A new 244th was formed in late December 1941 from the redesignation of a 400-series rifle division at Stalingrad and was moved west in March 1942 to join the 28th Army east of Kharkiv, eventually becoming part of Southwestern Front.

With most of Southwestern Front it pushed deep into eastern Ukraine before being struck by Army Group South's "backhand blow" in mid-February 1943, ending up partly encircled and nearly destroyed again.

The 244th was rebuilt during the lull in operations in the spring and then joined in the offensives into the Donbas and toward the Dniepr in the summer and autumn as part of 66th Rifle Corps of 12th Army, winning a battle honor in the process.

Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, commander of Western Front, began planning for a renewed effort toward Smolensk on August 14 which was intended to recapture Dukhovshchina en route to the city.

[9] At 1400 hours on August 18, Khomenko issued orders to General Shcherbakov directing that he prepare to operate from Karpovo, which had been taken by 107th Tanks the previous day, toward Dukhovshchina:* Relieve 107th TD's 120th MRR [Motorized Rifle Regiment] along the Zhukovo, Sloboda, Nazemenki, and Karpovo line with one regiment [911th] of your division by 0400 hours on 19 August, and attack with the 120th, while delivering your division's main attack on the right wing [westward] toward Bol'shoe Repino, Novoselki, and Petrovo Selo, while protecting the left wing with small groups.

Partly as a result of its failure to appear on August 19 the Army's remaining divisions stalled against heavy German resistance, although the 107th Tanks gained an additional 2 km to the eastern outskirts of Shelepy.

In his report at 1330 Khomenko stated the division had concentrated its main forces in the Novo-Vysokoe region, 10–12 km east of Shelepy and one rifle regiment in the Sloboda and Torchilovo sector, and that its horse-drawn echelon was expected to arrive at 1800.

As a relatively fresh division the 244th was given a large assignment for August 22: to protect 19th Army's right flank while also attacking with its main forces toward Zanino 2 and Isakovka to capture the Moseevka and Borniki line by day's end.

Timoshenko ordered the offensive to continue on August 28 and now, led by the 45th Cavalry, the 244th and 166th succeeded in taking 35th Infantry Division's strongpoint at Shakhlovo on the upper Loinia River.

Its mission for August 29 was, with the support of the 1st Battalion of the 399th Howitzer Artillery Regiment, to penetrate the German defenses in the Novaia Kazarina and Novoselishche sector by conducting its main attack toward Hill 227.4.

[14] The division's orders for September 4 were to protect the Army's right flank, penetrate the German defenses in the Hill 229.7 and Novoselishche sector, capture Staraia Kazarina and Krotovo, and subsequently attack toward Kiseleva.

In the event, the plan was postponed until October 5; during that evening the 19th Army operational summary noted that the 244th had been reduced to a composite unit of roughly 250 men still clinging to their positions.

After a few months of equipping and training in the Stalingrad Military District the division was moved west in March 1942 to enter the Reserve of the Supreme High Command, and then joined the 28th Army in Southwestern Front in April.

In the event, 28th Army gained only 2–4 km in heavy fighting through the day and German forces continued to hold Varvarovka and Ternovaya, hindering the development of the offensive.

By the middle of the day the combined Soviet force had carved out a deep salient threatening Kharkiv, but disconcerting intelligence reports were reaching Ryabyshev about large concentrations of German armor and infantry massing east of the city.

With no antiaircraft artillery or air cover of their own the Soviet troops continued their attack despite growing losses and finally took Petrovskoe after an advance of another 6–8 km, reaching the approaches to the German rear defense line along the Kharkiv River.

The damaged 28th Army was defending west of the Oskil River from Volokonovka southward to Valuyki with five rifle divisions and three tank brigades; the 244th was acting as the Front reserve north of the latter place.

The attack made good progress against the 33rd Guards and 196th, but Lopatin persisted in plans for a counterattack with the 244th on September 4, now to contain any attempt by 71st Infantry Division to lunge eastward down the Tsaritsa valley.

At the same time, a massive assault by Stalingrad Front against the northern German corridor to the city near Kotluban delayed further offensive efforts by LI Corps for two days.

The left wing of the 244th was to drive toward Sadovaya Station at 0330 hours on September 14 but ran into the face of the German forces preparing their own attacks; nevertheless the audacity of the counterstroke took the 71st Infantry off stride.

It struck due eastward along and north of the railroad line into southern Stalingrad, leaving a battlegroup based on the 21st Panzergrenadier Regiment to mop up bypassed Soviet forces of 42nd Brigade and the 244th.

[44] On September 16 the division was reported as "fighting along the line [of] the southern bank of the Tsaritsa (2km southeast of the Opytnaia Station State Farm)–the road on the western outskirts of Stalingrad, leading from Verkhniaia Elshanka."

By day's end the remnants of the two Soviet units were left with only the narrow sector north of the bridge through which they could pass to reach the relative safety of 13th Guards' defenses in the center city.

The Army commander, Lt. Gen. V. I. Kuznetsov, submitted his operational plan on the same date, which included:6th Guards Rifle Corps will attack from the Nizhnee, Krymskaia, Slavianoserbsk, and Zheltoe line in the general direction of Sergo and Artemovsk.

In its report for February 20 the Front stated that the 4th Guards Corps was continuing to fight stubbornly on the northern outskirts of Novo-Moskovsk while attempting to capture Sinelnikovo, and that the 244th was on the march to the Prishtopovka region.

The 19-year-old medic Valeria Osipovna Gnarovskaya, who had won the medal "For Courage" the previous year, was working under fire to remove her wounded comrades to the dressing station by crawling while bearing their weight on top of her.

Southwestern Front launched a strong attack on October 1 against the Zaporizhzhia bridgehead, making a small penetration that 1st Panzer Army eliminated before the end of the day.

[65] 3rd Ukrainian Front's first effort to renew the drive on Kryvyi Rih began on January 10, 1944, led mainly by 46th Army, but made only modest gains at considerable cost and was halted on the 16th.

00442, assigning a mission of "beating off the enemy rearguards, throwing them back to the north and, by the close of 22 August... [to] capture the Sălcuța -- Taraclia -- Kenbaran -- Saka River area with the rifle formations."

A favorable situation soon arose to split part of this force and the 66th and 9th Guards Rifle Corps converged on the village of Gura Galbenei from the east and north respectively and foiled a breakthrough attempt.