The Soviet Union's Red Army raised divisions during the Russian Civil War, and again during the interwar period in 1926. Only a few of the Civil War divisions were retained in this period, and even fewer survived the reorganization of the Red Army during the 1937–1941 period. During the Second World War 400 'line' rifle divisions (infantry), 129 Soviet Guards rifle divisions, and over 50 cavalry divisions as well as many divisions of combat support arms were raised in addition to the hundreds of divisions that existed in the Red Army before Operation Barbarossa. Almost all the pre-war mechanized and tank divisions were disbanded during the war. There were also Red Air Forceaviation divisions, and the NKVD divisions which also took part in fighting.
The territorial principle of manning the Red Army was introduced in the mid-1920s. In each region able-bodied men were called up for a limited period of active duty in a territorial unit, which comprised about half the Army's strength, each year, for five years.[1] The first call-up period was for three months, with one month a year thereafter. A regular cadre provided a stable nucleus. By 1925 this system provided 46 of the 77 infantry divisions and one of the eleven cavalry divisions. The remainder consisted of NCO's and enlisted personnel serving two-year stints. The territorial system was finally abolished, with all remaining formations converted to the other 'cadre' divisions, in 1937 and 1938.[2]
The Red Army formed at least 42 "national" divisions during the Second World War which had substantial ethnic majorities in their composition derived from location of initial formation rather than intentional "nationalization" of the divisions, including four Azeri, five Armenian, and eight Georgian rifle divisions and a large number of cavalry divisions in the eastern Ukraine, Kuban region, and Central Asia, including five Uzbek cavalry divisions.
2nd Guards Airborne Division – established at Zvenigorod December 1942. Fought at Ponyri, Kursk, Korsun, and in the Carpathians. With 1st Guards Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front 5.45. Disbanded, after temporary loss of its divisional colours, soon after war ended.[4]
3rd Guards Airborne Division (ex 8th Airborne Corps at Shchelkovo December 1942). Fought at Demyansk, Ponyri, Kiev, Zhitomir, Debrecen, Budapest, and Vienna. With 27th Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front 5.45. Became 125th Guards Rifle Division December 1945.[3]
4th Guards Airborne Division (ex 1st Airborne Corps at Moscow December 1942). Fought at Kursk, Orel, Zhitomir, Korsun, Targul Frumos, Debrecen, Budapest, Bratislava and Prague. With 7th Guards Army of the 2nd Ukrainian Front 5.45. Became 111th Guards Rifle Division 28 June 1945 while with 25th Guards Rifle Corps, 7th Guards Army.[3]
7th Guards Airborne Division – established at Ramenskoye December 1942. Fought at Demyansk, Voronezh, Korsun, on the Dnieper River, and at Targul Frumos and Budapest. With 4th Guards Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front 5.45. The first formation of the 7th Guards Airborne Division was retitled as the 115th Guards Rifle Division.[5] The 115th Guards Division was disbanded in 1953 in Kiev.[6]
8th Guards Airborne Division – established in the Moscow Military District December 1942. Fought at Demyansk, Voronezh, Kirovograd, Targul Frumos, near Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. Became 107th Guards Rifle Division 12.44.
At the end of the Second World War most of the remaining Guards Airborne Divisions were redesignated Guards Rifle Divisions.[7] At the end of June 1945 this has happened to the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th, which became respectively the 111, 112, 113, 115, and 116th Guards Rifle Divisions. In November, it happened to the 1st, 3rd, and 10th Airborne Divisions, which became the 124th, 125th, and 126th Guards Rifle Divisions.
Not intended for front line combat, NKVDInternal Troops were used to guard borders, secure railways, and combat elements such as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army that posed threats to the rear areas and supply convoys of the Red Army. Notwithstanding the original intent of these units, many saw at least some front line combat, several were converted to regular divisions of the Red Army, and others were grouped into a field NKVD army that was later re-numbered as the 70th Army. There were different types of divisions: Rifle Division (abbreviated to RD in this list), Railroad Security Division (RSD), Special Installation Security Division (SISD), and Convoy Forces Security Division (CFSD).
This list is primarily drawn from David Glantz, Companion To Colossus Reborn: Key Documents And Statistics, University Press of Kansas, 2005.
2nd NKVD Railroad Security Division (RSD) – established 8.3.39 at Leningrad, with Leningrad and Special Baltic Military Districts. 11.2.42 became 23rd NKVD RSD.
3rd NKVD RD – 9.42 at Tbilisi as the Tbilisi Division. With Trans-Caucasian Front. 6.44 renamed 3rd NKVD RD, with 2nd Far Eastern Front in Manchuria in 1945. Disbanded 1946.
