At the start of the
German-Soviet War (June 1941), Golovanov commanded the 212th Heavy Bomber Regiment; then he became commander (in office: August to December 1941) of the , subordinated to the
Supreme Command Headquarters. The division led by him bombed, with his personal participation, enemy military facilities in
Berlin (August to September 1941),
Königsberg (1 September 1941),
Gdańsk (Danzig),
Ploieşti and other cities. During the
Battle of Moscow (October 1941 to January 1942) his "long-range aviation hit powerful blows on artillery positions, tank formations and command posts." From February 1942 he commanded the
Red Army Air Force's long-range bomber force (ADD; ), which transformed into the
18th Air Army on 6 December 1944. The 18th Air Army's units delivered air strikes against the
Axis' deep rear, supported ground forces during the
East Prussian,
Vienna and
Berlin operations and fulfilled tasks to help the
Partisans of
Yugoslavia. As commander of the Soviet
Long Range Aviation (ADD), Golovanov received orders to
destroy Helsinki in early 1944, in order to force
Finland to accept Soviet-dictated terms of peace. Due to deception and skilled use of radar, Finnish anti-aircraft artillery succeeded in saving the city (February 1944). When Stalin later in 1944 found out that he had been mis-informed of the bombing results, ADD was dissolved (6 December 1944) as a punishment. This failure hampered Golovanov's career. ==Honours and awards==