page_title: 67th Guards Rifle Division
section_title: Battle of Kursk
hierarchical_section_title: 67th Guards Rifle Division / Battle of Kursk
caption_attribution_description: At Kursk, the Red Army committed more than a million men, more than 3,275 tanks and 25,000 guns and mortars. Soviet riflemen like these had to hold off "tank fists" and German assault infantry supported by dive-bombers and heavy artillery fire. Soviet losses at Kursk amounted to 177,847 men killed, missing or wounded.
context_page_description: The 67th Guards Rifle Division was formed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in January, 1943, based on the 1st formation of the 304th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It was officially redesignated in the 65th Army of Don Front, in recognition of that division's leading role in reducing the German 6th Army during Operation Ring, the destruction of the encircled German and Romanian forces at Stalingrad. During the following months it was substantially rebuilt while moving north during the spring of the year. The division put up a very strong defense in the Battle of Kursk, facing some of the main elements of Army Group South, and then attacked through the western Ukraine after the German defeat. Along with the rest of 6th Guards Army it moved further north to join 2nd Baltic and later 1st Baltic Front in the buildup to the summer offensive against Army Group Center, winning a battle honor and shortly after the Order of the Red Banner in the process. During the rest of 1944 it advanced through the Baltic states and ended the war near the Baltic Sea, helping to besiege Army Group Courland in 1945.
context_section_description: As of July 1 the 22nd Guards Corps had the 67th and 71st Guards deployed in the first echelon and the 90th Guards Rifle Division in second echelon. The boundary between the 67th and 71st was secured with assets of the latter including a battery of its 151st Guards Artillery Regiment, a battery of regimental guns, two batteries of 82mm mortars, 11 antitank guns, 14 antitank rifles, three heavy and nine light machine guns. The 67th Guards disposed of somewhat fewer weapons. These were located southwest and south of the village of Cherkasskoe which was roughly the boundary between the divisions although held by the 67th. A minefield and an antitank ditch barred the approaches to its forward edge. As a further part of the plan of defense Voronezh Front was committed to a counter-artillery preparation at such time it became clear that the German attack was imminent. The 67th Guards was to employ its 138th Guards Artillery Regiment, its regimental guns, and its 82mm and 120mm mortars on the approaches to Cherkasskoe. In the event this plan was preempted by forward detachments of 4th Panzer Army which attacked at 1610 hours on July 4, following bombing attacks and a 10-minute artillery preparation, with the goals of destroying the division's security outposts and seizing high ground for observation, but made only limited progress.
  Both divisions were struck at 0600 hours on the opening day of the German offensive by XXXXVIII Panzer Corps. This powerful formation included the 11th Panzer Division, Großdeutschland Panzer-Grenadier Division and the 10th Panzer Brigade, which was equipped with the first Panther tanks to enter service. The main German thrust came from the Gertsovka to Butovo area toward Korovino and Cherkasskoe with the 67th Guards facing an infantry regiment reinforced by 70 tanks and supported by 70 aircraft; this first effort was beaten off. Even before the attack began the German forces encountered serious problems due to minefields and other Soviet fixed defenses, as well as overcrowding on a very narrow attack sector. The Panthers became stuck in the minefields, blocking the tanks of Großdeutschland and forcing the infantry to go in without direct armor support. A marshy gully in front of the 196th Guards Rifle Regiment, which had been skilfully strengthened with a system of anti-tank obstacles, proved to be a difficult and time-consuming barrier. A second attack followed at 0710, this time with two infantry regiments and up to 100 tanks. Thanks to artillery fire from an antitank strongpoint which had been prepared near Cherkasskoe, as well as divisional and army artillery, this attack was also beaten back to its start line. Further attacks followed at 0800 and 1030 with no better results. Soviet observers recorded 25 tanks and up to 300 infantrymen blown up on the minefields in front of the village. By late in the morning the 27th Antitank Brigade arrived from 6th Guards Army reserve to help secure the boundary between the two Guards divisions.
  As the day wore on elements of the 3rd Panzer Division and Großdeutschland struck at the boundary between the two divisions, attempting to overrun the village strongpoints and also to outflank Cherkasskoe from the east. Successive bombing attacks cleared a path for their tanks and the infantry following; the armor advanced at low speed (no more than 5-10km/h) with frequent stops while waiting for the infantry to come up. At noon an infantry regiment supported by 30 tanks attacked from Butovo toward heights 244.5 and 237.8, finally penetrating into the 67th Guards' defense. Despite this partial success the panzers became stuck between the two villages for the rest of the day, in heavy fighting, only establishing a tenuous hold on part of Cherkasskoe by midnight, a very poor showing for what was planned to be a major breakthrough of the Soviet defenses. The Soviet engineering technical service (TOS) had played an important role in assisting the defense, accounting for up to 200 German infantry and five tanks using delayed-action mines and booby traps near height 244.5 an
caption: Soviet machine gun crew during the Battle of Kursk.
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