The Origins and Development of the Guards

The first Guards units were formed in late 1941, at a particularly dark time for the Soviet Union. Soviet political leaders hoped designating high-performing units as "Guards" would boost the morale of the newly-minted Guardsmen, many of whom had seen heavy fighting and taken heavy casualties. The new title let them know their service had not gone unrecognized. Furthermore, it help them up as exemplars of fighting spirit to inspire and motivate other units.

The title evoked the heroic Red Guards of the Russian Civil War and gave the new Guards units a spiritual connection with their revolutionary predecessors.

This was part of a larger Soviet propaganda effort to rally Soviet soldiers and citizens. A March 1946 report in the U.S. Army's Intelligence Bulletin states:

This establishment of Red Army Guards units occurred at a time when the Soviet Government was endeavoring to counteract the effects of initial reverses by associating its defensive war with all the greatest days and traditions of Russia's military past. The war with Germany was termed the Fatherland War; new orders and decorations named for great soldiers of Russia's past were created; and Russian patriotism was drawn upon heavily to furnish the steadfastness and energy necessary to stop and drive back the German invaders.

Having distinguished themselves in the fighting around Smolensk, the 100th, 127th, 153d and 161st Rifle Divisions became the first Guards Divisions on September 18th, 1941. Under NKO Order No. 308, the respectively became the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Guards Rifle Divisions - Gvardeiskaya Strelkoviy Divizii (Guards Rifle Divisions) or GvSD.

In the Air Force, the 1st BAP became the first bomber regiment to become a Guards regiment for its perfomance in the Battle of Moscow in 1941. It became 4th GvBAP as a reward for its "courage demonstrated during air combat with the German fascist invaders, and for the steadfastness, fortitude and heroism of its crews."

About the same time, some rather irregular units were christened as "Guards" for similar motivational reasons. In Barbarossa, Alan Clark's writes about some rather rag-tag units that got the Guards title:

There were three generic types of paramilitary civilian units operating around Leningrad in 1941...The largest- the Opolchenye or 'People's Army'- a more or less enthusiastic rabble, indifferently armed, with only a memory of weekend training in the Osoaviakhim and virtually without signals or communications equipment. In addition to "some" rifles and machine guns, the workers were armed mainly with molotov cocktails and some hand grenades; they also had 10,000 shot-guns, and about 12,000 small calibre and training rifles donated by the Leningrad's population. The cream of the Opolchenye were organised on a divisional basis, with improved equipment and some cadre officers and N.C.O.'s These formations were termed "Guards" Divisions by [defense commissar Kliment] Voroshilov.

These short-lived units were soon destroyed or dissolved, and by the end of 1942, the "Guards" Opolchenye were gone.

The desperate campaigns of 1942 and 1943 produced a further parade of Guards units. Every single Guards Rifle Division (GvSD) was created in 1941 to 1943. The last one earned its title in October 1943. As the Soviet forces became more mechanized and started going on the offensive, tank and artillery units got the majority of the Guards titles.

The Red Army formed the Guards Army (Gvardeyskaya Armiya), army-sized formations with better weapons and equipment. By May 1943, 10 Guards Armies had been formed. The six Tank Armies (Tankovaya Armiya) formed in May 1942 were each redesignated as a Guards Tank Armies (Gvardeyskaya Tankovaya Armiya) between 1943 and 1944 - this was done less in recognition of their combat performance and more and more to highlight their role as breakthrough forces meant to take part in major offensives.

Some specialist units were all-Guards. The Katyusha rocket launcher units were all designated as "Guards Mortar Regiments." Almost every Red Army remaining cavalry unit eventually became a Guards unit before the end of the war.

After early 1944, once the Soviet position was more secure, no more ground units were converted to Guards, although it seems some aviation units earned the title afterwards.

The author of the Intelligence Bulletin rightly noted the use of the Guards title could be "rather elastic," since "units from entire armies down to independent battalions can receive the honor."

Guards formations could be quite large. In Soviet attack aviation alone, 12 air divisions (the Soviet equivalent of an air wing) and 3 air corps became Guards units - however, not all the sub-units of these large formations necessarily had the "Guards" title. You could have a mix of regular and Guards regiments in a "Guards" air division, for example. The same was true for ground units, as well.

However, getting the "Guards" was still a somewhat-selective honor. Of the 365 Soviet attack aviation regiments that flew the Il-2, for example, only 48 earned the "Guards" title.

By the end of the war, 148 rifle divisions, 20 cavalry divisions, 67 air divisions and 6 tank armies became Guards units. All in all, that meant about 20% percent of Soviet rifle divisions became Guards units and around 30% percent of tank and mechanized units earned the "Guards" title.

What the Red Army giveth, the Red Army could also taketh away. In the fighting around Debrecen during the the Budapest campaign, the 214th Guard Cavalry Regiment lost its banner. As a punishment, the humiliated unit was reclassified as a penal unit and its commander demoted.

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