70th Rifle Division (original) (raw)

The 70th Rifle Division (Russian: 70-я стрелковая дивизия) was an infantry division of the Red Army and briefly of the Soviet Army, formed twice. Formed in 1934 at Samara, the division was transferred to the Leningrad Military District in the late 1930s and fought in the Winter War, receiving the Order of Lenin for its participation in the breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line at the end of the war. After the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the division was relocated south and participated in counterattacks against the German advance at Soltsy in early July. After the beginning of the siege of Leningrad the division defended the line of the Neva, capturing the Nevsky Pyatachok during the Sinyavino Offensive of September 1942. For th