The Soviets staged a two-pronged attempt to break the siege, striking from both west and east on 27 August. The eastern strike force made good progress before being stopped by German counterattacks. In the west, the Polizei Division stood firm along the Neva when three Soviet divisions tried to form a bridgehead over the river. Two more Soviet divisions did manage to force a bridgehead on 3 September, which held out for nine days until heavy counterattacks by the Waffen-SS forced them back across the river in some disorder. For several more weeks the Soviets kept up their attacks, until they ran out of steam. The German forces slowly gained strength and forced the Soviets back to their starting points. The siege of Leningrad would continue through another winter.

The Soviet January 1943 offensive

The Soviets waited until January 1943 before attempting again to punch through the Siniavino salient. This time they mustered a far stronger attack force, including more than 500 tanks. On 13 January some 2885 Soviet guns opened up with a huge artillery barrage aimed at the German siege lines, including the Polizei Division that was still holding the line along the Neva. The Germans had now built a series of strongpoints along the siege lines either side of the Siniavino salient. These proved very difficult for the Soviets to overcome, and they suffered huge casualties trying to do so. The German strongpoints ultimately could not contain the Soviet troops and, five days later, two attack groups linked up to open a land corridor to Leningrad. To deal with the crisis, the Polizei Division was pulled out of the Neva line and sent into action to try to drive back the Soviet attack. The Waffen-SS failed to push back the Soviets, but it did stop them widening their 8km- (5-mile) wide land corridor to Leningrad. The fighting around the Siniavino salient lasted for two weeks, and it totally exhausted both the Germans and Soviets. German artillery was still able to sweep the corridor and Soviet casualties were horrendous as they tried to push supply convoys into Leningrad. The Red Army lost more than 115,000 casualties during the battle.

War of attrition

With the Battle of Stalingrad drawing away German reinforcements, Army Group North was unable to replenish its losses from these battles, so when the Soviets struck again in February they had more success. The Polizei Division was hit by a Soviet infantry division and a ski brigade in February and forced back from the Neva. The Russians penetrated 5km (3 miles) into the Waffen-SS lines before reinforcements could be mustered to stabilize the situation. These battles cost the Germans heavily, and the Spanish 250th Infantry Division that went to the Polizei Division's assistance suffered 3200 casualties. On 19 March the Soviets struck once more, and the Polizei Division's lines were again penetrated. To push them back the 502nd Heavy Panzer Battalion sent its Tiger I tanks into action, backed by Flemish-speaking Belgian Waffen-SS volunteers of the Flandern legion. The appearance of the monster Tiger tanks sent the Russians reeling back in chaos to their start lines.

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