List of Soviet divisions 1917–1945

The Soviet Union's Red Army raised divisions during the Russian Civil War, and again during the interwar period in 1926.

This list is primarily drawn from David Glantz, Companion To Colossus Reborn: Key Documents And Statistics, University Press of Kansas, 2005.

Cavalry divisions in the Red Army were first formed in the early days of the Russian Civil War.

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.

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.

[9] After the end of World War II, the remaining 26 cavalry divisions were mostly converted into mechanized and tank units or disbanded.

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.

Until late in the war, two tank divisions remained in the Far East, serving in the Transbaikal Military District.