Nyora kupfuurira kweiyi ndima - Musi waAugust 28, 1941, anopfuura mwedzi miviri mushure meOperation Barbarossa, kupamba kweGermany kweSoviet Union kwakatanga, Pukhov akarayirwa kuti atsive mutungamiriri we38th Army's 304th Rifle Division; uku kwaiva kutonga kwake kwekutanga kwemunda kubvira pakapambwa pfuti makore anenge 15 apfuura. Pakutanga kwaSeptember yakaendeswa kunzvimbo yeKozelshchyna, uko kusvika munaGunyana 17 yakarasikirwa zvakanyanya muhondo inorwisa, ichidzokera kumabvazuva kunzvimbo yeSanzhery, Reshetylivka, nePoltava. The 304th ipapo akarwa muna Donbass Defensive Operation mumwedzi October, ipapo akatorwa kuti kuchengeterwa muna Snezhny Kut nharaunda. Pukhov akabata chinzvimbo ichi kusvika muna Ndira 20, 1942, paakapiwa kutungamira kwe13th Army, iyo yaakabata kusvika pakati pa1946. Kusvikira pakati pa1942, mauto, chikamu cheBryansk Front, akabata nzvimbo dzekuzvidzivirira pamutsetse weSkorodnoye neKolpny. Mauto akarwa muHondo yeVoronezh
pakati pa1942 uye Voronezh-Kastornensk basa rokurwisa mukuvamba kwa1943. Musi waFebruary 14, Pukhov akasimudzirwa kuva Lieutenant General. Munguva yehondo yeKursk muna Chikunguru, mauto, akabata nzvimbo kuchamhembe kweKursk bulge, akadzosera mazuva matanhatu ekurwiswa kweGerman muhondo dzinotyisa, achidzivirira kupfuurira kweGerman uye kudzikamisa kufambira mberi kweGerman kusvika pamakiromita gumi nemaviri. Apo mauto eSoviet akachinjira pakurwisa pashure pokukunda zvine mutsindo uto reGermany, 13th Army yakarwa muOperation Kutuzov.