page_title: 31st Rifle Division
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 31st Rifle Division / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: Troops of the 49th Guards Rifle Division of the 5th Shock Army, 3rd Ukrainian Front, on the march during the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive in Moldova
context_page_description: The 31st Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army during the interwar period and World War II.
  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 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.
context_section_description: The division began World War II in the district's 40th Rifle Corps alongside the 9th Rifle Division. It included the 75th, 177th, and the 248th Rifle Regiments, as well as the 32nd Light Artillery Regiment and the 104th Sapper Battalion. In July it became part of the newly formed 45th Army, covering the Turkish border. After the Red Army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Kiev and in the Donbass, the 31st was one of the divisions sent north to fill the gap. By 12 October, it was at Taganrog on the coast of the Black Sea, assigned to the Taganrog Group, which became part of the 56th Army in November. With the army, the division fought in the Battle of Rostov and on the Mius during the winter of 1941–1942.
  When Case Blue, the German summer offensive of 1942, began, the army and the division retreated into the Caucasus. In July it was transferred to the 12th Army and in August to the North Caucasian Front's 18th Army. The 31st suffered heavy losses in the defense of Tuapse, and on 29 August it was reinforced by the 818th Rifle Regiment, formed from the remnants of the 9th NKVD Motorized Division, which replaced the disbanded 177th Regiment. 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.
  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. The division remained with the army in the front, which became the 3rd Ukrainian Front on 20 October, until the end of 1943. During the Battle of the Dnieper, the division was transferred to the 2nd Ukrainian Front's 4th Guards Army. It advanced into Romania in the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive with the front during July and August 1944, mostly part of the 4th Guards Army. In September, the division was withdrawn to the RVGK with the 52nd Army's 78th Rifle Corps. The division went back into combat in October with the corps and army, part of the 1st Ukrainian Front.
  From January 1945, it fought in the Vistula–Oder Offensive. In February, the 32nd Artillery Regiment was equipped with twenty 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3) and twelve 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30), practically full strength by the 1942–1943 tables of equipment and organization, but the regiment's vehicle park was very diverse, incorporating 29 Lend-Lease Studebaker US6 2½-ton 6x6 trucks, a 1½-ton Lend-Lease Chevrolet G506 truck, five Soviet-made trucks, four captured German trucks, and six Soviet tractors. Towards the end of the war, despite a chronic shortage of riflemen, the division's artillery remained at full strength. The division fought in the Berlin Offensive in April. From 6 to 11 May, the 31st fought in the Prague Offensive, during which the army advanced south into Czechoslovakia from Bunzlau, reaching the Labe River northeast of Prague by the end of the operation. During the war, it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov 2nd class, and the Order of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 2nd class.
caption: Soviet troops on the march in Romania
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