There were several armies/divisions/corps/whatever that, the way they were numbered, make it seem like there were a lot more of those then there should have been. For example, the Soviet 67th Army. What’s up with that, and were there that many?

by St_Louisball

This is worded kinda confusedly, so what I mean is, “There was a 67th Army in the Soviet Union during WWII. Were there really that many Soviet armies?

MC-Master-Bedroom

The numbering of military units starts off simply enough. They are named in order, as the first, second, third, etc division, army or other unit size. However, things start to become confusing as time goes on.

First of all, some units are disbanded and the number can be retired. After a war, for example, a country can decide that it needs fewer standing armies and disband the 2nd, 5th, and 17th Army's on its roster. When military buildup resumes in the future, new armies will be formed using the next available UNUSED number.

In some cases, units that have suffered heavy losses may be disbanded and their component parts shared out .... let's say the 12th Mechanized Brigade has been virtually wiped out, with only three companies left intact, so the Army decides to disband the 12th and send one company each to other brigades that are short of soldiers/vehicles.

Or the military may decide that every division in it's 4th Army needs more tanks, so it disbands the 3rd Army's Second Armored Division and shares out the tanks where needed, or simply transfers the entire Division to the4th Army where it will get a new identity. In the future, the 3rd Army could have lots of new Armored Divisions, but none of them will be called the "Second".

The numbers used by disbanded or transferred units might never be used again in order to avoid confusion or as a mark of respect for those who served and died under a particular insignia. The point is that there will develop gaps in the numbering order that will never be filled.

Secondly, units may change from one type to another but keep their original designation. The 101st Airborne Division started off as the 101st Infantry. When it was changed to an Airborne unit, it kept its number, even though it was just the third [IIRC] unit of its kind. So, you can end up with an assortment of numbered units, using numbers that have no bearing on how many of them there are.

The longer a country's military has been around, and the more wars/losses and reorganizations it has had, the more wonky the numbering system becomes.