The division started forming for the first time on July 25, 1941, in the Transcaucasus Military District. at
Baku. Its basic order of battle was as follows: • 571st Rifle Regiment • 606th Rifle Regiment • 761st Rifle Regiment • 773rd Artillery Regiment Col. Ivan Vladimirovich Seredkin was appointed to command on the day it began forming; he would remain in command until December 29. Many of the men were
Azerbaijanis, and about 30 percent were regular troops (22-24 years old) while the rest were reservists (25-37 years old). The division remained in the Caucasus, well away from the fighting, until October, when it was assigned to the
56th Army, then forming south of
Rostov-na-Donu. In this army it took part in the counteroffensive that drove
Army Group South out of that city. During this fighting, the junior political officer (
politruk) of the regimental battery of the 606th Rifle Regiment, Sergey Vasilevich Vavilov, distinguished himself while directing the fire of the battery's
76mm guns, knocking out 22 German armored vehicles and earning a posthumous award as a
Hero of the Soviet Union In December the division was transferred to
9th Army, in
Southern Front. At the end of the month Colonel Seredkin was replaced by Col. Yakov Mikhailovich Semizorov. The division took part in the winter counter-offensive which led to the creation of the
Izium salient south of
Kharkov. In February, the 317th was reassigned to
Lt. Gen. Podlas's 57th Army, still in Southern Front and still deep inside the salient. On March 3 the command was handed over to Col. Dmitrii Pavlovich Yakovlev. He would hold this position for the rest of the 1st Formation.
Second Battle of Kharkov When
Southwestern Front launched its offensive on Kharkov on May 11, Southern Front's forces were not directly involved, but the salient was the staging ground from which Southwestern Front was launching its attack to the north. 57th Army was holding a front of 80km with four divisions, including the 317th, in the first line with
14th Guards Rifle Division in reserve. The divisions averaged a strength of 6,000 to 7,000 men. The 317th was in the right-center sector of the Army's front between
150th and
99th Rifle Divisions and mostly facing the German
298th Infantry Division. Over the coming days
Army Group South staged a buildup of forces south of the salient, and on May 17, 9th Army (due east of the division) came under attack from the German
III Motorized and
XXXXIV Army Corps. On the first day of the German counteroffensive, 9th Army's front was deeply penetrated. Units on the right flank and in the center of 57th Army remained in their positions, while at the boundary with 9th Army the
351st Rifle Division turned its flank to the north as withdrawing subunits of 9th Army's
341st Rifle Division defended its left flank. A breach 20km wide had been torn in the defenses between the two armies. The next day, Podlas was killed in action, and his army became leaderless during this crisis. As late as the 19th the 317th still held its initial line while the battle raged many kilometres to the east. It was then that the Soviet high command grasped reality and ordered the remaining divisions of the 57th Army to reverse front and begin moving back towards Lozovaia. This was underway on the 20th and 21st, and while the 317th managed to escape the immediate threat near that town, it made little difference because the large salient had been encircled and was firmly cordoned off by the 23rd. The division reached the western face of this cordon in reasonable shape on May 24 and formed a shock group with the 150th and
393rd Rifle Divisions, plus the remnants of two cavalry divisions and several tank units: By these means the division was able to filter some men out of the pocket, but the division's command staff and organization disintegrated in the process, and on the 30th the unit was officially disbanded. == 2nd Formation ==