The division arrived about a week before the second Axis assault on the fortress began and played an important role in the defense but suffered heavy casualties in the process.

The new division earned several distinctions as it fought its way into central Manchuria, including a battle honor, and continued to serve into the postwar era.

Personnel replacements and new weapons also arrived in this convoy, allowing the commander of Coastal Army, Maj. Gen. Ivan Petrov, to partly restore his existing forces in the front lines and retain the 388th as a central reserve, based at Inkerman.

[6][7] The Eleventh Army launched its second assault on the fortress on December 17 with a short artillery barrage at 0610 hours to the surprise of the Soviet forces who were not expecting an attack during winter.

The Sector IV commander, Maj. Gen. V. F. Vorobev, planned a counterattack before dawn on the 18th and had his coastal batteries and field artillery shell the German positions.

The Germans had to bring in fresh troops and armor to finally recapture and hold the hill while the two regiments pulled back 1.5 km southwest of the village of Kamyshly.

The next day the German 22nd, 24th and 132nd Infantry Divisions attacked on a 9 km front, driving a wedge between the 388th and the newly-arrived 79th Naval Rifle Brigade.

The First Turkish Redoubt on Canrobert Hill contained the command post of 1st Battalion, 782nd Regiment, which was shelled by German artillery on the night of May 23.

By June 10 German forces had driven a wedge into the Soviet lines in the area of the Mekenzievy Mountain railway station and the nearby barracks.

The village was held by two battalions of the 778th, which came under heavy artillery fire on June 12, causing significant losses, before being attacked from the east and south.

General Novikov decided the regiment was in poor shape and ordered a relief-in-place overnight, but German troops detected the movement and the 778th didn't leave sufficient rearguards to cover the barbed wire and mines in front of the village.

By nightfall both the village and the fort had been captured and a huge salient had been driven into the center of Sector I's lines, while the flanks held firm.

Over the next two days XXX Corps continued its advance, albeit at a slower pace, and on the 16th Novikov had no choice but to withdraw 1–1.5 km to a shorter line centered on Kadykovka.

The 388th was at Voskresenskoye, about 30 km east of Leninskoye, and was deployed to secure Japanese strongpoints on the south bank of the Amur River on the left flank of the 361st.

[22] At 0100 hours on August 9 reconnaissance and advanced detachment of all four divisions attacked without artillery preparation and secured major islands in the Amur.

The 1st Battalion of the 630th Rifle Regiment, embarked in vessels of the 2nd Brigade of the Amur Flotilla, assaulted Japanese positions at Fuyuan, which were taken by 0730 hours.

The Army's pursuit along the river until August 21 when a forward detachment aboard the Flotilla linked up with 1st Far Eastern Front at Harbin, after covering 700 km over 12 days.