During the following summer offensives it helped break through the defenses of the German Panther Line and advanced into the Baltic states, eventually being decorated with the Order of the Red Banner after the liberation of Riga.

For the rest of the war it was part of the forces blockading the remnants of German Army Group North in the Courland Pocket in Latvia, eventually in Leningrad Front.

[2][3][4] Its order of battle consisted of: When formed from Siberian militia volunteers it had, on August 31, 5,804 personnel, of whom 31.4 percent were Communist Party members or Komsomols.

By November 1 the Corps had been assigned to the 22nd Army of Kalinin Front facing the western side of the German-held Rzhev salient.

I. P. Repin and supported by companies of the 65th Tank Brigade, soon routed elements of the 2nd Luftwaffe Field Division from two strongpoints and continued to advance.

By December 1 it was deep within 41st Army's salient, southeast of Bely, while 74th Brigade was holding its positions in the face of counterattacks by the 20th Panzer Division.

Early on December 4 the 41st Army went over to the defense and the 74th Brigade was ordered to help cover the gap between the 1st Mechanized Corps and the 17th Guards Rifle Division.

The 74th Brigade formed part of the first echelon while the 91st was left to help hold the perimeter before withdrawing through the corridor to the positions of 41st Army.

Krasnoarmeets Aleksandr Matveyevich Matrosov, a 19-year-old volunteer, crept forward to the flank of the bunker and threw two grenades through its embrasure, which appeared to silence it.

While similar feats had occurred previously and would continue, Matrosov's sacrifice was written up by an attached journalist and soon became news across the USSR.

Furthermore, two key German positions at Gnezdilovo and nearby Hill 233.3 had not been identified by Soviet intelligence and so escaped the preparatory bombardment.

A few hours earlier the 56th Guards, now supported by the 249th Tank Regiment, had captured the village of Delyagino, causing the German forces to retreat 2km to the south.

These gains unhinged the Büffel-Stellung and allowed 10th Guards Army to finally reach the Smolensk - Spas-Demensk railway; the XII Corps was now forced to trade space for time until Sokolovsky's offensive outran its logistical support.

Despite German reinforcements by late afternoon XII Corps' front was crumbling and Soviet infantry and tanks were approaching Pavlinovo.

The objective was to finally shatter the XII Army Corps and then push mobile groups through the gaps to seize Yelnya.

10th Guards and 21st Armies attacked a German battlegroup around Terenino station, held by one infantry battalion and an engineer unit.

The next day the 10th Guards mopped up the German elements that had failed to make it over the Ugra and began pushing up the rail line toward Yelnaya.

Sokolovsky continued local attacks through the first week of the month but his Western Front was again forced to a halt due to logistical shortages.

However it was clear by the end of the day that IX Corps was close to breaking and during the night it fell back to the next defensive line, which was mostly incomplete.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Smolensk, by the order of the Supreme High Command of September 25, 1943, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

[22]By October 2, 10th Guards Army had reached a line from Liady southwards along the Mereia River to the town of Baevo.

At this point the 19th Guards Corps finally crossed the river and joined the pursuit, which led to the eastern approaches to Dubrovno, 15km east of Orsha, by the end of October 11.

[23] Sokolovsky then ordered another regrouping during which the 19th Guards Corps moved northward to take up the Ozery-Shcheki sector along the Verkheta River north of the Smolensk-Orsha road.

While the remainder of 10th Guards Army cleared German defenders from the bogs south of the Verkheta, this was also at considerable cost, and a halt was called once again at the end of October 26.

The 10th Guards Army was again called upon to form part of the strike group which was concentrated on both sides of the Orsha-Smolensk highway.

It was so well concealed that even one close to it could not discover it... Our units managed to overcome that obstacle and capture the second trenches only by 1500 hours...

In the light of the hopelessness of any further attempts to smash the enemy resistance on the approaches to Orsha, on 5 December the Western Front commander decided to cease offensive operations and withdraw 10th Guards Army into reserve.

[25][26] This transfer, which began on December 8, involved the movement of 43,250 soldiers, 1,700 vehicles, and 6,500 horses, since the Army was still dependent on quite a lot of horse-drawn transport.

However, its deployment was delayed by the need to replenish its forces, while Army Group North surprised the Soviet command by beginning a phased withdrawal from the salient on December 29, which was completed six days later.

This officer was reassigned two months later and on January 13, 1945 Col. Ivan Filatovich Krovyakov took over the command, which he held for the duration of the war.