It moved north to the Kursk area joining Voronezh Front and played an important role in the defense of the Northern Donets River south of the salient as part of the 25th Guards Rifle Corps during Operation Zitadelle.

As elements of the SS Panzer Corps entered Belgorod on March 18 forces of the Soviet 69th Army were taking up a defense along the east bank of the Northern Donets.

[2] In the last gasp of the German offensive the SS Corps had gained a bridgehead over the Donets at Mikhailovka, south of the Staryi Gorod (Old Town) of Belgorod.

[4] Overnight on July 4/5 a sapper of the German 168th Infantry Division deserted and was brought to General Safiulin's 25th Guards Corps headquarters, where he reported that the offensive would begin in the morning.

At 0330 hours a preemptive artillery bombardment began against Army Detachment Kempf; the 153rd Guards Regiment fired 306 76mm and 87 122mm shells at the German assembly areas which helped to disrupt the concentration of 6th Panzer into the Mikhailovka bridgehead.

Just as the lead tanks of 7th Panzer reached the Razumnoye - Krutoi Log road Colonel Kozak was located at the forward observation post of the 78th Guards on Hill 209.6, 2.5 km northeast of Gremyachy.

Kozak reported that at about 1850 hours the headquarters of one regiment of the 78th Guards was moving into the church in Krutoi Log, that units of 7th Panzer had taken Hill 164.7 and several tanks had entered Generalovka.

As a result of the combat, the enemy was repulsed and the Germans fell back, leaving behind 3 knocked-out tanks and up to a company of dead submachine gunners on the battlefield.The second attack against the two regiments was very strong.

Heavy direct and indirect artillery fire separated the German infantry from the armor and as the boundary between the 209th and 214th was reached the tanks were hit by Katyusha rockets.

The 2nd Battalion of the 209th Guards Regiment had lost half of its men and began to retreat toward the "Day of Harvest" collective farm in disorganized groups.

At 2200 hours Kozak reported to General Safiulin (in part):209th Guards Rifle Regiment: the 2nd Battalion, having suffered up to 60% casualties, was hurled back to the "Day of Harvest" collective farm.

Lacking the support of neighbors and met by powerful enemy artillery and mortar fire, the battalions, suffering significant losses in men, were forced to halt the attack...

Losses... 81 men killed or wounded... At 1000 following a barrage... the enemy launched a counterattack... against the area of defense occupied by 1/209th Guards Rifle Regiment.

However, greeted by heavy fire, the enemy was thrown back to the "Poliana" State Farm.While the division had regained little ground through the day it had effectively tied down the 7th Panzer and 106th Infantry.

On the other hand its morale was being impacted by the continuous combat; over July 7 and 8 the blocking detachments of the 92nd NKVD Rifle Regiment reported having detained 332 men of the division.

In the course of an hour the 44th Guards pushed the German grenadiers back 300-500m into the depths of the "Batratskaia Dacha" State Farm before they began to offer strong fire resistance.

At 1855 hours five launchers fired a salvo of 78 M-13 (4.9 kg of high explosive each) at a concentration of German infantry and armor in the area of the woods 1,000m west of "Batratskaia Dacha" Farm which "blanketed" the target.

[22] During July 12 General Shumilov sought to distract Kempf's forces from their mission by launching counterattacks towards his forward supply base at Krutoi Log.

Overnight the division reported 4,593 men available for duty, 48.6 percent of authorized strength (2,051 riflemen and sappers; 1,547 artillerymen; remainder service personnel).

The 209th Guards Regiment crossed the road between "Batratskaia Dacha" State Farm and the Gremiachii Machine Tractor Station before bursting into the woods 2 km northeast of Krutoi Log where it remained in heavy combat until after dark.

Colonel Kozak soon arrived to take direct command of the operation and over the following six hours was able to get most of the rest of his division across, ensuring the bridgehead against counterattacks.

The Army's 68th Rifle Corps arrived at the east bank at midday on April 12 and immediately began crossing with improvised means near Butor after overcoming weak outposts of the German 320th Infantry Division.

While this fighting raged the 52nd Rifle Division forced another crossing south of Gura Bîcului and by nightfall General Anashkin had ordered both of Kozak's regiments to reinforce this new bridgehead.

Kozak was also directed to reinforce the 19th Rifle Division with his 209th Guards Regiment as part of an effort to break into the river bend, but the German defenses of the "bottleneck" were not overcome until April 16.

The next day the division was committed towards the front with two rifle regiments concentrating in a ravine 2 km west of Caracui while the third moved to the Fund Saretsina[clarification needed] - Troițcoe area.

On October 4 Soviet forces reached Pančevo on the north bank of the Danube 16 km downstream from Belgrade and on the 8th the railroad running into the city from the south was cut.

The division got over in a swift dash on November 14 with the help of the Danube Flotilla, rapidly expanded its lodgement and dug in, holding off several counterattacks over the following days.

[44] Following this victory Marshal Malinovskii ordered his Front to advance northward to capture Nagykanizsa and Székesfehérvár with the goal of encircling the Axis' Budapest group of forces from the west.

During the following day Axis resistance increased significantly in face of the threat to the oil-production facilities around Nagykanizsa; 64th Corps managed to cover another 10 km.

[46] Budapest was surrounded by December 26 and on January 1, 1945 the German Army Group South began relief operations which continued for most of the month, but these did not directly affect the 64th Corps.