Originally formed in 1922, the corps served in Ukraine during the Interwar period and fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland.
After the German invasion of Soviet Union, the 2nd Cavalry Corps fought in Ukraine and then near Moscow in November 1941.
The corps was headquartered at Uman in western Ukraine, with the distinguished revolutionary Grigory Kotovsky appointed its commander.
[2] After Kotovsky was killed on 6 August 1925, he was replaced by Nikolai Krivoruchko who was promoted to Komkor in 1935 and who led the corps until July 1937.
In 1940, the 9th Cavalry Division joined the corps, which had become part of the Odessa Military District.
Until the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, the corps were stationed in the area of Lvov and Northern Bukovina.