On 22 July, at the same time as the troops of the 8th Army, units of the 67th Army went on the offensive, and partially broke the enemy's defenses, but failed to exploit the initial success. The German command strengthened its defenses with reserves, sending the 58th, 126th (from the 16th Army), and at the end of the operation the 61st Infantry Divisions and the Soviet offensive was halted. Fierce fighting lasted several weeks and both sides suffered heavy losses. At the end of August, the fighting gradually began to subside. Despite fierce fighting, the Soviet troops failed to reach the targets set before the start of the operation, and the front line in the area of the Sinyavino Heights differed only slightly from the front line at the beginning of the Soviet offensive. Second attack (15–25 September 1943) On the orders of the Stavka, the front commanders Govorov and Meretskov prepared a new offensive only a few weeks after the failure of their first operations. This time the goals were much more narrowly defined and now only included taking the Sinyavino Heights. The Leningrad Front had refreshed the 30th Guards Rifle Corps in the Leningrad area and then relocated it to the area south of Shlisselburg. There it became temporarily subordinated to General Duchanov's 67th Army. The plan was to use this unit to attack the Sinyavino Heights directly from the north. To the left of the corps it was to be supported by the 43rd and 123rd Rifle Divisions, and to the right by the 120th, 124th and 196th Rifle Divisions. In addition, the 11th and 268th Rifle Divisions were already positioned in front of the Sinyavino Heights. The 8th Army of the Volkhov Front under General Starikov was to support the offensive with an attack between Voronovo and Gaitolovo. On the morning of 15 September 1943, the attack began again. On this occasion, the Red Army implemented a new artillery concept. This time the Soviet artillery did not pause in their fire when the Soviet infantry was moving forward. The attack of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps with its three divisions was more successful than a few weeks before. The German 11th and 290th infantry divisions were surprised by the new artillery concept and so the Soviet attack units succeeded in gaining several hundred meters of terrain on the Sinyavino Heights. But the 18th Army command moved