It was assigned to the 50th Army and originally saw action in the defense of the city of Tula before going over to the counteroffensive in December, suffering massive casualties in the process.

It spent much of the next year along the lines it gained over the winter, southwest of the capital, before beginning to push westward as part of Western Front's 1943 summer offensive.

Command cadre came from the staffs of the 1st and 2nd Red Banner Armies, and included many veterans of the Lake Khasan and Khalkhin-Gol fighting.

Its order of battle, based on the first wartime shtat (table of organization and equipment) for rifle divisions, was as follows: At the time of its formation its personnel were noted as being mostly Siberian and Kazakh.

At this time it had a personnel strength of about 12,000 troops and about 100 artillery pieces and mortars of all types, making it quite a strong front-line division for that period.

[5] The counterattack began at dawn on November 7 but developed slowly due to active German resistance and inexperience on the Soviet side.

The 32nd Tank Brigade was intended to coordinate with the 413th but was late in reaching its start line and communications between the two units and higher headquarters worked poorly.

By the evening the division had reached a line from Malaya Yelovaya to Tikhvinskoe by was attacked there at 2200 hours by two battalions of infantry and 25-30 tanks and was forced to fall back towards Sergievka.

During November 20 the division, along with the 32nd Tanks, fought stubborn defensive battles and by the end of the day no longer held a continuous front, with one regiment holding Bolokhovka, a second in the area of Gorki and Dubravo, and the third in the area of Kurakino, overall facing up to an infantry division and 40-50 tanks attempting to outflank Bolokhovka from the north and south.

[8] During the first days of December the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions attacked towards Rudnevo, 20 km northeast of Tula, attempting to reach the northern and eastern outskirts of the city.

As of December 7, with the vastly-overextended German offensive coming to a halt and with the Red Army about to shift to the counteroffensive, the 413th was securely holding a line from Height 217.2 to Kryukovo to Tulitsa.

Its offensive began on December 8 and the 413th, along with the 340th Rifle Division, was again ordered to advance on Shchyokino as well as Dedilovo with the aim of cutting off the retreat route of the Germans' Venev-Dedilovo-Stalinogorsk grouping.

On December 14 the division secured the villages of Podosinki, Zamyatino and Krutoe (all 5 km southwest Bolokhovka) with its hardest fighting along the Shat River from Prisady station to the east.

[10] By December 20 the 413th had reached a line from Sizenevo to Nikolskie Vyselki and was echeloned to the rear and left of the 50th Army's front with the 217th Rifle Division.

On the next day, as the Army's forward detachments began to liberate Kaluga, the division was fighting for Odoevo with one regiment while its main forces were developing the offensive in the direction of Okorokovo.

Odoevo was occupied by remnants of the 112th and 167th Infantry Divisions and was cleared by the end of December 22, which allowed the 1st Guards Cavalry to advance to the Oka River south of Likhvin.

After stubborn street fighting German resistance in Likhvin collapsed and it was cleared on December 26, following which the 413th continued to develop the offensive to the northwest; Boldin's intention was a deep envelopment of Kaluga from the southwest and west by his left flank divisions.

[11] Kaluga was finally cleared by 1000 hours on December 30 and the surviving German forces fell back to the northwest and west after suffering 7,000 casualties.

Lazarenko went on to be promoted to major general but was killed in action near Chausy in late June, 1944, posthumously being named a Hero of the Soviet Union in July.

He had already been acclaimed within Western Front for his political work and had received the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, from General Boldin in person.

These forces were able to cross the river and penetrate the German defense despite rasputitsa conditions and an almost complete absence of roads; in fact, the attack developed quite slowly until 10th Army to the north entered the offensive on November 28 and the commander of 9th Army, Gen. Walter Model, convinced Hitler to allow him to withdraw to new defenses closer to the Dniepr.

By this time the 3rd Army had reached the Dniepr and a large grouping of German forces were partially encircled east of the river around Bykhov, presenting an inviting target.

He prepared an operation in late March which was to finally liberate both Bykhov and Chausy on the south side of the bridgehead with his 10th and 50th Armies backed by the 1st Guards Tank Corps.

The 134th managed to halt 3rd Army's forces by 0800 hours but later that day the divisions to its north and south gave way which allowed the 9th Tank Corps to exploit into the German rear, gaining 10 km.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Brest, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 28 July 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

[33] In the plan for the Viatula-Oder Offensive in January, 1945 the Army was deployed along the line from Borsuki to Ceppelin and was to attack with its left wing on a 7 km front in the direction of Jackowo, Sochocin and Drobin.

The attack continued overnight, and during January 16 the Army gained up to 20 km, captured the German strongpoint at Nasielsk and cut the railroad from Ciechanów to Modlin.

[34] On February 19 the division was recognized for its part in the battles for Mława, Działdowo and Płońsk in this early stage of the offensive with the award of the Order of the Red Banner.

By March 5 elements of the Front had reached the Baltic Sea north and northwest of Köslin, cutting off the German forces in the Danzig area from Germany; however 65th Army had only managed to advance 8 – 10 km during this period.

On June 4 the division was further distinguished with the Order of Suvorov, 2nd Degree, for its part in the capture of the towns of Eggesin, Torgelow and Templin, west of the Oder in the Berlin campaign.