It was formed in the summer of 1941 and served in the region south and west of Leningrad during the following months against the advance of Army Group North during Operation Barbarossa.

Simultaneously with the 34th Army's assault from the Lovat River line, dispatch the 25th Cavalry Division along the Dedovichi and Dno axis to operate in separate squadrons against the enemy rear area."

The 25th, operating in a mobile group with the 163rd and 202nd Motorized Divisions, advanced 40 km westward through the German defenses and reached the Dno - Staraya Russa rail line by 14 August.

This enveloped the German X Army Corps in the latter city and threatened the rear of the panzer group advancing on Novgorod.

Lt. Col. David Markovich Barinov, Gusev's chief of staff, took command of the division the next day, and he would remain in this post until it was disbanded.

[6] Over the following weeks more Soviet forces were fed into the pocket, but a counterattack by German 18th Army succeeded in closing the gap on 20 March.

[7] During June and July individual men and small parties of the 25th Cavalry, by now entirely dismounted, made their way through the thinly-held German lines.