63rd Rifle Regiment of the 21st Division of the People’s Militia of the Kievskiy District of Moscow was Formed in This Building in 1941
The 21st Moscow Rifle Division of the People’s Militia of the Kievskiy district of Moscow was formed from July 3 to July 6, 1941. The commanders were Colonel A.V. Bogdanov (July 2, 1941 – February 7, 1942), Colonel P. Ya. Titanov (February 8, 1942 – May 8, 1942), military commissar – battalion Commissar I.A. Anchishkin. Honorary name of the division was Chernigov Order of Lenin Red Banner Order of Suvorov. The division was formed in the Kievskiy district of Moscow from volunteers at school № 59 at the address: 1, Starokonyushenny Lane. The division was staffed by workers from factories and plants, such as the Dorogomilovo Chemical Plant named after M.V. Frunze, the Badaevskiy Brewery, the pencil factory named after Sacco and Vanzetti, the Moscow Refrigeration Plant. It also included employees, representatives of scientific and creative intellectuals– employees of the Institutes of Economics, World Economy and World politics, Philosophy and History of the USSR Academy of Sciences, artists and employees of the theatre named after Vakhtangov, Mosfilm Studios, teachers and university students, high school students. The main command staff of the division, its units and subunits were staffed from among the military personnel who had experience in combat operations. There were also many young commanders, graduates of military schools. On July 7, 1941, units of the division made a 40-kilometer march and they concentrated in a forest camp west of Moscow in the area of the village of Perkhushkovo and took part in the creation of the Mozhaisk line of defence. On July 24, the presentation of battle flags was organized in the camp. On August 15, the division occupied the defence strip on the Rzhev-Vyazma defensive line and became part of the 33rd Army of the Reserve Front (to the northeast from Spas-Demensk, near the village of Milyatino). At the end of September 1941, the division occupied the line southwest of Kirov (Kaluga region). On October 2, 1941, the offensive of German troops began, attacking the troops of the Western, Reserve and Bryansk fronts. The enemy occupied the Kuibyshevskiy district of the Kaluga region, railway bridges. On October 3, the division was engaged in enemy infantry and tanks. On October 5, in the morning, the enemy launched an offensive by the forces of the 17th Infantry Division, supported by 50 tanks along the Kirov-Sukhinichi railway. German tanks bypassed the rear of the division regiments, had to fight surrounded. At night, the division command, the 3rd battalion of the 1315th regiment and a small group of partisans reached the village of Kotorets. The withdrawal of the main forces of the division was provided by the 1313th regiment, which continued to hold the defence at the occupied line. About 80 km south-east of Kirov, in the area of Kholmishchi – Medyntsevo, the division command joined with the 1313th and 1315th regiments. The 1311th Regiment died on October 5. By order of the command of the Western Front, the division was withdrawn to the reserve and manned in early November. On November 4, 1941 it arrived in the Kashira area. On January 20, 1942, the 173rd Rifle Division rejoined the 50th Army of the Western Front. A memorial plaque has been erected in memory of the formation of the 63rd regiment of the 21st Division of the People’s Militia of the Kievskiy district of Moscow.
Address: Moscow, 1st Borodinskaya str., 2
