It next saw action in Voronezh Front's counteroffensive following the German offensive at Kursk, becoming involved in the complex fighting around Okhtyrka and then advancing through eastern Ukraine toward the Dniepr River.

The 241st took part in the unsuccessful battles to break out of the bridgehead at Bukryn and after the liberation of Kyiv it was reassigned to 38th Army, remaining under that command, assigned to various rifle corps, mostly the 67th, for the duration of the war.

Beginning on January 10 the 254th infiltrated the positions of the 290th with ski troops through frozen marshes and cut the supplies of three company-sized strongpoints which were gradually eliminated by the rest of Berzarin's forces.

[6] At the beginning of February, the 290th Infantry was still holding east of the Pola River but its II Army Corps and several other German units were vulnerable to encirclement at Demyansk.

The STAVKA ordered that Northwestern Front should crush the pocketed force within four or five days; meanwhile reinforcements were arriving from Germany and the airlifting of supplies was well underway.

[9] Chernyakhovskii had already taken over the 18th Tank Corps when he left the 241st on June 24; he was replaced two days later by his chief of staff, Col. Pavel Grigorevich Arabei.

He had distinguished himself during the Russian Civil War in the Far East as commander of the 1st Tungussk Partisan Detachment, winning the Order of the Red Banner in 1928, and up to 1938 served as acting chief of the Construction Section of the Pacific Fleet.

[11] On January 31, 1943, the German High Command ordered that the Demyansk salient be evacuated, in the wake of the encirclement and upcoming destruction of 6th Army at Stalingrad.

[15] 27th Army saw no significant action during the German offensive, and by the beginning of August it had been transferred to Voronezh Front,[16] which was still holding the southern half of the salient.

On the night of the operation's third day the Army was to deploy along the 11km-wide front from Kresanov to Soldatskoye while its main forces concentrated in the center to break through the German defense along the 6km sector Kasilovo–Novo-Berezovka.

Having crushed the resistance of the 57th Infantry Division both Armies broke through the German front along a 26km-wide sector and by the close of the day had advanced in fighting 8-20km and reached the line Starosele–Kasilovo–Ivanovskaya Lisitsa–Nikitskoe.

Following the elimination of the German forces in the Borisovka the Army continued to attack to the southwest along the Vorskla, liberating Bolshaya Pisarevka, an important paved road junction.

On August 10 it outflanked the Staraya Ryabina and Yablochnoye strongpoints from the northwest and south, defeated their garrisons and opened a path for the subsequent development of the offensive on Okhtyrka and Kotelva.

On the first day the Army's right flank formations continued to be involved in street fighting for Okhtyrka while its left wing reached the river's east bank along the sector Khukhrya–Kotelna–Kolontaev.

With the support of significant air groups the Army's units were repeatedly counterattacked and a number of villages changed hands several times.

[21] At this point the German command, which had previously been defeated in its efforts to recapture Bohodukhiv by 6th Guards Army, began regrouping to attempt to reach the objective via Okhtyrka.

On the same day the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf attacked from the Kovalevka–Konstantinovka area in the direction of Kolontaev and Lyubovka but was beaten off by the 241st and units of the 5th Guards Tanks.

[22] With the German arrival in the Kaplunovka area the situation along 27th Army's left flank quickly became more difficult as the 71st and 241st Divisions, plus the 4th and 5th Guards Tanks, faced the danger of encirclement.

Stalin personally instructed Zhukov, who was at Vatutin's headquarters, as to the necessity of eliminating the German Okhtyrka grouping as quickly as possible and also to adopt emergency measures to ward off the possible isolation the Army's left flank formations.

The next day, having failed to reach Bohodukhiv, the German command suspended its offensive along this axis and dispatched it main forces to eliminate the Soviet salient that had formed in to Kotelva area, but this fared no better.

[26] While on the east bank the personnel strength of the division increased significantly, until by October 10 it stood at 6,058, although it remained short of guns and mortars.

While the Army set a fairly elaborate deception plan in effect, it failed to mislead the defenders, and stubborn resistance was encountered from the outset.

This was preceded by a 15-minute artillery onslaught, but the assault had no success whatsoever along the entire frontage; in fact the 241st and the 7th Guards Tank Corps were forced to abandon Romashki.

Much of the supporting artillery was still on the east bank and was low on ammunition, while German aviation carried out up to 1,000 sorties during the day, which particularly affected the 3rd Guards Tank Army's forces.

[36] 38th Army was on the left (south) flank of the Front and its initial objective was Vinnytsia, after which it was to continue to advance southwest toward Zhmerynka, which had been designated as a Festung (fortress) by Hitler.

The troops that participated in the liberation of Vinnitsa, by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of 20 March 1944 and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes by 224 guns.

Postwar he entered the training establishment and also held several commands, including the 120th Guards Rifle Division, until his retirement in April 1956.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Lvov, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 27 July 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

The troops who participated in the capture of Jasło and Gorlice, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 19 January 1945, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

[47] The Moravia–Ostrava Offensive began on March 10 and during the course of the operation the 241st was rewarded for its part in the capture of Bielsko with its first collective decoration on April 5; unusually, it was the Order of the Red Star, which was normally awarded to formations smaller than divisions.