Battle of Lyuban
Part of theEastern Front ofWorld War II
Battle of the Volkhov, 10 January – 28 June 1942
Date 7 January 1942 – 30 April 1942 (3 months, 3 weeks and 2 days) Location Southern shore ofLake Ladoga, nearLyuban Result German victory Destruction of the2nd Shock Army
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Georg von Küchler	Kirill Meretskov Mikhail Khozin Andrey Vlasov (POW) Leonid Govorov
Units involved
Army Group North 18th Army	Volkhov Front 2nd Shock Army 4th Army 52nd Army 59th Army Leningrad Front 8th Army 54th Army
Strength
Approximately 200,000 men	7 January: Volkhov Front: 327,700 men[1][2]
Casualties and losses
56,768 men[3] 11,642 killed 43,869 wounded 1,257 missing	308,367 men[1][2] 95,064 killed or captured 213,303 wounded or sick

TheBattle of Lyuban,Lyuban offensive operation orBattle of the Volkhov (7 January 1942 – 30 April 1942) (Russian: Любанская наступательная операция; German: Schlacht am Wolchow) was aSovietoffensive operation ofWorld War II. It was conducted by theVolkhov andLeningrad Fronts of theRed Army with the goal of relieving thesiege of Leningrad and encircling and destroying theGerman forces carrying out the siege.^[4]

The offensive used no tanks because of the terrain, therefore it was down to the infantry and the artillery. The attacking Soviet forces found themselves under intense fire from German defensive positions, and the Red Army lacked proper artillery support against the German lines. The offensive stalled and the Soviets went over to the defensive. Field MarshalGeorg von Küchler counterattacked with an operation called 'Wild Beast" (Operation Raubtier) and the Soviet2nd Shock Army was cut off and surrounded. It was destroyed in June 1942 and its commanderAndrey Vlasov was taken prisoner. Vlasov later became a leading member of the collaborationistCommittee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia andRussian Liberation Army.^[5]

The Volkhov and Leningrad Fronts lacked the armored vehicles, artillery ammunition, manpower reserves, fuel and food to mount sustained offensive operations against the German 18th Army.^[6][7][8] Inadequate Soviet firepower could not reduce the German system of fortified strongpoints in the forests.^[9] The Germans inflicted heavy losses on the attacking Soviet forces and forced the exhausted Red Army to the defensive.^[9] According to generalMikhail Khozin, Soviet armored forces and artillery firepower did not exist in sufficient quantities to exploit penetrations and defeat German counterattacks.^[8]

Out of 327,700 men deployed into battle from 7 January – 30 April 1942, the Volkhov Front lost 308,367, including 95,064 killed or missing and 213,303 wounded or sick.^[1][2]

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