When the offensive began it held a crucial sector on the extreme left flank of 6th Guards Army where the II SS Panzer Corps attempted to break through south of the salient.

Its order of battle was as follows: Maj. Gen. Vasilii Grigorevich Vorontsov was assigned to command of the division on September 1, and he would remain in this post until February 27, 1942.

[3] The Sychevka-Vyasma Offensive Operation, which was planned "to encircle, and then capture or destroy the enemy's entire Mozhaisk - Gzhatsk - Vyasma grouping", began the fighting for what later became known as the Rzhev salient.

Then heavy rains began and continued for several days which caused the attack to literally bog down in the area of Polunino, north of Rzhev.

On August 25/26 the 30th reached the Volga 5 to 6 km west of the city and on the 29th established a bridgehead on the right bank, but over the following weeks was unable to actually capture and clear Rzhev.

Meanwhile German counterattacks had cut off a large Soviet mobile group south of Gonchuki and late on the 12th the 375th was also moved westward to help restore the situation.

While the tanks managed to penetrate the forward line in several places, enemy fire separated the infantry support, leading to just minor gains.

Since unit boundaries are usually seen as weak points in any defense, the Front commander, Army Gen. N. F. Vatutin, aimed to turn this to his advantage by heavily fortifying and reinforcing the two flank divisions in anticipation of the enemy attack.

They were deployed with swampy terrain, the confluence of the Northern and Lipovyi Donets Rivers, in their rear, and by the start of the offensive had 19-23 artillery pieces (76mm calibre or larger) per kilometre, greater than any other sector of the front.

Despite the German objective to "crush" the Soviet defenses and seize crossings over the Lipovyi Donets, Vatutin's plan was working: the 3rd SS made almost no progress while the division continued to hold its deeply fortified positions.

On the second day the 3rd SS again struck the division's positions beginning at 0600 hours but made few gains while the remainder of the Panzer Corps advanced as much as 20 km on the Prokhorovka axis.

In order to stem this advance General Vatutin proposed a counterattack to begin on July 8 and to involve the 375th and many other forces, specifically the 1st Tank Army, but this was premature and never actually took place.

[19] As this withdrawal was taking place on July 11, 6th Panzer Division was finally able to push beyond Melikhovo and by that night seized a bridgehead over the Northern Donets at Rzhavets.

On the evening of July 14 the situation of 48th Corps had become critical; it was mostly encircled, was suffering shortages of ammunition and antitank weapons, and communications with higher headquarters were being continually interrupted.

By dawn on July 15 the pocket was closed but not solidly; four Soviet divisions, including the 375th, plus reinforcements were loosely held in an area of 126 square kilometres.

The division's personnel - 3,526 men - upon reaching the new line of defense at Novoselovka quickly adopted a combat formation, dug in, and repulsed two attacks.

The 375th was sufficiently rebuilt by August 3 to be able to take part in the Belgorod-Kharkov Offensive Operation and played a role in the liberation of both of those cities, being awarded the name of the second as a battle honor:"KHARKOV... 375th Rifle Division (Colonel Govorunenko, Pyotr Dmitrievich)...

The troops who participated in the liberation of Kharkov, by the order of the Supreme High Command of August 23, 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

[26] By the end of the day on September 28 much of this Army had reached the east bank of the Dniepr between the mouth of the Psyol River and the village of Drobetskovka.

On the night of September 30/October 1 the 53rd forced the Dniepr with elements of two rifle divisions and took a small bridgehead in the area southeast of Chikalovka, which was fought over throughout the day.

[28] By November 12 part of 53rd Army was in the bridgehead in the Dneprodzerzhinsk area, while the remainder was defending along the left (east) bank of the Dniepr.

[30][31] Prior to the start of the offensive, on January 15, 1944, General Yashkin was removed from command and replaced the next day by Col. Nikita Efimovich Tsygankov.

After two days of heavy fighting the German force withdrew southward to new defenses west of Dubăsari, but also received reinforcements from the 10th Panzergrenadier Division and Corps Detachment "F" which contained the Soviet advance.

In the event, the defeat inflicted on the right flank forces of 2nd Ukrainian Front in the Târgu Frumos area caused this offensive to be postponed and eventually cancelled.

The plan called for the Army to be part of the exploitation force which would be released once the shock formations penetrated the German-Romanian front.

In the following days minimal forces of the 53rd Army were committed to the reduction of the trapped Axis grouping while its main effort focused on Bucharest and the oilfields at Ploiești.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Bucharest, by the order of the Supreme High Command of August 31, 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.

By the morning of November 4 the 27th Army relieved the 53rd along the front from Polgár to Tiszafüred while it regrouped to force the Tisza River three days later.

[40] At the start of the second stage of the Budapest operation on December 5 the 53rd Army was holding positions from Eger to Lőrinci, still facing the defenses in the Mátra.

On April 22 the commander of 27th Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Evgenii Stepanovich Alekhin, was severely wounded in a sudden enemy air strike while directing combat in the fighting positions of his troops, in the vicinity of Mikulov.