The division was formed three times, being initially established at
Vyazma in September 1939. As part of the 3rd Army's 3rd Rifle Corps, the division took part in the Soviet Invasion of Poland. Force Composition • 469th Rifle Regiment • 674th Rifle Regiment • 756th Rifle Regiment • 328th Light Artillery Regiment • 418th Howitzer Regiment Operating as part of the
9th Army on 22 June 1941, then, after the
Second Battle of Kharkov, was wiped out at
Izyum in May 1942.
2nd Formation The division was reformed at Turga in the
Siberian Military District on July 23, 1942, based on the 1st Siberian Volunteer Division. The unit was made up of over 10,000 men from Siberian factories and the
Kuzbass coal fields and had a cadre of 1,460 combat veterans. By September 1 it had enlisted 13,754 personnel, 43.8 percent of whom were
Communist Party members or
Komsomols. Within two weeks it was assigned to the
6th "Siberian Volunteer" Rifle Corps and began moving by rail to camps near Moscow where it received the last of its support troops and transport. On September 30, the 150th set out on a 170km road march to join the
22nd Army near
Belyi, part of the
Kalinin Front. During the Second Rzhev-Sychevka Offensive (
Operation Mars) the 150th Division and the 6th Rifle Corps were referred to as "Stalin" units and were regarded as an elite force. On January 6, 1943, the division was pulled from the line and moved by rail to the
Velikiye Luki area, where it served in the
5th Guards Rifle Corps during the last few days of
the battle for that city, then on the 25th staged an assault crossing of the
Lovat and
Loknya Rivers. By the middle of February it was back in 6th Corps in 22nd Army. Over the next two months it fought in the
Kholm area, pinning down the German forces evacuating from the
Demyansk Pocket. On April 16 the Supreme High Command recognized the service of the 6th "Siberian Volunteer" Rifle Corps by re-designating it as the
19th Guards Rifle Corps, and three days later the 150th became the second formation of the
22nd Guards Rifle Division.
3rd Formation 2nd class, 'Idritskaya' Division, 79th Rifle Corps, 3rd Shock Army,
1st Belorussian Front." It was then re-created for the third time in September 1943. When formed for the third time, it was composed of the 127th, 144th, and 151st brigades. Initially, this division fell under the command of the
34th Army. But during some time in early 1944, it was transferred to the 6th Guards Army, and then finally it was assigned to the
79th Rifle Corps of the
3rd Shock Army, of the
1st Belorussian Front, under which it would stay on the offensive all the way from
Nevel,
Pskov Oblast to
Berlin. On April 22, 1945, when victory for the Soviet Army was near, an order from the Military Council of the
3rd Shock Army designated the 150th Division to be one of 9 divisions to receive a
special banner solely for the purpose of raising it over the
Reichstag as a sign of the Soviet victory. After crossing the Moltke Bridge on the
River Spree on April 29, the 756th and 674th Rifle Regiments of the 150th Division captured the Interior Ministry Building, stormed the barriers in the
Königsplatz and on the 30th, breached the Reichstag. The victory banner was hoisted on the roof at 10:30 in the evening, but there was no chance to take a picture. By 2 May, the Germans defending the building were defeated and the
Charlottenburger Chaussee to the south became the border between elements of the 3rd Shock Army and 8th Guards Army.
Red Army photographer Yevgeny Khaldei then photographed soldiers of the 756th Rifle Regiment hoisting the
national flag of the Soviet Union on the roof of the Reichstag, becoming
one of the most iconic images of the war. On April 26, 1945, for its earlier heroic overnight victory at lake
Woświn east of
Stargard, 150th Rifle Division was awarded the
Order of Kutuzov, second degree. In December 1946 the division was disbanded in the
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. 15 personnel were awarded the Gold Star Medal as Heroes of the Soviet Union, while a veteran of the unit was given the Gold Star Medal as a
Hero of Ukraine in 2005. ==Reactivation (2016)==