After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, reserves were mobilized to be sent to the front. On 12 July 1941, the 316th Rifle Division was established in Alma Ata, the capital of the Kazakh SSR. Major General Ivan Panfilov, the military commissar of the Kirghiz SSR, was appointed its commander. The reservists allotted to the 316th were mostly from the two republics. It consisted of: