Linnik was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin for his actions during the Lublin–Brest Offensive in September 1944.

He then worked as an agronomist at the Krasny Partizan collective farm in Akimovka village in the Donetsk Oblast.

By then, Linnik was a senior lieutenant, the deputy commander of a machine gun platoon in the division's 740th Separate School Rifle Battalion.

[3][1] Linnik joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the same year.

During the Soviet breakthrough in Polesia Region between 25 and 27 June, his company reportedly was first to break through German defences, making it possible to expand the bridgehead and move the rest of the battalion forward.

[1][4] During the advance near Pukhavichy in July, the battalion was nearly cut off from the rest of the regiment during a German battalion-sized counterattack.

Linnik as part of his unit crossed the Narew at Różan and joined the battle for the expansion of the bridgehead.

For his actions, Linnik was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union[5] and the Order of Lenin on 24 March 1945.