Units of the 6th Division of the People’s Militia of the Dzerzhinskiy District of Moscow Were Formed in 1941 in This Building in 1941
The 6th Moscow Rifle Division of the People’s Militia of the Dzerzhinskiy district was formed from July 3 to July 6, 1941. The Commander was Major General N.M. Dreyer, the military commissar was M.N. Savelyev. From September 12, 1941 it started to be named 160th Rifle Division. The honorary name of the 6th Division of the People’s Militia of the Dzerzhinskiy district of Moscow is Brest Red Banner. The 6th Division of the People’s Militia of the Dzerzhinsky district was formed in the building of the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers (MIIT) in 15, Obraztsova str. The division included students, teachers and employees of the Moscow Electromechanical Institute of Railway Transport, students, teachers and employees of MIIT, workers of the Borets Moscow compressor plant, the Stankolit iron foundry, the Moscow Plant of Hard Alloys, the Krasny Shtampovschik plant, the Nogin hosiery factory, employees of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR. In total, about 8,000 people joined the division from 170 enterprises and institutions. After the formation of the 6th division of the People’s militia of the Dzerzhinsky district, it became part of the troops of the Moscow Military District. Then the division was sent to the construction of the Mozhaisk line of defence. On July 19, 1941, the 10th Tank Division of the 46th Mechanized Corps of the enemy occupied Yelnya, and the 6th Division of the People’s Militia found itself in the combat zone. A squad of the three hundred fighters of the division, was engaged in battle with the advanced units of the enemy army. In mid-August, the 6th Division of the People’s Militia of the Dzerzhinsky district was withdrawn from the MVO and incorporated into the 24th Army under the command of Major General K.I. Rakutin. On August 20, 1941, the division’s soldiers took the military oath. The division was presented with a battle banner with the inscription «6th Division of the People’s Militia». On August 30, the 6th Division of the People’s Militia of the Dzerzhinsky district participated in the Yelnya offensive operation as part of the troops of the 24th Army. A memorial plaque has been erected in memory of the formation of the 6th Division of the People’s Militia of the Dzerzhinsky district of Moscow.
Address: Moscow, Shchepkina str., 38, p. 1
