Maj. Gen. Nikolai Mikhailovich Dreier was appointed to command the day the division started forming but was replaced on July 7 by Col. Aleksei Ivanovich Shundeev. By July 11 the division had 7,456 personnel assigned, but no equipment. Later that month it was assigned to 24th Army in Reserve Front along the defense line that was being constructed at Mozhaysk but it was still extremely short of weapons and was kept out of the front lines. The writer Konstantin Simonov encountered some of these militiamen:On August 14 it had 599 officers, 808 NCOs, and 5,607 enlisted personnel, but still had only 6,335 rifles, 62 light and 208 heavy machine guns, and only four 76mm guns for its heavy weapons. By the end of the month the division was finally beginning to take shape as a combat unit. On August 31 it consisted of 9,791 men, including 405 officers, 1,035 NCOs, and 8,054 enlisted men armed with 7,358 rifles, 574 semi-automatic rifles, 43 HMGs, 81 50mm, 54 82mm, and six 120mm mortars, 12 76mm guns, 20 T-27 tankettes in the tank company, 144 trucks of all kinds, 15 motorcycles, and 26 radios. At this time the volunteers were issued proper uniforms and took the military oath and each division was given its battle flag in a ceremony of great solemnity. However since the 6th still had almost no artillery and the T-27s had actually been retrofitted after serving as tractors it remained in the reserves of 24th Army.