59th Guards Motor Rifle Division
SOVIET MOTOR RIFLE DIVISION
59th Guards Rifle Division
The 59th Guards Kramatorsk Order of Red Banner, Order of Suvorov, Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Motor-Rifle Division of the Soviet Union's Red Army was initially formed near Krasnodar in March 1942 as the 197th Rifle Division (2nd formation).Poirier, Conner, pp. 339–340 On the division's formation Colonel (from 14.10.1942 major-general) M. I. Zaporozhchenko took command, who stayed with the division until February 1943. Its second commander was Major-General G. P. Karamyshev from February 1943 up to the end of the war.Чмелев А. М., «Прошла с боями», Киш., 1983.