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
Kursk Oblast Kursk stronghold was built. Later it was part of Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the Jagiellonian dynasty. It was lost in the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars to the Muscovite Rus'. A real growth of the area around Kursk began soon after that, with a large migration from Central Russia after famine in the beginning of the 17th century. Between 1708 and 1719, Kursk was a part of the newly created Kiev Governorate. From 1719 to 1727 it was a part of Belgorod province of Kiev Governorate. Later Kursk uyezd was a part of Belgorod Governorate. On May 23, 1779, Kursk Governorate was