Tuhia he haere tonu mo tenei waahanga - Ko te 257th Rifle Division (te hanganga tuarua) i hangaia i Kalinin Oblast i te marama o Noema me Tihema 1941, i raro i te whakahau a Major General Karp Zheleznikov. I timata te wehenga ki te hanga i runga i te aratohu a te Northwestern Front i te 8 o Noema 1941 i te rohe o Kuzhenkino me Yedrovo. I whakamahia ano e ona waeine nga tau ano i te hanganga tuatahi o te 257th Rifle Division. I whakauruhia te 943rd, 948th, me te 953rd Rifle Regiments, te 793rd Artillery Regiment, me nga waahanga tautoko iti ake. I tukuna te 257 ki te 3rd Shock Army o te Northwestern Front, a ka uru atu ki te whawhai mo te wa tuatahi i roto i te Toropets<unk>Kholm whakaeke
i te marama o Hanuere 1942. I te 21 o Hanuere, ko te 257th, i ahu whakamua ki Velikiye Luki, i uru atu ki Snopovo, ka tapahi i te huarahi i waenga o Kholm me Toropets. I whati a Zheleznikov i te waewae i roto i tetahi aitua i te 23 o Hanuere ka nekehia atu ia i te mua, a ko te rangatira o te wehenga a Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Letunov te rangatira o te wehenga. I riro a Colonel Anatoly Dyakonov i te mana o te wehenga i te 29 o Hanuere. I roto i te whakaeke, i pakaru te 257th i nga paruru Tiamana ki te raki-raki o Ostashkov i te taha o etahi atu waahanga o te ope taua, ka wikitoria i te aukati pakeke ki te whakawhanake i te whakaeke ki Velikiye Luki. Mai i te mutunga o Hanuere ki Noema, ko te wehenga hei waahanga o te 3rd Shock Army o te Kalinin Front i tiakina nga tuunga ki te raki-rawhiti o Velikiye Luki. I te puna o te tau 1942, ko te 31st Rifle Brigade me nga roopu reti e rua i tukuna ki raro i te mana o te wehenga, ka whakawhānui i tana raina paruru mai i te 40 ki te 80 km.