In mid-summer, the largest tank battle of 1942 unfolded on the Bryansk Front, in which more than two thousand tanks took part on both sides. The Red Army, bleeding, managed to stop the enemy at the Don line and prevented the Germans from finally taking possession of Voronezh. During the Novorossiysk-Taman strategic offensive operation, which took place from September 10 to October 9, 1943, the German troops who built the Taman system were forced to defend defensive fortifications, later called the Blue Line. However, a powerful line of defense did not help the Nazis - a month later the Red Army and the Black Sea Fleet drove the Germans out of Novorossiysk and completed the liberation of the Caucasus.