It played a large role in holding and then pushing back the Finnish III Army Corps during Operation Silver Fox and for this success was redesignated as the 23rd Guards Rifle Division.

After rebuilding in the spring of 1944 it served as part of 3rd Belorussian Front during Operation Bagration, soon being awarded a battle honor as well as the Order of the Red Banner.

By the end of the month the two Soviet divisions were hard-pressed to hold the ground they had gained and under fresh attacks beginning on 2 January 1940 were forced back to a line of ridges 3km west of Märkäjärvi.

Sharp states that it's possible the 88th had a special organization for operations in the roadless arctic terrain because it did not have a howitzer regiment and when it was disembarked from 10 small transports from 9–14 August it had just 7,818 personnel on strength with 58 artillery pieces of all calibres, 22 trucks and 1,928 horses in total.

[3] The German-Finnish Operation Silver Fox had begun on 1 July with the goal of cutting the Murmansk railway and on 7 August the Finnish III Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Hjalmar Siilasvuo, captured Kestenga.

On 15 August, while leading the division as it attempted to establish defensive positions along the Sofiangi River, General Zelentsov was killed in a German air attack; he was replaced five days later by Col. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Solovyov.

The next day two Finnish and one German battalion that had earlier infiltrated between the two Regiments were driven back 45 km along the Kestenga-Loukhi road by other Soviet forces.

It was then assigned to 4th Shock Army taking part in the Toropets-Kholm Offensive and on 21 January was one of the units recognized for its role in the liberation of Toropets and the capture of the German supply base there.

While this date is officially considered the end of the offensive in Soviet sources, in fact bitter fighting continued west of Zubtsov into mid-September.

In the planning for Operation Mars a directive was sent on 28/29 September from the command of Western Front to 31st Army, "consisting of the 88th, 239th, 336th and 20th Guards Rifle Divisions, the 32nd and 145th Tank Brigades... [to advance] along the Osuga, Artemovo, and Ligastaevo axis."

The offensive finally began on 25 November when the Army's shock group, consisting of the above forces minus the 20th Guards, attacked the German 102nd Infantry Division.

Sensing confusion in the German ranks the commander of 31st Army, Maj. Gen. V. A. Gluzdovsky, committed his mobile group to break through to the Minsk-Moscow highway just 6km to the south.

On the other hand a major counterattack by 18th Panzergrenadier failed to restore the original front line due to heavy Soviet artillery fire and the obstacle of the Vedosa.

Western Front's offensive began after an artillery preparation of 85 minutes but 31st Army immediately stalled without any appreciable gains and at considerable cost.

On 24 October the second echelon divisions were committed in a final effort to break the German defenses but failed in part due to artillery ammunition shortages.

The 88th was in the first echelon when the attack began on 14 November after a three-and-a-half hour artillery and air preparation, but was soon stopped in its tracks due to heavy machine gun fire.

The following day the first echelon divisions of 71st Corps broke the German defense north of the Dniepr, and advanced 3 km before being halted by increasing enemy resistance.

She used a hook ladder to help the soldiers of her company through an antitank ditch; later that day she blocked the embrasure of a German machinegun bunker with her body and was killed.

Meanwhile, in the fighting around the Vitebsk salient, by 24 June the Soviets were torn by the classic dilemma of blitzkrieg warfare—how many units to use to close the pocket and how many to keep pressing forward before the enemy had time to create defensive positions.

Over the next two days, as Hitler refused permission for the Corps to break out, the Soviet forces prepared to liquidate the pocket, which began at 0900 hours on 27 June, preceded by a massive barrage of artillery and rockets.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Vitebsk, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 26 June 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvoes from 224 guns.

The troops who participated in the liberation of Minsk, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 3 July 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 24 artillery salvoes from 324 guns.

[37] During 5–6 July the 71st Corps pursued the German forces to the west, advancing up to 40 km and reaching a line from Pershaie eastward along the north bank of the Islach River as far as Rakuv.

At the same time the 71st Corps was overcoming limited resistance in the Naliboki forest with the assistance of partisans and reached the Berezina River by the end of the day.

By the next day most of the remaining defenders had begun deploying along the river line as 3rd Belorussian Front began preparing to force the Neman and also to liberate Kaunas.

Goldap, to the south of the main drive, was soon taken, but German 4th Army committed its 102nd Panzer and Führer Grenadier Brigades to the fighting and retook it on 25 October.

The objective of 3rd Belorussian Front was much as before: to penetrate the defenses north of the Masurian Lakes in the Insterburg region and then advance to launch a frontal attack on Königsberg.

During that day the Corps captured the important road junction of Benkheim while the Army developed the offensive toward Angerburg and Lötzen, advancing more than 45 km before storming the heavily fortified strongpoint at the former location.

The 129th Infantry and 558th Grenadier and 24th Panzer Divisions launched powerful counterattacks in an effort to encircle the 71st Corps and while they were unable to break into Landsberg they isolated it for several days, bypassing to the north and south and causing considerable havoc in the Soviet rear areas.

Sergeant Nikolai Mikhailovich Lazkov, an engineer reconnaissance squad leader of the 222nd Sapper Battalion, was made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his work in Belarus from January to June 1944, during which time he led 96 night searches and defused 586 mines with his group.