- published: 08 Jun 2010
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The Soviet Army (Советская Армия, Sovetskaya Armiya) is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992.[citation needed] Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, the Soviet Army referred to all the MOD[clarification needed] armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.
This article covers the Soviet Ground Forces of the Soviet Army. See Soviet Armed Forces for a description of the entire armed forces of the Soviet Union.
At the end of the Second World War the Red Army had over 500 rifle divisions and about a tenth that number of tank formations. Their experience of war gave the Soviets such faith in tank forces that from that point the number of tank divisions remained virtually unchanged, whereas the wartime infantry force was cut by two-thirds. The Tank Corps of the late war period were converted to tank divisions, and from 1957 the Rifle Divisions were converted to Motor Rifle Divisions (MRDs). MRDs had three motorized rifle regiments and a tank regiment, for a total of ten motor rifle battalions and six tank battalions; tank divisions had the proportions reversed.