Like several other divisions in the 320-330 series, it was not fully trained and equipped when thrown into the Soviet winter counteroffensive, and after taking heavy losses mostly served on relatively quiet sectors into 1943, apart from several weeks of costly and futile fighting during Operation Mars.

As the offensive into German-occupied western Russia developed during the autumn of that year the soldiers of the division distinguished themselves in the liberation of Roslavl in September.

[2] Its basic order of battle was as follows: The division received its first commander, Col. Vladimir Semyonovich Andreev, on September 6, and was assigned to the 10th (Reserve) Army in the Volga Military District in October.

[4] The 326th was ordered into the attack in 10th Army in early December, during the counteroffensive in front of Moscow, while it was still short of weapons, equipment and training.

[5] In late November the division was located at Penza, but by the 29th had redeployed westward to Shilovo, along with the Army staff and communications units.

As the advance unfolded the Army's left-flank divisions, including the 326th, tended to lag, forcing Western Front headquarters to demand that the pace be increased.

On the morning of December 11, Army commander Lt. Gen. Filipp Golikov issued orders that the leading divisions, including the 326th, reach the line Uzlovaya station - Bogoroditsk - Kuzovka over the next 24 hours.

On December 13 the division overcame the resistance of several small enemy groups, and reached a line from Kamenka to Klinovoe by the end of the next day.

By January 2, 1942, it had made a fighting advance to the line Muzalevka - Berezovka - Slobodka as German reserves began to enter the picture.

The defenders were able to reoccupy their forward positions after the Soviet bombardment lifted, just in time to greet the advancing men of the 326th with withering machine gun and small arms fire.

In the event, rain, mud-clogged roads and skillful German resistance brought the advance to a halt after gains of 7 km at most, and the tank corps was never committed.

The troops who participated in the battles of Smolensk and Roslavl, by the order of the Supreme High Command of September 25, 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

A few days later the combat path of the division took an unexpected turn, as it was removed to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command and moved north.

When the Baltic Offensive began in late June, the division found itself in the reserves of its Army, garrisoning the city of Porkhov.

Later that month the 326th was detached from 67th Army, and was serving in 118th Rifle Corps in the Group of Forces of the Northern Combat Sector;[18] by mid-September it had advanced to the town of Elva.

[20] In late September the 326th was withdrawn once again to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command for a brief period, then was assigned to the 116th Rifle Corps in the 2nd Shock Army, where it finally found a home for the duration.