4th NKVD RSD – Established 8 March 1939 in Kiev. 6.41 in the Odessa Military District and later with Southern Front. 11.2.42 became the 25th NKVD RSD.
5th NKVD RSD – *8.3.39 at Kharkov. With Southwestern Front. 11.2.42 became the 26th NKVD RSD.
5th NKVD Rifle Division – *11.1.42 at Tikhvin. In Leningrad and Baltic regions. 15.9.51 disbanded.
6th NKVD RSD – *8.3.39 at Khabarovsk. In the Far East. Became the 37th NKVD RSD 11.2.42.
6th NKVD Motor Rifle Division – *11.41 behind Southwestern Front. Became the 8th NKVD Motor RD 11.2.42.
6th NKVD Rifle Division – *1.42 at Kalinin. With Kalinin and 2nd Baltic Fronts and later in the Belorussian Military District. 10.45 disbanded.
7th NKVD RSD – 8.3.39 at Svobodnyi. 11.2.42 became the 28th NKVD RSD.
7th NKVD Motor Rifle Division – 4.42 at Orel and Tula. With the Western, Bryansk, Central, Belorussian, and 1st Belorussian Fronts. Later in the Belorussian Military District. 13.9.51 disbanded.
8th NKVD RSD – 8.3.39 in Chita. 11.2.42 became the 29th NKVD RSD.
8th Motor Rifle Division NKVD – Formed Jan 1942 at Voronezh from the 6th NKVD Motor RD. 7.42 became the 63rd RD of the Red Army, which then became the 52nd Guards RD 11.43.
8th NKVD Motor RD – 1.42 at Voronezh (? see above) and 5.42 renumbered as the 13th NKVD Motor RD.
9th NKVD Motor RD – *1.42 in Rostov. 8.42 became the 31st RD of the Red Army.
9th NKVD RD – *22.8.42 in Ordzhonikidze as NKVD RD with same name. Fought with Trans-Caucasian front during latter part of 1942. 5.44 became the 9th NKVD RD in Krasnodar. 10.44 disbanded.
10th NKVD RSD – *14.11.39 at L'vov. With Southwestern Front. Wiped out at Kiev and 10.41 disbanded.
10th Rifle Division NKVD – 7.42 at Saratov and Stalingrad. With Stalingrad Front. 10.42 became the 181st RD (third formation) of the Red Army and assigned to the NKVD Army which later was renamed the 70th Army.
10th NKVD RD – *26.3.42 at Rostov as the 41st NKVD RSD. 9.42 renamed at Sukhumi as NKVD RD with same name. With 46th Army of the Transcaucasian Front. 4.44 became the 10th NKVD RD at Sarny. With Central, Belorussian, and 1st Belorussian Fronts, and then in the Belorussian Military District. June 1946, disbanded.
11th NKVD Rifle Division – *1.42 at Nalchik and Krasnodar. With Crimean and Trans-Caucasus Fronts. 12.42 disbanded.
11th NKVD SISD – *6.11.39 at Moscow. 31.1.42 merged with 12th NKVD SISD to become 15th NKVD SISD.
12th NKVD SISD – *25.8.41 at Moscow. 31.1.42 merged with 11th NKVD SISD to become 15th NKVD SISD.
12th NKVD Mountain RD – *29.6.41 at Saratov. 7.41 became the 268th RD of the Red Army.
12th NKVD RD – *1.42 at Moscow. 9.42 converted to 22nd NKVD Rifle Brigade.
13th NKVD CFSD – *11.39 at Kiev. With Southern and Southwestern Fronts until wiped out 9.41. Remnants became the 35th NKVD CFSD 2.42.
13th Motor Rifle Division NKVD – *5.42 near Moscow from elements of the 8th NKVD Motor RD. With Voronezh Front. 8.42 became the second formation of the 95th Rifle Division of the Red Army.
14th NKVD CFSD – *9.40 near Moscow. 2.42 became the 36th NKVD CFSD.
