Its First Formation was established at Kozelsk in September 1939, on the basis of a regiment of the 81st Rifle Division.
It was serving with 37th Rifle Corps, 6th Army, Kiev Special Military District, on 22 June 1941.
Force Composition 2 October 1939 It was recreated (II formation) from 9th Moscow People's Militia Rifle Division (In 1941, residents of Zamoskvorechye formed the Twelfth Militia Division of Kirovsky District (дивизия народного ополчения Кировского района) (Zamoskvorechye District).
A popular song was written about a platoon of the division "Na Bazimyannoy Visote" (Russian: "На безымянной высоте") (On a nameless height) featured in the film "Tishina" (Silence) that documented the events of a defence of a height at the village of Rubezhenka, Kuybyshevsky rayon, Kaluga Oblast, when the platoon defended against an attack by a German battalion estimated at a strength of 200 on 14 September 1943.
The division appears to have disbanded "in place" with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany during the summer of 1945.