Originally formed on 2 July 1941 in the Leningrad region of Moscow. The subordinate regiments were numbered on 20 July. As of 16 July the division had 6934 men assigned but no weapons or equipment had been assigned. On 20 July the division was assigned to the 32nd Army of the Reserve Front west of Moscow with about 10,000 men assigned. On 29 August 1941 the division was transferred to the 33rd Army, but remained in army reserves until 26 September when it was renamed the 18th Rifle Division of the regular army.
18th Rifle Division
Still assigned to the 33rd Army of the Reserve Front when the German offensive against Moscow, Operation Typhoon, struck the Western, Bryansk, and Reserve Fronts. On 3 October the division engaged the Germans at the bend of the Dnieper River near the villages of Volovhek Kamenetz. On 5–6 October the division was surrounded and broke out on 12 October. On 20 October the division reentered the line near Skirmanovo, west of Istria along with the 17th Rifle Division. In the middle of November the division recaptured the village of Skirmanovo. The division managed to halt the advance of the 11th and 5th Panzer Divisions. On 6 December 1941 the division participated in the Winter Counter-Offensive forcing across the Istra River. On 5 January 1942, in recognition of its defensive and offensive fighting the division was renamed the 11th Guards Rifle Division.
Formed on 5 January 1942 by converting the 18th Rifle Division. Since January 1942 the division participated in offensive and defensive battles in the Gzhatsk direction. On 12 August 1942 it was placed in the reserve of the Western Front. On 14 August 1942 it took up defensive positions on the Zhizdra River from Gretna to the estuary. In the following days, in conjunction with the 32nd Tank Brigade it repulsed the attacks of the German 17th and Panzer Divisions. On 18 Aug Kampfgruppe Seitz broke the division's defense and two battalions of the 33rd Guards Rifle Regiment and division headquarters were destroyed. The 40th and 27th Guards Rifle Regiments led by Major Sherbina continued to conduct the defense. The division was saved from further defeat by counterattack by the 9th Mechanized Corps and 326th Rifle Division. By 23 August the 40th and 33rd GRR retreated beyond the Drisenka River, where they counterattacked over the following days. By 26 August the division, pursuing the retreating enemy, crossed the Zhizdra River. From September 1942 until February 1943 Division occupied defenses south of the river Zhizdra at the turn of Gretna, the Eastern Ulyanovsk region and the Kaluga region. Subsequently it took part in the fighting in the Battle of Kursk, near Eagle. In October 1943 it was concentrated in the area of Nevel. There the division in conjunction with other parts of the army seized a large railway junction town on 24 December 1943. It participated in the Belorussian Strategic Offensive Operation, distinguished itself in the battles for Vitebsk, crossed the Niemen River, the city of Alytus, a foothold, and moved 60 kilometers in three days. Then it participated in the Gumbinnen Offensive, receiving the Order of Lenin on 14 November for its actions in the invasion of East Prussia. The 11th Guards fought in the East Prussian Strategic Offensive Operation, taking Königsberg, and the battles around Pilau. On 1 May 1945 the division was part of the 16th Guards Rifle Corps of the 11th Guards Army, alongside the 1st Guards and 31st Guards Rifle Divisions. The division was transferred to the 8th Guards Rifle Corps in the same army, and was stationed at Mamonovo. It was disbanded in June 1946 after its corps was transferred to the Soviet airborne.
