A Moment Respite - Red Victory

15 MARCH 1944, STARAJA RUSSA, NEAR LAKE ILMEN, NOVGOROD: After the evacuation of the Demjansk Pocket Army Group North sought ways to create more operational reserves for the expected Russian spring offensive. Battle weary troops were deployed behind the lines to refit, and divisions that saw little action in the winter battles hold the line. One of these units, the 21st Luftwaffe Field Division formed with the elements of the 21st Jaeger Division and Luftwaffe ground personnel, had been defending the important town and rail station of Staraja Russa near Lake Ilmen. With the coming of March, STAVKA ordered a series of offensives in the region, aiming at better operational deployment for the upcoming spring offensive on the Leningrad Front. Marshall Timoshenko, the commander of the Northwestern Front launched a two pronged attack on the German defenses south of Lake Ilmen. Pavel Kurochkin's 11th Army advanced along the Moscow-Leningrad Railway and hit the German defenses on Staraja Russa. Lacking firepower to counter the Russian armor, elements of the 21st Luftlande Division had to rely on the bunkers and trenches they had built in the winter.