'Sternenlauf' was a German operation against partisans in the area to the west of Dubrovno on the main rail and road links toward Moscow in the German-occupied western USSR (23 January/12 February 1943).

This double link was the main supply and reinforcement artery for Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge’s Heeresgruppe'Mitte', against which the Soviets were making a great effort between November 1942 and July 1943 in preparation for the offensive to liberate Belorussia in the late summer of 1943.