Cavalry divisions in the Red Army were first formed in the early days of the Russian Civil War. The Red cavalry played a key role in the war, as the relatively small size of the forces involved and the large open spaces were ideal for mobile cavalry operations.[9] 27 cavalry divisions were formed during the war, of which all but eleven were disbanded after the end of the war in 1921. The Red Army's cavalry forces was gradually expanded during the interwar period, reaching a peak in 1936, when the Red Army included 36 cavalry divisions. However, the increasing demand for mechanized units resulted in drastic reductions in the Red Army cavalry force during the last few years before the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.[10]
At the time of the German invasion, there were nine regular cavalry divisions and four mountain cavalry divisions in the Red Army. The rapid destruction of Soviet mechanized forces in the summer and autumn of 1941 resulted in a rapid expansion of cavalry units to provide the Red Army a mobile, if not armored, force. This expansion produced some 87 new cavalry divisions by early 1942, many of which were later disbanded as the Red Army rebuilt its tank and mechanized formations. 17 of the cavalry divisions were granted Guards status and renumbered accordingly. At the start of the conflict, a cavalry division had some 9,000 men; by 1945, they were authorized 6,000 men and often organized into corps of three divisions that were reinforced by artillery, tank, and assault gun elements.[9]
After the end of World War II, the remaining 26 cavalry divisions were mostly converted into mechanized and tank units or disbanded.[11] The last cavalry divisions were not disbanded until the early 1950s, with the last cavalry division, the 4th Guards Cavalry Division (II Formation, previously reduced in status from 4th Guards Cavalry Corps), being disbanded in April 1955.[12]
1st Mountain Cavalry Division (1st USSR formation) — Formed in July 1941. With Trans-Caucasus Front December 1941 and 15th Cavalry Corps July 1944. Stationed in Iran during World War II.
3rd Cavalry Division – Formed in Odessa Military District prewar. 6.41 with 5th Cavalry Corps. Became the 5th Guards Cavalry Division 22.12.41. Originally 34,60,99,158 Cavalry Regiments and 44th Tank Regiment.[16]
4th Cavalry Division – 6.41 with 9th Cavalry Corps. Reformed by reorganisation of 210th Motorised Division later in 1941.
5th Cavalry Division— (ex 2nd Cavalry Division 8.24). With 2nd Cavalry Corps, 9th Army in 6.41. Became 1st Guards Cavalry Division 26.11.41. Originally 11,96,131,160 Cavalry Regiments and 32nd Tank Regiment[16]
6th Cavalry Division – with 6th Cavalry Corps in 6.41. Disbanded 19.9.41. Originally 3,48,94,152 Cavalry Regiments and 35th Tank Regiment.[16]
20th Tajik Red Banner Order of Lenin Mountain Cavalry Division – 6.41 with 4th Cavalry Corps, Central AsiaMilitary District. 8.43 became the 17th Guards Cavalry Division. Also had honour title 'mining'?
30th Cavalry Division – 6.41 with 1st Mechanized Corps, and with 4th Guards Cavalry Corps, 1 Guards Cavalry-Mechanized Group of the 2nd Ukrainian Front May 1945. Becomes 11 Mechanized Division 07.1945.[17]
31st Cavalry Division – Formed in 1936 in the Far East. 75th Cavalry Regt was transferred from the 15 Cavalry Division ZabVO, 79 Cavalry Regiment – the mountain of 6 Cavalry Division Savo, 84 Cavalry Regiment – of 8 mountain cavalry division CAMD. 121 cavalry regiment formed in the Siberian Military District, 31 Mechanized Regiment – in Kharkiv. July 41 established at Voronezh; 12.41 with 50th Army. 5.1.42 Became 7th Guards Cavalry Division.
75th Light Cavalry Division – 12.41 with 10th Army. Disbanded in March 1942 due to losses. Personnel used to fill out other units of the 1st Guards Cavalry Division of the 1st Guards Cavalry corps.
114th Cavalry Division – 12.41 with Svir-Caucasus MD. Chechen-Ingush ASSR national formation.[19] In March 1942 the division was reduced in status to the 255th Separate Chechen-Ingush Cavalry Regiment.
116th Cavalry Division – 4.42 with 17th Cavalry Corps. 8.42 became 12th Guards Cavalry Division.
Independent Cavalry Division НО – 12.41 with 56th Army.
Guards Cavalry Divisions
1st Guards Cavalry Division – (ex 5th Cavalry Division 26.11.41). Fought at Moscow, Kharkov, Kiev, and in the Lvov-Sandomir, Carpathian, Berlin, and Prague Operations. With 1st Guards Cavalry Corps of the 1st Ukrainian Front 5.45.
5th Guards Cavalry Division – (ex 3rd Cavalry Division 22.12.41). Fought near Stalingrad and in Kurland. With 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps of the 2nd Belorussian Front 5.45. Elements of division later used in postwar formation of the 1st (later the 18th) Tank Division. The 18th was later reorganised as the 5th Guards Tank Division, which remains active today, having been relocated to the Transbaikal Military District in 1965.
