It recovered over the following months before joining the summer offensive of 1943, retaking much of the territory it had lost two years earlier, and being awarded a battle honor for the liberation of Smolensk and Roslavl.

The Soviet forces had a tendency to make costly frontal attacks without adequate tank or artillery support and this effort was halted by the end of July 27.

[6] The German attack began the same day and quickly broke through Kachalov's left flank before wheeling east along the Roslavl road, led by 4th Panzer Division.

The 222nd seized operational documents from the enemy tank corps...Zhukov began taking measures to rescue Group Kachalov, including the 774th Regiment.

It was still authorized the same number of mortars as prewar but the artillery and machine guns had been cut in half as per the July wartime shtat; it would officially lose its howitzer regiment on October 15.

Despite these shortages the division continued to act on the offensive; on September 24 it had joined with the 145th Tank Brigade in an attempt to drive German forces from a bridgehead they held on the east bank of the Striana River.

The fighting resumed on the morning of December 1 when a powerful German artillery and mortar bombardment struck along the entire front of 33rd Army, except the sector defended by the 222nd.

By December 3-4 the main fighting was occurring in the Yushkevo–Burtsevo area and by the end of the next day the Red Army claimed to have inflicted 7,500 casualties as well as 27 tanks, two armored cars, 36 guns, ten mortars, and other trophies.

Up to six understrength divisions had been moved to the area and on February 2–3 Soviet gains north and south of Yukhnov were driven back, leaving the 33rd, as well as 1st Guards Cavalry Corps and the 8th Airborne Brigade all but completely encircled.

On March 11 a total of 12,780 personnel remained trapped and a report by Western Front's chief of the NKVD Special Department (dated April 8) stated in part:... a significant amount of the artillery has been idled by a lack of fuel and ammunition.

Bobrov would go on to command the 42nd Guards Rifle Division and be promoted to the rank of major general before he was killed near Piatra Neamț on September 25, 1944 when his jeep ran over a mine.

Given this relative weakness in force correlation and the fact that the main offensive had begun more than a week earlier, eliminating any element of surprise, the attack of 33rd Army soon faltered.

It continued attacking on August 9–10 with the shock group on a very narrow front and made limited gains at the village of Sluzna, but was then stymied at Laski and Gubino; the intervention of an ersatz German battalion appears to have narrowly prevented a Soviet breakthrough.

By 1330 hours on August 30 it became clear to the German command that Yelnya could not be held and orders for its evacuation were issued within minutes; the city was in Red Army hands by 1900.

The troops who participated in the battles of Smolensk and Roslavl, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 25 September 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

In two days of fighting the Western Front armies were almost completely stymied; the Polish Division was able to carve out a wedge up to 3km deep west of Lenino at considerable cost, especially due to air attacks.

Only by releasing the 144th to battle on November 17 was his Army able to secure a 10km-wide and 3-4km deep bridgehead on the west bank of the Rossasenka River by the end of the next day, at which point the offensive collapsed from exhaustion.

[43] Shortly after this 33rd Army was directed to redeploy substantially to the north to reinforce the left wing of 1st Baltic Front as it attempted to encircle and liberate the city of Vitebsk.

Further efforts by the two Armies that day pushed to within a few hundred metres of the Vitebsk–Orsha road before German reserves intervened and the offensive expired on January 6 after minimal additional gains.

[47] When the offensive was renewed again on February 3 the 69th Corps was part of the Army's shock group, assigned to continue the drive to encircle Vitebsk from the south, although now aiming for a far shallower envelopment.

The artillery preparation was again hindered by ammunition shortages but despite this the first echelon pierced the German forward defenses and pushed on 2km, capturing strongpoints at Novka, Bondary and Laputi.

Gordov ordered his corps commanders to commit their second echelon divisions the next day, but the Luchesa, only partly frozen and with deep, steep banks, proved a formidable obstacle.

[48] Sokolovskii and Gordov now desperately sought some weak spot in the defenses they could exploit and focused all their efforts on the Shapury sector which was their closest point to the center of Vitebsk.

[49] A renewed offensive was planned to begin on February 29 and in preparation the Corps was formed into a three-echelon formation to assault the German defenses from just north of Perevoz to Bukshtyny and force the Luchesa before advancing to Ostrovno.

Sokolovskii returned to his strategy of mid-January, planning to expand the salient southeast of Vitebsk farther to the south, this time employing three rifle corps, including the 69th, on a 12km-wide front, supported by two tank brigades.

A renewed effort on March 23 fared very little better, and the addition of the 352nd Rifle Division to the Corps the next day made no real difference as German reserves continued to arrive.

I. T. Grishin, had received fresh replacements for its rifle divisions in June and deployed at and south of Mogilev, primarily facing the XXXIX Panzer Corps of 4th Army.

By noon a gap in the defense had been opened east of Chernevka; the 337th had lost most of its artillery and was disintegrating, and a forward detachment of 42nd Division, with the rest of 69th Corps following, reached the town at 1700 and made a crossing of the Basia River.

During the next four days the OKW transferred panzer forces for their upcoming Operation Doppelkopf but on August 15 the 3rd Belorussian Front renewed its offensive in the direction of Gumbinnen with 33rd and 11th Guards Armies.

[69] In general the offensive was carried out according to this plan and the forces in the Puławy bridgehead broke through the German tactical defense zone on the operation's first day, January 12, 1945.