Later in November 1942 Askalepov was appointed commander of the 173rd Rifle Division in the 65th and 21st armies at the Don Front. For outstanding distinctions in the Battle of Stalingrad, especially during the destruction of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht surrounded in Stalingrad, the 173rd Rifle Division, by order of the People's Commissar of Defence of the USSR on March 1, 1943, received the rank of the Guards and was renamed the 77th Guards Rifle Division. At the same time, the division commander, Colonel V.S.Askalepov, was awarded the military rank of Major General. Since March 1943, the division operated as part of the 61st Army of the Bryansk and Central fronts.