Less than two weeks later it also shared credit for the liberation of the city of Grodno and was awarded the Order of the Red Banner while several of its subunits were recognized for successfully crossing the Neman River nearby.

After the abortive offensive into East Prussia in October it contributed to the capture of that province in early 1945 before being moved to 1st Ukrainian Front in April, and it ended the war in Czechoslovakia.

Within days the corps (minus the 51st Tanks which remained in the Reserve and deployed to Rzhev) was committed along with 19th Army as part of Western Front.

Its order of battle, still based on the prewar shtat (table of organization and equipment), eventually became as follows: In August the 220th was moved to 49th Army, also in Reserve Front.

Owing to the advance of 2nd Panzer Group to the south, which began on September 30, the army received orders the next day to entrain for redeployment to this sector; the 220th was to depart from Sychyovka on October 4.

[10] At 1600 hours on October 7 General Vishnevskii reported that up to 10 German tanks had broken through in the Vysokoe area, pressuring the 18th Division while moving toward Sychyovka, and that a 30 km-wide (19 mi) gap had opened between it and the 140th.

Tsyganov was in turn replaced by Col. Stanislav Giliarovich Poplavskii on July 3; he had previously commanded the 256th Rifle Division and would be promoted to major general on February 14, 1943.

[16] Units of the army reached the Volga 5–6 km (3.1–3.7 mi) west of Rzhev on August 25–26 and forced a crossing on the 29th, but over the following weeks it was unable to seize the town.

The two divisions attacked at midday on December 13 following an immense four-hour artillery preparation and just as an encircled Soviet tank group struck the German rear.

A further effort was made the next day, supported by artillery and mortar fire plus the remaining vehicles of the tank group, and produced another minor breakthrough but this was contained and eliminated on the 15th.

Following the German defeat at Kursk, Kalinin and Western Fronts prepared their own offensive through the Smolensk land bridge to liberate that city; Operation Suvorov began on August 7.

During the night both German infantry regiments fell back 2 km (1.2 mi) where their main battle line was re-established behind the Vedosa River.

[26] The next day the 45th Corps attacked at 1300 hours and overran the Veste Coburg (Hill 216.6) position of the main battle line and effective collapsed Grenadier Regiment 260.

When efforts to halt the rout failed the 18th had no option but to try to fill the vacuum created by this collapse, taking up positions south of the Vedosa to prevent a complete breakthrough.

36th Corps assaulted westward in the sector between Ordovka and Ermaki north of the highway, unhinging the defense and driving German units through the latter village.

This was preceded by an artillery preparation of two hours and ten minutes, and the army's lead divisions punched through the 197th Infantry's first defensive line; the 220th was again in second echelon.

The force penetrated up to 4 km (2.5 mi) on a 1,000 m (3,300 ft) front, but German reserves soon halted the effort to exploit with the 2nd Guards Tank Corps.

The army managed to reach Kireeva at the cost of heavy casualties from German artillery and mortar fire which again could not be adequately replied to due to supply shortages.

The 220th was in the second echelon when the attack began on November 14 after a three-and-a-half hour artillery and air preparation, but was soon stopped in its tracks due to heavy machine gun fire.

During the final years of the war, the Red Army increasingly substituted firepower for manpower, and many rifle divisions remained combat effective with these strengths.

As part of the regrouping prior to the summer offensive, 36th Rifle Corps was moved to the south bank of the Dniepr by the army's new commander, Lt. Gen. V. V. Glagolev.

He planned to launch his main attack with 36th and 71st Corps along a 39 km-wide (24 mi) front from Kireeva to Zastenok Yurev in the general direction of Dubrowna and Orsha along both banks of the Dniepr in conjunction with 11th Guards Army.

[38] The preliminary operation, effectively a reconnaissance-in-force, took place on June 22 but the forward detachments of 31st Army made no progress in the face of powerful artillery and mortar fire and the first German defensive zone remained intact.

[39] When the main offensive began the following day and the two Corps were able to break this first line and advance up to 3 km (1.9 mi) into the depth of the defense but were halted around 1300 hours as resistance increased.

[41]After the fall of Orsha the 31st Army began a full pursuit of the defeated German forces in an effort to prevent them escaping over the Berezina River, which was reached by the end of June 28.

Colonel Danenkov, Kuzma Danilovich)... By order of the Supreme High Command of 3 July 1944 and a commendation in Moscow, the troops who participated in the battles for the liberation of Minsk are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.

He also provided leadership in the pursuit of 9th Army from the salient in March 1943 and in August in the fighting near Yartsevo, during which he was wounded by a mortar shell fragment which happened to strike the Order of the Red Star decoration on his chest.

The objective of 3rd Belorussian Front was much as before: to penetrate the defenses north of the Masurian Lakes in the Insterburg region and then advance to launch a frontal attack on Königsberg.

During that day the corps captured the important road junction of Benkheim while the army developed the offensive toward Angerburg and Lötzen, advancing more than 45 km (28 mi) before storming the heavily fortified strongpoint at the former location.

The 129th Infantry and 558th Grenadier and 24th Panzer Divisions launched powerful counterattacks in an effort to encircle the 71st Corps and while they were unable to break into Landsberg they isolated it for several days, bypassing to the north and south and causing considerable havoc in the Soviet rear areas.