During March 1943 the 178th took part in the pursuit of the German forces evacuating the salient, but soon came up on the extensive fortifications that had been built at its base, and remained facing them into August.

During the fall and winter campaign of 1943/44 it faced the heavily fortified German positions just east of Novosokolniki as part of 2nd Baltic Front's 11th Guards and 22nd Armies, and finally liberated that town in late January 1944, earning the Order of the Red Banner.

On August 3, Gen. H. Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group captured Roslavl, which created a "dangerous hole" in the Red Army's defenses east of Smolensk.

Zhukov acted quickly and by 2000 had sent his orders to Rakutin; they categorically stated that the STAVKA attached "exceptional significance to the El'nia region".

[8] The front remained relatively quiet through the rest of September, as Army Group Center built up for what it intended to be the final drive on Moscow.

Focused on cobbling together a force that could prevent the fall of Moscow, at 0200 hours on October 10 the STAVKA ordered seven rifle divisions pulled out of Western Front's right wing, but this did not include the 178th.

[12] During October 11-12 the separate 199th Artillery Battalion was defending a heavily fortified position at Olenino, firing at the approaching German columns.

At 1530 hours on the latter date the battalion commander received an order from Maslennikov to spike the guns and destroy important facilities before retreating to Rzhev.

After nightfall the battalion opened fire on all pre-registered targets to expend the remaining ammunition, then set out with the wounded and mobile guns for a rendezvous with the 178th.

[16] Despite these scant and understrength forces, it went over to the offensive on January 15, under command of Maj. Gen. V. I. Vostrukhov, and drove 120km to the south and southeast, deeply enveloping the German grouping at Olenino, which consisted of seven divisions.

In December he was moved to command the 17th Guards Rifle Division, which he would lead into the postwar, being promoted to the rank of major general in January 1943 and becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union on April 19, 1945.

In the event there were no real successes on this sector of the front until August 20, when elements of 30th Army finally cleared the village of Polunino and closed on the eastern outskirts of Rzhev.

39th Army's task was largely diversionary in nature, intended to draw German reserves, but if successful it would reach and cut the Rzhev–Olenino road and railroad.

[27] General Zygin requested permission from the commander of Kalinin Front, Col. Gen. M. A. Purkayev, to shift his forces to concentrate on the successful attacks on the flanks.

Late that evening, Zygin received a report from a deep reconnaissance detachment that, in addition to 14th Motorized, the 5th Panzer Division was moving up to his sector, indicating the Purkayev's design was succeeding.

The withdrawal had been carefully planned, and the advance was slowed by rearguards, intermediate defensive lines, minefields, and eventually the spring rasputitsa, which affected both sides.

Due to the relative importance of the earlier battles around Kursk, both Fronts were constrained for supplies, particularly fuel and artillery ammunition, which would be felt during the operation.

On the second day, heavy air attacks disrupted several of 39th Army's formations, and ground reinforcements began arriving, including a battalion of Nashorn tank destroyers.

The Corps commander expected the main thrust to come from east of Dukhovshchina, where he deployed the 25th Panzergrenadiers backed by 1st SS Infantry Brigade.

Having learned of the arrival of 1st SS he briefly shifted his main effort to his 43rd Army to the northwest, where the German lines were even more thinly held, and scored a minor success.

With Soviet armor roaming in its rear the XXVII Corps was forced to commit the weak 18th Panzer, which simply didn't have the strength to deal with the crisis.

[38] Smolensk was liberated by units of Western Front on September 25, as Army Group Center fell back to the promised refuge of the Panther Line behind the Dniepr River.

The 178th was assigned a long sector on the Army's right (north) flank west of Velikiye Luki and just east of Novosokolniki; these lines had been fixed since January.

The 78th Tanks, carrying troops of 21st Guards with more mounted on trucks, along with the 163rd Antitank and 827th Howitzer Artillery Regiments, entered the gap and rapidly drove to the west and liberated Nevel from the march.

[47] On January 29 the 178th managed to finally liberate Novosokolniki after more than a year of fighting between the two sides on its outskirts, and on February 3 it was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

The Leningrad–Novgorod offensive in January/February had driven Army Group North from the gates of Leningrad, but Finland continued to hold the part of the Karelian Isthmus that it had retaken in 1941.

97th Corps attacked towards Kallelovo and penetrated the forward Finnish defenses, but only advanced 5km, reaching the south bank of the Sestra by the end of the day.

On June 12, 97th Corps enveloped Termolovo from the west to northeast, but the pace of the advance was slowing, and it became clear that a regrouping would be necessary before tackling that second line.

To this end, the rested 97th Corps was again subordinated to 21st Army on the morning of the 18th and, supported by the 1st and 152nd Tank Brigades, prepared to take the lead in breaking the third line.

Overall, the forces of 21st Army ripped a 70km-wide gap in the Finnish defenses from Muola to the Gulf of Finland, and advanced as much as 14km during 18 hours of bitter fighting against determined but confused resistance.