After the cadre arrived, they began preparing for the first territorial training camp, which involved the practice mobilization of local men aged 21 to 25.

The camp was held between 4 and 19 December; a veteran of the division recalled the "endless discontent and indignation" of the territorials at finding themselves in "uninsulated, unlit barracks lacking furnishings and bedding.

"[1] The training camp included marching and mock attacks, and was visited by commander-in-chief of the armed forces Sergey Kamenev.

After the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the division and its corps fought in the border battles as part of the Northwestern Front.

From November, as part of the 24th Army of the Don Front, the division fought in the encirclement and destruction of the German troops in Stalingrad in Operation Koltso.