Sinyavino Offensive ( 1942 ) The Sinyavino Offensive was an operation planned by the Soviet Union with the aim of breaking the German blockade and establish a reliable supply line to Leningrad which was under siege for almost a year . At the same time , German forces were planning Operation Northern Light ( ) to capture the city and link up with Finnish forces . To achieve that heavy reinforcements were arriving from Sevastopol , which the German forces captured in July 1942 . Both sides were unaware of the other ' s preparations , and this made the battle unfold in an unanticipated manner for both sides . The Soviet offensive began first in two stages . The Leningrad Front began the offensive on August 19 and the Volkhov Front launched the main offensive on August 27 . From August 28 , the German side shifted the forces which were building up for their own offensive to gradually halt the Soviet offensive . Initial German counterattacks failed , but the Soviet forces could not advance either . After a ten day stalemate , the significantly reinforced Germans launched a counterattack against the Soviet forces on September 21 . After five days of heavy fighting , the German forces linked up and cut off the bulge formed by the Soviet offensive . By October 10 , the front line returned to the position before this battle ; heavy fighting continued until October 15 , as the last pockets of Soviet resistance were destroyed or broke out . In the end , the Soviet offensive failed , but heavy casualties caused the Germans to order their forces to assume a defensive stance . In November , the German reinforcements and other units were stripped from Army Group North to deal with the major Soviet offensive at Stalingrad and Operation Northern Light was aborted . Background . The Siege of Leningrad started in early autumn 1941 . By September 8 , 1941 , German and Finnish forces had surrounded the city , cutting off all supply routes to Leningrad and its suburbs . However the original drive on the city failed and the city was subjected to a siege . During the winter 1941 – 42 , the city was partially supplied via the Road of Life over the frozen Lake Ladoga , which allowed the defenders to continue holding out . However after the Siege of Sevastopol ended on July 4 , 1942 , with the German capture of the city , the German 11th Army was free to be used elsewhere , and Hitler decided that the 11th Army would be used in the assault on Leningrad . The Soviet forces were trying to lift the siege , which was causing severe damage to the city and losses in civilian population . The Road of Life was frequently disabled by regular German airstrikes . Several smaller offensives were launched in 1942 in the region , but failed . The last offensive near Lyuban resulted in the encirclement and destruction of most of the Soviet 2nd Shock Army . Nevertheless , the opening of a supply route to Leningrad was so important that preparations for the new operation began almost immediately after the defeat at Lyuban . Preparations . The area south of Ladoga is heavily forested with many wetlands ( notably peat deposits ) close to the lake . These terrain hindered the mobility of artillery and vehicles . In addition the forest shielded both sides from visual observation . One of the key locations were the Sinyavino heights , which were approximately 150 metres higher than the surrounding flat terrain . The heights were one of the few dry and clear areas and provided a good spot for observation . The front line changed very little after the blockade was established , allowing the German forces to build a dense defensive network of strong points in the area , interconnected by trenches , protected by extensive obstacles and interlocking artillery and mortar fire . German plans . The plan to capture Leningrad in summer - autumn 1942 was first outlined in the OKW ( German supreme command ) directive 41 of April 5 , 1942 . The directive stressed that the capture of Leningrad and the drive to the Caucasus in the east were the main objectives in the summer campaign on the Eastern Front . During discussions with Hitler on June 30 , the commander of Army Group North , Field Marshal Georg von Küchler , presented him with several operations that would help to carry out this directive . Following these discussions the OKH ( German high command ) started redeploying heavy artillery from Sevastopol , including the siege artillery batteries Gustav , Dora and Karl , to assist in destroying Soviet defenses and the Kronshtadt fortress . The redeployment was complete by July 23 . On the same day , Fuehrer Directive No . 