58th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)


The 58th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Red Army formed during the interwar period. Its second formation during World War II gained the Oder honorific.

History

The 58th Rifle Division, as it was first known, was formed in 1932 as a result of Mikhail Tukhachevsky's army reforms which established a number of new divisions. Its first recorded commander and commissar was Vasily Polyakov, who took the position in April 1932. Polyakov transferred to command the 96th Rifle Division in December 1933, and was replaced by assistant division commander Grigory Kaptsevich. During the 1935 Kiev Military District maneuvers, the division took on the role of an airborne division as a demonstration as the Red Army did not yet include airborne divisions. Kaptsevich was arrested during the Great Purge on 13 August 1937 and ultimately executed.
The division was headquartered at Cherkasy as part of the Kiev Military District where it remained at peacetime strength until January 1941 when it was re-formed as the 58th Mountain Rifle Division.

Organization on Formation

The division was first formed in 1932 as the 58th Rifle Division. In Cherkasy the division had the following structure:
Organization of the division before it was destroyed during the Uman pocket:
The division had a number of divisional commanders, including:
The division was transferred between commands many times, including the following: