The division was first formed in September 1918 at
Vladimir in the
Moscow Military District. After reorganisation, probably as part of forming new divisions, the division was re-formed for the second time in August 1939 at Poltava in the
Kiev Special Military District. In September–October, 1939 the division took part in the
Soviet invasion of Poland (1939) as part of the
6th Rifle Corps,
6th Army,
Ukrainian Front. From the Kiev Special MD it was sent to
Finland around the middle of January 1940 during the
Soviet invasion in Finland. The division arrived in
Perkjärvi around the end of January or the start of February and moved to lake
Mikkilänjärvi. From 3 February 1940 it joined the
50th Rifle Corps, and advanced with the Corps from 13.02.1940 as part of the
7th Army. It was then shifted to the
10th Rifle Corps about 20 February 1940, on the Summa-Hotinen direction. It was then shifted again, to the
34th Rifle Corps in February–March and awarded the
Order of the Red Banner. Returned to the Kiev Special Military District in April 1940, it participated in the
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in June–July 1940. In August 1940 it was reformed as the
7th Motorized Division. During the Soviet-Finnish campaign the division consisted of the 27th, 257th, and 300th Rifle Regiments, the 23rd Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 405th Separate Tank Battalion. Fighting as part of the
8th Mechanized Corps,
26th Army,
Southwestern Front, from June 1941, the division was decimated in attempting to halt the German advance. It was engaged in the
Lutsk-Rovno area soon after the German invasion began. The division was reformed on 27 December 1941 for the third time from remnants of the
22nd Estonian Territorial Rifle Corps. It was reformed at Sverdlovsk in the Ural MD in 1942, as an
Estonian national formation, which later joined the
8th Estonian Rifle Corps of the Red Army. It took part in operations from 7 November 1942 as part of the
3rd,
1st Shock,
8th and
42nd Armies. Its first combat was the
Battle of Velikiye Luki. On 1 December 1942 it was part of the 8th Rifle Corps, subordinated directly to the
Kalinin Front alongside other Estonian formations. On 22 September 1944 elements of the division, along with the 45th Estonian Tank Regiment and the 952nd SU Regiment (
SU-76s), formed the forward detachment of 8th Rifle Corps and captured
Tallinn, for which all three units received the name of that city as a battle honor. The 7th Estonian Rifle Division was with
1st Shock Army of the Kurland Group (
Leningrad Front) in May 1945. On 28.06.1945 it became the
118th Guards Rifle Division by NKO Order No. 0126. Feskov et al. 2013 does not, despite earlier publications, list the division among those reformed in the 1950s. ==Honorifics and awards==