45 included orders for an operation by Army Group North to capture Leningrad by early September . This operation was named " Feuerzauber " ( Fire Magic ) . The attack was to be carried out by the forces of the 11th Army , which were free to be used elsewhere after the capture of Sevastopol . In addition , the OKH sent the 8th Air Corps to provide air support for land forces . On July 30 , the operation was renamed Operation Northern Light ( ) . The formulated operation required three army corps to penetrate the Soviet defenses south of Leningrad . One corps would then cut off Leningrad from the troops to the south and west , while the other two would turn east and destroy the Soviet forces between the Neva River and Lake Ladoga . Then the three corps could capture Leningrad without heavy street fighting . This would in turn free up the troops involved in the siege for use elsewhere and would make victory on the Eastern Front more likely . Meanwhile , the Germans were also preparing for the Battle of Stalingrad . The 11th Army had a total of 12 divisions under command in the Leningrad area . Soviet plans . The Soviet Union had tried throughout 1942 to lift the siege . While both the winter and Lyuban offensives operation failed to break the siege of the city , there was now a part of the front where only separated the Leningrad Front in the city and the Volkhov Front . The offensive was to link up the forces of the two fronts and establish a supply route to Leningrad . Because the Leningrad Front was at this time weaker , the Volkhov was to carry out the offensive , while the Leningrad Front would only carry out local attacks and capture bridgeheads across the River Neva . The Volkhov Front ' s 8th Army was to spearhead the attack , with the 4th Guards Rifle Corps in second and the reforming 2nd Shock Army in third echelon . Taking into account the difficult and heavily fortified terrain of the upcoming battle , the Soviet troops were , in contrast to their earlier operations , very well equipped . The 8th army was significantly reinforced with artillery and tanks . On average , each first echelon division was reinforced by a tank battalion , a few artillery regiments and one or two batteries of Katyusha rocket launcher s . This allowed the Soviets to deploy 60 - 100 guns and 5 - 9 tanks per kilometer of frontage of their main offensive . The troops were equipped with large numbers of PPD - 40 and PPSh - 41 sub - machine guns . Engineering units were attached to individual artillery batteries , increasing the overall mobility of the army . Battle . Neither side was aware that the other was building up forces and planning to launch an offensive in the region . The Germans only realized that the Soviet action was a major offensive in the following days after the start of the attack by the 8th Army on August 27 . This resulted in the 11th Army and the 8th Air Corps being reassigned to deal with a major Soviet offensive and abandon preparations for the offensive on Leningrad . Likewise the Soviet forces were unaware of the redeployment of the 11th Army to Leningrad and only expected to face ten divisions of the 18th Army . The redeployment of forces from the Crimea was not detected . This meant that the Soviet forces were launching an offensive when at a numerical disadvantage even before the battle started . Soviet offensive , Leningrad Front , August 19 – 26 . Ultimately the Soviet operation started before the German one , on August 19 , although German sources give later dates . This is because the offensive by the Volkhov Front did not begin until August 27 . The German operation was due to begin on September 14 . The Leningrad Front launched its offensive on August 19 , however due to the limited supplies and manpower , the front was only to capture and expand bridgeheads across the Neva River , that would help it to link up with the Volkhov Front . The German side did not see this as a major offensive , because the Leningrad Front had already mounted several local offensives in July and early August . On August 19 , Franz Halder noted in his diary only " local attacks as usual " in the Region . Therefore , no additional defensive measures were taken . Soviet main offensive , Volkhov Front , August 27 – September 9 . The Volkhov Front offensive started on the morning of August 27 . The hidden buildup of forces allowed the Soviet forces to enjoy a significant superiority on the first day of the offensive in manpower , tanks and artillery and caught the German by surprise . The 8th Army had initial success advancing and scattering the first line of German defenses such as the 223rd Infantry Division , advancing on the first day at the location of the main attack . However initial attempts to expand on the flanks failed due to heavy German resistance . The German command reacted by redeploying the 5th Mountain and 28th Light Infantry ( Jager ) divisions from staging areas for Operation Nordlicht to meet the Soviet offensive . Lead elements from the 170th infantry Division , which had only arrived in Mga , have also joined the offensive . In addition Hitler diverted the 3rd Mountain division , which was being redeployed by sea to Finland , to Estonia instead . On August 29 , the breach in the German defenses was up to deep . To sustain their advance towards Sinyavino , the Soviet forces started committing their second echelon divisions into combat . The German forces were further reinforced by the 12th Panzer and part of the 96th Infantry Divisions . Notably , this day saw the first combat deployment of the Tiger tank , as part of the 502nd Tank Battalion , which on August 29 had four Tigers . The attempt to counterattack with them failed as two of the tanks broke down almost immediately , and the third