The 1st Rifle Division (1st formation) was formed between 3 March and 22 June 1942 in the city of Melekess, Kuybyshev Oblast, part of the Volga Military District.

The division was formed in accordance with shtat (table of organization and equipment) 04/200 from personnel of the disbanded 9th Sapper Army, conscripts from Kuybyshev Oblast, convalescents from hospitals, and freed prisoners from forced labor camps.

Crossing the Don near Solontsy, Olkhovy, and Grushevo, it broke through fortified Axis defenses and developed the offensive to capture Boguchar on 19 December in cooperation with the 44th Guards Rifle Division.

[6] The division began crossing the Dnieper north of Verkhnodniprovsk on 26 September, with the machine gun crew of Yefreytor Grigory Shtonda of the 175th Guards Rifle Regiment being among the first across.

For repulsing German counterattacks and ensuring the crossing of the vanguard of the regiment, Shtonda was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive of early 1945, the 58th Guards advanced more than 200 kilometers (120 mi) in eleven days, crossing the Oder on 23 January north of Oppeln.

The first contact was made between patrols near Strehla, when U.S. First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue crossed the River Elbe in a boat with three men of an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon.

On the east bank, they met forward elements of the 175th Guards Rifle Regiment of the division, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gardiev.

Relocated to Amstetten on 11 November 1945, the division served the demarcation line with American troops, responsible for a 180 kilometers (110 mi) sector.

The remainder of the division moved to Pöchlarn on 22 May, where the transfer of all personnel and equipment was completed in June, finishing the disbandment process.