and was given permission to relieve the 44th's 9th Rifle Corps with the 223rd.^[17]

Although 1st Panzer Army had held its ground during the counteroffensive it showed obvious weakness on its left wing with a reinforced 44th Army and two cavalry corps hanging over the Ishcherskaya salient north of the Terek. On December 9 the commander of 3rd Panzer Division issued orders for his forces to withdraw from the salient to a new line 15km east of Mozdok, but this line would soon be compromised when the Northern Group went over to the offensive again on December 11 and the operational situation became a free-for-all. 44th Army attacked with the 223rd, 416th, 402nd and 320th Rifle Divisions and 256th Rifle Brigade on a 28km-wide sector from the north bank of the Terek to Sherstobitov, aiming westward toward Mozdok, Shefatov, Avalov and Dovliatin. 9th Rifle Corps and the 409th Rifle Division were in second echelon and each first echelon division had a tank unit or subunit in support. The force faced 3rd Panzer, a regiment of the 111th Infantry, three locally-recruited volunteer battalions and a Cossack cavalry regiment. From December 12-16 the 223rd advanced up to 15km from Galiugaevskaya Station to the northern and eastern approaches to Stoderevskaya, 14-17km east of Mozdok; however, the 409th and 320th Divisions on its right managed to gain 5km at most. On December 17 Maslennikov issued new orders to deploy the three divisions on a 17km-wide sector from the Terek to east of Avalov, while the Army's remaining divisions took over as its main shock group.^[18]

This regrouping was quite extensive and did not produce the expected results. The division became involved in heavy fighting, with the support of the 2nd Tank Brigade, the 249th and 488th Tank Battalions, and the 347th Rifle Division, in advancing westward along the Ishcherskaya–Mozdok railway. It gained roughly 12km and captured Stoderevskii Station before losing about half of this ground to counterattacks by Battlegroup Pape (394th Panzergrenadier Battalion) on December 23. In excusing the uneven performance of 44th Army Maslennikov blamed the poor quality of the Azerbaijani soldiers of the 223rd, 409th and 416th Divisions; the STAVKA rejected this, countering:

... these forces are combat ready and, with strengthened attention and combat work with them, can increase the combat readiness... in a short period. However, neither the [G]roup's military council nor the 44th Army developed serious work on military training and education. On the contrary, these units were groundlessly defamed as cowardly and unsuitable for offensive operations. We demand that the Northern Group command and 44th Army immediately liquidate these intolerable relations with these divisions and not turn them into scapegoats covering up poor leadership...

Despite the success of Battlegroup Pape the German Army Group A had already begun a limited withdrawal on December 21. This was preliminary to Hitler's decision on December 28 to withdraw the Group by stages to a shortened line from Mostovskoy to Armavir east of Salsk.^[19]

The above discussion was part of the overall planning process for the pursuit of the retreating German and Romanian forces. As part of these plans the 223rd, along with the 320th, 409th and 77th Rifle Division were transferred to 58th Army, which was to pursue in the general direction of Prokhladny and Georgiyevsk. This movement began on January 4, 1943, and gained 15-20km on the Mozdok and Nalchik axes on the first day. In a report on the morning of January 8 the 223rd was said to be on the march to Soldatskaya and Novo-Pavlovskaya. The next day it fought on the eastern outskirts of Urukhskaya with part of its forces while the remainder concentrated in the Staro-Marinskii and Zolskii Station region. On January 10 the division captured Urukhskaya on its own initiative before occupying Georgiyevsk by 1730 hours and digging in. The following day it received orders, along with the rest of 58th Army, to reach Mineralnye Vody and Zheleznovodsk by the end of January 12. The former place was already under attack by Tank Group Filippov.^[20]

