due to the extent of his injuries he remained in the hospital for over a months and was offered a civilian job as the deputy party secretary in a district of moscow, but he chose to return to the army in spring 1944 and april 1945 he was made commander of the 248th anti-tank artillery regiment. official soviet accounts differ contain contradictory information about petrov's role and the timeline of his actions in the vistula-oder operation, for his actions in which he awarded a second gold star after the end of the war on 27 june 1945. according to the nomination paperwork for his second gold star, he participated in the vistula-oder offensive as a regimental commander, and allegedly repelled five enemy counterattacks during one battle on 9 march 1945. however, the vistula-oder operation ended in february 1945, and it was not until april that petrov was made commander of the 248th anti-tank artillery regiment.