 He led the counterattack that recaptured Voronezh on 26 January 1943, and Kharkov on 16 February, but after Kharkov was retaken by the Germans, in March 1943, Marshal Zhukov insisted that Golikov be dismissed.For the remainder of the war, until 1950, he was head of the Chief Personnel Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defence.In October 1944, he was also appointed head of the council for the repatriation of Soviet prisoners of war.