At the beginning of the war, Belov commanded the 2nd Cavalry Corps. During the Battle of Moscow it was renamed 1st Guards Cavalry Corps which played a pivotal role in stopping Guderian's Panzers near the town of Kashira in 1941. Being the first units to start the counterattack in the Battle of Moscow. During the Battle of Rzhev he would lead a successful five-month raid with the 1st Guards cavalry corps in 1942 behind Army Group Center. After returning from the raid in the summer of 1942, he was given command of the 61st Army, which he led for the rest of the war. Belov's command of the army included the Battle of Kursk in 1943. Later taking part in Operation Bagration and the Riga Offensive followed by the defeat of the German Pomeranian offensive in early 1945 and the Battle of Berlin. He has earned legendary status and is considered as one of the greatest Soviet cavalry generals of the Second World War along with Lev Dovator, Issa Pliyev and Viktor Kirillovich Baranov.