 Complete the following phrase:  After the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, the division as took up defensive positions on the eastern bank of the Shchara River in the Slonim area on the next day as part of the 13th Army. From 24 June it fought in heavy defensive battles, retreating to Baranovichi, Slutsk, Osipovichi, the village of Boyarshchina, and Starye Dorogi. The division was encircled in late June but broke out on 7 July and was withdrawn to Novozybkov for replenishment. The 121st soon returned to the front and fought in the Battle of Smolensk with the 13th Army of the Central Front, then fought in defensive battles on the Sozh, Sudost, and Desna, and from 30 September in the 