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. The 31st remained there until October, when it was sent north to the Black Sea coast and fought in the Battle of Rostov. During Case Blue in mid-1942 the division retreated south into the Caucasus, then advanced north beginning at the end of the war when the German retreat from the region began. In the northern hemisphere spring of 1943 it was relocated north, fighting in the Battle of the Dnieper late that year. It fought in the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive in the summer of 1944 and advanced into Romania before being transferred to Poland and fighting in the Vistula–Oder Offensive in early 1945. It fought in the Berlin Offensive and was disbanded postwar in western Ukraine in mid-1946.