This was the Soviet offensive in the area of the Rzhev salient and better known as 'Mars' (i) (25 November/20 December 1942).

The offensive was a joint operation of General Polkovnik Ivan S. Konev’s West Front and General Polkovnik Maksim A. Purkayev’s Kalinin Front, co-ordinated by General Georgi K. Zhukov, against Generaloberst Walter Model’s 9^th Army of Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge’s Heeresgruppe 'Mitte'. The offensive was one in a series of particularly bloody engagements collectively known in Soviet and Russian histories as the Battles of Rzhev, which occurred near Rzhev, Sychevka and Vyaz’ma between January 1942 and March 1943 and became collectively known as the 'Rzhev meat grinder' for their huge losses, especially on the Soviet side.