class, on 31 March 1943. The brigade and its corps were sent to the Bryansk Front in mid-July for Operation Kutuzov. For combat successes, the brigade became the 23rd Guards Motor Rifle Brigade on 27 July 1943 while the corps became the 7th Guards Tank Corps and Golovachev, promoted to colonel on 11 July, received the Order of the Red Banner. The corps was relocated to the Voronezh Front (the 1st Ukrainian Front from 20 October) in September and fought in the Battle of Kiev, the Zhitomir–Berdichev Offensive, and the Proskurov–Chernovitsy Offensive. For the capture of Vasilkov, the brigade received the name of the city as an honorific. For his actions during this period, Golovachev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner on 3 January and second Order of Suvorov, 2nd class, on 10 January. Golovachev led the brigade in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive in July, during which it captured Gorodok, crossed the Vistula, and captured a bridgehead on the western bank of the river. In the fighting to expand the bridgehead with relatively little artillery support, Golovachev continued the attack and quickly reached a line south of Szydłów. Subsequently, he moved his motor rifle brigade to rejoin the tank brigades of the corps west of Opatów, and in a night march east of Opatów approached the Opatówka river and together with the tank brigades reached Stadoly, where for four days they fought against the advancing German 17th Panzer Division, preventing the latter from relieving the German troops encircled at Sandomierz. For his "skillful leadership" of the brigade, Golovachev was given the title Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded the Order of Lenin on 23 September. From January 1945, the 23rd Guards fought in the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive and the Lower Silesian Offensive, during which it captured Częstochowa, Pitschen, and Bunzlau, crossed the Oder, and captured a bridgehead on the west bank of the river. Golovachev was killed in action on 6 March during fighting near the village of Logau, east of Lauban. His body was sent to Vasilkov for burial. A month later, he was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union a second time for his leadership of the brigade in the Sandomierz–Silesian Offensive. Personal life Golovachev married Nina Mikhailovna and had two sons, Vladimir and Yury. His family was evacuated to Sverdlovsk during the war, where Yury, whom Golovachev never saw, died aged two of malnutrition.