Salvation, who eventually gained control of its operations. The Serbian State Guard initially numbered 13,400 men. The Guard was divided into three sections: the urban police, the rural area forces, and the frontier guard. In late 1943, the Guard numbered 36,716 men. In October 1944, as the Red Army closed on Belgrade, the SDS was transferred to Mihailović's control by a member of the fleeing Nedić administration, at which point it fled north and briefly fought under German command in Slovenia before being captured by the British near the Italian-Yugoslav border in May 1945. The SDS was equipped using arms and ammunition captured by the Germans from throughout Europe, and was organised as a largely static force split across five regions (oblasts): Belgrade, Kraljevo, Niš, Valjevo and Zaječar, with one battalion per region. Each region was further divided into three districts (okrugs), each of which included one or more SDS companies. An independent force known as the Banat State Guard operated in the Banat region, which numbered less than one thousand men. Auxiliary formations In addition to the State Guard, a number of other formations fought in Serbia alongside the Germans. Those included the Serbian Volunteer Corps, formed in September 1941 by as the Serbian Volunteer Detachments, under Dimitrije Ljotić, a member of the fascist Yugoslav National Movement. The organization was divided into nineteen detachments, and after being renamed the Serbian Volunteer Corps, received a new structure that included companies, battalions, and regiments. It consisted of about 12,000 members, and included about 150 Croats. It was the only Serbian collaborationist formation trusted by the Germans, and was praised by German commanders for its valor in action. There was also a group of Chetniks, the Pećanac Chetniks, that became "legalized" and fought for the Germans and the puppet government until being disarmed in 1943. A force of White Russian volunteers was also formed, the Russian Protective Corps. It consisted of White émigrés living in Serbia that wanted to fight against the communist partisans, and included about 300 Soviet prisoners of war. Administrative divisions Serbia's borders initially incorporated parts of the territory of five of the prewar banovinas. In October 1941, the Germans ordered the Nedić government to reorganise the territory, as the existing structure was not suitable and did not meet military requirements. By means of an order issued on 4 December 1941, the German military commander adjusted the military-administrative structure