1st Regiment of the 4th Division of the People’s Militia of the Kuibyshevskiy District of Moscow was Formed in This Building in 1941
The 4th Moscow Rifle Division of the People’s Militia of the Kuibyshevskiy district was formed from July 2 to July 6, 1941 in the Kuibyshevskiy district of Moscow, replenished by the militia from the Lopasnya, Shchelkovo and Yegoryevsk districts of the Moscow region. The division was assigned the 2nd combat section, the Western Group of Troops for the Defence of Moscow, the 1st Brigade of Moscow Workers. The initial formation of the division took place directly in Moscow from July 5 to July 12, 1941. The place of formation was determined by school № 310, located at the corner of Malo-Kozlovsky and Kharitonevskiy lanes at the address: 6, Maliy Kozlovskiy Lane (school № 1621 is now located in this place). The fighters of this division were employees of the People’s Commissariat of Trade, the People’s Commissariat of Finance, the People’s Commissariat of Light Industry, the State Planning Committee of the RSFSR, the Central Union, the Moskovskiy Bolshevik editorial office and publishing house, workers of the Krasnaya Sveya sewing factory and other enterprises of the district. 60% of the division’s personnel were Communists. The 1st regiment was stationed in Sverchkov Lane at school № 313, the 2nd regiment – in Armenian Lane, the 4th regiment – at school № 644 and the 3rd regiment – in Lobkovskiy Lane at school № 311. The militiamen, who arrived from the Moscow region, were placed in school № 613 in Kharitonevsky Lane. The division was initially attached to the 24th Reserve Army. It was tasked with the construction of the Rzhev-Vyazma defensive line. The division’s fighters created powerful fortifications in the areas of Novodugino, Sychevka, Andreevskoye stations in the Smolensk region, which became strongholds of Soviet resistance. In early August 1941, the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU presented the division with the Red Banner. On September 1, 1941, the division received a substantial replenishment and became part of the 49th Army. From September 10, 1941, the division as part of the 31st Army took up defence at Lake Seliger and held its line for a month. Fighting off the Germans’ attempts to cross to the eastern shore of the lake in some places, the militiamen were boldly engaged in battle and inflicted damage to the enemy. They firmly covered the junction between the troops of the Western and North-Western fronts. From September 12, 1941 the division was marched to the area north of Lake Seliger and on September 14, 1941, occupied an independent defence site at the Sukhaya Niva – Rogi – Moshenka – Lom line, receiving the order from the command of the 31st Army to prevent the enemy from crossing to the eastern shore of Lake Seliger. On September 26, the division was renamed the 110th Rifle Division. It was part of the active army from July 24 to September 26, 1941.
Address: Moscow, Sverchkov lane, 5
