princeton-nlp/datasets-for-simcse · Datasets at Hugging Face

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45th Corps was transferred to 68th Army on September 18 and over the following week the 68th and 31st Armies pressed to encircle Smolensk, which was finally taken early in the morning of September 25.
On October 9 the 88th came under the command of Col. Fyodor Trofimovich Kovtunov.
During this month the division continued to advance towards the Belorussian border with 68th Army, but later that month 45th Corps rejoined the 31st Army.
68th Army advanced westward south of the Dniepr River in early October with 45th Corps to the rear, closing up to the defenses of the German XXVII Army Corps late on October 8.
The 88th immediately reinforced the assault of the 159th Rifle Division across the Mereya River, forcing the 18th Panzergrenadiers to withdraw westward.
The division formed a forward detachment to pursue but the German division turned back towards the east and took up new defensive positions along the Rossasenka River on October 11.
The Army prepared to resume its attacks the next day, but by now the 45th Corps was marching north to rejoin 31st Army.
31st Army also began a new attempt to reach Orsha on October 12 with 45th Corps (now including the 220th Division) serving as its second echelon and reserve.
The Army was positioned astride the Smolensk-Orsha highway north of the Dniepr.
Western Front's offensive began after an artillery preparation of 85 minutes but 31st Army immediately stalled without any appreciable gains and at considerable cost.
The offensive resumed the next day with reinforcements from the second echelon with no better results.
Over the course of the fighting from October 12-18 the Front lost 5,858 personnel killed and 17,478 wounded.
In preparation for a new effort 31st Army was further reinforced and regrouped its three corps south between the highway and the Dniepr, with 45th Corps in the center; the 88th and 251st Divisions were in first echelon and the 220th in second.
The attack began early on October 21 following two hours and ten minutes of artillery fire.
The shock groups smashed the defenses of the 197th Infantry Division between the villages of Redki and Novaya, at considerable cost and by early evening had penetrated 4km deep on a front 1,000m wide toward the village of Kireevo, on the main rail line to Orsha.
Two brigades of the 2nd Guards Tank Corps were committed into the penetration but were soon halted by heavy German fire from the flanks.
The attack was resumed the next day but gained 1,000m at most.
On October 24 the second echelon divisions were committed in a final effort to break the German defenses but failed in part due to artillery ammunition shortages.
The offensive was halted at nightfall on October 26 by which time the offensive capabilities of 10th Guards and 31st Army were completely exhausted after gaining 4-6km at a combined cost of 4,787 killed and 14,315 wounded.
In early November Western Front prepared for another attempt to break through the German defenses.
The Front's first shock group consisted of the 10th Guards and 31st Armies on both sides of the Minsk highway, but by now their rifle divisions averaged only 4,500 personnel each.
45th Corps, south of Kireevo, faced the 119th Panzergrenadier Regiment of 25th Panzergrenadier Division.
The 88th was in the first echelon when the attack began on November 14 after a three-and-a-half hour artillery and air preparation, but was soon stopped in its tracks due to heavy machine gun fire.
The fighting continued over the next four days but 45th Corps gained no more than 400m at considerable cost.
The "STAVKA", however, ordered the offensive to continue, which it did beginning on November 30 after another regrouping.
31st and 10th Guards Armies were concentrated on a 12km-wide sector from Osintori to the Dniepr, with the 31st focused on just 3km of that with four divisions in first echelon and five in the second.
In the event the attack made virtually no ground even after the second echelon was brought up, and the Front went over to the defense on December 5.
The failure of the Orsha offensives was ascribed, apart from the strength of the German defenses, to a lack of training of Red Army replacements and a stereotyped use of artillery which did more to warn the German forces of attacks than to actually inflict damage.
During December the "STAVKA" ordered Western Front to shift its efforts towards Vitebsk.
By the beginning of January, 1944 the 88th, one of just four divisions remaining in 31st Army, had been assigned to the 114th Rifle Corps with the 251st Division, but by a month later it was a separate division.
