The division fought on the Southern Front for the duration of the Russian Civil War, seeing its first action against the White Armed Forces of South Russia in the region of Poltava, Baturyn, and Putyvl from June to August.
It defended the line of the Desna in the region of Sosnitsa and Razlety and took Sevsk, Dmitrovsk, Vorozhba and Lgov during the Orel–Kursk operation between 11 October and 18 November.
[1] From January to April the division fought in battles against the Army of Wrangel in the region of the Isthmus of Perekop and the Chonhar Peninsula.
In the face of Wrangel's counterattack, the division conducted a fighting retreat to the line of Bolshoy Tokmak, the Molochna river, and Orikhiv during July and August.
After the end of the operation, the division was transferred to the 4th Army, guarding the Crimean coast in the sector from Alushta to Yevpatoria while suppressing resistance in Crimea between December 1920 and April 1921.