On June 22 the 198th was at Strelna and Oranienbaum in the reserves of 23rd Army, which would join Northern Front when it was created from the Leningrad District two days later.

As the Corps' two tank divisions moved south to counter the German advance on Leningrad,[3] the Finnish government declared war on the Soviet Union on June 25.

On December 3, the attack on the German Corps was renewed, driving its left flank southwards and successively encircling and destroying several companies of the 254th Infantry Division.

The 198th and 115th Rifle Divisions then arrived from Leningrad, joined the assault on December 15, and helped drive the Germans back to Olomny by the 17th, enveloping the I Corps' left flank on the west bank of the Volkhov River.

In the final stages, elements of three rifle divisions cut the Mga–Kirishi rail line, but the Army was unable to capture the latter stronghold, which would remain in German hands until the autumn of 1943.

Forty-eight hours of heavy fighting produced an advance of only 4–5km, after which a counterattack by 12th Panzer Division drove the Army's troops back to their starting line.

[11] By mid-February 2nd Shock Army of Volkhov Front had driven across that river and was forcing its way through the swamps towards Lyuban, well in the German rear, but were unable to break out decisively toward Leningrad.

[14] On January 12, Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts launched Operation Iskra, which by the end of the month had finally opened a land corridor to the besieged city, but this also did not directly involve the 54th.

However, the success of Iskra, as well as the encirclement and destruction of German 6th Army at Stalingrad and the subsequent offensives in the south, led the STAVKA to plan a larger operation near Leningrad, to be called Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda (Pole Star), with the objective of the complete destruction of Army Group North.

German reinforcements of small battlegroups from unengaged sectors brought the advance to a standstill; meanwhile, 55th Army was faring no better.

At the beginning of October, after nearly two years of intermittent pressure, Army Group North evacuated the Kirishi salient to free up desperately needed reserves.

In spite of this, the Army Group was in a very precarious position as the northern Soviet Fronts began planning a winter offensive.

The plan that was issued to the commander of 54th Army, Lt. Gen. S. V. Roginskii, between October and December must have looked familiar: a drive westwards towards Tosno, Lyuban and Chudovo as part of a short encirclement, followed by an advance southwest to Luga.

However, in the past year the German forces had grown weaker, the Soviets stronger, and the offensive would be launched on three attack axes.

"Although the attack had only advanced 5km by January 20, it was preventing German XXXVIII Army Corps from transferring forces to even harder-pressed sectors.

In response to increased German resistance the 119th Corps was assigned to 54th Army, which resumed its advance overnight on January 25/26, captured Tosno and Ushaki, and reached the rail line southeast of Lyuban.

The next day the commander of German 18th Army ordered his 121st Infantry Division, along with the Spanish Legion, to abandon the town, which was enveloped on three sides, and fall back to Luga.

Fearing full encirclement after the loss of Lyuban and Chudovo the XXVIII Corps accelerated toward Luga, with 54th Army in pursuit.

Porkhov was taken on February 26, and after another three days of combat and an advance of 65km, the Army reached the Panther Line on March 1, between Ostrov and Pskov.

[22] During March and the first half of April, the depleted armies of Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts were ordered into repeated attacks against this line, with meagre results reached at high cost.

[24] On April 26, General Knyazev was dismissed from his post; in July he was given command of the 43rd Reserve Rifle Division in the Siberian Military District.

This officer had led the 281st Rifle Division in 1941, followed by a pair of fortified regions during the next two years before attending the Military Academy of the General Staff.

[32] For the duration of the war the 198th served under a variety of commands in western Latvia, containing the German forces trapped in the Courland Pocket.

[33] 3rd Shock was moved to 1st Belorussian Front later in the month but the 198th remained behind, joining 10th Guards Army as a separate division.

2nd Baltic was in turn disbanded on April 1, by which the time the 198th was back in 10th Guards Army, still under 83rd Corps, now part of Leningrad Front's Kurland Group of Forces.