The 242nd Rifle Division was the lowest-numbered infantry division of the Red Army to be formed from scratch following the German invasion of the USSR. It was largely based on what would become the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of July 29, 1941 and was very quickly assigned to the new 30th Army of Western Front. Despite many shortages of equipment and specialist personnel, and a near-complete absence of formation training, the division joined the active army on July 15, thrown into the fighting near Smolensk. In late August and early September it took part on the Front's offensives toward Dukhovshchina, in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to encircle and destroy a large part of the German 9th Army. At the start of Operation Typhoon on October 2 it was defending part of the sector attacked by 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group south of Bely and was quickly overwhelmed. After fighting in encirclement for most of the rest of the month its remaining men were able to break out and reach Soviet-held territory, but the losses were to too great to justify rebuilding and the division was disbanded.
A new 242nd was formed in the first days of 1942 in the North Caucasus Military District by redesignating a 400-series division. It moved to the front in late April and soon took part in 38th Army's mostly unsuccessful efforts to rescue the Red Army forces trapped in the Izium salient. It then faced two preliminary operations of Army Group South before being encircled in the first weeks of Case Blue. Sufficient of its forces escaped that it was not disbanded, but instead were reorganized as the 242nd Mountain Rifle Division, again in the North Caucasus Military District. It was soon assigned to block the German forces on the Mount Elbrus axis, and from January to October, 1943 took part in the long, attritional struggle for the Taman Peninsula, where it won a battle honor. As part of the Separate Coastal Army it crossed into the Crimea and was decorated for its role in the liberation of Kerch in April 1944, and several of its subunits were also distinguished in the battles for Sevastopol. After being transferred to 4th Ukrainian Front it fought through the Carpathian Mountains and into Czechoslovakia during the winter and spring of 1945, gaining further honors along its combat path. The 242nd Mountain Rifle Division was moved to the Carpathian Ukraine soon after the end of the war, where it was disbanded in 1946.
1st Formation The division started forming on June 27, 1941,Dunn, Jr. states the division was formed in July, based on its assignment date; Walter S. Dunn, Jr., Stalin's Keys to Victory, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2007, p. 75 just five days after the start of the German offensive, at Kalinin in the Moscow Military District. Maj. Gen. Kirill Alekseevich Kovalenko was appointed to command the same day; he had been serving as the Red Army's Deputy Inspector of Infantry for most of the previous year, and he would remain in command for the duration of the first formation. Once formed the division had the following order of battle: 897th Rifle Regiment 900th Rifle Regiment 903rd Rifle RegimentCharles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed From June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, vol. IX, Nafziger, 1996, p. 41 769th Artillery Regiment 772nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment 300th Antitank Battalion 519th Antiaircraft Battalion 321st Reconnaissance Battalion 410th Sapper Battalion 662nd Signal Battalion 240th Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 500th Auto Transport Battalion 673rd Field Postal Station 316th Field Office of the State Bank It is noteworthy that no medical/sanitation battalion, field bakery, or veterinary hospital is listed. On July 21 the commander of 30th Army, Maj. Gen. V. A. Khomenko, ordered each of his reserve rifle divisions (242nd, 250th and 251st) to receive a tank battalion from the 110th Tank Division. These battalions were supposed to consist of two companies, one of 10 T-34s and one of 10 BT or T-26 light tanks, plus a BT or T-26 as a headquarters tank.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 41
Khomenko would later report on the circumstances under which his three divisions arrived at the fighting front, being required to move up to 350km on foot to their concentration areas and "were taken from their assembly points in the very midst of assembly, and, incomplete, they did not approach being 'knocked together' and went into battle unprepared for combat." Khomenko went on to enumerate the many deficiencies of the 251st, but added that the 242nd was only slightly more combat ready. Severe shortages existed in field guns and mortars, and ammunition of all types was short. Furthermore, of the roughly 60 tanks distributed from 110th Tanks, by August 5 only 10 remained operable. He went on to note:Glantz comments that "These candid reports about the combat state of 30th Army will largely explain why 30th Army operates as it does during the Western Front's three counteroffensives during late July, August, and early September 1941. Given these facts, the army's performance was nothing short of amazing."David M. Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Helion & Co., Ltd., Solihull, UK, 2011, Kindle ed., ch. 4
