page_title: 42nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
section_title: 1st Formation
hierarchical_section_title: 42nd Rifle Division (Soviet Union) / History / 1st Formation
caption_attribution_description: English: Soviet infantry crossing the Rajajoki river in the Karelian Isthmus on November 30, 1939. Suomi: Neuvostojalkaväki ylittää Rajajokea Karjalankannaksella 30. marraskuuta 1939.
context_page_description: The 42nd Rifle Division was a unit of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. The division, first formed in 1940, was nearly destroyed in the opening days of the Operation Barbarossa defending the Brest Fortress. Disbanded in late December 1941 and immediately reformed in the Volga Military District. The division then served on the front until disbanded at the end of the war.
context_section_description: The division was formed on 17 January 1940 in the Leningrad Military District from individual infantry and construction battalions in the Karelian Fortified Region.  Kombrig Ivan Sidorovich Lazarenko was appointed as commander. In February 1940 it fought in the Winter War as part of the 7th Army's 34th Rifle Corps and on 27 February was assigned to the 10th Rifle Corps.
  In June 1940 the division was sent to Estonia as part of the 8th Army's 19th Rifle Corps, but was reassigned to the Western Special Military District to replace the 33rd Rifle Division.  In the spring of 1941 the division was ordered to the area of Brest.  As part of the 4th Army's 28th Rifle Corps, the division was tasked to defend the right wing of the Brest Fortified Region from the mouth of the river to Drohiczyn Pulva.  By early June 1941 the division was still not fully manned having about 8,000 assigned out of 14,500 authorized.
caption: Soviet infantry crossing Rajajoki 1940
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