Formed in 1925 near Stalingrad, the division was garrisoned in the city until 1940, when it was transferred to Yerevan to strengthen the Iranian and Turkish borders.

After the Red Army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Kiev and in the Donbas, the 31st was one of the divisions sent north to fill the gap.

[3] When Case Blue, the German summer offensive of 1942, began, the army and the division retreated into the Caucasus.

At the end of the year, when the German retreat from the Caucasus began after their defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad, the division was transferred to the 46th Army, advancing north along the Black Sea coast.

[3] Between March and May 1943, the 46th Army and the 31st Division were moved north in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK), joining the Southwestern Front.

Towards the end of the war, despite a chronic shortage of riflemen, the division's artillery remained at full strength.

[5] The division and its corps were relocated to Poland with the 52nd Army in the area of Kielce, Częstochowa, and Kraków in June.

In the fall of 1945, the army and the 31st Division with the corps were relocated to the Slavuta in the Lvov Military District in western Ukraine.