Second Ladoga battle

Front line prior to the start of Operation Iskra

The Second Ladoga Battle (also Operation Iskra , Russian Операция "Искра" - German "Spark") was a military operation planned by Marshal Zhukov for the Leningrad and the Volkhov Front of the Red Army from January 12th to 30th, 1943 with the Aim to lift the blockade of Leningrad .

prehistory

After the end of the German advance at the end of 1941, the Soviet troops in the Battle of the Volkhov in early 1942 and in the First Battle of Ladoga (August - October 1942) failed to end the Leningrad blockade.

procedure

The Soviet offensive until January 21, 1943

The Soviet fronts, led by Generals Leonid Goworow and Kirill Merezkow , had 21 divisions with 302,800 men at their disposal for the company. In heavy fighting against the German 18th Army it was possible to break through the siege ring and open a narrow corridor on the south bank of Lake Ladoga .

On January 12, the attack was opened by the 67th Army under General MP Duchanow from the west and troops of the 2nd Shock Army under General WS Romanowski from the east. On the first day a small bridgehead was fought on the left bank of the Neva near Marjino in the section of the German 170th Infantry Division . In the east, south of the village of Lipa and on both sides of Gaitolowo, the Soviet 128th and 256th Rifle Divisions made major breaches of the German 1st and 227th Infantry Divisions on the first day of the attack . The commander in chief of the 18th Army, General Lindemann reinforced the attacked XXVI. Army Corps (General von Leyser ) immediately with the 96th Infantry Division , which from the section of the XXVIII. Army Corps had been withdrawn.

The city of Shlisselburg was retaken by the Red Army by January 18th . On the same day, units of the 18th (from the east) and the 136th rifle divisions (from the west) met at 9:30 a.m. at labor camp No. 1 (on the adjacent map WS No1 ) and broke through the Leningrad blockade. The No. 5 Labor Camp was also occupied. The German 61st Infantry Division , cut off in the north , left their heavy equipment behind and broke through to Sinyavino under Lieutenant General Hühner . Until January 21, the Red Army tried to advance further south in the direction of Sinyavino, but could only capture labor camp No. 6 immediately west of the settlement. After that there were no more front shifts, the operation ended on January 30th.

consequences

On the south coast of Lake Ladoga, the Soviets cleared an 8 to 11 kilometer wide corridor through which the direct land connection to Leningrad could be restored. On January 22nd, the Soviet side began to restore the railway line to Leningrad.

Leningrad could be supplied again by rail from February 6th, which improved the supply situation in the city enormously. However, the narrow corridor continued to be in the range of German artillery, on the Sinyavino excellent height measurements shooting positions had moved. As part of Operation Polarstern (February 10 - April 1, 1943) and in the Third Ladoga Battle (July 22 - September 25, 1943), the Red Army tried unsuccessfully to blow up the blockade. This was not achieved until the Leningrad-Novgorod operation from January to March 1944.

The Soviet losses during the operation are given as 115,082 men (of which 33,940 were killed and missing).

Some Tiger- type tanks captured during the operation were used by the Soviet Ministry of Defense to develop more effective defense tactics against German tanks.

See also

• First Ladoga battle
• Third Ladoga battle

literature

When looking at Soviet sources, with the exception of samizdat and tamizdat literature that was published up to 1987, the activities of the Soviet censorship authorities ( Glawlit , military censorship) in revising various contents in line with Soviet ideology must be taken into account. (→ censorship in the Soviet Union )

• SP Platonow (ed.): Bitwa sa Leningrad 1941–1944. Wojenizdat , Moscow 1964.

Web links

• Operation spark. Against the blockade of Leningrad. (January 12-30, 1943) (Russian)
• History of the German 96th Infantry Division

Individual evidence

1. ^ GF Kriwoschejew (ed.): Rossija i SSSR w wojnach XX weka. Statistichesky issledovaniye. Archive series. Olma-Press, Moscow 2001, ISBN 5-224-01515-4 (Russian) ( Memento from March 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Harrison E. Salisbury, 900 days siege of Leningrad. P. 319 f.
3. ^ Page of the German 96th Infantry Division
4. ^ GF Kriwoschejew (ed.): Rossija i SSSR w wojnach XX weka. Statistichesky issledovaniye. Archive series. Olma-Press, Moscow 2001, ISBN 5-224-01515-4 (Russian) ( Memento from March 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ David M. Glantz : Colossus Reborn. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 2005, p. 201.