Immediately after the start of operation barbarossa in June 1941, Taranenko entered combat, initially as a senior political instructor in the 12th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Wounded on 26 July 1941, he was transferred to the 298th Fighter Aviation Regiment when he recovered, of which he soon became the commander of. By mid November that year he totaled 85 sorties and was credited with shooting down an Ju 88 bomber, although later analysis by has led historians to believe he did not successfully shoot down any enemy aircraft until 1943. From May 1942 to February 1943 his regiment left active combat to retrain to fly the P-39. The next month he gained his first aerial victory, shooting down an S-52 Northwest of Taman on 13 March 1943. In June 1943 he was nominated to for the title Hero of the Soviet Union, having been credited with four solo and four shared shootdowns at the time; by then his regiment surpassed 100 enemy aircraft shot down, seeing heavy combat in the intense aerial battles over Kuban. On 27 July 1943 he was promoted to commander of the 294th Fighter Aviation Division, and on 2 September be was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. In 1944 his division was honored with the guards designation and renamed to the 13th Guards Fighter Aviation Division. Despite his high position, he continued to fly in combat, going on be credited with shooting down two FW 190 in 1945 while piloting a Yak-3. By the end of the war Taranenko was credited with accumulating 253 sorties, engaging in 54 aerial battles and gaining either six solo and seven shared or four solo and three shared shootdowns.