List of infantry divisions of the Soviet Union 1917–1957

See also: List of Soviet Union divisions 1917-1945

The list of infantry divisions of the Soviet Union 1917–1957 details development and composition of infantry forces in the Soviet Union from the 1917 Revolution to the reorganisation of the Soviet Army in the aftermath of the Stalinist era. Mechanised Divisions were formed during 1945–46, and then all remaining Rifle Divisions were converted to Motor Rifle Divisions in 1957.

Contents

Divisions of the Russian Civil War

Many infantry (pekhotniye), literally 'movement', and rifle (strelkoviye), literally 'sharpshooter', divisions were inherited by the Workers-Peasants Army from the former Imperial Russian Army, but were renamed in the spirit of the Revolutionary times, often with names including words such as "Proletariat", "workers and peasants", or other titles that differentiated them from the past. They employed some of the 48,000 former Tsarist officers and 214,000 Tsarist NCOs along with over 10,000 administrative personnel. Initially the new Bolshevik rifle divisions were composed of rifle brigades, and included:

two or three brigades of two regiments each[1]
an artillery brigade
a cavalry regiment
a communications battalion
a reconnaissance company
an engineer battalion
an air (balloon) detachment (otryad)
an aviation group (aircraft)
rear services

The division was to have an establishment of 26,972, with 14,220 combat troops, and depended on 10,048 horses to manoeuvre. Due to difficulties with recruiting volunteers into the armed forces early in the Russian Civil War, conscription was introduced on the 29 May 1918, and all infantry divisions were renamed into rifle divisions on 11 October 1918. The first six of the 11 formed divisions were those formed in the Petrograd, Moscow, Orel, Yaroslav, Privolzhsk and Ural okrugs. However, the divisions were initially only numbered, eventually 1st through to 47th by 1919. Five of these divisions were also named. The Russian Civil War divisions were allocated to the various Fronts, including:

Other Civil War rifle divisions

The establishment and organisation of the divisions (N 220/34) had changed by the end of 1918 to increase the number of regiments in brigades to three, while eliminating the artillery brigade headquarters, leaving the nine artillery divizions (battalions) and one horse artillery battery to be allocated to rifle brigades. An armoured auto detachment (otryad) was also instituted. By 1921 the establishment of the rifle division had changed substantially in accordance with TO&E N 1400/246 for peace-time, with two brigades and only 15,876 personnel, and the reduction of artillery to two battalions and one battery, and the cavalry from four to three squadron regiment.

From 10 June 1922 the organisation of rifle divisions war changed from brigade to regiment structure, with three regiments in each. The establishment of divisions stationed in the border areas was reduced to 8,705 personnel, and those in the interior regions to 6,725, including the reduction to a single cavalry squadron. The number of divisions was increased to 49.

Divisions of the interwar years

Due to increasing economic difficulties in the post-war USSR, the armed forces were substantially reduced, and from 8 August 1923 transferred to the territorial system of organisation. All divisions were reduced to an establishment of 1,437 permanent cadre and 8,084 conscripted personnel. These new divisions were initially called militia-rifle divisions (Russian: милиционной-стрелковая дивизия), and later were renamed territorial-militia divisions (Russian: территориально-милиционная дивизия). However, despite reduction in number of service personnel, the number of territorial-militia divisions quadrupled by summer 1928.

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 territorial unit, which comprised about half the Army's strength, each year, for five years.[3] 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 regular officers and enlisted personnel serving two-year stints.

Most of the divisions that participated in the Russian Civil War were disbanded by 1927, however, Leon Trotsky initiated a formation of the new armed force with a professional cadre which was supported in its evolution even after his departure from Soviet Union. The reform in the rifle forces that begun in 1924 did create some notable changes, including commencement of adding names to the regular and newly formed territorial divisions, and creation of national divisions, notably one Belarus, four Ukrainian, two Georgian, one Armenian, and one Azerbaijanian divisions. In 1928 1st and 3rd Turkestan, and in 1929 an Azerbaijanian divisions were reorganised as mountain-rifle divisions. Of the 70 rifle division, 41 were now territorial in their establishment.

During the 1930s the RKKA infantry forces were not only expanded, but also substantially reorganised, in part due to substantial input of military theorists into their doctrinal development, such as that of Mikhail Tukhachevsky who's 1934 report to the Defence Committee included 13 types of infantry division divisions. On the 31 January 1935 the Committee decreed adoption of a single 13 thousand personnel peace-time establishment for a rifle division which included:

three rifle regiments
one artillery regiment:
one tank battalion (mixed)
separate reconnaissance battalion (light tank company, cavalry squadron and SP artillery battery)
communications battalion
separate anti-aircraft machine-gun company
sapper company
aviation flight
rear services

This structure more than double the number of combat personnel in the division from the 1929 establishment of 20.2% to 41.7%. In May 1937 the military commissars were added to the establishment of all RKKA military forces.

