Infantry Division's positions, and having breached them, fanned out to liberate the villages of Noyve and Starye Diatlovichi in heavy fighting. From October 18 to November 21 the division was temporarily under the command of Maj. Gen. Porfyrii Sergeevich Furt, until Alekseev returned to command. By October 20, 65th Army's attacks had bogged down on this sector, and the offensive towards Gomel was temporarily halted. However, on October 15, a further attack by forces on the left wing of Rokossovksky's front (soon to be renamed Belorussian Front) forced a passage across the Dniepr in the area of Loev and gained ground fast; by the 20th the Soviet forces had carved out a bridgehead 90 km wide and 16 km deep across the Dniepr, and went on to try to cut the rail line from Rechitsa to Gomel. In order to sustain this advance, Batov had already been ordered to reinforce this bridgehead with the 354th and 246th Rifle Divisions, and they were accordingly re-subordinated to the 27th Rifle Corps. This bridgehead was also reinforced with the 9th Tank and 7th Guards Cavalry Corps. They faced three extremely worn-down divisions of the German XX Army Corps. Even before the regrouping was complete, on October 20, 65th Army's renewed assault overran the German defenses, forcing the defenders back about 2 km between the Dniepr and Radul. On October 24, the divisions of 27th Corps punched a 5-km-wide breach in the positions of 102nd Infantry Division south of Lipniaki, into which Batov committed the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps. Only an intervention by a battle group of 2nd Panzer Division contained it. Heavy fighting raged for more than a week until German 2nd Army was forced to begin a phased withdrawal to new positions in the rear. By October 28, 27th Corps had advanced another 15 – 20 km, as much as 23 km northwest of Loev, linking up with the advancing forces of 61st Army, but the forces of both armies had by now "shot their bolt", and a halt was called on October 30. Over the next ten days Belorussian Front carried out another regrouping to continue the offensive and encircle and destroy the German Rechitsa-Gomel grouping. 65th Army remained in the center of the Front's main attack sector, with 27th Corps on the right wing. The 354th was in the first echelon, along with the 115th Rifle Brigade. The Corps' mission