At this time the Army, under command of Lt. Gen.
M. N. Sharokhin, had nine rifle divisions under command, and the 6th Guards Corps contained the 195th and the
20th Guards Rifle Division. Late on April 11 the forward elements of the Army were approaching the Dniestr in the Tiraspol sector. Malinovskii had ordered Sharokhin on April 8 to pursue German forces to the river with three rifle corps advancing abreast, capture Tiraspol, force the river from the march in the sector 1.5km north of
Parcani southward to around
Slobozia. This was to create a bridgehead roughly 24km wide and 10km deep on the river's western bank, prior to continuing the pursuit toward
Chișinău. The bridgehead area was low-lying, dotted with small lakes and swamps, traversed by many smaller rivers, and was dominated by high ground farther to the west. The two Soviet commanders were confident they could capture these heights with relative ease. 6th Guards Corps was in the Army's second echelon behind the
82nd Rifle Corps on the left wing. Its mission was to capture Slobozia, cross the river, and take the German strongpoint at
Copanca, 16km south of Tiraspol. While the right-wing
57th Rifle Corps struggled to take Tiraspol, the left wing made more spectacular progress. On April 10 the 195th and 20th Guards captured the eastern approaches to Slobozia, and the commander of the latter was ordered to complete seizing the town and prepare to make a crossing with two rifle regiments the following night. Meanwhile, the 10th Guards Airborne Division was to attack through the 195th, destroy a rearguard of
97th Jäger Division, and also stage a crossing. A cavalry reconnaissance platoon of 10th Airborne found the German 522nd Security Battalion manning fortified positions in a section of Slobozia. In a coordinated assault with 10th Airborne's 55th Rifle Regiment, the 195th shattered these defenses, captured the town by 0800 on April 11, and advanced to the east bank of the Dniester. At the end of the day, after reaching the west bank, the forces of 6th Guards Corps were reinforced by elements of 82nd Corps to assault the German defenses on the heights northwest of Copanca. The combined attack pushed the 6th Guards Corps to the eastern shore of Lake Botna, situated on the
Botna River. An assault by the entire 20th Guards Division against the defenses around Fantina-Maskui on the lake's south shore failed, largely due to the arrival of the German
3rd Mountain Division in the strong defenses on the high ground west of the lake and village. During the fighting on April 12, Sen. Lt. Nikolai Grigorievich Sharikov, a battalion commander of the 573rd Rifle Regiment, distinguished himself sufficiently to become a
Hero of the Soviet Union. Earlier, on March 29, during the Odesa Offensive, he prepared an assault over the Southern Buh, and included in it all the heavy machinegun crews of his battalion. Under his personal leadership and under heavy fire the assault group established a bridgehead, repelling several counterattacks in which the heavy machineguns played a vital role. Advancing toward the Dniester, on April 2 the battalion took the villages of Okorovka and Komtsy. German forces launched three counterattacks with tanks, but all of these were repulsed with heavy losses. On the night of April 6/7 the battalion was in the area of
Cuciurgan when it faced another counterattack by infantry and armor. It was encircled, but Sharikov organized an effective defense, and then led a breakout, carrying out all the wounded and equipment. Finally, on April 12, he led his troops across the Dniester near
Chițcani, secured an important height, and held it against counterattacks. On September 13 he was awarded his Gold Star. He continued a fine record of service for the duration and served in the postwar
Soviet Army until 1960, when he held the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resided in
Artyomovsk until his death on August 8, 1991. Dissatisfied with Sharokhin's limited progress on April 12, Malinovskii ordered him to capture the "fortress" of
Bender by the end of April 14. This effort involved the 57th and 82nd Corps, and ended in total failure. For several days heavy fighting also occurred in the southern part of the bridgehead as 82nd and 6th Guards Corps attempted to take the crucial heights. This struggle managed to expand the lodgement to roughly 15km wide and 15km deep, but by April 17 the German XXX Corps had managed to consolidate its hold with a total of four divisions. At this point a halt was called so Malinovskii could begin planning a decisive westward advance by bringing in his reserve
5th Shock and 6th Armies. Meanwhile, Sharokhin renewed his assault on Bender overnight on April 18/19. In conjunction with this 6th Guards Corps was to hand over its sector to newly arriving forces of 6th Army. Subsequently the 195th and 20th Guards were to shift to new assembly areas around the villages of Merenești and Chițcani and prepare to support the main attack south of Bender. This regrouping was complicated by shortages of ammunition and Sharokhin was able to persuade Malinovskii to postpone the attack until 0200 hours on April 20. Attacking repeatedly between April 20 and 25, the Soviet forces made no progress whatsoever. 6th Army's 59th Guards Rifle Division, attacking on the 195th's former sector on April 25, made only minor gains before the fighting died out on April 29.
