857th Artillery Regiment of the 316th Rifle Division in the Battle of Moscow during the Great Patriotic War

The study is devoted to the identification of the personnel of the 857th Artillery Regiment of the first formation of the 316th Rifle Division. Despite numerous macro-statistical studies and active databases dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, there are still a lot about homeland defenders of 1941-1945 which re-mains unknown. In order to fill these gaps, the authors place emphasis of their research on the unit of the 316th Rifle Division formed in Alma-Ata, with people enlisted from the Central Asian Military District. The methodological approach included the cross-textual and discourse analysis of the regimental and divisional documents from the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and a comparison of the obtained materials with the scientific literature conclusions on the military actions during the Battle of Moscow in 1941. The research result is the comprehensive reconstruction of the organization, equipment, and duties of the personnel of the 857th Artillery Regiment. The data were divided into those set by the Red Army’s table of organization and the actual figures on the ground, data which allowed the authors to observe dynamic changes during military actions. The research yielded important clarifications in the make of the 857th Artillery Regiment’s personnel and battle routes and it sets the groundwork for further study of the action of larger military units.