Its first operation as 4th Tank Army, under Lt. General Tank Tr. Vasily Badanov, (July 1943- March 1944) was at Orel, the counterattack (Operation Kutuzov) on the northern side of the Kursk bulge after the German defeat at the Battle of Kursk proper. John Erickson writes that '..at 1100 on 26 July, two of Badanov's corps (11th Tank and 6th Guards Mechanised) put in a ragged attack towards Bolkhov. For the next few hours, under the very gaze of Bagramyan [commander of 11th Guards Army, whose sector 4th Tank was attacking through] and Badanov, both corps were heavily battered by the concealed German tanks and assault guns.' It took part in the winter battles in Ukraine in 1944 (Proskurov-Chernovits), then the L’vov-Sanodmierz Operation in the summer. Its commander was Lt. Gen. (later Col. Gen.) D.D. Lelushenko.( March 1944- May 1945). It then participated in the Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia, Berlin, and Prague operations. In the last days of the war, it achieved Guards status by an order of the NKO dated March, 17th, 1945 (Krasnaya Zvezda).