The 402nd returned to the Soviet Union in April but remained far from the fighting fronts. As part of the German summer offensive, Operation Blue,
Rostov fell to Army Group A on July 23, opening a path to the Caucasus region and the oil fields at
Maikop, Baku and elsewhere. As of August 1 the division was assigned to
45th Army in Transcaucasus Front. It was still there on September 29 when Lt. Gen.
I. I. Maslennikov, commander of the Front's Northern Group of Forces, received an order from the
STAVKA which stated, in part: This brought the division under the command of the 44th Army. As of October 25 the Army was continuing to hold along the Terek as Army Group A began what became its final effort to break through to
Grozny and, ultimately, Baku. This offensive initially targeted the
37th Army and later the
9th Army and by the time it was halted on the outskirts of
Ordzhonikidze on November 5 the 44th Army had hardly been affected and, in fact, posed a threat to the overextended
III Panzer Corps. On November 30 the division, in cooperation with the
414th and
416th Rifle Divisions and the
5th Guards Cavalry Corps, launched an offensive in the direction of Sheftovo and
Mozdok. Over the next 11 days the 402nd advanced in bitter fighting and liberated a number of villages without armor and only weak artillery support. During this period the division advanced 34 km and destroyed or captured 108 armored vehicles, nine trucks and seven bunkers. The German superiority in armor led to several instances in which elements of the division, such as the 3rd Battalion of the 833rd Regiment, were encircled after gaining prominent heights and had break out or be relieved. However, in the area of Naydenovskaya Grove and the "Precast Building", several encircled units were unable to escape and after heavy fighting their personnel were killed or captured. The commander of the 839th Regiment, Major Bayramov, also perished in one of these battles. Beginning on December 6 the 833rd Regiment, under command of Major A. Abbasov, was engaged in defensive fighting on the approaches to Mozdok, fending off as many as 13 German counterattacks led by tanks before the German forces retreated. In recognition of this stand 75 officers and men of the Regiment were awarded orders or medals, with Abbasov winning the
Order of the Red Banner. On December 9 the division was assigned a battalion of 15 tanks to continue the offensive. The next day Col. Dmitrii Mikhailovich Suzranov took over command from Colonel Guseynov. With armor support the advance continued another 12 km over the following days, but as of December 12 the division had been reduced to about 4,000 personnel, less than half its starting strength. 44th Army ordered that the remaining men be used to replenish the 416th Division, while the divisional headquarters was directed to Grozny to rebuild.
Further service From this point on the 402nd was in the reserves of Transcaucasus Front, in effect becoming the Azeri national training division for those (such as the 416th) serving at the front. It remained there, far from the fighting front until the end of the war in Europe in May, 1945. On December 20 Colonel Suzranov handed his command to Col. Mark Trofimovich Karakoz, who would be promoted to major general on October 16, 1943. He in turn handed his command to Maj. Gen. Tarban Abdulla-Ogly Alyarbekov on April 25, 1944, who was later replaced on March 14, 1945 by Col. Gadzhi-Baba-Mamed-Ogly Zeinalov, who would remain in this post for the duration. Postwar, the division was disbanded as part of the
Baku Military District in late 1945. ==References==