At the front in the Great Patriotic War, he fought since July 1941. He was commanding the 251st Infantry Division of the 31st Army. Colonel Basan Gorodovikov participated in the Rzhev-Vyazemsk operation of the Western Front troops, during which the soldiers of his division liberated the city of Sychevka on March 8, 1943.

He became the commander of the 184th Infantry Division (fifth Army, third Belorussian Front). Major General Basan Gorodovikov skilfully organized encircling enemy troops in Vitebsk (Belarus), as well as defeating the enemies that went to the aid of the surrounded garrison in Vilnius.
On July 12 1944, the 184th Rifle Division, together with the soldiers of the 45th Rifle Corps, liberated the ancient Lithuanian city Trakai.
On August 17 1944, Having successfully crossed the Neman River, the division of Major General Basan Gorodovikov, was the first of the Soviet formations to reach the State border of the USSR with Hitlerite Germany (East Prussia) northwest of the city of Vilkaviskis, which was subsequently released from the occupiers on October 16, 1944.
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19 1945, for the skilful command of the division and the courage and heroism shown at the same time, Basan Gorodovikov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
After the war, he continued to serve in the army. Since 1961, Lieutenant General Basan Gorodovikov has been in reserve. He worked as the first secretary of the Kalmyk regional committee of the CPSU. Since 1978, he lived in Moscow, where he died on August 17, 1983. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
For more than half a century of serving the Fatherland, Basan Gorodovikov was awarded fourteen orders, and rose to the rank of lieutenant general. The military achievements of Gorodovikov would have been enough to rank him among the heroes of our time and include him in the glorious galaxy of three dozen of our fellow compatriots, Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia. However, it was his titanic work on the revival and development of Kalmykia that earned him the respect of the entire republic and made him the most beloved hero among our people.
The combat path of the division includes Crimea, Stalingrad, Kharkov, Kursk Bulge, Vitebsk, Vilnius, Konigsberg and Manzhuria.