6th Guards Cavalry Division (ex 14th Cavalry Division 12.41). Fought at Stalingrad, Smolensk, and in the Belorussian Operation, East Prussia, and Kurland. With 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps of the 2nd Belorussian Front 5.45. Disbanded 7.46.[17]
7th Guards Cavalry Division (ex 31st Cavalry Division 5.1.42). Fought at Kaluga, Kharkov, Kiev, Sandomir, and in the Berlin Operation. With 1st Guards Cavalry Corps of the 1st Ukrainian Front 5.45.
14th Guards Cavalry Division (ex 21st Mountain Cavalry Division 14.2.43). Fought near Chernigov, and in the Lublin-Brest, East Pomerania, and Berlin Operations. With 7th Guards Cavalry Corps of the 1st Belorussian Front 5.45.
15th Guards Cavalry Division (ex 55th Cavalry Division 14.2.43). Fought near Chernigov, and in the Lublin-Brest, East Pomeranian, and Berlin Operations. With 7th Guards Cavalry Corps of the 1st Belorussian Front 5.45. 15 GCD eventually became 15th Guards Tank Division, which served with the Central Group of Forces in Hungary postwar, before being withdrawn to Chebarkul in the Urals after 1990 and eventually being disbanded there c. 2002–4.
16th Guards Cavalry Division (ex 112th Cavalry Division 14.2.43). 'Bashkir Chernigovskaya Order of Lenin, Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov Division.' Bashkir SSR national formation.[18] Raised from 112th Bashkir Cavalry Division. Fought near Chernigov, and in the Lublin-Brest, East Pomerania, and Berlin Operations. With 7th Guards Cavalry Corps of the 1st Belorussian Front 5.45. 14th and 16 Guards Cavalry Divisions of 7th Guards Cavalry Corps together eventually became 23rd Motor Rifle Division, which ended up in the Trans-Caucasus region as part of 4th Army.
The Red Army tank divisions of the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) were short-lived. In the face of the German invasion of 1941, many poorly maintained vehicles were abandoned, and those that did meet the Germans in battle were defeated by the superior training, doctrine, and radio communications of the Panzertruppe. The magnitude of the defeat was so great that the mechanized corps parent headquarters of the tank divisions were either inactivated or destroyed by July 1941. Most of the tank divisions facing the Germans had met a similar fate by the end of 1941. The Soviets opted to organize more easily controlled tank brigades instead, eventually combining many of these into three-brigade tank corps in 1942, an organizational structure that served them until the end of the war. Until late in the war, two tank divisions remained in the Far East, serving in the Transbaikal Military District.
6th Tank Division – with 28th Mechanised Corps in June 1941. 6th Tank Division was part of the Transcaucasian Front when the Front moved into Iran, but was withdrawn from Iran in September 1941, whereas in November it was deployed by Novocherkassk with the 56th Army.
10th Tank Division – with 15th Mechanised Corps in June 1941. Ground down to a strength of 20 vehicles while serving with 40th Army. Broken up August–September 1941 and reorganised as 131st and 133rd Tank Battalions.
104th Tank Division – formed 15 July 1941 by re-designation of 9th Tank Division; with Western Front in August 1941. Disbanded by being redesignated as a tank brigade 6.91941.
105th Tank Division – formed after July 1941; with Reserve Front in August 1941.
107th Tank Division – formed after July 1941; with Western Front in August 1941. Became 107th Motor Rifle Division 16.9.1941, and, three months after that, 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division on 12.1.1942.
110th Tank Division – formed after July 1941; with Reserve Front in August 1941. On July 21, the commander of 30th Army disbanded the 110th Tank Division and distributed its battalions to his rifle divisions; the battalion reassigned to the 250th Rifle Division was supposed to consist of two companies, one of ten T-34s and one of ten BT of T-26 light tanks, plus a command tank.[27]
111th Tank Division – formed 15.7.1941. With the Transbaikal Front in May 1945. By November 1945 was at Nalaykh, Mongolia. Redesignated 4 March 1955 as 16th Tank Division, disbanded July 1957.[28]
112th Tank Division – formed in August 1941 in Primorsky Krai on the basis of 112th Tank Regiment, 239th Mechanised Division, 30th Mechanized Corps, under Colonel Andrei Getman. With the Far Eastern Front in Sept 1941. Becomes 112th Tank Brigade on 3.1.1942.
