A new 161st Rifle Division formed from Apr. 16 to July 2, 1942, based on a cadre from 13th Rifle Brigade in the
Moscow Military District. (The 13th Rifle Brigade had been formed during Autumn, 1941 in the South Caucasus Military District). The order of battle of the new division was as follows: • 565th Rifle Regiment • 569th Rifle Regiment • 575th Rifle Regiment • 1036th Artillery Regiment • 413th Antitank Battalion • 336th Sapper Battalion • 820th Mortar Battalion (1942 only) • 467th Antiaircraft Battery • 242nd Reconnaissance Company • 925th Signal Battalion (1944-45 only) • 251st Medical Battalion A division commander was finally assigned at the beginning of July, when the division was assigned to 3rd Reserve Army in the
Reserve of the Supreme High Command. On July 10 this army became the 2nd formation of the
60th Army and joined
Voronezh Front. In August the 161st was moved to
38th Army in the same Front, and on Dec. 18 became part of 18th (Separate) Rifle Corps, which in Feb. 1943 formed the basis for the
69th Army, but within a month the division was moved to
40th Army. During these months the division was participating in the winter counteroffensive that partly surrounded and destroyed German
2nd Army, and as this ground to a halt in the spring it found itself well into what became known as the Kursk salient. In preparation for the
Battle of Kursk, 40th Army was in the first echelon of the Voronezh Front defenses, but west of
6th Guards Army, which took the brunt of the German assault, and therefore saw little action. In August the division became part of
47th Rifle Corps. During the
Battle of the Dniepr, on Sept. 23, the 161st forced a crossing of the river at Zarubentsy, becoming part of the
Bukrin Bridgehead, and 32 men were awarded the Gold Star of the
Hero of the Soviet Union. At the end of 1943 the division was moved to
18th Army, still in the same (now renamed
1st Ukrainian) Front, and in April 1944, was once again moved to that front's 38th Army. Just before the
Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive in July the 161st became part of
1st Guards Army, and it was here that it won the honorific "Stanislav" for liberating the Polish town of Stanislav during that operation. In August, 1st Guards Army was reassigned to
4th Ukrainian Front, and apart from a few weeks back again in 18th Army, the division served in that army and that front for the duration as part of
107th Rifle Corps. It ended the war with the official title of 161st Rifle, Stanislav,
Order of the Red Banner,
Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Division. (Russian: 161-я стрелковая Станиславская Краснознамённая ордена Богдана Хмельницкого дивизия.)
Postwar 24th Mechanised Division by 1955, 99th Motor Rifle Division 1957, then became 161st Motor Rifle Division in January 1965. ==161st Motor Rifle Division==