page_title: 21st Rifle Division
section_title: Russian Civil War and Polish-Soviet War
hierarchical_section_title: 21st Rifle Division / Russian Civil War and Polish-Soviet War
context_page_description: The 21st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and then the Soviet Union's Red Army, active between 1918 and 1945.
  Formed in late 1918 during the Russian Civil War as the 5th Ural Infantry Division, the division fought on the Eastern Front. In September 1919 it was split up and two of its brigades and its headquarters transferred west. The division was reunited on the Southern Front in January, fighting in the final stages of the campaign there. In May it was transferred to fight in the Polish–Soviet War, and was one of the divisions that fought in the Battle of Radzymin during the larger Battle of Warsaw. After the Red Army was defeated by a Polish counterattack, the division retreated into Belarus. It transferred east again to suppress a peasant revolt in Western Siberia, and remained there until 1929, when it transferred to the Soviet Far East to fight in the Sino-Soviet conflict of that year. After Operation Barbarossa began on June 22, 1941, the division was sent west in September and fought in the Continuation War against Finland in Karelia.
context_section_description: The 5th Ural Infantry Division was organised during the Russian Civil War on September 3, 1918, out of several smaller partisan detachments in Birsky Uyezd of Perm Governorate. Soon it was reinforced with a single artillery battery from Sankt Petersburg and two Workers' Brigades from the Arkhangelsk Front. The division fought in the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War against the White Army led by Alexander Kolchak. It was part of the 3rd Army and fought in battles around Osa during the defence of Perm from November 29 to January 6, 1919. Transferred to the 2nd Army in January, it defended the Kama area in battles on the Kungur direction in the Osa area from January to March. During the Spring Offensive of the Russian Army between March and May, the division retreated to the line of the Kama River and the Vyatka River. On March 19 it was renamed the 21st Rifle Division. When the Red counteroffensive began in May, the division fought in the Sarapul–Votkinsk Operation between May 25 and June 12, advancing towards Izhevsk and Votkinsk and reaching the mouth of the Vala River. It then fought in the Perm Offensive between June 21 and July 1, crossing the Kama, Osa, and Iren Rivers and capturing the cities of Osa, Okhansk, and Kungur.
  In July, the division was transferred back to the 3rd Army. It fought in the Yekaterinburg Operation between July 5 and July 20, capturing the Sylva factory and the Utkinsk railway junction. In the Chelyabinsk Operation from July 17 to August 4, the division flanked the White Army in the direction of Nizhne-Petropavlovskoye and Peschanskoye. In September the division was split up, with its 1st Brigade sent to the 9th Army on the Southern Front, its 2nd Brigade remaining on the Eastern Front with the 5th Army, and its 3rd Brigade sent to the 15th Army on the Western Front. Between August 20 and November 4, the 2nd Brigade, under the operational control of the 26th Rifle Division, fought in the Petropavlovsk Operation, capturing Petropavlovsk. It continued the advance, fighting in the Omsk Operation, the attack on Omsk, between November 4 and 16. It was transferred west to the 9th Army in November.
  The 1st and 3rd Brigades completed their journeys across Russia by October, when they re-entered combat. Between November 20 and December 9, the 1st Brigade fought in the Khopyor–Don Operation against the Armed Forces of South Russia, advancing from the Berezovka area to the Don at its tributaries of Boguchar and Rossosh. Meanwhile, the 3rd Brigade defended Petrograd from October to December against the Northwestern Army. As part of the 9th Army, the division headquarters fought against the Armed Forces of South Russia in the areas of Borisoglebsk, Novokhopyorsk, Kalach, and Boguchar in October and November. Between January 3 and 10, 1920, the 21st advanced to Novocherkassk in the Rostov–Novocherkassk Operation. From January 17 to February 6, it fought in the Don–Manych Operation, crossing the Manych River and capturing the surrounding area. The division continued the advance into the North Caucasus, fighting in the Tikhoretsk Operation between February 14 and March 2. From 3 to 27 March, the division fought in the Kuban–Novorossiysk Offensive, advancing from the Kagalnitskaya area to Yekaterinodar.
  In May, the division was transferred to the Western Front to fight in the Polish–Soviet War, joining the 16th Army. It fought in the Western Front counterattack against the Polish Kiev Offensive, the May Offensive, between May 14 and June 8. The 21st participated in a diversionary attack towards Minsk and in fighting near Borisov. Later in June, it was transferred to the 3rd Army. Ivan Smolin took command of the division on 2 July. Between July 4 and 23, the division fought in the July Offensive, during which it attacked Dokshitsy, pursued retreating Polish troops along the Wilno–Warsaw railway line, and captured Volkovysk and Lida. During the Battle of Warsaw from July 23 to August 25, the 21st captured Grodno and Bialystok, but was ultimately defeated in the Battle of Radzymin and annihilated in the foll
caption: Battle of Warsaw positions on August 14