On 29 November 1937 four types of structures for rifle forces were established:

Far Eastern District divisions - 10,000 establishment
Cadre divisions - 7,000 (6950) establishment
Cadre mountain divisions - 4,000 establishment
Cadre territorial divisions - 6,000 (5,220) establishment. These lacked the communications, reconnaissance and sapper battalions.

The territorial system was reorganised, with all remaining formations converted to 'cadre' divisions, in 1937 and 1938[4], with the cadre divisions retaining one territorial regiment until reorganisation that followed 1938 restructuring of all armed forces. Kamchatka and Sakhalin divisions were also added in the wake of the Soviet–Japanese Border Wars.

By 1938 there were plans to increase the number of rifle divisions in the RKKA from 98 to 173. These would include:

17 rifle divisions with 14 thousand personnel
1 rifle divisions with 12 thousand personnel (TO&E 04/400)
33 rifle divisions with 8.9 thousand personnel (TO&E 04/100)
76 rifle divisions with 6 thousand personnel (TO&E 04/120)
33 rifle divisions with 3 thousand personnel
13 mountain-rifle divisions with 4 thousand personnel

The wartime strength of the new rifle division that was intended to include two artillery regiments was to have 18 thousand personnel, but none had been brought up to this strength by 1941.

Divisions of the Second World War

Two events shaped the evolution of the RKKA rifle divisions during the initial period of the Second World War: the decision in 1938 to reorganise the Army, in part due to and following the repressions of the officer corps in 1937, and the 1939 campaign in Poland, and later war against Finland.

In the course of the war the Second World War the Soviet Union's Red Army raised over four hundred and fifty numbered rifle divisions (infantry). Usually the rifle divisions were controlled by the higher head-quarters of the Rifle Corps. But scores of these formations were reformed several times; the total number of divisional formations formed may have been as high as 2,000, according to Craig Crofoot.

On 22 June 1941 the Red Army had 103 divisions in the western military districts, of which 70 were organised according to peace-time TO&E 04/100 with 10-thousand bayonet strength (actual number of rifles 7,818), but brought up to the 12-thousand strength (TO&E 04/400), with another six at the 11-thousand strength. Another 78 rifle divisions in the interior military districts were organised according to peace-time TO&E 04/120 6-thousand (5,864) bayonet strength (actual number of rifles 3,685). The wartime organisation of the RKKA rifle division was 14-thousand (14,483) with 10,420 rifles, but only 20 western border divisions had been brough up to this establishment when the war begun.

Zaloga notes that the Red Army formed at least 42 'national' divisions during the Second World War, including four Azeri, five Armenian, and eight Georgian rifle divisions and a large number of cavalry divisions in Central Asia, including five Uzbek cavalry divisions.

Note on Designations

During the war, many divisions were formed, destroyed or otherwise disbanded, and reformed several times: A notional example, using imaginary designations, runs:

'The 501st Rifle Division (1st formation), readiness category B organised to 1937 tables may have been disbanded at Vyazma in 1941, and a new 501st Division (2nd formation), readiness category A organised on 1942 tables formed in Rostov thousands of km away, then renamed 200th Guards Rifle Division in 1944, and a new 501st (3rd formation), readiness category A organised to 1944 tables division formed in Minsk.'

Note on Sources

The main source used in the compilation of this page was Robert G. Poirier and Albert Z. Conner's The Red Army Order of Battle in the Great Patriotic War, published by Novato: Presidio Press, in 1985. Poirer and Conner primarily used the wartime files of the German Foreign Armies East ('FHO') intelligence section, of which substantial sections are now held by the U.S. national archives. Thus this page represents primarily pre-1989, Western scholarship; however new materials available since 1989, primarily A.G. Lenski's 2000 book, have also been inserted where available.

Rifle Divisions list

1 - 10 Divisions

11 - 20 Divisions

21 - 30 Divisions

31 - 40 Divisions

41 - 50 Divisions

51 - 60 Divisions

61 - 70 Divisions

71 - 80 Divisions

81 - 90 Divisions

91 - 100 Divisions

101 - 110 Divisions

111 - 120 Divisions

121 - 130 Divisions

131 - 140 Divisions

141 - 150 Divisions

151 - 160 Divisions

161 - 170 Divisions

171 - 180 Divisions

181 - 190 Divisions

191 - 200 Divisions

201 - 210 Divisions

211 - 220 Divisions

221 - 230 Divisions

231 - 240 Divisions

241 - 250 Divisions

251 - 260 Divisions

261 - 270 Divisions

271 - 280 Divisions

281 - 290 Divisions

291 - 300 Divisions

301 - 310 Divisions

311 - 320 Divisions

321 - 330 Divisions

331 - 340 Divisions

341 - 350 Divisions

351 - 360 Divisions

361 - 370 Divisions

371 - 380 Divisions

381 - 390 Divisions

391 - 400 Divisions

401 - 420 Divisions

421 - 440 Divisions

441 - 473 Divisions

Narodnoe Opolcheniye

Leningrad Narodnoe Opolcheniye

Narodnoe Opolcheniye divisions, listed in the order of creation, were hastily created in mid-1941 as the German storm bore down on Leningrad. In Russian, they were designated дивизия народного ополчения – Narodnoe Opolcheniye Division – or гвардейская дивизия народного ополчения – Guards Narodnoe Opolcheniye Division. On 23 September 1941 all the divisions of the Leningrad Narodnoe Opolcheniye Army divisions were used to form Red Army units mostly within the Leningrad Front.