Battle of Smolensk The 242nd officially joined the active army on July 15, less than three weeks after beginning to form up. On the same day, the lead elements of 2nd Panzer Group's 29th Motorized Division reached the southern part of Smolensk. Over the following days German pressure mounted against the three armies of Western Front, commanded by Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, which were almost entirely encircled in that region. On July 19 the commander of Reserve Front, Lt. Gen. I. A. Bogdanov, was alerted by the STAVKA to begin preparing an offensive operation with his 29th, 30th and 28th Armies to rescue Timoshenko's force. The 30th, starting from its concentration area north of the Western Dvina River, was to advance toward Demidov.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 4
The following day, on behalf of the STAVKA, Army Gen. G. K. Zhukov sent a directive to Timoshenko, who was now acting a commander of the Western Direction. Four reserve armies, including the 30th (now designated as "Group Khomenko"), were to launch attacks toward Dukhovshchina and Smolensk along converging axes. Khomenko was to attack southward from the region southwest of Bely to reach the MaksimovkaPetropole line by the end of July 22 before pushing on toward Dukhovshchina the next morning. A report from 0600 hours on July 23 indicated that the 242nd was still on the march toward Bely. A further report two days later stated that the Army was engaged in fighting with German motorized infantry 2km north of Chernyi Ruchei, and that the division had reached the Sergeevka line, 20km southwest of Bely, facing a battalion of infantry reinforced with an artillery battery and 25-30 mortars. In orders issued by Timoshenko at 0240 hours on July 26 the division was to attack toward Chalishchev, Berezovka, and Boldino and retake the region around the latter place, 30km south-southwest of Bely. During that day and the next 30th Army recorded some tactical successes in advances of 5–15km against the dug-in company-size battlegroups of 18th Motorized Division. By July 31 it was clear that the offensive to recover Smolensk and rescue the three nearly encircled armies had failed, but had also forced Army Group Center's two panzer groups to a near standstill.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 5
The next day the Army Group began its final effort to seal off the Smolensk pocket and liquidate the forces within it. In a report issued by Timoshenko at 2000 hours on August 3 it was reported that 30th Army had attacked with its main forces in the morning, overcoming strong German resistance, and that the 242nd had blown up an ammunition dump in the Zhidki area with its artillery fire. As the remnants of the 16th and 20th Armies escaped on August 4 the armies outside, including the 30th, were ordered to attack to pin down the German forces on their fronts; Khomenko was directed to use his left wing to push toward Krasigovo (15 km west of Dukhovshchina) and reach a line north-northeast of the latter place on August 6, despite the fact that this was utterly unrealistic. An operational summary issued on the morning of August 8 gave the division's position as "Morokhovo Station, Novoe Morokhovo, and Dolgoe, with one battalion of 900th RR in the Klintsy region."Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 7 As of August 5, the division's tank battalion was down to six T-26s, two of which needed repair. After less than 10 days of attacks it had lost 387 men killed or missing and 3,042 wounded, amounting to roughly a third of its authorized strength.Sharp, "Red Tide", p. 41
Dukhovshchina Offensives As of August 8 the divisions of XXXIX Motorized Corps which had been facing 30th Army had been relieved by the infantry divisions of 9th Army's V Army Corps. These divisions were very hard pressed to parry the attacks of Khomenko's forces and Lt. Gen. I. S. Konev's 19th Army east and northeast of Dukhovshchina. In the wake of these assaults the commander of Army Group Center noted "9th Army was also attacked; the day before yesterday the Russians broke through as far as the 5th Division's artillery positions." The chief of staff of OKH, Col. Gen. F. Halder, noted on August 11 in regard to these attacks:Timoshenko began planning for a renewed effort on August 14 which was intended to recapture Dukhovshchina en route to Smolensk. The STAVKA ordered this to be coordinated with Zhukov's Reserve Front on August 17 in order to engulf the entire front from Toropets in the north to Bryansk in the south. In the event, due to the chaotic situation, Timoshenko was forced to conduct the operation in piecemeal fashion and was unable to establish close cooperation with Zhukov.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 9
The operational directive set the goal of encircling and destroying the German 106th, 5th, and 28th Infantry Divisions and 900th Lehr Regiment through concentric attacks with two shock groups, the northern consisting of the 30th Army's 242nd, 251st and 162nd Rifle Divisions, 107th Tank and 45th Cavalry Divisions. The Army was to protect its right flank toward Bely with the 250th Division, penetrate the German defense and then commit the mobile forces to encircle the objective from the west. The attack sector was 17km wide from Markovo to Staroe Morokhovo, from 38km to 55km north of Yartsevo. The 242nd, which had the support of the 1st Battalion of the 392nd Cannon Artillery Regiment, was to hold a line with one rifle regiment while the remaining two made the assault toward Erkhovo and Churkino with the immediate objective of reaching the Rekta River at Staroe Sochnevo. The attack was to be preceded by a 45-minute artillery preparation beginning at 0900 hours. The shock group faced the German 106th Infantry, which was holding a sector roughly 16km wide.Glantz, Barbarossa Derailed, Vol. 1, Kindle ed., ch. 9