After advancing roughly 150km northwestward in 11 days the Northern Group's forces tried hard to accelerate their advance on January 12 in order to reach Stavropol (100km distant) and Tikhoretsk (250km distant) as quickly as possible, but this proved very difficult to carry out. In an order issued late on January 13 the 223rd was provisionally reassigned to 44th Army but this was not implemented and it soon came under command of 37th Army.^[21] While this was sorted out the division concentrated an area roughly 15km east of Mineralnye Vody. During January 16 it was on the march from that place toward the Kuban River; a further report on January 19 stated it was on the march to the Cherkessk region and came under orders to continue the offensive toward Otradnoe and Armavir as part of 37th Army. During January 21 the division concentrated in Ikon-Khalk, 15km northwest of Cherkessk, while the Northern Group gained as much as 45km and occupied Stavropol. Overnight 1st Panzer Army withdrew to the eastern outskirts of Armavir and that city was occupied by 11th Guards Rifle Corps on January 23.^[22]

Pursuit to Tikhoretsk

On January 24 the Northern Group of Forces was redesignated as the North Caucasus Front, still under command of General Maslennikov. The next day the 223rd took up a defensive line in the Novo-Ukrainskii area. On January 26 the advance resumed with the 37th and 9th Armies converging on Kropotkin and the 223rd reached to within 60km of that place while continuing to protect the Front's left flank. It remained in these positions on the 27th while detachments fought for Temirgoevskaya. It held off a counterattack by up to a battalion of Axis infantry on January 29 before capturing that place and advancing on Sukhoi Kut. As this counterattack indicated, the pace of the advance was beginning to slow. A report from January 30 stated the division had taken Novo-Labinskaya and was developing its advance toward Ust-Labinskaya and on the same day Tikhoretsk was taken by forces of 58th Army. By now the Front was approaching the Taman Peninsula, Krasnodar, and the Gotenkopfstellung fortified line that Army Group A had already prepared. On February 2 the 223rd was located on the eastern outskirts of Voronezhskaya on the Kuban some 50km east of Krasnodar. At this point the pursuit ended as most of 1st Panzer Army withdrew through the positions of 4th Panzer Army south of Rostov-na-Donu and 17th Army dug in at the Gotenkopfstellung.^[23]

Battle of the Dniepr

On November 13 the Front gained small bridgeheads on both sides of Cherkassy and quickly expanded the northern one until it threatened to engulf the city and tear open the front of the German 8th Army.^[29] Later in November the 223rd was shifted to 49th Rifle Corps, still in 7th Guards Army.^[30] Through most of December and into January 1944 the Front was generally engaged in attrition battles. 49th Corps was moved in December to 57th Army, still in 2nd Ukrainian Front;^[31] the division would remain in this Army for most of the rest of the year.^[32] At the start of the Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive on January 30 the 57th Army was located north-northeast of Kryvyi Rih facing the LVII Panzer Corps but played a secondary role in this operation which lasted until the end of February.^[33] During its course the Army was transferred to 3rd Ukrainian Front.^[34]

First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive

General Sukhanov left the division on March 10; within a few months he would take command of the 118th Rifle Division and would lead it into the postwar. He was replaced by Col. Pyotr Mikhailovich Tatarchevskii who had briefly led the 77th Rifle Division as a lieutenant colonel in January 1943.^[35] On March 26 the Front began a new offensive in the southern sector of western Ukraine. While its left-wing armies struck in the direction of Odessa, the 57th, 37th and 46th Armies on its right wing advanced toward the Dniestr River and the border with Romania.^[36] In January the 223rd had been reassigned to 68th Rifle Corps before being moved again in February to 64th Rifle Corps,^[37] but by the beginning of April it had returned to 68th Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. N. N. Multan; this Corps also contained the 93rd and 113th Rifle Divisions.^[38]

