24th Motor Rifle Division The 24th Samaro - Ulyanovsk Division was a rifle , then a motor - rifle division of the Red Army of the USSR . It is now a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces , based at Yavoriv in the west of Ukraine . The full name of the division was 24th Samaro - Ulyanovsk Motor - Rifle Berdychivska , Iron , Awards of October Revolution , three times Red Banner , Suvorov ' s , Bogdan Khmelnytsky division . History . Formation and Early Wars . The division was formed on the order of the Revolutionary Military Council on July 26 , 1918 from voluntary groups under the name 1st Simbirsk Infantry Division . In November 1918 it was renamed as the 24th Simbirsk Rifle Division . It actively participated in the Russian Civil War in the Volga region , in the Southern Urals Mountains , and in Polissya and Volhynia . At this time one of its regimental commanders was a future Army General Maksim Purkayev . In 1922 it was renamed as the 24th Samaro - Simbirsk Iron Rifle Division . In 1924 it was again renamed as the 24th Samaro - Ulyanovsk Iron Rifle Division . In 1939 - 1940 , during the Russo - Finnish War the division distinguished itself during the breaking of the Mannerheim Line on the Karelian isthmus . World War II . The division participated in fighting from the first days after the German invasion of the USSR in 1941 . The division staff showed mass heroism when the German opponents arrived in the Lidy area . It also took part in the Kiev defensive operation , and as part of the 21st Rifle Corps and 13th Army , was involved in heavy defensive fighting in Belarus . Reportedly because the division ' s banner ( unit colours ) were lost in the Minsk area it was disbanded on December 27 , 1941 . In February 1942 in the Vologda area a new 24th Rifle Division ( 2nd formation ) , with new traditions , was formed in Volgograd Oblast as part of 17th Guards Rifle Corps . During war this division was part of armies in the Western , Kalinin , Stalingrad , Don , and Southwest fronts , from April till May 1944 . The division fought at Velikiye Luki , Stalingrad , Kiev , in the Carpathians , and at Morava Ostrava . In 1945 it was part of the 18th Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front . The Division participated in Battle of Stalingrad , the Donbass offensive operation , clearing of Left - bank Ukraine , in Zhytomyr - Berdychiv , Khmelnytskyi - Chernivtsi , Lviv - Sandomierz , East - Carpathian , Western - Carpathian , Moravia - Ostrava and the Prague offensive operations . The division ' s combat path finished on June 24 , 1945 , 100 km away from Prague . The last platoon of the division participated in Parade of the Victory led by Captain Klyuyev . On July 10 , 1945 the division was disbanded , and its number given to the 294th Rifle Division which became the 24th Rifle Division ( 3rd formation ) . After the war . During the post - war period a place of a disposition of a division was the Carpathian Military District ( in area of Lviv ) . Under Ukrainian Control . After disintegration of Soviet Union the division became part of the Ukrainian Ground Forces . On April 19 , 2001 by the decree of Leonid Kuchma N 268 / 2001 , division was awarded Danylo of Halych designation . In 2003 the division was redesignated as 24th Mechanized Brigade . Loss of its Banner . At the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union , the division was disbanded , apparently following the loss of its Banner ( divisional colours ) . As it was made known later , that the instructor of the political department of the division , senior Commissar A . V . Barbashev had the Banner while the division was trying to break out of the German encirclement . Barbashev died on August 6 , 1941 near Anyutino village Cherykaw Raion Mogilev Oblast . Local farmer D . N . Tyapin later found the stained Banner on the officers corpse . He buried the body and the Banner in the local cemetery . After clearing village Anyutino by the Soviet armies the Banner was taken and directed on to restoration . On February , 20th 1944 the restored Banner of former division was handed over to 24th Rifle Division ( 2nd formation ) . For his finding of the division ' s Banner , D . N . Tyapin has been honoured by being forever listed on the rolls of the 1st company of one of the division ' s regiments . Well - known people that served with the Division . In the division served :