recruits from Armenia brought it back to full strength, and Vasilian's successor and the division commander was the able Colonel Safarian. In September 1943, the division was redeployed and ordered to attack the Axis defensive fortifications on the Taman Peninsula. On September 6, it moved in a northeasterly direction from Novorossiysk and engaged in heavy fighting for several days until the Axis defenses were overwhelmed and the villages of Verkhnebakansk and Taman were liberated on September 18 and October 3, respectively. The 89th distinguished itself in these two battles and was given the honorary title of "Tamanskaia" (Таманская; Tamanyan, Թամանյան)." Two soldiers from the division in particular, Senior Sergeants Hunan M. Avetisian and Suren S. Arakelian, were noted for the courage they displayed during the fighting and were both posthumously awarded with the medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union. On November 21, the 89th Division participated in the Kerch–Eltigen Operation, an ambitious Soviet military operation involving the landing of amphibious troops onto the Kerch Peninsula. The unit landed near the settlements of Baksi and Adzhimushkay, not far from the Strait of Kerch, and held its position for five months despite withering Axis fire. Beginning in January 1944, it slowly made headway toward Kerch and dislodged the defending Axis troops from one portion of the city. Members of the division distinguished themselves once more, the most prominent of them being field-engineer Jahan S. Karakhanian, who was killed in December 1943 while trying to establish a new observation post and was posthumously awarded with the medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union. In recognition of its efforts, on 24 April 1944 the division was awarded with the Order of the Red Star. In May 1944, the Soviet army began its offensive to retake Sevastopol. The 89th Division was given the objective of capturing the Gornaia Height, which would then open the way to Sevastopol. This was accomplished and the unit subsequently took part in Sevastopol's and the promontory of Kherson's recapture. For the liberation of the Sevastopol the division was bestowed with the Order of the Red Banner. Senior lieutenants Simeon K. Baghdasarian and Khoren A. Khachaturian, and senior sergeants Aydin Gh. Harutyunian, Harutyun R. Mkrtchian and Vardges A. Rostomian were awarded with the Order of the Hero of Soviet Union. Poland and Germany In October–September 1944, the division was transferred first to Brest and then deployed along the