The division was next assigned to the
16th Army of Western Front, but from April, 1942 until February, 1943 it was back in 10th Army, holding the southern flank of the same Front. During February it returned to 16th Army, where it would remain until April. It was then withdrawn to the
Reserve of the Supreme High Command for rebuilding over several months. General Gartsev left his command on August 13 and was very briefly replaced by two colonels in succession, before Col. Sergei Fyodorovich Ukranetz took over on August 18. By September 1 the division had been reassigned to the
25th Rifle Corps of
11th Army in
Bryansk Front. On September 17, 1943, the city of
Bryansk was liberated by Soviet forces, and the 323rd was given the name of this city as an honorific:
Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive On October 10, Bryansk Front was disbanded, and 11th Army was moved to
Belorussian Front. Over the next four weeks this Front's forces advanced towards the
Dniepr River, and by November 9 the 11th Army had reached the line of the
Sozh just north of the city of
Gomel. The Front commander,
Army General K.K. Rokossovski, determined its next move would be to liberate that city and the nearby town of
Rechitsa on the Dniepr. By this time the 323rd had been reassigned to
53rd Rifle Corps, and this was to make the Army's main attack across the Sozh to encircle Gomel from the north, with the division on the north (right) flank. 11th Army faced the
134th and
299th Infantry Divisions of the German
XXXV Army Corps.This was to prove a tall order. The well-supported offensive began on November 12 and the Corps attacked German positions between Raduga and Kirpichni Factories but ran into very stiff resistance. The 323rd and
96th Rifle Divisions fought for three days to secure the village of Khalch, backed by the guns of
22nd Artillery Division. Khalch taken, the
217th Rifle Division of 25th Corps forced a crossing of the Sozh, and a general assault began on November 16. On the next day both the 96th and 323rd focused on seizing the village of Raduga, while the 217th headed for the eastern defenses of Gomel. The painful advance continued over the next several days, but German resistance finally began to flag by November 23. Soviet successes to the north and south, including the liberation of Rechitsa, forced German
9th Army to begin falling back to the Dniepr, and Gomel finally fell on November 26.
Operation Bagration Colonel Ukranetz was succeeded by Col. Abram Mikhailovich Cheryak on December 14. In early 1944, still in Belorussian Front, the division was assigned to
35th Rifle Corps in
63rd Army. On February 18, 63rd Army was dissolved, and 35th Rifle Corps was reassigned to
3rd Army On May 24, Colonel Cheryak handed his command to Maj. Gen. Vasily Timoveevich Maslov; Maslov would remain in this post for the duration of the war. At the outset of
Operation Bagration, on June 23, 35th Corps, under command of
Maj. Gen. V. G. Zholudev, formed one of the two assault corps of 3rd Army, packed into less than ten kilometres of front opposite the northern half of the sector held by the German 134th Infantry Division. On the second day of the offensive, at 0400 hours, the assault force unleashed a massive 2-hour bombardment on the defenders in the
Rogachev area, but by 0800 only the first line of German trenches had been taken, as bad weather had scrubbed the planned air support. As the weather cleared towards evening, further lines were taken, and the
9th Tank Corps prepared to exploit a breakthrough. Northwest of
Bobruysk on June 26, the tankers cut the road to
Mogilev behind the German XXXV Corps, with 35th and
41st Rifle Corps close behind and the 134th Infantry shattered and in flight. On the following day Bobruysk was surrounded, along with most of German 9th Army. On July 21, the division's commander, General Maslov, was involved in an unfortunate incident involving two of his senior commanders, General Zholudev of 35th Corps and
Lt. Gen. A.V. Gorbatov, commander of 3rd Army. Zholudev and Maslov were escorting Gorbatov, along with a number of other officers and men, to a new observation post that the 323rd had established. There was no clear route for the two light vehicles, and it became apparent that Maslov had lost his way. Gorbatov soon sensed the presence of the enemy, and ordered the vehicles to halt, at which time they came under fire from about 200 metres away. As the group attempted to escape, Zholudev was mortally wounded by German artillery fire. ==Into Poland and Germany==