tank ' s engine overheated . During this first phase , aerial reinforcements were dispatched to " Luftwaffenkommando Ost " ( Air Command East ' s ) " Luftflotte 1 " ( Air Fleet 1 ) . The " Oberkommando der Luftwaffe " ( High Command of the Air Force ) sent several " Jagdgeschwader " ( Fighter Wings ) to assist German defences against intense Soviet air attacks . Elements of JG 54 and JG 77 were rushed to provide air superiority operations over the battle front . Despite being opposed by the Soviet 14th Air Army and outnumbered two to one , the " Luftwaffe " maintained air superiority . " Luftflotte 1 " destroyed 42 Soviet aircraft in large - scale air battles on the 1 and 2 September and relieved pressure on German ground forces . The German aerial activity was so effective , there was evidence some Soviet airmen ' s morale had broken down and they were not giving their best in combat . This prompted Joseph Stalin to threaten any pilot refusing to engage with the enemy a court - martial . On September 5 Volkhov Front ' s penetration increased to , at the furthest point , thus leaving only to the Neva River . Attempts to capture Sinyavino and the adjacent heights met very heavy resistance and failed . On the flanks , the Soviet forces captured the German strong points at Workers Settlement 8 and Mishino on September 3 , and Voronovo on September 7 . However no more ground was gained after this day in the penetration sector . To try to break the stalemate , the third echelon troops ( 2nd Strike Army ) were used , but German flanking counterattacks forced a halt to the offensive . On September 7 , the Volkhov front pulled back two divisions from the 8th Army and replaced them with a fresh division and a tank brigade to achieve further advance . Stalemate , September 10 – 20 . The battle turned into a stalemate with neither side gaining any ground despite several attempts to renew the offensive . Between September 10 – 19 there was no major change in the front line . The Soviet side was waiting for reinforcements and air support , hoping to advance the that separated it from the Leningrad Front in the next few weeks , but reinforcements took time . Having halted the Soviet advance , the German forces now aimed to defeat it . Manstein , who was appointed by Hitler to be in charge of all German forces in the sector , aimed to cut off the bulge formed by the Soviet advance . However , the initial counterattack on September 10 failed with heavy losses , encountering extensive minefields and artillery and mortar fire . Manstein decided to build up forces for a two - pronged attack , while local German counterattacks checked the Soviet attempts to advance . German counter - offensive , September 21 – October 15 . The main German counter offensive began on September 21 . Six divisions participated in the attack , with 121st Infantry Division attacking from the north , 30th Army Corps ' 24th , 132nd and 170th Infantry Divisions from the south and 3rd Mountain and 28th Light Infantry Divisions mounting holding attacks . The 5th Mountain Division suffered heavy casualties in the last ten days and did not play a big role in the counteroffensive . The counterattacking German were facing the same problems as the Soviet forces had faced in the previous month . Advance in difficult terrain overcoming the defensive positions was very slow and casualties were high . Only on September 25 , after five days of very heavy fighting , German forces linked up near Gaitolovo , and part of the Soviet 8th ( the 6th Guards Rifle Corps ) and 2nd Shock Armies were encircled . After defeating Soviet attempts to relieve or break out of the pocket , it was bombarded by heavy artillery and air strikes . At the same time the 28th Light Infantry and the 12th Panzer divisions defeated the attempts of the Leningrad Front to expand their bridgeheads . In the heavy fighting from the end of September to October 15 , the German forces reduced the encirclement and recaptured all previously lost strong points , except a small bridgehead held by forces of the Leningrad Front near Moskovkaya Dubrovka . Aftermath . For the Soviet Union this operation was a costly failure , although with less effect compared to the Soviet defeat near Miasnoy Bor in June and July , where the 2nd Shock Army was almost destroyed and the German forces reported capturing 33 , 000 prisoners . After only three months the Soviet forces would launch a new offensive , Operation Iskra . That offensive would open a corridor to Leningrad in January 1943 . For the Germans , the effects were bigger . Although the Soviet threat was eliminated and the position of the 18th Army re - established , the 11th Army had suffered serious losses in men , equipment and ammunition . The 18th Army also suffered losses , especially the 223rd Infantry Division , which was opposing the 8th Army on the first day of its offensive . Heavy casualties led to the OKH Operations Order No . 1 , which ordered Army Group North to defense during the winter . In November , the German reinforcements and other units were stripped from Army Group North to deal with a major Soviet offensive at Stalingrad and Operation Northern Light was aborted .