Second Jassy-Kishinev Offensive At the start of August the 6th Guards Corps consisted of the 10th Guards Airborne, 20th Guards, and 195th Divisions. During the new offensive, which began on August 20, 37th Army's immediate objective was to break through the heavily fortified German/Romanian defensive zone so the Army's mobile group,
7th Mechanized Corps, could be committed into a clean breach. The 6th Guards Corps had the two Guards divisions in first echelon with the 195th in second. The Corps was backed by a total of one artillery brigade, a mortar regiment, a cannon artillery regiment, an anti-tank brigade plus an additional regiment, a
Guards Mortar regiment, a tank and a self-propelled artillery regiment, plus combat engineer elements. On the eve of the offensive the division's newspaper, "For the Motherland", printed a series of advisory articles with the titles: "The Power of the Antitank Rifle"; "The Grenade is Small, but Mighty"; "How to Determine the Distance to the Target"; and "Fight Like the Oath Commands You". 37th Army's offensive began with a reconnaissance-in-force by five
penal companies, with significant artillery support, at 0500 hours. The main artillery preparation began at 0800, and continued for 105 minutes. As early as 1030 hours the defenders had lost the first and second trenches of their first defensive position. Along 6th Guards Corps' sector the 20th Guards, along with the 52nd Tank and 844th Self Propelled Artillery Regiments, crushed stubborn resistance and developed its success into the depth of the German defense. 10th Guards Airborne, despite initial progress, was unable to directly capture the strongpoint at Leontina; it was encircled and finally cleared by 1800. Before this, at 1400, the 195th moved up to a position 2km southwest of Copanca, ready to develop the success of the first echelon divisions. For August 21, the 195th was assigned the task of capturing Yermokliya during the morning. The previous afternoon, 6th Army had committed its only operational reserve,
13th Panzer Division, to deploy its main forces to that place, manning a line from height 196.7 to Căușeni to Yermokliya. At first the 37th Army forces had no success, and in fact had to repel strong tank counterattacks. From 1100 hours, as these counterattacks died away, a powerful artillery attack was brought down on the German positions. At Yermokliya the 13th Panzer was supported by remnants of
4th Mountain and
306th Infantry Divisions. The first effort to take the strongpoint from the march was unsuccessful. The Corps commander, Maj. Gen.
G. P. Kotov, devised a plan that called for his 10th Guards Airborne to make a pinning attack from the front while the 195th outflanked it from the southeast and 20th Guards did the same from the north with two regiments while its 55th Guards Rifle Regiment drove in from the west. Following a brief but powerful artillery preparation by 20 regiments against Yermokliya and the adjacent heights the Corps' forces went over to the attack, supported by tanks. As a result of the massive artillery strike, the skilful maneuver of units and the timely commitment of the 195th from second echelon, by 1100 Yermokliya was captured with its garrison encircled and destroyed. 13th Panzer suffered heavy losses, including roughly half of its personnel and was reduced to just 15 operational tanks. With the routed remnants of 306th Infantry it retreated to the southwest. Kotov received orders to pursue.
Pursuit to Romania The pursuit began with the 195th and 20th Guards in the lead, while the 10th Guards Airborne moved on the Corps' left flank behind the 195th. The Corps' forward detachment was still reinforced by the two armored regiments. By the end of the day the Corps encountered strong resistance along the line height 199.9Saitsi, mostly from German assault guns. The artillery of the Corps was lagging behind due to the occupation of the roads by the rear elements of 7th Mechanized Corps. Kotov brought up the 10th Guards Airborne after dusk to outflank Saitsi from the south, and the entire Corps went into an attack which cleared the village by 0100 hours on August 22. With the German line breached by 37th Army, in the evening of August 21 the
STAVKA issued Order No. 00442, assigning a mission of "beating off the enemy rearguards, throwing them back to the north and, by the close of 22 August... [to] capture the Sălcuța
TaracliaKenbaranSaka River area with the rifle formations." 6th Guards Corps was to develop the offensive in the general direction of Manzyr, and by the close of the day capture the line from Alekseevka to Cieara-Murzei. During the afternoon the routed German units put up only weak resistance against 37th Army's advance, but this increased later as the German command frantically shifted reinforcements to try to cover the Chișinău axis. An attempt was made to organize a defense along the Chaga River, but this would ultimately fail, as the Soviet advance compromised this line. 6th Guards Corps encountered insignificant resistance on the Army's left flank and covered up to 45km, reaching the Skinosa and
Cogâlnic Rivers. The 195th, having captured Kalachen, went on to cut the railway line west of that place. During August 23, under threat of encirclement by 3rd and
2nd Ukrainian Fronts, the German Chișinău group of forces continued the withdrawal that had begun overnight. In this situation General Sharokin was assigned the mission of concentrating two rifle corps along his left flank, along with his main reinforcements, and continue an energetic pursuit to the northwest and west, aiming to reach the line Satu NouGradishtyathe Yaplug River
Comrat by the day's end. Sharokin therefore directed 6th Guards Corps to reach a line from Zhavgur to Comrat with its main forces by the end of the day, while its forward detachment was to seize
Leova. A linkup with 2nd Ukrainian Front along the
Prut River was expected during the day. Recognition signals were agreed to so as to prevent "friendly" fire incidents. Through the day the 6th Guards, 82nd, and 7th Mechanized Corps conducted an energetic pursuit without being faced by any notable opposition. 6th Guards Corps easily broke through the Cogâlnic line in the morning, severely defeating the 163rd
Ersatz Division, the 911th Assault Gun Brigade, and other specialized units. As during the previous day, the Corps artillery group advanced behind the 195th, which was again in second echelon. By nightfall it was approaching Comrat station and the heights to the southwest. The priority for the Front commander, Army Gen.
