Leningrad Front
The defeat in the preceding Narva offensive came as an unpleasant surprise to the leadership of the Leningrad Front, blaming it on the arrival of the freshly conscripted 20th Estonian SS Volunteer Division who were motivated to resist the looming Soviet re-occupation. Since the beginning of January, the Leningrad Front had lost 227,440 troops killed, wounded, or missing, which constituted more than half of the men who participated in the Leningrad–Novgorod strategic offensive. Both sides rushed in reinforcements. The 59th Army was brought to Narva and the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps was placed under the command of the Leningrad Front. After this deployment, the Narva sector acquired the highest concentration of forces on the Eastern Front in March 1944.