In February it came under command of 71st Rifle Corps with the 331st Division; it would remain in this Corps for most of the rest of the war.
On February 27 General Gluzdovskii was ordered to prepare yet another assault on the Orsha axis in cooperation with 49th Army to his south.
Since most of his Army was involved in offensive operations in the Babinavichy sector he only had his 71st Corps for this new attack, which began on March 5 and continued over the next four days.
In the event the effort was unsuccessful at the cost to the two armies of another 1,898 killed and 5,639 wounded.
On April 11 Western Front was disbanded and 31st Army was assigned to the new 3rd Belorussian Front, where it would remain until the last month of the war.
Over the next two months the 88th got a much needed respite for rebuilding and replenishment.
In the buildup to the Soviet summer offensive against Army Group Center on June 12-13 the 88th and 192nd Rifle Divisions of 71st Corps were shifted north to make room for the deployment of 11th Guards Army on the sector north of the Dniepr.
When the offensive began with probing attacks on June 22 those of 31st Army were driven back by heavy artillery and mortar fire.
The following day the first echelon divisions of 71st Corps broke the German defense north of the Dniepr, and advanced 3km before being halted by increasing enemy resistance.
During the fighting near the Kireevo railway station Sen.
Lieutenant Anna Alekseevna Nikandrova, a Komsomol leader of the 426th Rifle Regiment, was distinguished for her gallantry.
She used a hook ladder to help the soldiers of her company through an antitank ditch; later that day she blocked the embrasure of a German machinegun bunker with her body and was killed.
On March 24, 1945 she was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Over the next two days the 11th Guards and 5th Armies developed much more momentum along the Orsha and Bogushevsk axes, leaving 31st Army behind.
Meanwhile, in the fighting around the Vitebsk salient, by June 24 the Soviets were torn by the classic dilemma of blitzkrieg warfare -- how many units to use to close the pocket and how many to keep pressing forward before the enemy had time to create defensive positions.
39th Army, which was responsible for 3rd Belorussian Front's part of this encirclement, had only its 84th Rifle Corps available for the battle for the city itself.
As a result the 88th was moved north and attached to this Corps.
Elements of 39th Army linked up with forces of the 1st Baltic Front late on the 24th, leaving the German LIII Army Corps trapped in Vitebsk and in several smaller pockets along the road leading to the southwest.
Over the next two days, as Hitler refused permission for the Corps to break out, the Soviet forces prepared to liquidate the pocket, which began at 0900 hours on June 27, preceded by a massive barrage of artillery and rockets.
By noon the defenders had been broken into small pockets and during the afternoon the remnants surrendered.
The German Army lost 20,000 killed and 10,000 prisoners.
For its part in this fighting the division was awarded a battle honor:
After the battle for Vitebsk the division advanced along the highway to Minsk to rejoin 71st Corps as it and the 36th Rifle Corps were consolidating the success of 5th Guards Tank Army which was operation ahead.
31st Army had been assigned a leading role in the liquidation of the defeated and mostly-encircled German 4th Army and the liberation of the Belorussian capital, which was completed on July 4.
On the previous day a decree of the "STAVKA" read, in part:In addition to these battle honors on July 23 the 88th as a whole would receive the Order of the Red Banner for its part in the clearing of the city.
During July 5-6 the 71st Corps pursued the German forces to the west, advancing up to 40km and reaching a line from Pershaie eastward along the north bank of the Islach River as far as Rakuv.
Over the next two days the entire Front continued its pursuit in the direction of Vilnius, which was reached by 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps on the morning of July 7.
At the same time the 71st Corps was overcoming limited resistance in the Naliboki forest with the assistance of partisans and reached the Berezina River by the end of the day.
The battle for Vilnius would continue until July 13, but meanwhile on July 8 the 31st Army had advanced another 25-30km towards the Neman River.
Hitler regarded this as his "line of catastrophe" to be held at any price.
During July 12-13 the Army successfully pursued the German forces 55-60km while its left flank advanced towards Grodno.
By the next day most of the remaining defenders had begun deploying along the river line as 3rd Belorussian Front began preparing to force the Neman and also to liberate Kaunas.
