Units of 14th Division of the People’s Militia of the Pervomaiskiy and Taganskiy Districts of Moscow Were Formed in This Building in 1941


In this building, during the Great Patriotic War, units of the 14th Division of the People’s Militia of the Pervomaiskiy and Taganskiy districts of Moscow were formed. This division became part of the 269th Rifle Division later. The 269th Rifle Division was formed in July-August 1941 in the city of Kolomna, the Moscow region. The formation of the division was commanded by Colonel N. F. Garnich. As part of the 13th Army of the Bryansk Front, the division participated in the battles for the defence of the city of Bryansk. The division was commanded by Colonel A. E. Cheharin. The division Commissar was Mikhail Ivanovich Smirnov. The first battle was at the village of Kotovka in the Pochep district of the Bryansk region. From July 12 to August 18, 1943, on the Bryansk Front, the 269th Rifle Division participated in the Orel Strategic Offensive operation. It was the final stage of the Battle of Kursk, during which the enemy’s grouping near Orel was defeated. Since November 22, 1943 the 269th Rifle Division as part of the 3rd Army of the Belorussian Front took part in the Gomel-Rechitsa offensive operation (November 10-30, 1943), during which the 3rd Army went on the offensive north of the city of Zhlobin, liberated a large number of settlements of the Gomel region and on November 25, 1943 reached the Dnieper, covering Gomel from the north. On December 7-8, 1943, units of the division participated in the battle for the villages of Malye Borki and Uzniki of the Gomel region. Until February 1944, the division participated in defensive and offensive battles of local significance on the territory of the Gomel region. From July 5, 1944, the division pursued the remnants of the 9th and 4th armies of the Wehrmacht, which broke out of the Bobruisk and Minsk boilers. It participated in the liberation of the cities of Karelichi, Dyatlovo, Novogrudok, Volkovysk and Svisloch of the Grodno region of the BSSR. From mid-April 1945, participating in the Berlin operation, the division as part of the 1st Belorussian Front fought hard to destroy the Nazi group surrounded southeast of Berlin. On April 29, 1945, units of the division participated in repelling enemy counterattacks at the village of Klein Mole (southeast of Berlin). The 269th Rifle Rogachev Red Banner of the Order of Kutuzov Division ended the war on the Elbe on May 9, 1945.

Address: Moscow, Taganskaya str., 34, p. 1