It took place on the Eastern Front of World War II and was part of the wider Dnieper–Carpathian offensive, a Soviet attack against Army Group South that aimed to retake the rest of Ukraine west of the Dnieper river, which had been occupied by Germany in 1941.

After crossing the Dnieper in September 1943, Army General Ivan Konev's 2nd Ukrainian Front pushed back German troops in fierce fighting, advancing between 30 and 100 kilometers on the right bank of the river while capturing Cherkassy, Znamianka, and Aleksandriya by mid-December.

[7] On 20 December, Konev reported to Stavka that, as a result of the preceding fighting, Soviet troops had cleared the right bank of the Dnieper in his front's sector.

He requested approval for his decision to temporarily switch the front's center and left flank to the defensive in order to receive reinforcements and replenish equipment pending an attack towards Krivoi Rog between 5 and 10 January 1944.

[9] The attack towards Kirovograd and Pervomaisk was intended to split the German troops in Right-bank Ukraine in half, thereby assisting the 1st and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.

[7] In 1950, inside the Fortress of St. Elizabeth, the memorial complex “Pantheon of Eternal Glory” was created, where about 50 000 victims of the occupiers and several thousand soldiers who died for the liberation of the city were buried.