76th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)
The 76th Rifle Division was a Red Army infantry division, formed twice. The division was formed in 1922 and was known also as the 76th Armenian Mountain Division. It was a Soviet infantry fighting unit of the Red Army that fought on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. The 76th was made up primarily of Armenians from the newly established Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia, but also included among its ranks several different nationalities. The division became the 51st Guards Rifle Division on 23 November 1942 for its actions in Operation Uranus. The division was reformed in 1943 from a rifle brigade. The division's second formation was disbanded in the summer of 1945. Interwar period The division was originally formed as the Armenian Rifle Division by an order of the Separate Caucasus Army on 5 September 1922 from the Consolidated Armenian Brigade, which had itself been formed from the Armenian Red Army on 18 November 1921, after the Red Army invasion of Armenia. The division was part of the Separate Caucasus Army. The 76th was led by several non-Armenian commanders including Major Generals S. V. Chernikov, E. F. Pryakhin, K. E. Goryunov, N. E. Kaladzen, N. T. Tavarkiladze