The division was formed in the 3rd Guards Army of Southwestern Front and immediately continued operations in the Soviet winter counteroffensive.

In the spring of the year the Front was forced over to the defensive, but by August the division was part of the 1st Guards Army, fighting into the Donbas and towards the Dniepr River, winning a battle honor in the process.

In May, 1944 as it reached the Romanian border the division was assigned to the 32nd Rifle Corps of 5th Shock Army and it would remain under those commands for the duration of the war.

In August the 60th Guards took part in the offensive that drove Romania out of the Axis and then was moved with its Army northward to join the 1st Belorussian Front.

In its third winter offensive it advanced across Poland and eastern Germany to the Oder River, and then continued the assault into the northern sector of Berlin in April, 1945.

Following the German surrender the division formed part of the Allied occupation force in the city, including guarding Spandau Prison after the Nuremberg trials.

On January 8 the commander of Southwestern Front, Col. Gen. N. F. Vatutin, reported to the STAVKA on his plans to further develop the winter counteroffensive:The enemy along the Morozovskii and Shakhty axes is completing the withdrawal of his defeated forces behind the Northern Donets...

Vatutin further reported on January 30 that the Group was tying down Axis forces along the sector Nizhnii Vishnevetskii to Kalitvenskaya and coming under repeated counterattacks by up to a battalion of infantry supported by 10-18 tanks and 4-6 bombers.

It remained in that Corps until June, when it became a separate division under Army command and was still there in early August when the Donbas Offensive began on the 13th.

[9][10] During this advance, on September 18, while serving in 12th Army's 66th Rifle Corps, the 60th Guards was awarded the honorific "Pavlograd" in recognition of its role in the second liberation of that city.

Malinovsky met his deadline with time to spare as 1st Panzer Army's forces abandoned Zaporozhe, destroying the dam and the railway bridge as they withdrew to the west bank.

This position was hit by savage German counterattacks and after three days was no longer tenable; the Soviet forces were withdrawn to the east bank.

Vilkhovsky's 185th Guards Regiment again led the way and established a small bridgehead near the village of Razumovka, 20 km (12 mi) south of Zaporozhe.

[18] Among the many soldiers of the Division who became Heroes of the Soviet Union during the Dniepr operations was Lt. Afanasii Petrovich Shilin, the chief of intelligence of the 132nd Guards Artillery Regiment.

In January 1945, during the Vistula-Oder Offensive, Shilin would again distinguish himself in close combat and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for the second time, a very unusual distinction for a junior officer.

3rd Ukrainian Front's first effort to renew the drive on Krivoi Rog began on January 10, led mainly by 46th Army, but made only modest gains at considerable cost and was halted on the 16th.

The offensive was renewed on January 30 after a powerful artillery preparation against the positions of the XXX Army Corps on the same sector of the line, but this was met with a counter-barrage that disrupted the attack.

A new effort the next day, backed by even heavier artillery and air support, made progress but still did not penetrate the German line.

The Nikopol bridgehead had been weakened by transfers to other sectors and 4th Ukrainian Front drove a deep wedge into its south end.

In this effort the 259th and 266th Divisions seized meagre footholds near Olănești but the flooded ground on the east bank hindered and sometimes totally prevented the forward movement of heavy weapons, equipment and ammunition.

In preparation the 3rd Ukrainian carried out a complex regrouping of its forces to concentrate the 8th Guards and 5th Shock Armies north of Grigoriopol.

The Army was ordered to continue its advance through the night, capture the city the next day and push forward to a line from Starke Dragusanu to Pozhoren by 1500 hours.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Kishinev, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 24 August 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.

The main forces of these armies took advantage of this early success and began advancing behind a rolling barrage, gaining as much as 12–13 km (7.5–8.1 mi) during the day and through the night before going over to the pursuit on January 15.

5th Shock Army would attack in the general direction of Neudamm and then force the Oder River in the area of Alt Blessin before continuing to advance towards Nauen.

The Army deployed within the Küstrin bridgehead along a 9km-wide front between Letschin and Golzow and was to launch its main attack on its left wing on a 7 km (4.3 mi) sector closer to the latter place.

In the course of these two days of limited fighting the Front's troops had advanced as much as 5 km (3.1 mi), ascertained and partly disrupted the German defensive system, and had overcome the thickest zone of minefields.

During April 19 the Corps was involved in heavy fighting with units of the 11th SS Panzergrenadier Division Nordland which had been committed from reserve.

Despite heavy counterattacks supported by groups of 10-12 tanks the Corps advanced 9 km (5.6 mi) and broke through the third German defensive zone, reaching the northwestern tip of the Scharmützelsee.

During April 26 the 26th Guards and 32nd Corps fought along the north bank of the Spree, advancing in fighting about 600m and by the end of the day reached the Kaiserstrasse and Alexanderstrasse.