It reached the shore of Lake Ladoga in Koirinoja [fi] on 15 July, splitting in half and encircling parts of the Soviet 7th Army.

The corps then continued its advance along the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, taking Vitele [fi] and Olonets before reaching the River Svir.

With multiple corps planned to attack in three different directions, the operation was too complicated to be left uncoordinated by a higher echelon.

The Finns, however, had trouble concentrating forces and directing artillery and the attack soon slowed down, with battles in the region of Korpiselkä causing delays of 19 to 20 hours.

[11] On 13 July, the corps was given orders to take Loimola and then attack towards Koirinoja [fi] on the shore of Lake Ladoga.

[17] By 19 July 1941, the Army of Karelia was concerned about possible encirclement by a combination of landings from the lake and Soviet forces counter-attacking from the east, and so ordered the VI Corps to not advance beyond the Vitele [fi]-Vedlozero line.

However, due to a lack of Finnish forces available for coastal defense, the Soviet 4th Naval Infantry Brigade was able to land on the Lunkulansaari Island [fi].

[25] By the morning of 5 September, the Finns had broken the Soviet line and opened the road to the city of Olonets,[25] which fell the same evening.

[28] By the end of August 1941, VI corps was in charge of the whole Svir sector, covering the river and the bridgehead with a force consisting of the 11th, 5th, 17th and 7th Divisions.

The division was moved away from the sector later, once it had become clear both that the German forces would not be able to reach the Svir from the south, and that the Finns were hesitant to advance southwards themselves.

The breach was under control on 22 April, but the defense had involved 16 Finnish battalions and cost them 2165 casualties, including 440 killed.

[35] The Soviet counter-attacks largely stopped in April 1942,[33] and the Svir front stabilized into stationary or trench warfare.

[38] In this configuration, it was struck by the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk offensive on 21 June, while the Finns were in the process of pulling back their forces to the northern side of the Svir.

[41] VI Corps retreated to the northern shores of Lake Ladoga, taking positions on a partially complete defensive line called the U-line (Finnish: U-asema) between 8 and 11 July.

On 27 July, the Soviets informed the neutral Swedes that they would be ready to negotiate for a peace that allowed for Finnish independence.

On the morning of 4 September, Finnish forces began to observe a cease-fire, as agreed during Finno-Soviet negotiations over the preceding two weeks.

The corps was to take a defensive position in the region between lakes Simpelejärvi and Kiteenjärvi with orders to repulse any Soviet attacks.

However, the situation was complicated by the concurrent Soviet demands that the Finns remove the German forces remaining in northern Finland.

As a result of disagreements regarding the strength and composition of the post-war Finnish army, the plan had not been approved by the start of November.

This was of significant concern for the Finns, as time was running out for completing the demobilization by the original 5 December deadline while the Lapland War, the removal of remaining German forced from northern Finland, continued.