By early on April 11 the three Armies were pursuing disorganized German forces on the approaches to the east bank of the Dniestr, intending to force the river between April 18-20. During the day the 57th Army covered about 18km with the 68th Corps deployed on the right wing, passing through Velykokomarivka toward Butor, 5km south of Tașlîc. The Front commander, Army Gen. R. Ya. Malinovskii, had assigned 57th Army a 20km-wide sector of the Dniestr from Butor south to opposite Varnița. On this sector the river made a wide U-shaped bend to the west with Butor and Crasnogorca on either side of its entrance. German forces were defending this "bottleneck" as well as the west bank south of Crasnogorca. The terrain on the east bank was generally low, flat and free of obstacles; the west bank was similar north and south of the bend but then rose to about 125m height about 3km from the riverbank and much closer directly west of the bend in the vicinity of the village of Talița. 68th Corps arrived at the east bank at midday on April 12 and the 93rd immediately began crossing with improvised means near Butor after overcoming weak outposts of the German 320th Infantry Division near Șerpeni. By day's end the 93rd held a small but relatively secure foothold on the west bank, while the 113th continued crossing to expand and strengthen it. However, the 223rd failed in its attempt south of Crasnogorca. The Army's 64th and 9th Rifle Corps to the south also failed to gain more than minor footholds over the Dniestr. By April 14 it was clear that Malinovskii's objectives would not be met and he ordered the Army to go over to the defense.^[39]

Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive

Over the next four months the 57th Army was shifted south, taking up positions north and south of Tiraspol. In the planning for the offensive that was to drive Romania out of the Axis in August it was assigned a 14km-wide attack zone and a 4km sector for launching its main attack, facing elements of the German XXX Army Corps. The main attack sector was centered on the village of Chircăiești on the west bank and the Army was deployed with the 68th Corps, comprising the same divisions as in April, in first echelon. It was tasked to break through the German defense along a sector from the southern part of Hagimus to an unnamed lake 1000m north of Chircăiești, to develop the offensive toward the flanks, and by the end of the day capture the line Gîsca–Tănătari–Ursoaia–Kaushan station. Following this it was to launch an attack on Zolotyanka. The Corps was deployed with the 93rd near Hagimus and the 113th on the Chircăiești sector; following the breakthrough the 223rd would exploit in the direction of Tănătari. The 9th Corps would be committed on the second day and by the following day the two Corps were to reach the Balmaz area. 64th Corps was the Army's third echelon and reserve.^[40]

The offensive began on August 20 but 57th Army's and 68th Corps' initial progress was not as great as planned. By 1100 hours the 93rd and 113th had captured the first trench and the railroad bed between Hagimus and Lake Botno and had begun to very slowly develop the attack toward the flanks. The German 15th Infantry Division put up stubborn resistance, forcing the commitment of the 223rd in the center at 2000 hours, but it made insignificant progress. During the day the Corps had penetrated 3-4km into the depth of the German defense and widened the base of the wedge up to 8km, but had failed to carry out its assigned mission. On August 21 the 68th Corps was still being held up by the 15th Infantry and the left flank of the 257th Infantry Division. It attacked three times but each time encountered effective resistance both by fire and counterattacks and only began to advance at 1920 hours following an artillery and aviation preparation, gaining ground in the center and eventually reaching Kaushan station. During the following day the Corps repulsed up to 15 counterattacks and by evening the 223rd had seized the paved road from Bender to Kaushan station, while the 93rd took Hagimus and the 113th began fighting for Tănătari. Meanwhile the 9th Corps, backed by tanks and self-propelled artillery, was committed along the Ursoaia–Kaushan station sector and captured both strongpoints.^[41]

