Credited with 22 individual and 2 group victories by the end of World War II, he was twice made a Hero of the Soviet Union.

From February 1934, he served as a flight commander with the 18th Light Assault Aviation Squadron of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Military District in Kiev.

From July to October, his division provided air cover for troops of the Voronezh Front, flying 373 combat sorties.

Between 28 and 31 October, the 2nd Air Army flew missions against Axis rail transport between Ostrogozhsk and Alexeyevka and Yevdakovo and Saguny.

In November, Savitsky, now a colonel, became the commander of an aviation group of the 17th Air Army in the Southwestern Front, fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad.

[1] This assignment proved to be brief, and on 10 December Savitsky took command of the 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps, which he led for the rest of the war, flying the Yakovlev Yak-1, Yak-9, Yak-3, and Lavochkin La-7.

During early 1944, the corps provided air cover for the reconcentration of the Russian troops to Sivash and Perekop in preparation for the Crimean Offensive, which began in April.

After the capture of Sevastopol and the German evacuation of Crimea, Savitsky was a made a Hero of the Soviet Union on 11 May for his performance as commander of the 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps and for flying 107 combat sorties with fifteen victories.