At 1950 hours this officer reported back that:... [the enemy's] forward units, having infiltrated beyond the Dnepr River, continue to occupy the villages Tikhanovo, Glushkovo, Alad'ino and Ust'e.

According to information recorded at Reserve Front headquarters at 2100 the same day, two regiments of the division were already "locked in combat" over the crossing as Glushkovo as early as 1800 and by 2000 had assembled along the Dniepr in the sector running from Parshino to the mouth of the Vyasma.

But this is insufficient.At 2200 on the same day General Sverchevskii, having no communications link with either the Western or Reserve Fronts, reported the following information directly to the STAVKA: "For 45 minutes already, [enemy] tanks and motorized infantry have been moving uninterruptedly from Baranovo through Kamenets to Volochek, the majority presumably toward Andreevskoe and the rest toward Nastas'ino."

At my order this group is to take up a defense in the area of KELITA [sic - correct is Khmelita, 32km southwest of Vyazma].Lukin had established his headquarters near Lomy, which had been attacked by the 114th Infantry Regiment of 6th Panzer Division.

Marshal S. K. Timoshenko, commander of Southwestern Front, reported to the STAVKA at 1730 that the German attack likely aimed "to secure the Barvenkovo, Izium region and attempt to cut off [our] offensive on Kharkov from the south.

Although the size of the attacking force was severely limited by a shortage of trucks he assured his superiors that it could cope with the 16th Motorized, which had lost some 1,100 men in the previous fighting.

Gerasimenko's initial report to Stalingrad Front asserted, "The enemy is defending previously-prepared centers of resistance in the Oling and Iashkul' region with a force of up to a regiment of infantry and artillery and tanks."

The German command dispatched a battalion of infantry mounted in trucks, plus 10 to 12 tanks, eastward, south of the main road, with orders to strike the advancing Soviet force's left flank.

The next afternoon Gerasimenko issued orders that would bring more than half of his Army into the fight for Proletarskaia, but the division and the 159th Rifle Brigade were left along the Manych on the Divnoe axis to protect Elista, taking over a defensive sector from the 34th Guards.

[34] 28th Army reported on January 9 that one regiment of the division was fighting in the region of Lake Podmanki with up to a battalion of counterattacking German infantry and five tanks at 1040 hours.

[35] Gerasimenko issued another order at 1640 hours on January 16 directing the 248th and the 159th Brigade to capture Divnoe by the end of the next day and subsequently advance south of the Manych toward Salsk, almost 150km to the north.

Colonel Galai was directed to continue moving along the Kruchenaya Balka and Sosoevo–Aleksandrovka march-route at first light on January 24 to reach the Nizhnyi Khutor Seiatel, Novyi Put, and Tatsin region by day's end.

[37] The next day the division made contact with 5th SS's Nordland Regiment in positions 5km south of Kommuna at 1430 hours and sent out combat reconnaissance to determine the extent of its defenses near Krasnoarmeiskii.

A further effort the next day preempted a counterattack by the weak 23rd Panzer Division, striking two of its panzergrenadier battalions near the brick factory in Nizhne-Gnilovskaya, bypassing one and penetrating to near the city center.

The 248th was exchanging fire with the German forces defending Hill 83.0 from positions on the southern outskirts of Sedovskii and 2km to the south (15-17km southeast of Matveyev Kurgan) at 1400 hours.

The Soviet forces quickly scored sizeable breakthroughs in an effort to secure the Donbas basin, but were unable to expand their breaches due to the intervention of panzer reserves.

On October 2 the STAVKA, realizing that their forces had reached the line the Germans meant to hold, broke off the offensive along the entire front for a week while they regrouped.

The Front was led by Pliyev's Cavalry-Mechanized Group, followed by the 8th Guards and 6th Armies to envelop the city from the northwest and west while the 5th Shock was to advance on its defenses directly from the east.

With the trap closing shut the remainder of the defending LXXII Army Corps began breaking out to the west, allowing the Soviet forces to occupy the city's center at 1000 hours on April 10 after only minor fighting.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Odessa, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 10 April 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.

[53]Following the battle for Odesa, the STAVKA ordered 3rd Ukrainian Front to mount a concerted effort to force the Dniestr, capture Chișinău, and eventually occupy all of eastern Bessarabia.

The Front's orders called for an ambitious operation in mid-May to eliminate a German bridgehead on the east bank of the Dniestr, then to cross the river and help encircle the enemy forces facing 8th Guards Army farther south.

The main forces of these Armies took advantage of this early success and began advancing behind a rolling barrage, gaining as much as 12-13km during the day and through the night before going over to the pursuit on January 15.

5th Shock Army would attack in the general direction of Neudamm and then force the Oder River in the area of Alt Blessin before continuing to advance towards Nauen.

On January 28 the 2nd Guards Tank and 5th Shock Armies broke through the Pomeranian Wall from the march and by the end of the month reached the Oder south of Küstrin and seized a bridgehead 12km in width and up to 3km deep.

The Army deployed within the Küstrin bridgehead along a 9km-wide front between Letschin and Golzow and was to launch its main attack on its left wing on a 7km sector closer to the latter place.

The Army then occupied jumping-off positions for a reconnaissance-in-force by battalions of five of its divisions while the remainder carried out more regular reconnaissance activities beginning early on the morning of April 14.

In the course of two days of limited fighting the Front's troops advanced as much as 5km, ascertained and partly disrupted the German defensive system, and had overcome the thickest zone of minefields.

The following day it battled 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland for possession of the strongpoint of Buckow after a further advance of 6km; it had now reached and partially broken through the third German defensive zone.

General Berzarin now received orders to develop the offensive along the eastern and western banks of the Spree and, in conjunction with 3rd Shock Army, to take the northern half of Berlin.