Overnight on August 22/23 the German Chișinău group of forces began to retreat toward the Prut River as individual detachments of 57th Army continued fighting through the night. As early as 0200 hours the 68th Corps seized Tănătari and by 0730 the Corps' forward detachment, consisting of elements of the 93rd and 223rd, captured the town and fortress of Bender; by this time the entire Army had gone over to the attack while still facing resistance from XXX Army Corps. Later in the day the main body of the 223rd reached Batyk while its part of the forward detachment advanced to Dzhamana. Over the following days the Army pushed forward to complete the encirclement of the Chișinău group in conjunction with the 2nd Ukrainian Front from the north. On August 25 the division captured Kotovskoye at 1100 hours, which created a favorable situation to split the German forces that were sheltering in the forests south of that place and Molești. At 1500 the Army's forces began to carry out this plan. 68th Corps launched an attack in the direction of Sărata-Galbenă and captured Mereșeni, nearly completing the split. During the day the Army inflicted heavy casualties on the encircled remnants of seven German divisions. On August 26 German resistance was effectively collapsing as the Army pressed north to link up with 37th Army and the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps, and General Malinovskii delivered a surrender ultimatum to the trapped grouping. The next day it was effectively eliminated and 57th Army began pressing toward the Romanian border.^[42]

Hungarian operations

As the main forces of the front pushed north to help complete the encirclement of Budapest in the first week of December the 68th Corps began concentrating to force a crossing of the Danube at Vukovar in conjunction with the Danube Flotilla; on December 8 the head of the division's column passed through Ilača. Before this could be attempted priorities were changed and the Corps was pulled into the Front reserves on December 17/18, turning over its combat sector to Bulgarian 1st Army prior to concentrating in the Bonyhád–Szálka area by December 24 prior to reinforcing the 4th Guards Army near Budapest.^[46]

Budapest was surrounded by December 26 and during December 30 and 31 the 68th Corps, in conjunction with 20th Guards Rifle Corps, cleared Axis forces out of the southern part of the Vértes Hegyseg Mountains and arrived on their western slopes along a line from Rigo to Környe to Oroszlány–Pusztavám. On January 1, 1945, the German Army Group South began relief operations which continued for most of the month. The main forces of both 4th Guards and 57th Armies were allocated to the external encirclement front. The relief efforts, collectively known as Operation Konrad, were led by the IV SS Panzer Corps. The 223rd was deployed on the 4th Guards' right flank with two rifle regiments in the first echelon and the third in reserve in the Majk–Oroszlány area. This was outside the main attack axis and the division saw little combat during this first counteroffensive, which ended on January 6.^[47]

Operation Konrad II began the next day and struck the 20th Guards Corps from Pusztavám to Moha, adjacent to 68th Corps' sector from Szár station to Pusztavám. Following an artillery preparation the assault started at 0920 hours and the 4th Guards Army commander, Army Gen. G. F. Zakharov, immediately began manoeuvring his limited reserves, particularly artillery, in response. This counteroffensive was halted by January 12 in the Pilisszentkereszt area. Konrad III was launched on January 18 and during its course the 223rd was transferred to 46th Army, then on January 22 back to 4th Guards Army where it came under command of 21st Guards Rifle Corps and was ordered to help organize a defense along a line from Tallian to west of Csala to Kisfalud station to Pákozd. The Axis attack finally ran out of steam on January 27.^[48] As of February 1 the division had returned to 20th Guards Corps, still in 4th Guards Army.^[49] Budapest fell on February 13.

Into Austria and Czechoslovakia

When March began the 223rd was back in 68th Corps, which was now part of 46th Army in 2nd Ukrainian Front.^[50] Following the German "Spring Awakening" offensive in early March the Soviet forces in Hungary went over to the counteroffensive on the 16th. During the advance toward Austria the division broke through part of the German defense of the Transdanubian Mountains and helped capture the towns of Tata, Esztergom and others, for which it would be awarded the Order of the Red Banner on April 26.^[51] Later during March it was reassigned yet again, now to the 23rd Rifle Corps in the same Army.^[52] It was under these commands on April 13 when the 1037th Rifle Regiment (Lt. Col. Tsarev, Dmitrii Yakovlevich) was awarded the battle honor "Vienna" for its part in the capture of the Austrian capital.^[53] Later in the month it was moved to the Army's 75th Rifle Corps and it ended the war under these commands, advancing into Czechoslovakia.^[54]