Amidst these conditions, "Iskra" was to become the first of several offensive operations aimed at inflicting a decisive defeat on Army Group North.

[4] Operation Iskra was a strategic victory for the Soviet forces and successfully opened a land corridor 8–10 km wide into the city.

55th Army's attack would also hit sectors defended by other German formations which were established to secure flanks and draw them into battle.

Shells, mortars and Katyusha rockets pounded the trenches, bunkers and dugouts which had been constructed to strengthen the eastern flank of Army Group North.

Pinned down by two hours of initial bombardment, Spanish formations were unable to retreat towards the town and in many cases fought to the death, they fulfilled their motto: "No possible relief, until extinction".

Soviet tanks opened fire on a hospital and retreating ambulances but were eventually beaten off by Spanish troops armed with Molotov cocktails and hand grenades.

The afternoon brought belated support for the defenders in the form of a Luftwaffe fighter-bomber attack on the Soviet positions around the town of Kolpino, to the north of Krasny Bor, while the 45th Guards Rifle Division seized Mishkino.

After 16:30 hours a battle group of the German 212th Infantry Division and two companies each of the Flemish and the Latvian Legions were able to support the Spanish with a counter-attack on the forest at Staraya Rechka, and by taking over the frontline from the highway to the Izhora River.

[2] At the end of the day, the 63rd Guards Rifle Division had advanced four or five kilometres and captured Krasny Bor, Mishkino, Staraya Mirza, Stepanovka, and Popovka Station.

At the end of the battle, Spanish forces held the paper mill at Voiskorovo and defensive posts east of Samsanowka, in the eastern bank of the Ishora, preventing the Soviet army from crossing the river.

After the Spanish 262nd infantry Regiment and 1st Artillery Battalion evacuated, they bombarded the Soviet positions and attempted a counter-attack to recapture Krasny Bor on February 12.

The main road to Moscow was still controlled by the 18th Army, despite the capture of three km of railway line, The Soviets launched their last major assault in this sector on March 19, 1943, on an area defended by the 262nd infantry Regiment of the Blue Division.

[6] Soviet general staff critiques after the battle highlighted the reasons for the failure of the attacks during Operation Polar Star as strongly fortified defenses, faulty reconnaissance, poor command and control on all levels, clumsy employment of tanks and ineffective artillery support.

[7] The failure by the 55th Soviet Army to follow through on its initial success meant that the encirclement of the German forces in the Mga sector had lost its northern pincer.

Lack of success by the other attacking armies, for similar reasons, led to the overall failure of the grandly conceived Operation Polar Star.

The German 50th Corps, in particular the 250th (Spanish) Infantry Division, had managed to hold the Red Army inside the perimeter of the siege of Leningrad, but at heavy cost.

A new volunteer formation called the Blue Legion remained in combat on the Eastern Front, attached to the 121st Infantry Division until March 1944.