40th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division (Soviet Union)

40th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division
Active	June 1943–1940s
Country	Soviet Union
Branch	Red Army
Type	Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Engagements	World War II Svir-Petrozavodsk Offensive Petsamo-Kirkenes Offensive
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner
Battle honours	Pechenga

The 40th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division was an anti-aircraft artillery division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. Formed in the Volga Military District in June 1943, the division was sent into combat a year later with the 7th Army, fighting in the Svir-Petrozavodsk Offensive. The division then transferred to the 14th Army in October, and fought in the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive. After the end of the offensive the division served with the army in northern Norway until the end of the war. The division was disbanded postwar.

History

The division was formed after 1 June 1943 and before or on 1 July 1943 in the Volga Military District. It included the 1407th, 1411th, 1415th, and the 1527th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments.^[1]

The division fought in combat from 12 June 1944.^[2] Before 1 July 1944, the division became part of the 7th Army.^[3] The division fought in the Svir-Petrozavodsk Offensive from late June.^[4] On 1 October 1944 the division was part of the 14th Army.^[5] The division fought in the Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive in October. The division fought in the capture of Petsamo on 15 October and was awarded the honorific "Pechenga" for its actions. At the time Colonel Ivan Vasilievich Khramov commanded the division. The division then fought in the capture of Kirkenes, and its 1411th Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Stavoverov, was awarded the honorific "Kirkenes".^[6] After the capture of Petsamo and Kirkenes the combat role of the 14th Army was finished and it advanced into Norway.^[7] The division served with the army until the end of the war. The division was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner. The division was disbanded within several years of the war.^[8]

References

Citations

1. Combat composition of the Soviet Army, 1 July 1943
2. Perechen No. 6 Part III
3. Combat composition of the Soviet Army, 1 July 1944
4. Gareyev, ed. 2012, p. 290.
5. Combat composition of the Soviet Army, 1 October 1944
6. Освобождение городов [Liberation of the city] (in Russian). Moscow: Voenizdat. 1985. Source appears to lack page numbers.
7. Gebhardt 1990, p. 74.
8. Feskov et al 2013, p. 288.

Bibliography

• Gebhardt, James F. (1990). The Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation: Soviet Breakthrough and Pursuit in the Arctic, October 1944 (PDF). Leavenworth Papers Number 17. Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College. ISSN 0195-3451.
• Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN 9785895035306.
• Gareyev, Makhmut, ed. (2012). ОСВОБОЖДЕНИЕ ТЕРРИТОРИИ СССР. 1944 ГОД [The Liberation of the USSR, 1944] (PDF). ВЕЛИКАЯ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННАЯ ВОЙНА 1941–1945 ГОДОВ [The Great Patriotic War 1941–1945] (in Russian). Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole. ISBN 9785995002864.