Nineteen forty-three has been variously described as both the “forgotten year” and the “culmination year” of the Second World War. While the latter description certainly applies to the dramatic and decisive events that took place on the southern and center sections of the Eastern Front, the former could be aptly applied to Army Group North and its area of operations. Even more so than in the preceding year, the significance of the northwestern Russian theater paled in comparison to that of the remainder of the east. In the far south, Soviet forces smashed the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad and threatened to destroy all of Army Group South, the most powerful German field formation. While the Wehrmacht temporarily regained the initiative with Manstein’s counterattack and seizure of Kharkov in March 1943, the situation in southern Russia remained exceptionally threatening to German forces. Soviet forces also launched a large-scale attack on the Rzhev salient in the center of the front that, while ultimately ending in failure for the Red Army, nonetheless increased the pressure on the Wehrmacht in late 1942 and early 1943.

The 1943 German summer offensive was designed to eliminate the bulge centered on Kursk created by the Rzhev and Kharkov fighting. Powerful Wehrmacht formations from Army Groups Center and South launched Operation Zitadelle on 5 July. Culminating in an unprecedented clash of armor, Red Army defenses blunted the German advance, allowing the Soviets to open up their first successful summer offensive, one that ended with Red Army troops reoccupying most Soviet territory.