On August 1 the German
1st Panzer Army began a new drive into the Caucasus region. In the face of this the Transcaucasus Front conducted a forced regrouping, concentrating in a new defensive line along the southern bank of the
Terek River and along the
Urukh River by August 10. In conjunction with this reserves consisting of the 417th and
89th Rifle Divisions, 52nd Tank Brigade, two
Guards-Mortar regiments and several other units were brought forward to the area of
Grozny and
Ordzhonikidze and designated to organize counterattacks on possible routes where the panzers might appear. The 417th and the 44th Guards Mortar Regiment were specifically ordered to concentrate near Ordzhonikidze. At this time the division was still woefully understrength, with only 500 armed riflemen or sappers. The 1st Panzer Army renewed its offensive in the direction of
Mozdok on August 16. At this time the division had been subordinated to the 9th Army and was positioned in its second echelon due south of that city. The 3rd Panzer Division reached the northern bank of the Terek in the Mozdok region late on August 23 and captured the city two days later. After a week of confused fighting the 1st Panzer Army soon came to a virtual standstill and the Soviet defenses began reorganizing. The commander of 9th Army was replaced but its forces continued to hold the south bank of the Terek, apart from two German-held bridgeheads. By the beginning of September the 9th Army consisted of the
151st,
176th,
389th and 417th Rifle Divisions, 62nd Naval Rifle Brigade and the
11th Guards Rifle Corps, continuing to defend the Terek from south of
Prokhladnyi eastward to south of Mozdok to just northwest of Grozny. It was tasked with preventing the German
LII Army Corps and
13th Panzer Division from crossing the river and advancing on Ordzhonikidze. LII Corps began its attack at 0200 hours on September 2, attempting to thrust across the Terek against the positions of 11th Guards Corps. In two days of see-saw fighting the German force, backed by tanks of the
23rd Panzer Division, managed to secure a bridgehead nearly 3km deep. On September 6 a mixed battlegroup from the two panzer divisions with about 40 tanks drove a deep wedge between the 9th and 8th Guards Rifle Brigades, but as it approached the northern foothills of the Terek Mountains it encountered intense artillery,
Katyusha and antitank fire as well as heavy counterattacks by Soviet forces, including the 417th supported by 28
Valentine and
M3 tanks from the 258th Tank Battalion. In the savage fighting on September 6 the 258th Battalion lost 22 of its tanks, mostly Valentines. The German battlegroup also suffered heavy losses, with one battalion of the 111th reduced to only 80 men. With the German bridgehead also under attack the battlegroup was forced to withdraw. The new commander of 9th Army, Maj. Gen.
K. A. Koroteyev, was determined to inflict maximum damage on the German forces and organized fresh counterattacks the next day, including the 417th attacking from the east. Together these attacks forced the battlegroup further west, and 1st Panzer Army's commander Gen.
Ewald von Kleist ordered its forces back to the original bridgehead the next day. The advance was resumed by 13th Panzer early on September 11 with about 100 tanks, penetrating 30 km by the end of September 14 and shattering 11th Guards Corps in the process. 9th Army immediately organized a new series of counterattacks by forming two shock groups, each supported by an army artillery group. One group consisted of the division and the
10th Guards Rifle Corps and was tasked with striking the defenses of 3rd Panzer at Mekenskaia and Predmostnyi in the bridgehead southwest of Mozdok. Attacking in stages from early on September 14 the two shock groups commenced a battle lasting four days before the Germans could muster enough strength to continue their offensive; both sides suffered heavy losses in the process. On September 20 Colonel Storozhilov handed his command to Col. Grigorii Osipovich Lyaskin, but this officer was in turn replaced by Col. Ivan Afanasevich Shevchenko six days later. Late on September 21 the 13th Panzer was halted north of Planovskoe by extensive Soviet minefields and obstacles. By this time 1st Panzer Army was badly overstretched and the relentless pressure of the 417th and the 10th Guards Corps forced 3rd Panzer to withdraw from the Mekenskaia region to new defenses closer to Mozdok. On October 3 von Kleist signaled that any further advance on Ordzhonikidze would require reinforcements. Meanwhile, on September 29 the
STAVKA accepted that the Northern Group of Forces was no longer capable of further offensive action due to losses suffered during its many counterattacks and Lt. Gen.
I. I. Maslennikov, commander of the Northern Group, received orders to go over to the defense of the region. By October 23 it appeared to Maslennikov that the German panzer army remained a spent force and he was proposing a counterattack with a group that would include the 417th. In the event this was forestalled two days later when the "spent" Germans launched a renewed drive to the southwest and then to the east; this attack was halted at the gates of Ordzhonikidze on November 5. ==Into Ukraine==