That day a forward detachment of 36th Corps seized a crossing north of Grodno.
On July 15 it was joined by elements of 71st Corps which took two more bridgeheads in the same area.
At this point the Army commander, Col. Gen. V. V. Glagolev, was ordered to regroup his forces to the right flank and force the Neman along the Army's entire front.
By the end of July 17 the 11th Guards, 5th and 31st Armies had together breached the river line on a 110km front and repelled all counterattacks.
After further gains the "STAVKA" ordered the Front over to a temporary defense on July 20.
In recognition of the 88th's success in the Neman crossing on August 12 the 426th Regiment would be decorated with the Order of the Red Banner, while the 611th and 758th Regiments would each receive the Order of Aleksandr Nevsky.
The temporary defensive was in part to prepare the Front for an invasion of East Prussia, which began at 0840 hours on July 29 following a 40-minute artillery preparation and airstrikes.
On the first day 31st Army advanced as much as 15km.
On the following day the entire German defense along the Neman was crushed and the Front advanced rapidly towards Vilkaviškis.
However the Army soon ran into woodland and lake terrain which slowed the advance as stubborn resistance developed.
The operation was generally halted on July 31.
A new offensive into East Prussia began on October 16; 3rd Belorussian Front planned to drive directly from Gumbinnen through Insterburg to Königsberg.
However, heavy German resistance soon stalled and even reversed this offensive.
Goldap, to the south of the main drive, was soon taken, but German 4th Army committed its 102nd Panzer and Führer Grenadier Brigades to the fighting and retook it on October 25.
In a surprise attack by 31st Army on October 28 the town again changed hands, but the situation soon deteriorated as further counterattacks struck home.
By November 3 the 611th Rifle Regiment was surrounded and was ordered to break out to friendly lines the next night.
The regimental banner was entrusted to Sen.
Sergeant Andrei Nikolaievich Elgin, a squad leader of the regiment's sub-machine gun company.
Elgin had the banner wrapped around his torso under his uniform before leading a team of four men out of the town along a single path through the woods and marshland to the east.
When the route was blocked by a German machine gun post he charged it, throwing grenades until it was destroyed with the help of his men.
Although wounded, Elgin refused to give up the banner and continued on.
Later, while crossing between the lines the party was spotted by the light of flares and a German group attempted to capture it.
With his sub-machine gun and grenades Elgin killed eight of the enemy but received a second wound which proved fatal.
He finally handed over the banner to a rescue group before he died.
On March 20, 1945 he was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Despite the overall failure of the Goldap-Gumbinnen operation the 88th received the Order of Suvorov, 2nd Degree, for its efforts on November 14.
On December 19 Colonel Kovtunov handed his command of the division to Col. Aleksei Avkcentevich Kuzennii.
This officer was in turn replaced on January 26, 1945 by Col. Ivan Sergeevich Lobanov, who was succeeded on February 14 by Col. Andrei Prokofevich Maltzev.
Just two weeks later Maj. Gen. Nikita Sergeevich Samokhvalov took over command and continued to lead the 88th for the duration of the war.
The second attempt to destroy the German forces in East Prussia began on January 12, 1945.
The objective of 3rd Belorussian Front was much as before: to penetrate the defenses north of the Masurian Lakes in the Insterburg region and then advance to launch a frontal attack on Königsberg.
31st Army remained on the Front's left flank and in the early going was ordered to firmly defend the front south of Goldap.
The 88th remained in 71st Corps with the 220th and 331st Rifle Divisions.
The Army went over to the offensive on January 22 and by the next day the German grouping facing it was in retreat.
During that day the Corps captured the important road junction of Benkheim while the Army developed the offensive toward Angerburg and Lötzen, advancing more than 45km before storming the heavily fortified strongpoint at the former location.
The advance continued during the following days and on January 31 the division helped to take Heilsberg and Friedland.
On April 5 the 426th Regiment would be recognized for its role in this fighting with the award of the Order of Aleksandr Nevsky.
31st Army resumed its offensive on February 2 and soon captured the major road junction of Landsberg.

