The 69th Guards Rifle Division was reformed as an elite infantry division of the Red Army in February 1943, based on the 2nd formation of the 120th Rifle Division, and served in that role until after the end of the Great Patriotic War. It originally served in the Stalingrad Group of Forces, mopping up in the ruins of that city after the Axis surrender there before eventually being assigned to the 21st Guards Rifle Corps of 4th Guards Army and moving north to the Kursk area in the Steppe Military District. The division would remain under these Corps and Army commands, with short exceptions, for the duration of the war. It entered combat during the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive in August and continued fighting toward the Dniepr River and Kiev during the autumn and early winter. In early 1944 it took part in the encirclement battle at Korsun-Shevchenkovsky and was soon rewarded with a battle honor. The 69th Guards then fought its way to the Dniestr River where it took part in two offensives, the second of which in August finally took the city of Iași; this victory won the division the Order of the Red Banner. Now that Romania had been driven out of the Axis the division's combat path moved into the Balkans. The 69th Guards spent the remainder of the war fighting in Hungary and Austria; its regiments would all receive recognition for their roles in the battles for Budapest as they advanced into Austria. After the war the division remained in the Southern Group of Forces and in 1953 was converted to the 70th Guards Mechanized Division. Formation The 120th was redesignated as the 69th Guards on February 6, shortly after the German surrender at Stalingrad, and officially received its Guards banner on April 21. Once the division completed its reorganization its order of battle was as follows: 204th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 289th Rifle Regiment) 206th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 538th Rifle Regiment) 208th Guards Rifle Regiment (from 543rd Rifle Regiment) 139th Guards Artillery Regiment (from 1033rd Artillery Regiment) 75th Guards Antitank Battalion 71st Guards Reconnaissance Company 79th Guards Sapper Battalion 97th Guards Signal Battalion 73rd Guards Medical/Sanitation Battalion 70th Guards Chemical Defense (Anti-gas) Company 68th Guards Motor Transport Company 72nd Guards Field Bakery 67th Guards Divisional Veterinary Hospital 1974th Field Postal Station 1155th Field Office of the State Bank Col. Kirill Kocheevich Dzhakhua, who had commanded