The 304th Rifle Division began service before the Great Patriotic War, as a standard Red Army rifle division before being reorganized as a mechanised division a few months later. Soon after the German invasion it was once again reorganized as a standard rifle division and renumbered as the 304th. It fought in the southwestern part of the Soviet-German front for more than a year and a half following. The division did not distinguish itself until Operation Uranus in late 1942 and the subsequent Operation Ring, in which it helped defeat the encircled German Sixth Army. In recognition of these successes, even before the German surrender at Stalingrad, it was raised to Guards status as the 67th Guards Rifle Division. A second 304th was raised six months later and continued in combat through Ukr