The 60th Cavalry Division was a military formation of the Soviet Union’s Red Army. The cavalry division of the Soviet Union’s Red Army was a type of military formation that existed from the early days of the Russian Civil War until the early 1950s when they became obsolete with the rise of mechanized warfare.
The 60th Cavalry Division was first formed in October 1941, as a reserve formation of the Moscow Military District. It comprised the 334th, 336th, 348th, 358th, and 360th Rifle Divisions and the 11th Cavalry Division. All these divisions had been formed in the Volga Military District in the preceding months.
Cavalry divisions in the Russian Civil War were formed in June 1918, by the Revolutionary Military Council (RVSR). On 3 August, the People’s Commissariat for Military Affairs drew up tables of organization and equipment for cavalry divisions. Authorized 7,653 personnel and 8,469 horses, a cavalry division consisted of three cavalry brigades with two four-squadron regiments each, and a horse artillery battalion of four batteries.
By the end of the war, there were 27 cavalry divisions in the Red Army with a total of 88,192 personnel. After the end of the Russian Civil War, the Red Army demobilized and transitioned to a peacetime footing, resulting in the reduction of the number of cavalry divisions to eleven by the end of 1921.
In 1931, due to the increasing mechanization of the Red Army, cavalry divisions were fully or partially reorganized to include four cavalry, one horse artillery, and one mechanized regiment with tanks and armored cars, and communications and sapper squadrons.
Please note that the information available on the 60th Cavalry Division is limited and may not provide a complete picture of its history and engagements during its existence.