At the beginning of 1942, the troops of the Northwestern Front, advancing in the direction of Staraya Russa, had achieved considerable success in encircling the 16th Army in the area of Demyansk.

In October, Stavka replaced Pavel Kurochkin in command of the Northwestern Front with Semyon Timoshenko.

The coordination of Soviet troops in Operation Polar Star was given to Georgy Zhukov, appointed Stavka representative to the Northwestern Front.

[7] To hasten the advance, the Stavka planned to conduct an amphibious operation to capture the strategic rail junction of Dno, for which part of the 68th Army detachment included the 5th Guards Airborne Division.

Realizing that holding the Demyansk bridgehead would be extremely difficult, Georg von Küchler asked Hitler to allow the withdrawal of troops back to the line of Staraya Russa and Kholm.

The Ramushevo Corridor was particularly strongly fortified, with 1200-1500 mines every kilometer in some places, and pillboxes and bunkers every 300 to 350 meters.

Faced with fierce resistance, the Soviet forces failed to cut the corridor and prevent the Germans from retreating.

[7] On 1 March, von Kuchler announced the completion of the evacuation of 16th Army from the salient, allowing the Germans to condense their defences.

[4] In March, the Soviet troops caused the Germans to withdraw from the Demyansk salient and retreat across the Lovat.

Soviet troops failed to implement the full plan of Operation Polar Star in February 1943.

Despite this, Stavka decided to prepare a new offensive to implement Operation Polar Star in March, but with more limited objectives.