45th Corps was transferred to 68th Army on September 18 and over the following week the 68th and 31st Armies pressed to encircle Smolensk, which was finally taken early in the morning of September 25.

On October 9 the 88th came under the command of Col. Fyodor Trofimovich Kovtunov.

During this month the division continued to advance towards the Belorussian border with 68th Army, but later that month 45th Corps rejoined the 31st Army.

68th Army advanced westward south of the Dniepr River in early October with 45th Corps to the rear, closing up to the defenses of the German XXVII Army Corps late on October 8.

The 88th immediately reinforced the assault of the 159th Rifle Division across the Mereya River, forcing the 18th Panzergrenadiers to withdraw westward.

The division formed a forward detachment to pursue but the German division turned back towards the east and took up new defensive positions along the Rossasenka River on October 11.

The Army prepared to resume its attacks the next day, but by now the 45th Corps was marching north to rejoin 31st Army.

31st Army also began a new attempt to reach Orsha on October 12 with 45th Corps (now including the 220th Division) serving as its second echelon and reserve.

The Army was positioned astride the Smolensk-Orsha highway north of the Dniepr.

Western Front's offensive began after an artillery preparation of 85 minutes but 31st Army immediately stalled without any appreciable gains and at considerable cost.

The offensive resumed the next day with reinforcements from the second echelon with no better results.

Over the course of the fighting from October 12-18 the Front lost 5,858 personnel killed and 17,478 wounded.

In preparation for a new effort 31st Army was further reinforced and regrouped its three corps south between the highway and the Dniepr, with 45th Corps in the center; the 88th and 251st Divisions were in first echelon and the 220th in second.

The attack began early on October 21 following two hours and ten minutes of artillery fire.

The shock groups smashed the defenses of the 197th Infantry Division between the villages of Redki and Novaya, at considerable cost and by early evening had penetrated 4km deep on a front 1,000m wide toward the village of Kireevo, on the main rail line to Orsha.

Two brigades of the 2nd Guards Tank Corps were committed into the penetration but were soon halted by heavy German fire from the flanks.

The attack was resumed the next day but gained 1,000m at most.

On October 24 the second echelon divisions were committed in a final effort to break the German defenses but failed in part due to artillery ammunition shortages.

The offensive was halted at nightfall on October 26 by which time the offensive capabilities of 10th Guards and 31st Army were completely exhausted after gaining 4-6km at a combined cost of 4,787 killed and 14,315 wounded.

In early November Western Front prepared for another attempt to break through the German defenses.

The Front's first shock group consisted of the 10th Guards and 31st Armies on both sides of the Minsk highway, but by now their rifle divisions averaged only 4,500 personnel each.

45th Corps, south of Kireevo, faced the 119th Panzergrenadier Regiment of 25th Panzergrenadier Division.

The 88th was in the first echelon when the attack began on November 14 after a three-and-a-half hour artillery and air preparation, but was soon stopped in its tracks due to heavy machine gun fire.

The fighting continued over the next four days but 45th Corps gained no more than 400m at considerable cost.

The "STAVKA", however, ordered the offensive to continue, which it did beginning on November 30 after another regrouping.

31st and 10th Guards Armies were concentrated on a 12km-wide sector from Osintori to the Dniepr, with the 31st focused on just 3km of that with four divisions in first echelon and five in the second.

In the event the attack made virtually no ground even after the second echelon was brought up, and the Front went over to the defense on December 5.

The failure of the Orsha offensives was ascribed, apart from the strength of the German defenses, to a lack of training of Red Army replacements and a stereotyped use of artillery which did more to warn the German forces of attacks than to actually inflict damage.

During December the "STAVKA" ordered Western Front to shift its efforts towards Vitebsk.

By the beginning of January, 1944 the 88th, one of just four divisions remaining in 31st Army, had been assigned to the 114th Rifle Corps with the 251st Division, but by a month later it was a separate division.

In February it came under command of 71st Rifle Corps with the 331st Division; it would remain in this Corps for most of the rest of the war.

