Ninth Army eventually evacuated the salient in partisan sweeps were carried out in the weeks before the operation ( the army's sector was a hotbed for partisan activity ), in which an estimated 3, 000 Russians were killed, the great majority of whom were unarmed, as shown by the inventory of the seized weapons : 277 rifles, 41 pistols, 61 machine guns, 17 mortars, 9 antitank rifles and 16 small artillery pieces.
