Western Rifle Division (Polish: Zachodnia Dywizja Strzelców) was one of the Bolsheviks military formations during the Russian Civil War.[1][2]
It was formed in summer 1918 from the initiative of Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) and Polish Socialist Party-Left (PPS-Lewica). The division was created on the basis of a Polish communist regiment, the Red Regiment of Revolutionary Warsaw (Czerwony Pułk Rewolucyjnej Warszawy) and in the beginning it was mostly composed of Polish volunteers.[2]
First it fought on the Southern Front against the White Cossacks of Pyotr Krasnov; later against the forces of Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel. During the Polish-Soviet War it was part of the Western Army, it fought against the Lithuanian and Belarusian Self-Defence units and later Polish Army of the newly created Second Polish Republic in the opening phase of the Polish-Soviet War. Spearheading the Russian westward offensive of 1918-1919 ('Target Vistula') it took Wilno in January 1919; it sustained heavy losses during the fights at Baranowicze against forces of general Stanisław Szeptycki (part of Operation Wilno, a Polish counteroffensive).[2]
After losses of 1918 and mid-1919, in June 1919 it was heavily reinforced with Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians and lost its Polish character; it was then (9 June) renamed to 52nd Rifle Division of the Red Army.[2]
Commanders of the division were commissairs Stanisław Bobiński and Stefan Żbikowski.[2]
Organization:
The division also comprised various support units. Dziewanowski notes it had 5 regiments.[1]