It was based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of July 29, 1941, although it was briefly redesignated as a mountain rifle division prior to making an amphibious landing at Feodosia in late December.

This overly ambitious undertaking by Crimean Front's 44th Army led to a disaster when a German counterattack retook the port, destroying much of the division's personnel and equipment.

Its combat path was halted for a few months along the Dniestr River, but in August 1944 it began its advance through Bessarabia and into the Balkans, where all three of its rifle regiments received honors for the liberation of Belgrade.

In a STAVKA order dated July 26, effective August 1, the 28th Corps was to form the basis of the new 47th Army in preparation for the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran and the 236th was officially redesignated as a rifle division.

The response of the German Corps commander, Lt. Gen. H. von Sponeck, was one of near panic as the communications of his own 46th Infantry Division were in immediate danger of being cut off from the rest of the Crimea.

[10] Sponeck ordered two Romanian brigades to counterattack the Soviet lodgement on December 30 but these troops, tired from countermarching and without artillery or air support, were quickly repulsed.

Over two days the 46th Infantry marched 120 km (75 mi) westward in a snowstorm; fuel shortages led to some motor vehicles being abandoned and heavy weapons lagged behind.

Inexplicably the 9th Corps had left a 9 km-wide (5.6 mi) gap between its pincer and the south shore of the Sea of Azov through which the German division was able to escape with light losses in personnel.

Others managed to filter through German lines to the east, eventually reaching the Parpach Narrows, but by the end of the next day 5,300 men had been taken prisoner in Feodosia, mostly from the division, roughly half its strength.

By October 5 the mountain troops of Group Lanz had captured Mounts Gunai and Geiman, reached the valley of the Gunaika River, and was 15–20 km (9.3–12.4 mi) deep into 18th Army's defenses.

On October 7, under pressure from STAVKA, the 18th Army commander, Lt. Gen. F. V. Kamkov, initiated a counterattack against Group Lanz's forward positions in the valley with the 236th, the 12th Guards Cavalry Division, 40th Motorized and 119th Rifle Brigades.

When the attack began at dawn it encountered very strong resistance and harsh winter weather, with heavy rains and snow up to a metre deep, and made only modest progress of 2–8 km (1.2–5.0 mi), capturing Kotlovina and reaching the Mount Gunai and Geiman line.

Anticipating that the 17th Army was about to evade encirclement the Black Sea Group's forces were ordered to accelerate their pursuit, and on January 30 the division captured Kochkin, 7 km (4.3 mi) east of Zarya Vostok.

Maj. Gen. A. I. Ryzhov, the 18th Army's commander, almost immediately noticed that XXXXIX Mountain Corps had pulled back from the Kuban River and sent infantry to gain a crossing and then had his engineers construct a pontoon bridge.

He would hold other corps commands into the postwar era, be made a Hero of the Soviet Union on October 25, and would be promoted to the rank of major general in April 1945.

46082 of March 20 was one of a group of divisions that were to be moved by rail to Millerovo in preparation for transfer to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for redeployment to the Kursk region.

[35] At the end of the month General Tsepliaev left the division to take command of the Military Horse Breeding Directorate and was replaced by Hero of the Soviet Union Col. Ivan Ivanovich Fesin.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Dnepropetrovsk and Dneprodzerzhinsk, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 25 October 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

[42]At the same time that this Dnipropetrovsk Operation was being carried out, elements of 2nd Ukrainian Front, after crossing the Dniepr farther upstream, reached Piatykhatky before driving on to Kryvyi Rih, which was liberated but then lost under the weight of counterattacks by 1st Panzer Army.

The offensive was renewed on January 30 after a powerful artillery preparation against the positions of the German XXX Army Corps on the same sector, but this was met with a counter-barrage that disrupted the attack.

However, the German XXIX Army Corps reinforced the defenses at Cioburciu, allowing the 76th Infantry Division to shift most of its forces to its left wing and halt the Soviet advance.

[49] On June 13 General Fesin was admitted to hospital due to illness and left his command five days later, handing the division over to Hero of the Soviet Union Col. Pyotr Ivanovich Kulizhskii.

Kulizhskii had won his Gold Star while leading the 152nd Rifle Division in the Dnepropetrovsk operation and would be promoted to the rank of major general on November 2; he commanded the 236th for the duration of the war.

[52] Through September the Front advanced through Romania and northern Bulgaria with the intention of pushing north and south of Arad for a thrust across the Tisza River to Budapest, but this was too ambitious after the lengthy offensive.

On October 4 Soviet forces reached Pančevo on the north bank of the Danube 16 km (9.9 mi) downstream from Belgrade and on the 8th the railroad running into the city from the south was cut.

The troops who participated in the battles of Belgrade, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 20 October 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.

[55] Later in October the 3rd Ukrainian Front crossed the Sava River and by the end of the month reached the Ruma area, 60 km (37 mi) northwest of Belgrade.

[57] At the start of the Budapest Operation on October 29 the 64th Corps (19th, 236th and 73rd Guards Rifle Divisions) was fighting along the line from Hrtkovci to Progar, then along the right bank of the Kolubara River before reaching the Stara Pazova–Vojka–Nova Pazova area which was occupied by the 236th's main forces.

The Corps had the task of leaving a covering force along these lines before concentrating by October 31 at crossing points on the Sava River at Belgrade, Grocka, Dubrovica, and Surduk.

As an indication of the rapidly evolving situation on the Soviet side, the next day the 135th Rifle Corps headquarters was also subordinated to the army and the two divisions shifted to its command.