Moscow Narodnoe Opolcheniye

Although 25 Narodnoe Opolcheniye divisions were intended for formation, only 16 were formed due to demand for workers in building the fortifications for the defence of Moscow. By the 7 July 1941 140,000 volunteers had been accepted into the Moscow Narodnoe Opolcheniye, and organised into 12 divisions (11,633 establishment) named according to the city rayons, but on the 20 September converted into regular divisions (numbers in brackets):

These divisions were allocated to the Mozhaisk Defence Line Front (commander General P.A. Artemyev) which consisted of the 32nd Army (General N.K. Klykov) in Vyazma, 33rd Army (Kombrig D.P. Onuprienko) in Spas-Demyansk and 34th Army (General N.I. Pronin), and also included five NKVD divisions (one each in the 32nd and 34th Armies, and three in the 33rd Army).

In October 1941 four more divisions were formed

Other narodnoe opolcheniye divisions

Guards Rifle Divisions

Motor Rifle Divisions

Notes

  1. ^ Seaton, p. 42
  2. ^ Crofoot, Armies of the Bear, Vol. I Part 1
  3. ^ Scott and Scott, 1979, p.12
  4. ^ David Glantz, Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War 1941–43, University Press of Kansas, 2005, p. 717 note 5.
  5. ^ & # entry43861 47 Mountain Division
  6. ^ 63rd Infantry Division
  7. ^ http://www.rkka.ru/handbook/reg/69md41.htm, accessed July 2011
  8. ^ Awarded with the Order of Lenin after the Winter War. On the combat history of the division see, for example, Soviet Military Encyclopaedia, v.4, pp.431-431.
  9. ^ history of 77 Infantry Division and 77-Rifle Division
  10. ^ Bonn, 2005, says that 82nd Motorised Rifle Division was originally formed in Perm region as 82nd Self-Propelled Gun Division, converted to 82 MRD 1941. Bonn, Slaughterhouse, Aberjona Press, 2005, p.350
  11. ^ яЮИР ОНЯБЪЫЕММШИ 108 аНАПСИЯЙНИ ДХБХГХХ ||| аНЕБНИ оСРЭ
  12. ^ S.N.Zhilin and others “Under the Guard banner ". Arkhangelsk/Vologda. 1980
  13. ^ a b Журнал Санкт-Петербургский университет ISSN 1681-1941 / № 1-2 (3657-3658), 19 January 2004
  14. ^ Data of the Red Army in the Winter War, OOB
  15. ^ 161st rifle division was formed in April — July 1942 on the territory of the Moscow Military District on the basis of the 13th separate rifle brigade, formed during the autumn 1941 in the South Caucasus Military District; on the combat history of the formation see, for example: M.K.Smolnyy “7,000 kilometers in battles and campaigns ". Military Publishing, 1982.
  16. ^ Irregular Units of RKKA
  17. ^ Форум
  18. ^ [1]
  19. ^ 402 Rifle Division
  20. ^ Armenia and Armenians in World War II
  21. ^ 416 Rifle Division
  22. ^ p.12, Perecheni, rifles divisions
  23. ^ First division of Narodnoe Opolcheniye (Первая дивизия народного ополчения) in Russian [2]
  24. ^ Poirier and Conner show the 21st GRD as being formed from the 361st RD in Mar 1942
  25. ^ Feskov et al. 2004, p.114
  26. ^ Feskov et al., 2004, Table 2.4, p.51/52
  27. ^ http://rkka.ru/handbook/guard/84gvsd.htm
  28. ^ Formation of 93rd (12th Guards) rifle brigade, from which the 92nd guard rifle division was expanded during April 1943 took place in September 1942 in the Urals (“Red Banner from Ural ". Military Publishing, 1983, p. 137,) (Note via Lenskii 2001)
  29. ^ Source for 111th, 112th, 113th, 115th, and 116th is http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=237068
  30. ^ Graham H. Turbiville, 'Restructuring the Soviet Ground Forces: Reduction, Mobilization, Force Generation,' Military Review, December 1989
  31. ^ Feskov et al 2004, p.68
  32. ^ Keith E. Bonn (ed.), Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005, p.376
  33. ^ Source for 123rd, 124th, 125th, 126th, and 127th is http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=237068

References

See also