'Waldwinter' was a German operation against partisans operating in the Trudy and Obol areas to the north-west of Vitebsk in the Belorussian region of the German-occupied western USSR, and thereby threatening the rear-area security of Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge’s Heeresgruppe 'Mitte', together with army group’s lines of communication (January/2 February 1943).