The 360th compiled a distinguished record of service during the Great Patriotic War on the northern sector of the Soviet-German front, including the award of a battle honor and the Order of the Red Banner.
During the rest of January and into February the division took part in several attempts to break into and liberate Velizh, but these were stymied on its outskirts.
[6] The division was transferred to the 3rd Shock Army in December 1942,[7] during the Battle for Velikiye Luki, arriving at the front along the Lovat River on the 24th, and immediately helping to drive enemy forces from the village of Alexeykovo and the tactically significant height of point 179.0.
By January 3, 1943, the division's 1193rd and 1195th Rifle Regiments were holding a line in front of Alexeykovo and Burtsevo in two echelons, facing the deepest wedge the German forces had driven in attempting to relieve their garrison in the city.
[8] On February 22, Colonel Posnyak was promoted to the rank of major general, and soon moved to the role of chief of staff of 43rd Army,[9] being replaced by Col. Ivan Ivanovich Chinnov.
The troops that participated in the liberation of Nevel, by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of October 7, 1943 and a proclamation of gratitude in Moscow, are given a salute of 12 artillery salvoes of 120 guns.
On November 2 the 1st Baltic (former Kalinin) Front began a fresh offensive towards Vitebsk, with 4th Shock Army ordered to attack south towards the latter city.
on September 6 Chinnov was killed by an enemy sniper while conducting a personal reconnaissance of the terrain between his 1195th and 1193rd Rifle Regiments.
In early October, as the Courland Pocket began to be closed off, the division and its Army had reached farther west, to the vicinity of Žagarė.
In March, 1st Shock became part of the Kurland Group in Leningrad Front, and the division ended the war containing the German forces in the Courland Pocket in Lithuania.
Arriving there at the start of November the whole division was housed in military camps for combat and political training until the end of the year.
Between World War II and late 1979 the division provided security for the Soviet Union along its southern borders.
At the same time, military transport planes carrying the 103rd Guards Airborne Division also crossed the border.
On December 27, advance units of the 108th MRD entered Kabul to strengthen the protection of military administrative buildings.
The divisional headquarters was established at Khair Khana camp to the northwest of Kabul, on the road to Bagram airfield.
[22] From 1980 to 1989 the division carried out tasks to ensure the safety of convoys along the Doshi-Kabul and Kabul-Jalalabad routes, and the protection of key facilities (Bagram airfield, grain elevators, fuel and lubricant supply depots, a power station in Kabul, a dam and hydroelectric power station site in Surubi, etc.)
Thus, the third and fourth stages were characterised by increased concentrations of rebel forces, and the creation of numerous military bases across Afghanistan with more active hostilities.
In terms of sheer personnel, the 108th MRD was the largest division in the Soviet Armed Forces during the invasion of Afghanistan.
As a result, the leadership of the Republic of Uzbekistan, fulfilling the CSTO Charter, sent units of the 108th MRD and the 15th Separate Special Purpose ("Spetsnaz") Brigade on a joint combat mission with the 201st Motor Rifle Division of the Russian Armed Forces to destroy paramilitary groups of the Tajik opposition and the Afghan Mujahideen on the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan.
[citation needed] In December 1993, by the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in connection with the transition of the structure of the troops to brigade recruitment, the 108th MRD was disbanded, and its units and divisions after re-forming, became part of the 1st Army Corps (1st AK) with the headquarters in Samarkand, some of them were transferred to the Central subordination.