Operation Polar Star
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Operation Polar Star | |||||||
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Part of the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||
Soviet plan for Operation Polar Star in the context of the wider offensive in the northern and central parts of the front. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Germany | Soviet Union | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Georg von Küchler | Georgy Zhukov | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army Group North |
Leningrad Front Volkhov Front Northwestern Front |
Operation Polar Star (Russian: Операция Полярная звезда, Operatsia Polyarnaya Zvezda) was an operation conducted by the Soviet Leningrad, Volkhov and Northwestern Fronts in February and March 1943. The operation was planned by Georgy Zhukov in the wake of the successful Operation Iskra and envisaged two separate encirclements. One was to be carried out in the north by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts near Mga and one was planned to be carried out further to the south, by the Northwestern Front, near Demyansk.
The operation succeeded in recapturing the Demyansk salient but failed to encircle the German forces. The northern part of the operation failed, without gaining much ground. With the battles in the south near Kharkov and, later, Kursk using reinforcements for both sides, the frontline near Leningrad stabilised until July 1943.
Battle
The German's successful evacuation of the
The relative failure of the operation compared to successes at the
Army Group North, despite holding the line, was not in a good position. With other endangered fronts a priority for the Heer and with the Continuation War ending hostilities north of Leningrad, Group North was increasingly isolated and stretched thin. The end of the blockade of Leningrad moreover, increased the armament strength of previously isolated Soviet forces. The army group's strength would continue to drop throughout 1943, while the opposing Soviet forces would grow in strength. The growing disparity in strength eventually allowed new offenses to break the German line in 1944.
References
- ISBN 0-7006-1208-4.
- Glantz, David M. (2009). After Stalingrad: The Red Army's Winter Offensive 1942-1943. Helion and Company. ISBN 978-1-906033-26-2.
- Исаев, Алексей Валерьевич (2006). Когда внезапности уже не было. История ВОВ, которую мы не знали. (in Russian). М. Яуза, Эксмо. ISBN 5-699-11949-3.