The 44th Kievskaya of the Red Banner Rifle Division of Nikolay Shchors, or 44th Kievskaya for short, was an elite military formation of the Soviet Union. Created during the beginnings of the Russian Civil War. It was destroyed during the Winter War, after being ordered to help the 163rd Infantry Division break a Finnish siege on the Raate road as part of the Special Rifle Corps 9th Army, together with the 54th Rifle Division. Afterwards it was levied and dissolved multiple times throughout the 40s and 50s until its final dissolution in 1959.
Soldiers and officers of the 44th Kievan Rifle Division, an elite unit of the Ukrainian SSR
Soviet dead along the Raate Road, January 1940
T-26 tanks of the 44th Rifle Division in Finland prior to an attack
Mykola Oleksandrovych Shchors was a member of the Russian Communist Party and a participant in the Russian Civil War, serving as Red Army commander. In 1918–1919 he fought against the newly established Ukrainian People's Republic. Later he commanded the Bohunsky regiment, brigade, 1st Soviet Ukrainian division and 44th Rifle Division against the Ukrainian People's Republic and their Polish allies. Shchors was killed following the evacuation of Kyiv in 1919. After being ignored for more then a decade Shchors became celebrated as a hero in the Soviet Union following the mid-1930s.
Mykola Shchors
Grave memorial monument in Samara
Shchors monument in Kyiv in 2022, including graffiti, translating to slogans such as “demolish me completely!” and “butcher”. Demolished 9 December 2023.
