By the end of January, the division was back up to 75% of its authorized manpower, but only 70% of the required horses and 25% of the authorized trucks and tractors. Battle of Kursk In February, 1943, the 354th was reassigned to Lt. Gen. P.I. Batov's 65th Army in Rokossovski's Central Front (former Don Front). The division would continue under the command of Batov and Rokossovski for the duration of the war. The Front was deployed to the Kursk area, most of it from Stalingrad, a movement that took longer than expected due to persistent poor weather and deteriorating roads. A situation report by Rokossovski's chief of operations on February 24 stated as follows: During the following weeks the division helped make gains in a gap between the German 2nd Army and 2nd Panzer Army until German reserves freed up by their evacuation of the Rzhev salient brought the advance to a halt. The 354th remained in the Kursk salient through the following months, including Operation Citadel. 65th Army's positions were in the western sector of the bulge, and were not directly involved in the German offensive. Battles for Belarus Following the German defeat at Kursk, Central Front began advancing westward out of the salient. During the following months the division was assigned first to the 18th and then to the 19th Rifle Corps. Two months of offensive campaigning gradually wore down the 354th until by September each rifle regiment had only two battalions of three companies, each company with 55 - 60 men. The machine gun companies had five or six guns each, and the mortar companies two or three tubes total. The 921st Artillery Regiment had 20 guns and howitzers, and the 274th Antitank Battalion was down to just 8 45mm guns; in summary, the division was at about 63% of its authorized strength in guns and mortars. Gomel-Rechitsa Offensive In spite of this, on September 28 the 1203rd Rifle Regiment, reinforced by the 257th Separate Army Shtrafnaya (Penal) Company, made a successful assault crossing of the Sozh River at Novaya Tereshkovichi. On the following day, the rest of the division crossed the river, and General Batov reinforced this bridgehead with a handful of tanks from the Army's 255th Tank Regiment. Shortly thereafter he ordered the 37th Guards and 140th Rifle Divisions to reinforce the bridgehead as well. On October 1 the three divisions attacked the German 6th