It began forming just months before the German invasion in the Kiev Special Military District, where it was soon assigned to the 55th Rifle Corps in the reserves of Southwestern Front.

Beginning of January 15 it took part in the breakthrough of the thick defenses, and as Leningrad Front's forces advanced westward it was transferred to 2nd Shock Army, being awarded a battle honor at the start of February while under this command.

After reaching Narva it forced a river crossing, but operations on this sector soon bogged down and the 189th remained on the defensive until early August.

At this point it joined in the offensive into Estonia, winning the Order of the Red Banner for its part in the fighting for Tartu, and then being moved to 67th Army for the duration of the war.

As of June 22 it had the following order of battle: Kombrig Aleksandr Semyonovich Chichkanov took command of the division on the day it began forming.

This officer had recently served as an adviser to the Mongolian People's Republic and as an instructor at the Frunze Military Academy, but for an unknown reason his rank had not been modernized.

[6] Operating under direct Army command it was assigned a sector southeast of Pohrebyshche, facing the German 68th Infantry Division by July 23.

The 189th, which was very deep in the pocket, had no realistic chance of escape, and by about August 11 it had been destroyed, although it was not officially removed from the Red Army order of battle until September 19.

This division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye formed in the period from September 4-16, 1941,[9][10] based on the Worker's Battalion militia of the Oktyabirskaya and Leningradskoi Districts of Leningrad.

Its rudimentary order of battle was as follows: On September 14 the division had 8,189 men assigned, including 654 Communist Party members and 286 Komsomols.

The 189th would largely remain in the lines in the Pulkovo area into January 1944,[13] forming a linchpin of the Soviet defenses on the city's southern outskirts.

By late November 1942, the pending defeat of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad led the STAVKA to exploit the victory by breaking the siege of Leningrad.

[16] The offensive began early on January 12, with a massive two-and-a-half hour artillery preparation against positions held by elements of German 18th Army.

[24] When the town was liberated the 189th was rewarded by receiving its name as an honorific:KINGISEPP... 189th Rifle Division (Colonel Potapov, Pavel Andreevich)...

The troops that participated in the liberation of Kingisepp, by the order of the Supreme High Command on 1 February 1944, and by a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 12 artillery salvoes from 124 guns.

It forced a crossing of the Narva River in the region of Krivaya Luka and then took up a firm defense on the left flank of 2nd Shock.

[29] By August 5 the 189th had been shifted to the Pskov area, prior to a new offensive to defeat the German forces occupying the Panther Line.

Following the breakthrough the division entered Estonia, advancing on Tartu, when it came under counterattack from German panzer forces on August 24 west of Lake Peipus.

In the course of an eight-hour battle the division inflicted significant losses on the German force, held its positions, and the next morning captured the town of Elva.

[35] By the first week of October the Army had reached the Gulf of Riga in the vicinity of Salacgrīva, Latvia,[36] before moving south toward the Latvian capital.

[37] It remained in this Corps for the duration of the war, doing coastal watch along the east coast of the Gulf in the unlikely event of the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket making some sort of landing attempt.

When the shooting stopped, the men and women of the 189th shared the full title of 189th Rifle, Kingisepp, Order of the Red Banner Division.