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.

By 8 September 1941 German and Finnish forces had surrounded the city, cutting off all supply routes to Leningrad and its suburbs.

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.

[7] 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.

[8] The area south of Ladoga is heavily forested with many wetlands (notably peat deposits) close to the lake.

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.

[9] The plan to capture Leningrad in summer-autumn 1942 was first outlined in the OKW (German supreme command) directive 41 of 5 April 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.

[10] While Army Group Center conducts holding operations, capture Leningrad and link up with the Finns in the north and, on the southern flank, penetrate into the Caucasus region, adhering to the original aim in the march to the east.

[11]During discussions with Hitler on 30 June, the commander of Army Group North, Field Marshal Georg von Küchler, presented him with several operations that would help to carry out this directive.

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.

[15] 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.

On average, each first echelon division was reinforced by a tank battalion, a few artillery regiments and one or two batteries of Katyusha rocket launchers.

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 27 August.

[25] 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.

Luftflotte 1 destroyed 42 Soviet aircraft in large-scale air battles on the 1 and 2 September and relieved pressure on German ground forces.

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.

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 10 September 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.

The 5th Mountain Division suffered heavy casualties in the last ten days and did not play a big role in the counteroffensive.

[22] Only on 25 September, after five days of very heavy fighting, German forces linked up near Gaitolovo, and part of the Soviet 8th (the 6th Guards Rifle Corps)[19] and 2nd Shock Armies were encircled.

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 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.