The 46th Rifle Division was formed by an order of the
12th Army of 16 June 1919 from units of the army's
2nd Ukrainian Soviet Division and two separate rifle brigades. 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. In August 1919 it was shifted to the
14th Army, taking part in the capture of
Sumy in September. The 46th took part in the offensives of the Southern Front from late 1919 to early 1920. 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. The Red advance continued in the
Kharkiv Operation of 24 November to 12 December, during which the 46th attacked in the region of
Sudzha and
Grayvoron to take Kharkiv. In January 1920 it was shifted to the
13th Army, advancing on the axis of
Lozova, Chaplina,
Nogaysk,
Berdiansk, and
Melitopol that month. The Soviet advance came to a halt on the
Dnieper, and the division went on the defensive in the region of
Kakhovka and
Nikopol on the left bank of the Dnieper. 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. The division took part in the elimination of a White landing in the region of
Melitopol between April and June. 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. The division took part in the counterattack that took
Sinelnikovo in September and the capture of the Nikopol bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper in October. The division was placed under the operational control of the
2nd Cavalry Army in October. In the
Perekop–Chongar operation from 7 to 17 November, the division reached the Chonhar Isthmus, capturing
Dzhankoi. 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. The division received the
Yekaterinoslav honorific on 13 December 1920. As the army demobilized for peacetime, the division was assigned to the
Kharkov Military District in April 1921. In accordance with an order of the Kharkov Military District of 26 April 1921 the division was reduced to the 46th Yekaterinoslav Separate Rifle Brigade, and by an order of the district on 17 June 1921 redesignated the 8th Separate Rifle Brigade and assigned to the
3rd Kazan Rifle Division. == Commanders ==