It took part in the offensive that liberated that region in April and May, 1944, fighting in the 51st Army and winning both a battle honor and the Order of the Red Banner in the process.

In conjunction with this reserves consisting of the 417th and 89th Rifle Divisions, 52nd Tank Brigade, two Guards-Mortar regiments and several other units were brought forward to the area of Grozny and Ordzhonikidze and designated to organize counterattacks on possible routes where the panzers might appear.

The 3rd Panzer Division reached the northern bank of the Terek in the Mozdok region late on August 23 and captured the city two days later.

In two days of see-saw fighting the German force, backed by tanks of the 23rd Panzer Division, managed to secure a bridgehead nearly 3km deep.

The new commander of 9th Army, Maj. Gen. K. A. Koroteyev, was determined to inflict maximum damage on the German forces and organized fresh counterattacks the next day, including the 417th attacking from the east.

One group consisted of the division and the 10th Guards Rifle Corps and was tasked with striking the defenses of 3rd Panzer at Mekenskaia and Predmostnyi in the bridgehead southwest of Mozdok.

Attacking in stages from early on September 14 the two shock groups commenced a battle lasting four days before the Germans could muster enough strength to continue their offensive; both sides suffered heavy losses in the process.

[7] On September 20 Colonel Storozhilov handed his command to Col. Grigorii Osipovich Lyaskin, but this officer was in turn replaced by Col. Ivan Afanasevich Shevchenko six days later.

Meanwhile, on September 29 the STAVKA accepted that the Northern Group of Forces was no longer capable of further offensive action due to losses suffered during its many counterattacks and Lt. Gen.

By October 23 it appeared to Maslennikov that the German panzer army remained a spent force and he was proposing a counterattack with a group that would include the 417th.

In the event this was forestalled two days later when the "spent" Germans launched a renewed drive to the southwest and then to the east; this attack was halted at the gates of Ordzhonikidze on November 5.

[13] Meanwhile, elements of 4th Ukrainian Front had reached the Perekop Isthmus, the main land route to the Crimea, on October 30, cutting off the German 17th Army and associated Romanian forces there.

German units managed to block the Perekop, the Chongar Narrows and the Arabat Spit, but were too late to protect the coastline along the Sivash.

Taking advantage of favorable winds and tides, and local intelligence, elements of 51st Army's 10th Rifle Corps began fording through very shallow waters into an area of the Crimea some 10-15km east of Perekop.

The belated arrival of German and Romanian reserves were able to contain the bridgehead, but it continued to be held and strengthened by 10th Corps through the winter, with bridges finally in place by December 9.

There was not a tree or a bush... Around us stretched a boundless steppe as flat as a table and a drained white expanse of shallow salt lakes.

Sevastopol was not prepared for another siege such as the Soviets had endured in 1941-42; this was not understood by the 4th Ukrainian Front's command and it paused its operations to bring up artillery for a deliberate attack.

Koshevoy's men surged forward and seized the heights, capturing the commander of the 117th Grenadier Regiment in the process, and 10th Rifle Corps was brought up to solidify their hold.

German counterattacks the next day, backed by the last of their assault guns, regained some ground but were smothered under artillery and air attacks.

In a major redeployment, 2nd Guards and 51st Armies were shifted to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command, and were then railed northwards in anticipation of the coming summer offensives.

It was still in these positions in the first week of October at the start of the Memel Offensive Operation, which finally cut off Army Group North and created the Courland Pocket.