On February 27 General Gluzdovskii was ordered to prepare yet another assault on the Orsha axis in cooperation with 49th Army to his south.

Since most of his Army was involved in offensive operations in the Babinavichy sector he only had his 71st Corps for this new attack, which began on March 5 and continued over the next four days.

In the event the effort was unsuccessful at the cost to the two armies of another 1,898 killed and 5,639 wounded.

On April 11 Western Front was disbanded and 31st Army was assigned to the new 3rd Belorussian Front, where it would remain until the last month of the war.

Over the next two months the 88th got a much needed respite for rebuilding and replenishment.

In the buildup to the Soviet summer offensive against Army Group Center on June 12-13 the 88th and 192nd Rifle Divisions of 71st Corps were shifted north to make room for the deployment of 11th Guards Army on the sector north of the Dniepr.

When the offensive began with probing attacks on June 22 those of 31st Army were driven back by heavy artillery and mortar fire.

The following day the first echelon divisions of 71st Corps broke the German defense north of the Dniepr, and advanced 3km before being halted by increasing enemy resistance.

During the fighting near the Kireevo railway station Sen.

Lieutenant Anna Alekseevna Nikandrova, a Komsomol leader of the 426th Rifle Regiment, was distinguished for her gallantry.

She used a hook ladder to help the soldiers of her company through an antitank ditch; later that day she blocked the embrasure of a German machinegun bunker with her body and was killed.

On March 24, 1945 she was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Over the next two days the 11th Guards and 5th Armies developed much more momentum along the Orsha and Bogushevsk axes, leaving 31st Army behind.

Meanwhile, in the fighting around the Vitebsk salient, by June 24 the Soviets were torn by the classic dilemma of blitzkrieg warfare -- how many units to use to close the pocket and how many to keep pressing forward before the enemy had time to create defensive positions.

39th Army, which was responsible for 3rd Belorussian Front's part of this encirclement, had only its 84th Rifle Corps available for the battle for the city itself.

As a result the 88th was moved north and attached to this Corps.

Elements of 39th Army linked up with forces of the 1st Baltic Front late on the 24th, leaving the German LIII Army Corps trapped in Vitebsk and in several smaller pockets along the road leading to the southwest.

Over the next two days, as Hitler refused permission for the Corps to break out, the Soviet forces prepared to liquidate the pocket, which began at 0900 hours on June 27, preceded by a massive barrage of artillery and rockets.

By noon the defenders had been broken into small pockets and during the afternoon the remnants surrendered.

The German Army lost 20,000 killed and 10,000 prisoners.

For its part in this fighting the division was awarded a battle honor:

After the battle for Vitebsk the division advanced along the highway to Minsk to rejoin 71st Corps as it and the 36th Rifle Corps were consolidating the success of 5th Guards Tank Army which was operation ahead.

31st Army had been assigned a leading role in the liquidation of the defeated and mostly-encircled German 4th Army and the liberation of the Belorussian capital, which was completed on July 4.

On the previous day a decree of the "STAVKA" read, in part:In addition to these battle honors on July 23 the 88th as a whole would receive the Order of the Red Banner for its part in the clearing of the city.

During July 5-6 the 71st Corps pursued the German forces to the west, advancing up to 40km and reaching a line from Pershaie eastward along the north bank of the Islach River as far as Rakuv.

Over the next two days the entire Front continued its pursuit in the direction of Vilnius, which was reached by 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps on the morning of July 7.

At the same time the 71st Corps was overcoming limited resistance in the Naliboki forest with the assistance of partisans and reached the Berezina River by the end of the day.

The battle for Vilnius would continue until July 13, but meanwhile on July 8 the 31st Army had advanced another 25-30km towards the Neman River.

Hitler regarded this as his "line of catastrophe" to be held at any price.

During July 12-13 the Army successfully pursued the German forces 55-60km while its left flank advanced towards Grodno.

By the next day most of the remaining defenders had begun deploying along the river line as 3rd Belorussian Front began preparing to force the Neman and also to liberate Kaunas.

