The 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division was formed in 1941, seeing extensive combat during World War II for which it became one of the most famous and decorated formations in the Soviet military.

On 4 August 1941, the 127th Division traversed the Dnieper River 13 km south of Yartsevo as part of the general Soviet retreat.

At the end of September 1941, it fought in Hlukhiv area, retreating toward Kleven river as part of General Arkady Yermakov's operational group of the Bryansk Front.

Starting from 3 November 1943, the division acted in the spearhead of Kerch-Eltigen Operation in northern Yenikale (Ganikale) beachhead, under the command of the 56th Army.

During the Crimean Offensive the division captured the city of Alushta on 15 April 1944, acting under the command of the Separate Coastal Army.

19 May 1944 it was relieved from the front line duty, reassigned to the Soviet Strategic Reserve, 2nd Guards Army and transferred to Dorogobuzh for replenishment.

In December 1944, the entire army including the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division was transferred to 3rd Belorussian Front and participated in the East Prussian Offensive, ending the war in middle April 1945 on the Baltic Sea coast north of Primorsk.

Many media outlets claim that he personally supervised the actions of tank units that conducted targeted fire at the White House building[1][2].

On October 7, 1993, Boris Yeltsin awarded him the title “Hero of the Russian Federation” for his participation in the storming of the White House[2].

[8] Since then, the division has seen service in Chechnya: it is known to have contributed to the force that brought the republic back under Russian control in 1999 and 2000, during the Second Chechen War.

A 'tactical group' from the 15th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment deployed to Chechnya in early 2000, serving in the south of the republic and the Argun Gorge after the end of major combat operations to maintain security.

The division was located near Aprelevka,[9] in the Moscow suburbs: its various subunits occupied a vast complex of buildings and sites to the north and northwest of the town.

[10] It was one of the Russian Army's 'constant readiness' divisions, meaning that it was required to have at least 80% manpower and 100% equipment strength at all times; it was thus intended to be readily deployable.

On 22 January 2007, the Russian news agency Interfax reported comments from the commander of the Moscow Military District, Col. General Vladimir Bakin.

The division was re-formed in 2013 by order of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu,[14][15] from the 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade and other unnamed units.

Unlike the original 1st GTA, the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division forms a part of the revived army, based in Moscow Oblast.

[22] Ukrainian prosecutors later accused a member of the division's 1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of robbing civilians in the village of Zhyhailivka [uk], Sumy Oblast.

[23] Additionally, the commander of the 5th Battery of the division's 147th Artillery Regiment [ru] was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court to 10 years imprisonment in 2024 for ordering the killing of a civilian in Boromlia, Sumy Oblast on 9 March 2022.

[26] After the Russian withdrawal from northern Ukraine, the 2nd Division was deployed to the village of Velyka Komyshuvakha south of Izium, before a Ukrainian counteroffensive retook the area.

[21] Reportedly having suffered heavy losses, the division retired to Belarus for replenishment, receiving mobilised soldiers and reequipping with older material taken from warehouses.

[30][31] In Tom Clancy's 1986 novel Red Storm Rising, the division offers token resistance to a coup d'état by the Soviet Army and the KGB against the Politburo.