As the Second World War was beginning to end in Europe in 1944 the Soviet NKVD in Moscow was charged with raising a full-time honor guard company as part of the 1st Regiment, OMSDON (then the NKVD 1st Special Duties Division), in the style and manner of the British Household Division's Foot Guards, the 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and the French Republican Guard's First Infantry Regiment. It later joined the 73rd Special Duties Battalion (later the 465th Special Duties Company, later itself renamed the 465th Special Commandant's Company) in 1948, now part of the regular armed forces. This was the precursor of the Honor Guard Company that would later form the 154th ICR of today, the very company in which the Victory Banner was welcomed with full honors in June 1945 into Moscow.