found only one aircraft and suffered one machine damaged in air combat on 16 August. ZG 26 achieved success against Nizino airfield which housed the 5 IAP on 19 August. For the cost of one Bf 110, Soviet records reported that 20 fighters were destroyed and a further 13 damaged in the attack in contrast to German claims of 40 destroyed. This claim took the total number of claims made by ZG 26 from 22 June 1941, to 191 Soviet aircraft destroyed in the air and 663 on the ground. On 27 August the Leningrad Front began a full-scale counterattack against the XXXXI Panzer Corps at Mga. ZG 27 fought with the 7 IAK and 5 IAP regiments in "violent aerial clashes." Three Bf 110s were claimed by these fighter units, but German losses are unstated. On 29 August 35 IAP joined the battle and claimed two more Bf 110s. German losses are again unstated. II./ZG 26 supported I./KG 77 and elements of JG 54 and KGr 806 in Operation Beowulf, a seizure of Soviet-held islands in the Baltic. On 6 September ZG 26 attacked the airfield at Kagul and destroyed eight aircraft; the operation was successful. ZG 26 reverted to supporting the Siege of Leningrad in September. On 19 September it supported the largest and most lethal bombing attacks to date as 442 people were killed. The wing reported one crew lost. In late September, ZG 26 was moved back to Luftflotte 2, as part of Fliegerkorps VIII. The wing was ordered to provide close air support for Operation Typhoon, the Battle of Moscow. The two groups fought in the successful early phase of the battle. On 20 October 1941, I./ZG 26 was ordered to return to Germany and was renamed II./NJG 1 leaving II./ZG 26 and SKG 210 the only Bf 110 units in the Soviet Union. Days later, Luftflotte 2 was ordered to transfer to southern Europe and support the Battle of the Mediterranean. The Moscow offensive failed and was subjected to a large Soviet counter-offensive on 5 December 1941. II./ZG 26 remained on the central sector protecting the Demyansk Pocket. Defence of the Reich and dissolution In the late summer and early autumn the ZG wing's joined the RLV forces for the Defence of the Reich operations against the United States Army Air Force, in particularly the Eighth Air Force. The heavy fighter wings had a