Once Yukhnov was taken 50th Army ground to a halt, and remained roughly on a line from that town to Mosalsk until March, 1943, playing a limited role in the follow-up to the German 9th Army's evacuation from the Rzhev salient, ending up facing its defenses north of Spas-Demensk. In January Col. Ivan Sidorovich Lazarenko had been appointed the 413th's deputy commander, a post he would hold until November 16, when he took command of the 369th Rifle Division. Lazarenko went on to be promoted to major general but was killed in action near Chausy in late June, 1944, posthumously being named a Hero of the Soviet Union in July. On May 24 Col. Ivan Stepanovich Khokhlov took over the 413th from General Tereshkov; Khokhlov would be promoted to the rank of major general on October 16. In the same month it was assigned to the 38th Rifle Corps. During Operation Kutuzov, 50th Army took a secondary role, acting as a flank guard for 11th Guards Army, but still made substantial gains during July. From July 18–21 the 1322nd Regiment was fighting for several villages, including Paliki. "Starshina" (sergeant-major) Stepan Ignatievich Khirkov was a deputy platoon commander and the political organizer for a company of the regiment. He had already been acclaimed within Western Front for his political work and had received the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, from General Boldin in person. Khirkov helped to lead the defense of his company's positions, personally destroying two German tanks, and led a counterattack on July 21 which finally drove the German forces back, but suffered fatal wounds and died the same day. On June 3, 1944 he was posthumously made a Hero of the Soviet Union.