Volga Military District
The 33rd Rifle Division was formed on 29 May 1922 in the area of Samara, Orenburg, and Troitsk from units of the 97th Separate Rifle Brigade of the Trans-Volga Military District; it was assigned to the Volga Military District. On 18 October of that year it received the honorific Samara, and in October 1923 relocated to Belorussia, becoming part of the Western Front (which became the Western Military District in April 1924). In 1925 it became a territorial division. The division was renamed the 33rd Belorussian Rifle Division on 16 January 1934, replacing the Samara honorific. It fought in the Soviet invasion of Poland, advancing into territory annexed as western Belorussia. The division transferred to the Baltic Special Military District in 1940.