Nyora kuenderera kweiyi ndima - 257th Rifle Division (yechipiri kuumbwa) yakaumbwa muKalinin Oblast munaNovember naDecember 1941, pasi pekutungamira kwaMajor General Karp Zheleznikov. Chikamu chakatanga kuumbwa maererano nemirairo yeNorthwestern Front yakanyorwa musi wa8 Mbudzi 1941 munzvimbo yeKuzhenkino neYedrovo. Zvikamu zvaro zvakashandisazve nhamba dzakafanana seyakamboparadzaniswa yekutanga kuumbwa kwe257th Rifle Division. Yakanga iine 943rd, 948th, uye 953rd Rifle Regiments, 793rd Artillery Regiment, uye zviduku zvekutsigira zvikamu. 257th yakatumirwa ku3rd Shock Army yeNorthwestern Front, uye yakapinda muhondo kekutanga panguva yeToropets<unk>Kholm kurwisa
muna January 1942. Musi wa 21 Ndira, 257th, ichifambira mberi paVelikiye Luki, yakapinda muSnopovo, ichigura mugwagwa pakati peKholm neToropets. Zheleznikov akatambura gumbo rakaputsika mutsaona musi wa 23 Ndira uye akaburitswa kubva kumberi, uye mukuru wedhipatimendi revashandi Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Letunov akazova mutungamiriri wedhipatimendi. Colonel Anatoly Dyakonov akatora kutungamira kwechikamu musi wa 29 Ndira. Munguva yekurwiswa, 257th yakaputsa dziviriro dzeGerman kuchamhembe kwakadziva kumadokero kweOstashkov pamwe chete nemamwe mauto ehondo, uye vakakunda kuramba kusindimara kuti vakurudzire kurwisa kweVelikiye Luki. Kubva mukupera kwaNdira kusvika munaNovember, iro divi sechikamu che3rd Shock Army yeKalinin Front yakadzivirira nzvimbo kuchamhembe kwakadziva kumabvazuva kweVelikiye Luki. Muchirimo cha1942, 31st Rifle Brigade nemauto maviri eski akaiswa pasi pekutonga kwechikamu, ichiwedzera mutsara wayo wekudzivirira kubva pa40 kusvika ku80 km.