Copyright by Jeffrey C. Rutherford 2007 - University of Texas ...

etreat, participating in what perhaps was the most devastating and surely the most large-
scale of all war crimes committed by the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.
I. THE SOVIET WINTER OFFENSIVES, 1943
One major change in Army Group North’s situation concerned the
reestablishment of a tenuous land-link between Leningrad and unoccupied Soviet
territory. On January 12, 1943, Soviet forces unleashed Operation Spark, yet another
attempt to crush the “bottleneck” in the Siniavino region. 1110 Within five days, German
troops evacuated Shlisselburg and Red Army troops from the Leningrad and Volkhov
Fronts met; the siege had been broken. Subsequent attempts to increase the size of land-
bridge, however, faltered with the heights of Siniavino remaining in Wehrmacht hands.
German artillery repeatedly shelled the ten-mile wide strip severely limiting its utility.
Building on the successes and failures of Operation Spark, Stavka prepared a
much more ambitious plan, Operation Polar Star, designed to destroy Army Group North
as a whole. The Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts were once again to attack south and
capture Siniavino as well drive into the German rear and seize the important rail-junction
of Tossno. These, however, were diversionary operations, with the main thrust of the
offensive to be undertaken by the Northwest Front, which surrounded the Demiansk
pocket. Red Army troops here were supposed to destroy the Demiansk land-bridge and
then drive to the west on Dno and to the northwest on Luga. Following the seizures of
these cities, Soviet forces were then to continue their advance on Narva and Pskov, deep
in the rear of Army Group North. 1111 If successful, this operation would leave German
forces battered, encircled and on the edge of defeat.
1110 For the most detailed description of the battle, see Glantz, The Battle for Leningrad, pp. 274-287. See
also Wegner, “The War against the Soviet Union 1942-1943,” pp. 1200-1203; Erickson, The Road to
Berlin, pp. 60-61.
1111 Glantz, The Battle of Leningrad, pp. 288-293.
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