Editing Division (military) (section)

=== Infantry division ===
An "infantry division" is a military formation composed primarily of [[infantry]] [[military unit|units]], also supported by units from other [[combat arms]]. In the [[Soviet Union]] and Russia, an infantry division is often referred to as a "rifle division". A "[[motorised infantry]]" division is a division with a majority of infantry subunits transported on [[soft-skinned motor vehicle]]s. A "[[mechanized infantry]]" division is a division with a majority of infantry subunits transported on [[armored personnel carrier]]s (APCs) or [[infantry fighting vehicle]]s (IFVs) or both, or even some other class of [[armored fighting vehicle]]s designed for the transportation of infantry. Mechanized infantry divisions in Nazi Germany were called "{{Lang|de|[[Panzergrenadier]]}} divisions". In Russia, they were known as "motor rifle divisions".

Because of the ease and simplicity involved in forming divisions of infantry compared to other formations, infantry divisions have often been the most numerous in historical warfare. Most [[List of United States divisions during World War II|US divisions during World War II]] were infantry divisions.

Infantry divisions were also expected to travel by foot from place to place, with transport vehicles or pack horses used to augment their travel. Divisions evolved over the course of time. For instance, in 1944, Nazi Germany designated some of their infantry formations as ''[[Volksgrenadier]]'' divisions, which were slightly smaller than the regular divisions, with wider issue of sub-machine guns, automatic and anti-tank weapons to reflect the reality that they were to be used in defensive warfare. In 1945, Nazi Germany seconded members of the ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' to create "naval divisions", which were of lower quality than the infantry divisions of the ''Heer''. They also created "''Luftwaffe'' field divisions" from members of the ''[[Luftwaffe]]''.

Infantry divisions were sometimes given the responsibility of [[garrison]] work. These were named "frontier guard divisions", "static infantry divisions" and "fortress divisions", and were used often by Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union organised Machine-Gun Artillery Divisions of artillery, multiple rocket launchers, and static gun positions for use East of the Urals. A 1997 report said they were generally composed of four brigades, though later data suggests this was inaccurate.<ref>Galeotti Jane's Intelligence Review 1997; Feskov et al. 2013.</ref>