In the 1920s and - especially - in the 1930s, the Red Army underwent a rapid development in terms of increasing its posts, as well as increasing saturation with technical weapons, primarily armored weapons. Still, the infantry was the primary and numerically largest element of the Red Army. The intensive quantitative development of this type of weapon began at the turn of 1929/1930. In 1939, even before the aggression against Poland, the Soviet infantry was formed into 173 divisions (so-called rifle divisions), most of which were grouped in 43 corps. It is worth adding that after the September campaign in 1939, this number increased even more. The Soviet rifle division in 1941 consisted of three rifle regiments (three battalions each), an artillery regiment, after an anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery division, as well as reconnaissance and communication battalions. In total, it numbered about 14,500 people. However, by 1945 this position underwent significant changes, leading to a division of approximately 11,500-12,000 people, consisting of three infantry regiments, an artillery brigade consisting of three regiments, a self-propelled artillery squadron and many support units, including anti-tank, anti-aircraft weapons or communications. The saturation of infantry units with machine weapons has also increased significantly - for example with the submachine guns APsZ 41, and later APsZ 43.
In the 1920s and - especially - in the 1930s, the Red Army underwent a rapid development in terms of increasing its posts, as well as increasing saturation with technical weapons, primarily armored weapons. Still, the infantry was the primary and numerically largest element of the Red Army. In the course of World War II, and more precisely in the initial period of the German-Soviet war, the Guard Divisions (actually and correctly the Soviet Guard Divisions) began to appear in the structures of the Red Army. Asumpt gave a special order to the Supreme Command (Stawki for short) in October 1941 to create these units. The name of the Guardian divisions was assigned to the already existing divisions and thus their order number and name were changed. Of course, the name of "guard" was given to units of particular merit in battle. The first divisions, which were renamed the Guardian ones, were the 100, 127, 153 and 161 Rifle Divisions. After the "promotion" of this status, the Guardian Divisions received new banners, and from the summer of 1942 - also special epaulets and badges. It is worth adding that, with time, artillery, armored and parachute units were also referred to as guard units (from the end of 1943). Most of the Guard units can be considered the most elite in the Red Army during World War II.