[1][2] At the time of the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Slyusarenko was a battalion commander in the 10th Tank Division.

[3] In February 1944, he became the commander of the 56th Guards Tank Brigade, a position where he led in multiple major breakthroughs of enemy lines that resulted in his gold stars.

During the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive the unit went on to take control of enemy-held territory in Poland, including an important bridgehead on the left bank Vistula.

His second gold star was awarded after the end of the war on 31 May 1945 for the crossing of the flooded Telt Canal on the southern outskirts of Berlin;[5] during the battle his brigade advanced through heavily defended enemy territory, taking out 48 tanks, two trains, two warehouses, taking over 400 prisoners, and killing over 600 enemy combatants.

In 1947 he was promoted to deputy commander of the 180th Guards Mechanized Division, but left at the end of 1948 to attend officer training, which he graduated from in 1949.

In 1960, he became the deputy commander-in-chief for combat training of the Northern Group of Forces and was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1963, but retired in 1965.