At the start of 1943, in very heavy fighting, the Soviet Army had established a tenuous 5-mile wide corridor between the besieged Leningrad and the main front. Large air battles raged overhead as the Germans tried to break the vital supply line. In early March, the "Nowotny schwarm" scored victories south of Lake Ilmen, covering the German withdrawal from the Demyansk salient. Then it was back to Leningrad again interrupted by a spell of leave in May. After more heavy activity over the Leningrad front in June, Nowotny was on leave when the "Gruppe" was transferred to the Orel salient for the upcoming Kursk offensive in July. The Soviets held the line then in August launched their own counter-offensives on the weakened German lines. As a 'fire-brigade', I./JG 54 was transferred to Poltava in the Ukraine in desperate defence, then in September the "Gruppe", now led by Nowotny, was transferred back to Orel on the northern side, to defend against that offensive. All along the front the Soviets were advancing and in October, they were in Vitebsk as the Germans unsuccessfully tried to hold the crucial railhead at Smolensk. Throughout all of this, the "Nowotny schwarm" was scoring freely. On 14 October, to the southwest of Smolensk, Walter Nowotny became the first pilot to ever reach 250 air victories. On the same day, Karl Schnörrer scored his 33rd victory. But at this point, with Walter's relentless pursuit of greatness finally achieved and their mission turn-round relaxing, their luck ran out. Anton Döbele was killed in a mid-air collision over Smolensk on 11 November. He had reached 94 victories. Nowotny was immediately given a no-fly order, being too valuable to lose. But the next day, Luftflotte 6 had to dispatch all its aircraft to cover a new offensive north of Vitebsk. Nowotny scored his 255th, and last, victory on the Eastern Front. A few minutes later Schnörrer, ever the good wingman, shot down an Il-2 bomber attacking Nowotny for his own 35th victory, before he himself was shot down by another bomber. Baling out at only about 50m his parachute couldn't deploy in time, and he crashed to the ground; alive, but breaking both legs and fracturing his skull.