Valdai Hills
In the autumn North-West front was on a pivotal point of the fighting activities in the Moscow and Leningrad directions, covering the vital Valdai Hills from which the northern flank of the advance of the Wehrmacht's Army Group Centre could be threatened. The Soviet troops took a deep defense between Lake Ilmen and Lake Seliger. They didn't let the German pass to the Valdai Hills and Bologoye railway station which connected Leningrad and Moscow.