Battle of Kursk Battle of Stalingrad slowly ground to its conclusion, the Red Army moved to a general offensive in the south, pressuring the exhausted German forces who had survived the winter. By January 1943, a wide gap had opened between Army Group B and Army Group Don, and the advancing Soviet armies threatened to cut off all German forces south of the Don River, including Army Group A operating in the Caucasus. Army Group Center came under significant pressure as well. Kursk fell to the Soviets on 8 February 1943, and Rostov fell on 14 February. The Soviet Bryansk, Western, and newly
Orel–Kursk operation White shock group, opening the way for the Red advance on Kharkov and the Donbass. Along with the simultaneous Voronezh–Kastornoye operation, it marked a turning point in the fight against the Armed Forces of South Russia, creating favorable conditions for the advance of the Southern and Southeastern Fronts in 1919 and 1920. The loss of Kursk and Kastornoye broke White morale, preventing them from resisting the Red advance in pitched battle, and precipitated a White retreat that lasted until they reached the North Caucasus. The strategic initiative on the front was gained by the Red Army, but it did not