It was formed in June 1941 from NKVD Border Troops and reservists as part of the Northwestern Front and fought against the German invasion of Russia.

The unit was downsized to form the 52nd Separate Mechanized Brigade [uk] (52-ha okrema mekhanizovana bryhada) and was disbanded in October 2004.

The division was formed beginning 26 June 1941 in the Moscow Military District in the Tetnitsky camps 25 kilometers north of Tula.

[3] The division was fully formed by 12 July and on that day was loaded into trains despite not yet being armed and sent to the Staraya Russa area, assigned to the 11th Army in the Northwestern Front.

[5] On 16 July, the division received orders to reach the line of Evanovo, Tuleblya, Zabolote, Vnuchkovo, Utoshkino, and Nogatkino.

Suffering heavy losses, the 30th Infantry Division broke through and captured the southern part of Staraya Russa.

The situation threatened the division with encirclement, and on 6 August it was ordered to pull back to the eastern bank of the Lovat River.

Advancing more than twenty kilometers, the division captured the southern outskirts of Staraya Russa and reached the line of the Polist River by 18 August.

The 254th withdrew northeast of the Pola River, where by 31 August it hurriedly took up defensive positions at Zaostrovye and Vystova, on a twelve kilometer front.

At this time, German troops broke through the defenses of the divisions on the flanks of the 254th and it was forced to retreat five to eight kilometers southeast.

Despite the accumulated losses of the past month's campaigning and the difficulties of supply during winter, the Front's obvious next objectives were the cities of Jassy and Kishinev.

These defenses were held by a 4-battalion battlegroup of the 24th Panzer Division, on a sector anchored on the village strongpoint of Vulturi, 10 km due north of Jassy.

The fighting continued for two full days, and despite reinforcements from 116th Rifle Division, the attack made no progress and was shut down.

The attack found the boundary between 294th and 373rd Rifle Divisions and drove northwest about 8 km towards the Jijia River and the town of Cirpiti, capturing the village of Stanka by 2000 hours.

The 254th was ordered from its reserve positions to reinforce the shattered defenses of the 373rd, and it also offered effective resistance to the German 79th Infantry throughout the day.

On the second day the Red Army forces had regained their balance and held their ground, again with armored assistance from 6th Tank.

After regrouping on 1 June, the 254th was preparing to help lead a counterattack to retake Stanka on the 2nd when news came of yet another Axis attack some distance to the west, which the Germans called Operation "Katja".

In March 2003, a stray 7.62mm round fired by a soldier of the brigade from a machine gun injured a local welder.

[24] On 10 October 2003, a spark from a nearby unauthorized welder started a fire which destroyed ten of seventeen ammunition storage warehouses.