The division recruited coal miners evacuated from Spitzbergen in August,[3] in addition to sailors, labor-camp inmates and convicts.

It officially entered the front lines on September 5 with two rifle regiments and very few supporting arms, under the command of Col. Stefan Vladimirovich Kolomiets, a veteran of the Russian Civil War.

[4] 1st Polar was reformed as a regular rifle division based on the shtat (table of organization and equipment) of July 29, 1941[5] in the front lines near Murmansk on September 28.

[9] On April 24 the 26th Army launched an offensive in the Kestenga area with the objective of improving its positions and driving the Finnish-German forces farther away from the Murmansk railway.

The attack began during a heavy snowfall and while 26th Army had the advantage in manpower, artillery and mortars it had to contend with acute shortages of ammunition.

[12] Colonel Kolomiets had handed his command over to Col. Fyodor Ivanovich Litvinov on June 2, 1942; he would go on to lead the 374th and 34th Rifle Divisions and would be promoted to the rank of major general in September 1944.