Operation Polar Star

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Operation Polar Star
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.
Date 10 February 1943 – 1 April 1943 Location Southern shore of Lake Ladoga, near present-day Saint Petersburg and near Demyansk, Russia Result Soviet operational failure Soviet forces recapture Demyansk salient Limited Soviet success
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.