That day a forward detachment of 36th Corps seized a crossing north of Grodno.

On July 15 it was joined by elements of 71st Corps which took two more bridgeheads in the same area.

At this point the Army commander, Col. Gen. V. V. Glagolev, was ordered to regroup his forces to the right flank and force the Neman along the Army's entire front.

By the end of July 17 the 11th Guards, 5th and 31st Armies had together breached the river line on a 110km front and repelled all counterattacks.

After further gains the "STAVKA" ordered the Front over to a temporary defense on July 20.

In recognition of the 88th's success in the Neman crossing on August 12 the 426th Regiment would be decorated with the Order of the Red Banner, while the 611th and 758th Regiments would each receive the Order of Aleksandr Nevsky.

The temporary defensive was in part to prepare the Front for an invasion of East Prussia, which began at 0840 hours on July 29 following a 40-minute artillery preparation and airstrikes.

On the first day 31st Army advanced as much as 15km.

On the following day the entire German defense along the Neman was crushed and the Front advanced rapidly towards Vilkaviškis.

However the Army soon ran into woodland and lake terrain which slowed the advance as stubborn resistance developed.

The operation was generally halted on July 31.

A new offensive into East Prussia began on October 16; 3rd Belorussian Front planned to drive directly from Gumbinnen through Insterburg to Königsberg.

However, heavy German resistance soon stalled and even reversed this offensive.

Goldap, to the south of the main drive, was soon taken, but German 4th Army committed its 102nd Panzer and Führer Grenadier Brigades to the fighting and retook it on October 25.

In a surprise attack by 31st Army on October 28 the town again changed hands, but the situation soon deteriorated as further counterattacks struck home.

By November 3 the 611th Rifle Regiment was surrounded and was ordered to break out to friendly lines the next night.

The regimental banner was entrusted to Sen.

Sergeant Andrei Nikolaievich Elgin, a squad leader of the regiment's sub-machine gun company.

Elgin had the banner wrapped around his torso under his uniform before leading a team of four men out of the town along a single path through the woods and marshland to the east.

When the route was blocked by a German machine gun post he charged it, throwing grenades until it was destroyed with the help of his men.

Although wounded, Elgin refused to give up the banner and continued on.

Later, while crossing between the lines the party was spotted by the light of flares and a German group attempted to capture it.

With his sub-machine gun and grenades Elgin killed eight of the enemy but received a second wound which proved fatal.

He finally handed over the banner to a rescue group before he died.

On March 20, 1945 he was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Despite the overall failure of the Goldap-Gumbinnen operation the 88th received the Order of Suvorov, 2nd Degree, for its efforts on November 14.

On December 19 Colonel Kovtunov handed his command of the division to Col. Aleksei Avkcentevich Kuzennii.

This officer was in turn replaced on January 26, 1945 by Col. Ivan Sergeevich Lobanov, who was succeeded on February 14 by Col. Andrei Prokofevich Maltzev.

Just two weeks later Maj. Gen. Nikita Sergeevich Samokhvalov took over command and continued to lead the 88th for the duration of the war.

The second attempt to destroy the German forces in East Prussia began on January 12, 1945.

The objective of 3rd Belorussian Front was much as before: to penetrate the defenses north of the Masurian Lakes in the Insterburg region and then advance to launch a frontal attack on Königsberg.

31st Army remained on the Front's left flank and in the early going was ordered to firmly defend the front south of Goldap.

The 88th remained in 71st Corps with the 220th and 331st Rifle Divisions.

The Army went over to the offensive on January 22 and by the next day the German grouping facing it was in retreat.

During that day the Corps captured the important road junction of Benkheim while the Army developed the offensive toward Angerburg and Lötzen, advancing more than 45km before storming the heavily fortified strongpoint at the former location.

The advance continued during the following days and on January 31 the division helped to take Heilsberg and Friedland.

On April 5 the 426th Regiment would be recognized for its role in this fighting with the award of the Order of Aleksandr Nevsky.

31st Army resumed its offensive on February 2 and soon captured the major road junction of Landsberg.