The 13th Tank Division was formed on 9 May 1955 by renumbering the 3rd Tank Division, based at Mladá, Milovice in Bohemia. At the same time it was given the Kiev–Dukla–Ostrava historical designation in commemoration of battles that Czechoslovak forces fought in under Soviet command during World War II; to this was added the Czechoslovak-Soviet friendship honorific on 6 October 1959.