During the winter of 1941-42 the division remained in Kalinin Front, in either the 29th or 30th Army. The 243rd was in 30th Army during the First Rzhev–Sychyovka Offensive Operation. In August it liberated the village of Kopytikh, and in savage fighting repulsed 14 enemy counterattacks, and went on the attack itself eight times. Later that month it was transferred to Western Front along with the rest of 30th Army. The 243rd was reassigned to 20th Army, still in Western Front, in December, in the last gasps of Operation Mars, to help make one last desperate attempt to break the German positions and capture Sychyovka. On December 11 the relatively-fresh 243rd, backed by the 5th Tank Corps, which had been held in reserve, made an attack "en masse" alongside several other divisions, but together they made scanty gains of 500 - 1,000 metres at significant cost, and failed to capture a single German-held fortified village. Three days later, the offensive was shut down for good. In the period from November 25 to December 18 the division lost 748 men killed and 1,954 wounded, and 4 missing-in-action, for a total of 2,706 casualties.