dead and 780 captured. The 345th suffered a large portion of these casualties, when on March 2, during a counterattack near Mekenzievy Farm, German troops slipped into a gap between 79th Marine Brigade and 1163rd Rifle Regiment and got into the regiment's rear, putting the entire division into a very dangerous situation. Some companies were isolated and had to make their ways back through thick woods and deep gorges, and many men were lost. As a result, the 1167th Regiment was temporarily disbanded to provide replacements for the other two. The fortress garrison went back to the defensive. During the spring, antiaircraft guns that were intended for the division were lost at sea. Operation Sturgeon Haul When the third German assault began on June 7, the somewhat rebuilt 345th, at Mekenzievy Station, was the only reserve Petrov had to back up the defenders in sectors III and IV. Overnight on June 8–9 it moved up to help form a new defensive line behind sector IV. The 1167th Regiment was stationed near Battery 365, while on the following day the 1163rd was behind the railway station and the 1165th joined with the remnant of the 79th Marines. These last two regiments once again faced the 22nd Infantry Division, with about 16 remaining StuG IIIs and a few captured tanks in support. After a heavy pounding by artillery the men of the 1163rd were overwhelmed, with 120 taken prisoner, and the railway station fell once again. Colonel Guz ordered the 1165th (Lt. Col. V.V. Babkov) to retake the station but at the end of the day it was still firmly in German hands. Around 1000 hrs. on June 12 the Germans dealt a major blow in the vicinity of the station; faced with an attack led by captured KV-1 heavy tanks, the defenders broke and ran. The Germans advanced to about 1 km south of the station, and the Soviets had now lost the eastern flank of the ridge running towards Battery 365. A scratch force of men from the 345th, 25th Rifle Division, and 79th Marines, established a new line of defense. On the 13th, Battery 365 fell. By June 15, the division had about 900 men remaining. General Petrov planned for a counterattack on June 18 with the 345th, the newly arrived 138th Rifle Brigade, and remnants of 95th Rifle Division; at this time the division was defending the Grafskaya