In two and a half weeks, Lithuania and Latvia had been overrun and on 9 July, the 4th Panzer Group had already reached Pskov in Russia and the southern shore of Lake Peipus, with a bulge to the north-east towards Slavkovich.

The guideline envisaged the construction of a defensive line between Narva, Luga and Staraja Russa and expanding it to a depth of 10 to 15 km.

On 6 July, General Konstantin Piadyshev was appointed commander of the new line of defense along the Luga River, and the Northern Front Military Council decided to strengthen the Luga section by transferring the 237th Rifle Division from Petrozavodsk and the 21st and 24th Tank Division of the 10th Mechanized Corps from Karelia.

When the German breakthrough began to emerge south of Lake Peipus, the troops of the new line of defense were combined on 6 July to form the Luga Operational Group under General Konstantin Piadyshev's command.

On 10 July 1941, the advanced units of German Army Group North, breaking the line of the Velikaya River, continued their attack on Leningrad.

On July 12, German troops clashed with covering units of the Luga defensive line in the Plyussa River area and were stopped during stubborn fighting.

Unable to bypass the defending troops from the flanks because of the swampy terrain, Reinhardt left the 269th Infantry Division at Luga, and diverted the main forces of the XXXXI Panzer Corps towards the north-west and by 14 July captured two bridgeheads on the right bank of the Luga River near the villages of Ivanovskoye and Bol'shoy Sabsk in the area of Kingisepp.

The German troops were stopped at these positions by the forces of the Luga Operational Group and were only able to continue the offensive a month later.

[citation needed] On 10 July, the 3rd Motorized Division of the LVI Panzer Corps occupied the city of Porkhov and continued the offensive in the direction of Dno.

The 8th Panzer Division launched an attack on Shimsk, moving along the highway on the left bank of the Shelon River in the direction of Novgorod.

Despite the fact that German air reconnaissance had reported a great concentration of Soviet troops and reinforcements from the north, the 8th Panzer Division was ordered to capture the bridge over Mshaga in an intact state.

[citation needed] The Soviet command decided to take advantage of the fact that the LVI Panzer Corps was left without cover.

012 to the troops of the 11th Army under command of Lieutenant General Vasili Morozov, reinforced by formations of the Northern Front (21st Tank, 70th and 237th Rifle divisions), to carry out a counter-attack and restore the situation in the Soltsy area.

By order of the headquarters of the North-Western Front, the commander of the Soviet 11th Army created two groups of forces for counterattack - the northern and southern.

The fierce Soviet counterattack had the effect that on 19 July the entire German Army Group "North" suspended the offensive towards Leningrad.

Only on 27 July did the situation along the entire front between Narva and Lake Ilmen stabilize, and Army Group North able to think again about continuing the offensive against Leningrad.

On 8 August the LVI Panzer Corps attacked in the area of Luga but failed to advance against strong Soviet defensive positions.

Under the threat of being cut off from Leningrad, the German XXXVIII Corps forced the 8th Soviet Army to withdraw onto the Koporskoye plateau on 18 August.

On the morning of 16 August, Novgorod was in German hands and the remaining regiments of the 21st Infantry Division launched an attack on Chudovo.

The attack by the German XXVIII Corps of the 16th Army finally unlocked the left flank of General Astanin's Luga group.

On 22 August, General Astanin had received the order to pull back his units behind the railroad to Gatchina (Krasnogvardeysk), but it was too late.

The commander-in-chief of the German Army Group North, von Leeb, was forced to transfer the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf to the area of the Soviet offensive, it was soon followed by the 3rd Motorized Division and Erich von Manstein's LVI Panzer Corps, which was already heavily engaged at Luga.

As a result of the unsuccessful offensive, the commander of the North-Western Front, Major General Pyotr Sobennikov, was removed from office and sentenced to 5 years in prison, later replaced by a demotion.

The Germans had conquered Estonia and a large strip of Western Russia up to southern shores of the Gulf of Finland, although some strong-points of Soviet defence held out.

On 8 September, the 20th Motorized Division captured Shlisselburg on the shores of Lake Ladoga, closing the last land route out of Leningrad.

The remains of General Baranov's armored division continued to withdraw, occupying new positions on the Pulkovo Heights, the last line of defense on the southwestern approach of Leningrad.

On 14 September, Georgi Zhukov arrived in Leningrad to replace Marshal Voroshilov and ordered immediate counter-measures to push back the German troops.

Stopping and delaying the German advance enabled the Soviet leadership to take important measures regarding the defense of Leningrad, including the formation and training of new military units.