The core of the division were soldiers and commanders of the Border Troops from Ural and Siberian regions including Sverdlovsk, Irkutsk, and Novosibirsk, but the nuclei of the 269th and 270th regiments were citizens of Stalingrad, Party workers, and members of the Komsomol organizations of the city.

In appreciation of the division's defense of the city, the commander of the 62nd Army Vasiliy Chuykov said: "The fighters of Colonel Sarayev's 10th Stalingrad Division VV must have been the first defenders of Stalingrad, and they overcame the difficult challenge with flying colours, courageously and selflessly fighting against superior enemy forces until the arrival of the 62nd Army.

[6] The 10th Division, with a battalion of industrial workers, successfully defended the F. Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory and later counter-attacked to regain several kilometres, despite shortages in technology and manpower.

[3] The 272nd Rifle Regiment, under command of G. P. Savchuk, and a group of student volunteers occupied a Military-Political Academy in the path of an impending enemy breakthrough.

These enemy forces suffered heavy losses and the Germans' plan to capture the center of the city and the major crossing of the Volga was thwarted.

On 12 September, the fighting for the defense of the South-Eastern Front of Stalingrad was assigned to the 62nd Army, to which the 10th NKVD VV Division was now attached.

In the morning they hit Soviet fortified positions, including those of the 269th Rifle Regiment of the 10th NKVD, with heavy artillery and mortar fire.

For three hours, elements of the 62nd Army repelled enemy attacks which penetrated the first line, knocked out forward posts, and reached the positions of the 269th Rifle Regiment.

At 1400 hours, two submachine gun battalions with three tanks penetrated the regiment's rear and captured the peak of Mamayev Kurgan.

Together with elements of the 10th NKVD's northern groups, the 62nd Army conducted bitter defensive operations all through September and regained ground in some areas.

Between 23 August – 8 October 1942 during the battle of Stalingrad, the division killed or wounded up to 15,000 German soldiers and officers, destroyed or disabled 113 tanks, 8 armored vehicles, destroyed or captured 6 guns, 51 mortars, 138 machine guns, two ammunition depots, 2 aircraft shot down, and seized a German regiment's banner.

[1][7] For exemplary service in the combat operations in the defense of the Volga shores, the Soviet High Command awarded the 10th NKVD VV Division with the Order of Lenin on 2 December 1942.

The division took on a new structure: The core of the newly organized unit was approximately 2,700 men and officers who were veterans of the battle of Stalingrad.

Subsequently, the fighting experience and techniques of the men of "Stalingradskaya" were further developed in the battle of Kursk in the crossing of the Vistula river.