Artillery Divisions
1st (Tank) destroyer artillery division - 25 May 1942 with South-Western Front
2nd (Tank) destroyer artillery division - 25 May 1942 with Bryansk Front
3rd (Tank) destroyer artillery division - 25 May 1942 with Western Front
4th (Tank) destroyer artillery division - 6 June 1942 with Kalinin Front
5th (Tank) destroyer artillery division - 6 June 1942 with Stalingrad Military District
2nd Guards Perekop Red Banner Order of Suvorov (II) Artillery Division created on 1 March 1943 from the 4th Artillery Division and fought with the Southern, 4th Ukrainian, 1st Baltic and 2nd Baltic Fronts.[29]
10th Breakthrough Artillery Division – with 3rd Belorussian Front May 1945. In August 1959, on the basis of the disbanded 10th Breakthrough Artillery Division, the formation of an organizational group of 46 Training Artillery Range (Military Unit No. 43176) temporarily located in Mozyr, Gomel Oblast, Byelorussian SSR, was begun. 46 Training Artillery Range later became 27th Guards Rocket Army.
20th Breakthrough Artillery Division – Fought at Kursk, and in East Prussia and Kurland. With 1st Shock Army of the Kurland Group (Leningrad Front) May 1945.
21st Breakthrough Artillery Division – Fought in the Bagration operation, in East Prussia and Kurland; with Kurland Group (Leningrad Front) May 1945.
All Guards Rocket Artillery Divisions were disbanded between August and September 1945.[31]
1st Guards Rocket Krasnoselsk Red Banner Artillery Division – Formed Sep 1942 at Moscow Military District; with ? Front Jan 1945.
2nd Guards Rocket Gorodokskaya Red Banner Order of Alexander Nevskiy Artillery Division – Formed Sep 1942; with 1st Baltic Front Jan 1945.
3rd Guards Rocket Kiev Red Banner Orders of Kutuzov (2nd class) and Bogdan Khmelnitskiy (II) Artillery Division – Formed Sep 1942; with 1st Ukrainian Front Jan 1945.
4th Guards Rocket Sivashskaya Order of Alexander Nevskiy Artillery Division – Formed Sep 1942; with 2nd Belorussian Front Jan 1945.
5th Guards Rocket Kalinkovichskaya Red Banner Order of Suvorov (2nd class) Artillery Division – Formed Jan 1943; with 1st Belorussian Front Jan 1945.
6th Guards Rocket Bratislava Artillery Division – Formed Jan 1943; with 2nd Ukrainian Front 5.45.
7th Guards Rocket Kovenskaya Red Banner Orders of Suvorov (2nd class) and Kutuzov (2nd class) Artillery Division – Formed Feb 1943; with 3rd Belorussian Front May 1945.
31st AA Division – appears to have been with 47th Army in Jan 1945, with four anti-aircraft artillery regiments (BSSA). With 3rd Army of the 1st Belorussian Front May 1945.
^"Internal forces in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945",
Documents and materials. Moscow, 1975, 39, cited in David Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, University Press of Kansas, 1998, 175.
^ abRed Army Handbook, Chapter 3. For 5 GCD, see also thread at Axis History Forum for more details
^See Glantz, Stumbling Colossus, University Press of Kansas, 1998, 222, and associated endnotes at 324-325, notes 47-49. SBDVOV, Issue 37, pp 99, 141-142 appear to be the original archive documents.
^Charles C. Sharp, "Red Tide", Soviet Rifle Divisions Formed from June to December 1941, Soviet Order of Battle World War II, Nafziger, 1996, p 45
V.I. Feskov, K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov, The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945–91, Tomsk University Publishing House, Tomsk, 2004
Feskov, V.I.; Golikov, V.I.; Kalashnikov, K.A.; Slugin, S.A. (2013). Вооруженные силы СССР после Второй Мировой войны: от Красной Армии к Советской [The Armed Forces of the USSR after World War II: From the Red Army to the Soviet: Part 1 Land Forces] (in Russian). Tomsk: Scientific and Technical Literature Publishing. ISBN9785895035306.
Glantz, David M., Colossus Reborn, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2005. ISBN0-7006-1353-6.
Glantz, David M., Companion to Colossus Reborn, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2005. ISBN0-7006-1359-5.
А. Г. Ленский, Сухопутные силы РККА в предвоенные годы. Справочник. – Санкт-Петербург Б&К, 2000
Robert G. Poirier and Albert Z. Conner, The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War, Novato: Presidio Press, 1985. ISBN0-89141-237-9.
Steven J. Zaloga and Leland S. Ness, Red Army Handbook 1941–1945, Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 1998. ISBN0-7509-1740-7.
Боевой Состав Советской Армии 1941–1945 (Official Soviet Army Order of Battle from General Staff Archives).