Advancing into eastern Belorussia in late 1943, the division fought in a series of stalemated offensives before participating in Operation Bagration during mid-1944.

This division began forming in March-April 1941 at Rivne in the Kiev Special Military District as part of the 22nd Mechanized Corps.

By the end of the day on June 27 the German division had captured that city as well as Rozhyshche despite the resistance of the now-depleted 22nd Mechanized.

[11] The persistent resistance of 5th Army in the fastnesses of the eastern Pripyat marshes on the flanks of both Army Groups Center and South was influencing German strategy and was one reason for Hitler's decision to divert Panzer Group 2 southward to encircle Southwestern Front at and east of Kiev.

At the start of this operation the 215th, which had been detached from 22nd Mechanized Corps,[12] was positioned at Sorokoshichi on the Dniepr north of Kiev, very deep within the developing pocket.

The division became part of the 30th Army of the Western Front in mid-August, fighting to capture strongpoints on the left bank of the Volga, northwest of Rzhev.

Kupriyanov, now a major general, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for his leadership of the division in actions between August and October, in which it was credited with destroying up to two German infantry regiments and fifteen tanks.

The division helped capture Rzhev on the next day and by 19 March it had reached the approaches to the road junction at the village of Novo-Lytkino.

With the 31st Army, the division advanced as part of the 36th Rifle Corps during the Smolensk–Roslavl Offensive, participating in the capture of Smolensk and the crossing of the Sozh River.

Iolev was replaced by Major General Andranik Ghazaryan, a Hero of the Soviet Union, in early April.

For its "exemplary fulfillment of command tasks" in the capture of Vilnius the 215th received the Order of the Red Banner on 25 July.

[17][18] By the end of the summer offensive in August, the average rifle company in the division was reduced to 70 men, about half strength.

The process of attrition continued: by March 1945, after the East Prussian Offensive, the division fielded 2,873 officers and men.

After the end of Japanese resistance, the division guarded the railway at Dunhua, Jiaohe, and Jilin, along with factories in the area.