WI the Soviets attack in the North after Kursk?

Replicator

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WI the Soviets decide that while nearly all German armies are concentrated in the South around Kursk that they start their counteroffensive in the North??
Is conquering the Baltic and Byelorussia bettern than conquering the Ukraine??
And what would the Soviets do in 1944/45 if they were pretty far in the north??

Map:

Black line front line in July 1943
Red line frint line in July 1944

Eastern_Front_1943-02_to_1943-08_de.png
 
Is conquering the Baltic and Byelorussia bettern than conquering the Ukraine??
And what would the Soviets do in 1944/45 if they were pretty far in the north??

In a word: No.

Ukraine is breadbasket of Soviet Union, many industrial, mining and energy resources are placed there, terrain is much more convenient for armored warfare. Conquering Ukraine offers many strategic possibilities in South East Europe. By this point, Soviet Union is already considering political possibilities opening up in Axis countries. Besides, majority of German forces are in Ukraine and terrain offers many opportunities to encircle major formations. If they do as you propose in that map, Army groups Center and South might retreat and establish shorter defensive front, which would increase the difficulties for Soviets.
 
Also, it would take a very long time to reconcentrate those forces after ZITADELLE was ended. One of the reasons the Red Army managed to accomplish so much in the late summer and fall of 1943 was because most of its forces were already there to take advantage of the Wehrmacht's weakness. By comparison, in the north, the Germans were not disorganized and off-balance from a recent failed campaign. By the time large numbers of troops were up there, it could be as late as September: not much time at all for an attack, and the favorable period further south would have been utterly wasted.

So no, I would say that such an attack would not make military sense.
 
The Soviets did have quite a bit of fighting in the north around Leningrad in 1943, starting with Operations Spark and Polar Star. As far as Belarus there were also Soviet offensives in the region in the summer 1943-early 1944. The problem was that Army Groups North and Center were rather stronger than Army Group South and Soviet generals had a lot of kinks to work out with their offensive doctrine. The Soviets *did* do this, and they *did* make an attempt yet again to win the war in an overall series of offensives in 1943, and finally wised up and adopted the Broad Front concept in 1944.
 
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