Transferred to the Southwestern Front with the army, the division crossed the Seversky Donets on 18 June near the village of Prishib, capturing a bridgehead, which it fought to retain and expand for the next several weeks.

Batyuk died of illness on 28 July,[5] and was replaced by Colonel Leonid Vagin, who was promoted to Major General on 17 November.

On 3 March, on the line of Shyroke, south of Krivoy Rog, during the Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka Offensive, the division broke through German defenses on the western bank of the Inhulets River and participated in the recapture of Novy Bug.

[3] After reaching the Dniester and capturing a bridgehead north of Bender, the division was withdrawn with the army to the Reserve of the Supreme High Command on 8 June.

[7] With the army, the division was relocated to the Kovel region in June to join the 1st Belorussian Front, after receiving reinforcements.

Among the first units of the river to cross were the division reconnaissance company and the 1st Battalion of the 216th Guards Rifle Regiment under the command of Captain Yefim Tsitovsky, who was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.

The bridgehead was subjected to repeated German counterattacks for the next ten days,[7] particularly on 8 August, for actions on which company commander Lieutenant Vladimir Burba and Private Pyotr Khlyustin of the 220th Guards Rifle Regiment were posthumously made Heroes of the Soviet Union.

[3] Vagin was severely wounded during the latter action and evacuated to the hospital; he would later be made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his leadership of the division.

After overcoming fierce German resistance in the Battle of the Seelow Heights, the division approached the city on 23 April.

[11] The army's final assault began two days later, with the division, backed by the 39th Guards, ordered to surround and capture Tempelhof Airfield, where it was suspected many German aircraft were hiding in underground hangars to fly out the Nazi leadership.

[12]The message was authorized by Helmuth Weidling, commander of the Berlin garrison, and led to the German surrender to Chuikov later that day,[13] ending the war for the 79th Guards.