Question about Division numbers (Why so low?) and Casualty Totals

[Dog Soldier]

And to add to Rick's response, IIRC, Soviet Rifle division in the second echelon, ie Smolensk, were poorly trained and lead. This would lower the effective number of men in a unit right from the start.

Another reason the early war Soviet rifle units suffered massive prisoner counts. While some Soviet troops fought fanatically, others melted because they were virtually static. Movement to new positions while retaining fighting strength was problematic in fluid front battles of 1941 and the first half of 1942 for the majority of Soviet Rifle Divisions.

Attrition and better officers (replacement officers in the post Stalingrad era were not judged on Stalinist versus Trotsky thinking as they were in the purges of the late 1930's) lead to the change in Soviet effectiveness more than any other factor for the latter half of the war.

Dog Solider