The division completed its formation at Gorki in the Moscow Military District and at the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was in the same area, assigned to the 20th Rifle Corps in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command.

It was then caught up in the German counteroffensive that retook the city and was again badly mauled, but had performed with enough distinction in difficult conditions that it was redesignated as the 89th Guards Rifle Division on April 18, 1943.

The first trains carrying the 160th began arriving and offloading at Chavusy and nearby stations east of Mogilev on July 12/13, being subjected to German air attacks in the process.

By this time the 2nd Panzer Group had forced crossings of the Dniepr north and south of Mogilev and by the end of July 15 the city was encircled, albeit loosely, and largely cut off from the remainder of 13th Army.

The Army commander, Lt. Gen. V. F. Gerasimenko, and his staff managed to escape eastward to begin establishing a new defense along the Sozh River.

After Chavusy was lost Skugarev attempted to get his men back across the Sozh at Krychaw, a task made immensely complicated by an almost total breakdown in communications.

[9] In the last days of August the bulk of the 2nd Panzer Group and the 2nd Army began moving south in a movement that would lead to the Kiev encirclement.

Yeryomenko's task was further complicated when the 17th Panzer Division captured Glukhov on September 9, shattering the communications between the armies of the Front.

[13] However, on September 20 Col. Mikhail Borisovich Anashkin was moved from the position of chief of staff of the 282nd Rifle Division to command the remnants of the 160th and as of October 1 it was rebuilding in Operational Group Ermakov, still in Bryansk Front.

[14] With the permission of the STAVKA Yeryomenko ordered the Front's forces to go over to the defense as of 1330 hours on September 28, with the indication that "within the next several days an enemy offensive toward Bryansk and toward Sevsk or L'gov must be expected."

In the circumstances the 160th and 2nd Guards had insufficient strength for this task and General Ermakov was moving back to Rylsk, out of communication except by liaison aircraft.

[18] Near the end of November it was reassigned to 40th Army in Southwestern Front,[19] where it would remain through the following months[20] as it was rebuilt to the December 1941 shtat.

By now the 160th, along with the 212th, 45th and 62nd Rifle Divisions, had been loosely pocketed west of Stary Oskol between the XLVIII Panzer and the VIII Army Corps.

Overnight the Front headquarters belatedly authorized Parsegov to pull his left wing back to the Olym and Oskol Rivers but this had to be carried out "under conditions of the complete absence of control on the part of 40th Army's commander and staff, who by this time were already situated in Voronezh."

While as many as half of 40th Army's personnel successfully reached and crossed the Don the 160th was one of the few units that still existed as organized combat formations.

6th Army regrouped its divisions and resumed its offensive the next day with armor thoroughly integrated with the infantry, leading to a complete rout of the Axis forces throughout its main attack sector.

By the end of December 18 the Soviet armor had broken into the clear, 17th Tanks was halfway to Kantemirovka, and the Italian infantry divisions had simply disintegrated from fear and exhaustion.

[36] During January 15 the Axis forces put up strong resistance along 3rd Tank Army's right flank where the 180th Division was attacking.

Once this resistance was broken the remnants of this grouping fell back to the north, trying to reach the positions of the Italian Alpine Corps east of Rossosh.

[37] The goal of 3rd Tanks' right flank rifle formations on January 17 was to eliminate the Axis forces still resisting southeast of Rossosh.

By the end of the day the Axis grouping (German 387th and 385th Infantry, Italian Ravenna and 4th Alpine Division Cuneense) was reduced to one escape route to the north which was under attack by 18th Rifle Corps.

The encirclement battle continued on January 19 as the 160th and 62nd Guards, in conjunction with the 180th, fought to destroy the Axis force in the Annovka area.

The former two took up the pursuit to the north and by day's end the Axis divisions were reduced to small groups attempting to break out.

Following this fighting the 160th and 62nd Guards were dispatched to the Olkhovatka area with the mission of subsequently moving up to the Oskol River to take up jumping-off positions for the Front's new offensive on the Kharkov axis.

The SS Panzer Corps made several efforts to halt the offensive but by February 13 its north flank had been forced back to the outskirts of the city.

By the end of February 15 it had evacuated Kharkov and fallen back to the Uda River and 3rd Tank Army took control of the city.

The offensive made significant gains and by February 26 had reached the south flank of Voronezh Front west of Kharkov.

[44] Despite its losses in this counteroffensive the 160th had distinguished itself in the previous breakthrough and exploitation operations under miserable winter conditions so that, on April 18, it was redesignated as the 89th Guards Rifle Division.