The division then moved northwards to serve in the defense of Leningrad, as well as the early attempts to break that city's siege, but later was redeployed to the southern sector of the front as the crisis around Stalingrad developed.

The division remained in this sector for the duration of the war, fighting through the south of Ukraine through the summer of 1943 and winning the Order of the Red Banner in the process; it was further distinguished with the award of a battle honor in February, 1944.

It served extensively in the fighting through Hungary and in the outer encirclement during the siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944/45 and in mid-April was awarded a second battle honor for its part in the capture of Vienna.

[6] Two days earlier General Andreev had been reassigned to a staff position in 59th Army and was replaced in command by Col. Sergei Timofeevich Biyakov, who was in turn succeeded by Maj. Gen. Georgii Pavlovich Lilenkov from the 378th Rifle Division on June 30.

6th Army began its advance on Stalingrad on August 21 at which time the 4th Guards, with the 321st and 23rd Rifle Divisions had taken up a defense on a 20 km sector from Starodonskoi to the mouth of the Ilovlia River.

[10] This transfer was due to the completion of the encirclement of 6th Army on November 23 and the fact that 5th Tank was having difficulty overcoming Axis-held strongpoints along the Chir and Don Rivers, in particular Oblivskaya, Surovikino and Rychkovskii.

Overnight on November 29–30 the commander of 5th Tank was informed that 4th Guards was marching southwards to join his shock group attacking Verkhne-Chirskii, Rychkovskii and the adjacent German bridgeheads across the Don.

At this time the German relief of 6th Army was being planned and the STAVKA considered the Don bridgeheads the most likely staging base for it since they were less than half the distance to the pocket as the alternative axis from Kotelnikovo.

A new offensive by 5th Shock began on the morning of December 13 led by 7th Tank Corps, assisted by 4th Guards and 258th Divisions, with the principal objectives of Rychkovskii and Verkhne-Chirskii.

The attack began at 0700 hours and the 8th Guards Regiment soon seized an unnamed hill east of the town and held it against several infantry counterattacks, supported by five tanks.

The divisional history later noted:The Rychkovskii bridgehead, which the enemy intended to use as a trampoline [springboard] for an offensive toward Stalingrad, ceased to exist by 1000 hours on 13 December.That evening the commander of 5th Shock, Lt. Gen. M. M. Popov, ordered the attack to continue towards Verkhne-Chirskii.

At 0800 hours that day a report stated that the three rifle divisions "occupied the Alifanov - Novo-Rossoshinskii - Chumakov - Rossoshinskii - Kriukovskii (38km south of Tatsinskaia) region."

RD with a force of motorized infantry with a large number of tanks.All three divisions suffered significant losses in this fighting and were withdrawn to the rear for rebuilding, which in the case of 4th Guards continued until at least January 24.

Shortly after midnight on the 17th its lead elements approached Lysogorka where it concentrated through the day in preparation for a further advance the next morning which took it to Novo-Spasovka in readiness to attack toward Russkoe.

[20] After several failed attempts a new offensive starting on August 13 cracked the defenses of German 6th Army on the Mius line and it began to fall back to the Dniepr with Southern Front in pursuit.

The troops who broke through the enemy defenses and participated in the battles for Apostolovo and on the lower Dniepr, by the order of the Supreme High Command of February 6, 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

[21]Colonel Kukharev was promoted to the rank of major general on March 19, just as the division was engaged in heavy combat within a small bridgehead over the Southern Bug north of the city of Mykolaiv.

Strong German counterattacks forced a withdrawal to the river flats which were flooded from spring rains making them mostly indefensible and on the next day General Kukharev plus much of his command group perished.

4th Mechanized was directed to the northwest to take part in the encirclement of the Axis Chișinău grouping while the 46th began an independent operation to trap the Romanian 3rd Army against the north coast of the Black Sea.

By the end of the day the 4th and 34th Guards had advanced on the right flank over 20 km against sporadic resistance and reached the Cogâlnic River from Leiptsig to Akkerman, and the Corps' forward detachment took the important road junction at Tarutino.

The crossing operation came as a surprise to the Axis defenders and on December 1 the Front, led by 31st Corps, advanced as much as 26 km and was involved in street fighting for the town of Dombóvár.

[35] The 4th and 40th Guards Divisions bypassed Lake Velence from the west to force crossings on the Csaszar Vis River, and while beating off company-sized counterattacks backed by platoons of tanks by 1900 hours on December 21 had reached a line as far as the northern outskirts of Pákozd and east and south of Kisfalud.

By the end of the day the situation on 46th Army's left flank was being restored, in part by linking up with 4th Guards Division which was attacking north of Lake Velence.

As a result of this linkup individual German groups in the Nadap area and the Lovasberény woods were cut off from their units and eventually destroyed by the 180th Rifle Division.

On December 25 the two Soviet armies met the 2nd Ukrainian Front and completed the encirclement of the Hungarian capital, trapping nine Axis divisions consisting of about 100.000 men.

By December 29 the 4th Guards Army was stretched along a line up to 160 km long from the Danube to the south shore of Lake Balaton and was facing powerful resistance so was incapable of further advance.

The German 96th Infantry Division began to force the Danube in the areas of Nyergesújfalu and Süttő and attempted to capture a pass through the hills east of Agostyan but this was held with the help of the Corps' meagre reserves.

On January 3 the IV SS Panzer Corps was committed in the direction of Bicske, but part of its forces were halted by withdrawing elements of the division, backed by the advancing 18th Guards Tanks, along the Sárisáp-Bajna line.

However, in the face of German superiority in manpower and armor, the division was suffering heavy losses, not receiving replacements, and was forced to fall back before long.

The troops participating in the battles for the liberation of Vienna, by the order of the Supreme High Command of April 13, 1945, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.