Operation Polarstern

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Operation Polarstern

Part of: Second World War

date	February 10 to April 1, 1943
place	Leningrad and Demyansk , Soviet Union
output	Partial success of the Soviet Union

Parties to the conflict
Soviet Union	German Empire
Commander
Georgi Zhukov	Georg von Küchler
Troop strength
Volkhov Front Leningrad Front Northwest Front	Army Group North

The operation Polarstern ( Russian Операция Полярная звезда ) was an operation of the Red Army against the German Wehrmacht from February 10 to April 1, 1943 in the northern sector of the front .

Starting position

Operation plan for Polarstern, labeling in Cyrillic. Above you can see Leningrad and the narrow corridor south of Lake Ladoga, in the middle right the Demjansk Basin.

After the Soviet troops had cleared a narrow corridor south of Lake Ladoga to Leningrad in the Second Ladoga Battle (Russian: Operation Iskra) and thus partially blown up the Leningrad blockade , the blockade was to be finally ended.

The main thrust was to take place further south, south of Lake Ilmen : the Demyansk basin, still held by German troops, was to be conquered, the troops there encircled and all German units in the north cut off.

Course and consequences

In the south, the north-western front succeeded in conquering the Demjansk basin, but the German troops were able to withdraw from the basin (by March 2, 1943). The main aim of breaking through the German front and cutting off the German units in the north was not achieved. The German divisions freed by the clearing of the Demjansk bottleneck could be relocated to the front near Leningrad and strengthened the defense there.

In the north, the Soviet troops ( Volkhov Front and Leningrad Front ) did not succeed in expanding the communication corridor to Leningrad and conquering Mga . In the Third Ladoga Battle , the Soviets tried again in the summer of 1943 without success. They only achieved success in the Leningrad-Novgorod operation (January to March 1944).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.