F. I. Tolbukhin, on August 24 was to complete the encirclement and destruction of the Chișinău grouping. General Sharokhin therefore gave the appropriate orders to 6th Guards Corps, which was to reach the Prut with its main forces by the end of the day, along a sector west of Tomai, Leova and Ginchesht. It was to seize crossings from off the march with its forward detachments and establish bridgeheads prior to forcing the river overnight near
Fălciu. Throughout the day the main body of the German grouping (
XXXXIV,
LII and XXX Army Corps), which had reached the Kotovskoe area, attempted to break through to the southwest and west to the crossings over the Prut. All such efforts were stymied by the active defense of 82nd and 7th Mechanized Corps. Meanwhile, 6th Guards Corps began sweeping up scattered retreating groups, deployed in a single echelon. The 195th, on the right, was moving in the direction of Sărătenii, and by the end of the day had reached that place as well as Kugurlui. Near
Huși the two Fronts had linked up, completing the encirclement. The trapped German forces, having lost contact with 6th Army headquarters, were being led by Lt. Gen.
G.-W. Postel, commander of XXX Corps. Tolbukhin tasked the 37th Army and 7th Mechanized Corps with repelling the main breakout attack while other forces split the pocket into pieces. 6th Guards Corps was to reach the line from Tekliya-Radyukani through Leova to Stoyanovka. Attacks from both sides began overnight and into August 25. The breakout force was organized into three columns: a central column of five infantry divisions, roughly 25,000 men, with 50 armored vehicles; a right column with the remnants of three divisions, about 5,000 men, and 10-15 armored vehicles; and a left column consisting of another three divisions, some 7,000 men, and 20 armored vehicles. Rearguards were holding off the 5th Shock and 57th Armies. Throughout the day the main weight of the attack fell on the 82nd and 64th Corps. Large groupings were successfully broken up, but some smaller groups managed, at the cost of heavy losses, to get across the Prut. 6th Guards Corps largely continued the previous day's mopping-up operation. The 195th advanced in the direction of
Minjir and occasionally encountered stubborn resistance. By the end of the day the division continued to battle the German force by individual regiments. The 564th Rifle Regiment was fighting from the southern outskirts of Novo-Knyazevka to height 139.9 to a position 1.5km south of Orak with its front facing northeast; the 573rd Regiment was repulsing attacks along the sector of the road junction 1.5km south of Orak to height 226.8 with its front facing north, and; the 604th Regiment was defending in the area of the woods west of height 226.8 to
Voinescu. The Corps carried out its assigned task, and the 195th had reached the northern outskirts of Minjir. In the process, and in cooperation with the 13th Guards Mechanized Brigade, the division rounded up a German group of roughly the size of a regiment that had broken through to the Tomai area. August 26 was effectively the last day of organized resistance by the German forces east of the Prut. 37th Army and 7th Mechanized were to act as the anvil while 5th Shock and 57th Armies were to hammer them westward. 6th Guards Corps was to securely hold the line KugurluiVoinescu, facing northeast. In the morning, a group of roughly divisional strength, with tanks, carried out a number of counterattacks from the Orak and
Ceadîr areas in the direction of Minjir. At the same time the 20th Guards and the 195th began operating on the same axis, and were engaged in heavy fighting almost the entire day with superior forces. A threatening situation developed on the 195th's sector. This German grouping, which had broken through from Orak and pushed back the 64th Corps, at the cost of heavy casualties, and occupied
Vozneseni. Continuing to move southwest it threatened the Corps' right flank. The division attempted to stabilize the situation and then, in conjunction with 20th Guards, attacked the group in the flank. As the result of this vigorous action, most of the grouping in Vozneseni was destroyed, while a small number managed to escape to the north. Colonel Shapkin reported more than 1,000 prisoners. The escape attempts became ever more frantic, and by the end of the day General Kotov's headquarters tallied up to 3,000 bodies of German officers and men on its front, while there was an additional 3,000 prisoners. Tolbukhin had presented an ultimatum to the encircled force, the answer to which was expected by 0900 hours on August 27. During that day, seeing the hopelessness of their situation, the German troops began to surrender in the thousands. The fighting essentially ended by noon. A small part of the Chișinău grouping managed to get across the Prut before being destroyed by forces of 2nd Ukrainian Front. 6th Guards Corps combed the area north of Minjir for individuals and small groups. By the end of the day the 195th was in the
Sărata-Răzeși area. On August 28 the 37th Army received a new assignment and began marching toward the Romanian-Bulgarian border, which it crossed on September 8, beginning the Bulgarian offensive. == Into the Balkans and Postwar ==