Russian Army - Divisions
| Military Unit | 4th Guards Tank Division |
| Military Unit | 47th Guards Tank Division |
| Military Unit | 90th Guards Tank Division |
| Military Unit | 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division |
| Military Unit 23626 | 2nd Guards Taman Motorized Rifle division |
| Military Unit | 3rd Motor Rifle Division |
| Military Unit | 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division |
| Military Unit | 19th Motor Rifle division |
| Military Unit | 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division |
| Military Unit | 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division |
| Military Unit | 127th Motor Rifle division |
| Military Unit | 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division |
| Military Unit | 150th Motor Rifle division |
| Military Unit | 7th Guards Air Assault Division |
| Military Unit | 76th Guards Air Assault Division |
| Military Unit | 98th Guards Airborne Division |
| Military Unit | 106th Guards Airborne Division |
| Military Unit | 18th Guards Motor Rifle Division [Navy] |
The division was a structure suited to all-out conventional warfare as envisaged by all the major potential protagonists during the Cold War. It had the requisite heavy weaponry and a degree of independence supplied by its organic combat support (e.g., artillery) and combat service support (e.g., logistics) assets. Most of these assets would be held at the division level and then released down to the regiments as required. This is what made them topheavy.
The division of the “new type” is somewhat inferior in terms of staffing to the “old”, Soviet division, but still it is a total of 8-9 thousand people. In Russia in 2014-2015, a new model for building organizational and staff structures of formations was chosen, which implies a partial reconstruction of the divisional link in the western part of the country. This is connected with the shortcomings of the “new look” brigades revealed during the exercises and trainings in a possible confrontation with the formations of NATO countries.
The decision to reorganize the tank and motorized rifle divisions of the ground forces into more compact full-staff brigades was made in 2009 during the military reform. The decision was conditioned by an increase in the mobility and combat readiness of formations, as well as the elimination of the so-called "cadre" divisions (in fact, they were equipment storage bases served by reduced personnel, mainly officers), which were to be deployed into full-fledged mobilization formations.
The change from divisions to brigades did not take place throughout the army. The airborne forces managed to fend off such a change. The 203 divisions of the ground forces, however, were duly converted into 83 brigades.
A new motorized rifle division of about 10 thousand people will be deployed in the Rostov region by the end of 2016. This was reported to TASS March 24, 2016 by a source at the headquarters of the Southern Military District (SMD). “The number of personnel of the division will be about 10 thousand people, its headquarters is planned to be located in the Rostov-on-Don region. The unit will be equipped with the most modern weapons, armored, automotive and special equipment. For its arrangement in the Rostov region, three military camps will have to be built, ”the agency’s interlocutor said.
In 2016, key division-based infrastructure facilities will be erected, and pre-fabricated modular structures will be used to speed up construction. The remaining facilities will be completed in 2017. “According to preliminary estimates, the cost of equipping units and subunits of the new motorized rifle division will amount to at least 5 billion rubles,” the source explained.
Earlier, in January 2016, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that three new divisions would be formed in the western direction by the end of the year. In 2013-2016, the reconstruction of the Kantemirovskaya and Tamanskaya divisions was announced, as well as the deployment of a full-fledged tank division on the basis of the 7th Guards Tank Brigade (Chebarkul, southern Urals).
The tank division being created in the South Urals will be deployed on the basis of the 7th Separate Guards Orenburg Cossack Tank Brigade. This is reported by the blog bmpd, which is maintained by employees of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. On 30 January 2016, the commander of the Central Military District (TsVO) Vladimir Zarudnitsky announced the formation of a tank division in the Chelyabinsk region.
Experts from the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies write that the division will be deployed on the basis of the 7th Separate Guards Orenburg Cossack Tank Brigade, stationed in Chebarkul. The 7th tank brigade was formed in 2009 on the basis of the 239th tank and 295th motorized rifle regiments. The regiments were, in turn, transferred to the 34th motorized rifle division in 2004, after the disbandment of the 15th Guards Mozyr Tank Division, withdrawn from Czechoslovakia, the heir of which will be the new unit of the Central Military District.
Earlier, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the formation of three new divisions of the ground forces in the western direction. According to experts interviewed by Lenta.ru, the formation of a division in the Urals may indicate the preparation of the Russian Armed Forces for a possible aggravation of the situation in Central Asia.
The 10th Guards Ural Volunteer Tank Division will be restored in Russia. On the sidelines of the Russia Arms Expo (RAE) 2015 exhibition, an informed source from the military department told a Lenta.ru correspondent about this. “The restoration of the division will take place in cooperation with the administrations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation: Perm, Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions, after which the regiments of the division were previously named. Cooperation will consist in the priority direction of the draft contingent to the division, ”the source said.
The new unit will become the heir to the 10th Guards Tank Ural-Lvov Volunteer Division named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky. It was formed in 1943 as the 30th Ural Volunteer Tank Corps (among German tank crews, it was nicknamed the “Black Knives Division” for the Finnish knives with black handles transferred to service with the personnel).
In the fall of 1945, the corps was reorganized into a division. The connection was part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany and was deployed, in particular, near Magdeburg and Altengrabow. In 1993-1994, the division was withdrawn from Germany to the Voronezh region, near the city of Boguchar. She took part in the second Chechen campaign. In 2009, it was turned into the 262nd Guards base for the storage and repair of military equipment (tank). It is armed with T-80B tanks.
The Russian divisions of the ground forces were folded into separate brigades during the military reform at the turn of the 2000s and 2010s. Subsequently, it was decided to restore the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motorized Rifle Division and the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division to their former status.
The 1st Guards Tank Army, which was disbanded in 1999, has been recreated in Russia. This is written June 1, 2015 by the Russian military blog bmpd, which is maintained by experts from the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. The authors of the blog refer to photographs of the territory in front of the checkpoint of the headquarters of the 2nd Guards Taman Motorized Rifle Division, located in the village of Kalininets, Naro-Fominsk District, Moscow Region, published online. They depict a stand with information that the 1st Guards Tank Army was recreated on November 13, 2014 and is the successor to an association with the same name that participated in the Great Patriotic War.
Bmpd experts note in a blog that the reconstruction of the army may be due to the recent transfer to Voronezh of the 20th Army of the Western Military District, caused by the need to coordinate the military group deployed on the border with Ukraine. According to the authors of the blog, the 1st Guards Tank Army could be recreated to control the formations that remained in the central region and were previously part of the 20th Army. These are the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division, the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division, the 27th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 6th Separate Tank Brigade.
The 1st Guards Tank Army (in 1942-1944 - the 1st Tank Army) is one of the most famous formations of the USSR ground forces that participated in the Great Patriotic War. Until 1950, it was commanded by General (since 1959 Marshal of the Armored Forces) Mikhail Katukov. From 1945 until 1993, the army was in East Germany, the headquarters was deployed in Dresden. In 1991-1993, the army was gradually withdrawn to Smolensk and disbanded by 1999.
