The Axis deployed the Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment, Naval Detachment K (including the Italian XII Squadriglia MAS), and the German Luftwaffe Einsatzstab Fähre Ost, to interdict the route;[1] MAS conducted torpedo boat attacks.

[1][2] The culmination of Axis operations was the raid against Sukho Island, 20 km from the southern shore of the lake, which covered supply lines and the approaches to Soviet bases.

The German ferries were escorted at a distance by MAS-526; critically, surprise was lost when they were detected by Soviet minesweeper TSch-100, which joined the battle later.

The arrival of Soviet gunboats and MO patrol boats forced the Axis to withdraw after having refloated SF-14 and SF-22.

SF-21 was used as a rearguard; it silenced the remaining gun on Sukho but was then abandoned and scuttled - along with infantry boat I-6 - when it began to sink from leaks and pump failures.