Operation Iskra 1943
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 12 January 1943 – 30 January 1943 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1943 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Russia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Siege of Leningrad | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 59.9000, 31.0675 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
Operation Iskra (Russian: операция Искра, lit. 'Operation Spark'), a Soviet military operation in January 1943 during World War II, aimed to break the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad. Planning for the operation began shortly after the failure of the Sinyavino Offensive. The German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad in late 1942 had weakened the German front. By January 1943, Soviet forces were planning or conducting offensive operations across the entire German-Soviet Front, especially in southern Russia; Iskra formed the northern part of the wider Soviet 1942–1943 winter counteroffensive.
The operation was conducted by the Red Army's Leningrad Front, Volkhov Front, and the Baltic Fleet from 12 to 30 January 1943 with the aim of creating a land connection to Leningrad. Soviet forces linked up on 18 January, and by 22 January, the front line had stabilised. The operation successfully opened a land corridor 8–10 km (5.0–6.2 mi) wide to the city. A railroad was swiftly built through the corridor and allowed more supplies to reach the city than the Road of Life, across the frozen surface of Lake Ladoga, which significantly reduced the possibilities of the capture of the city and of any German–Finnish linkup.
The success led to Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda less than two weeks later, which aimed to decisively defeat Army Group North and to lift the siege altogether.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Operation Iskra (revision 1370633404), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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