Sinyavino Offensive. The Legion was then moved south near Lake Ladoga. At the end of 1942, it was merged with the 2nd SS Infantry Brigade. In January 1943, Dutch troops were heavily involved in defending against Soviet attempts to lift the siege at Leningrad. One 19-year old Dutch gun crew leader, Geradus Mooyman, destroyed 23 Russian tanks with his Pak 40 in about a month of fighting. He became the first foreigner to be awarded Knight’s Cross. On 6 February, General Seyffardt, while campaigning for new recruits in Amsterdam, was assassinated by the Dutch resistance. In April 1943, the unit was sent to Germany to be reformed as the SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland. The brigade was to consist of two Panzergrenadier regiments under the command of SS-Oberführer Jürgen Wagner. In September 1943, the Brigade sent to the Independent State of Croatia (Yugoslavia) to join SS-Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner's III SS Panzer Corps currently forming in the area. Upon its arrival, the Brigade received 1,500 Dutch recruits, drawn from the SS Division Wiking. During its time there, elements of the brigade were engaged in rear-security operations. During this period, the brigade was redesignated 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Nederland. At this time, its strength stood at 9,342 men. Retreat On 25 December 1943, the brigade was transferred, along with Steiner's SS Corps, to Oranienbaum, Russia in Army Group North's sector. The corps was deployed to the area near Oranienbaum as part of the 18th Army. The Soviet Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive cut through the weak infantry units formed out of the 9th and 10th Luftwaffe Field Divisions. The unit, alongside the SS Division Nordland, soon retreated to avoid encirclement by General Leonid A. Govorov's Leningrad Front. In the face of the Soviet Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive, the unit retreated to the Narva River in Estonia, where it took part in the Battle of Narva deployed on the Ivangorod bridgehead. The launch of Operation Bagration on 22 June threatened the German positions. On 23 July, Steiner ordered a withdrawal to the Tannenberg Line. The unit was destroyed from the air on 24 July, with only a few personnel reaching the Tannenberg Line a week later. The regiment was ordered to be reformed at Schlochau. In September, Leon Degrelle's battle group from SS Brigade Wallonien was placed under the command of Nederland. The unit arrived in the area near Gumi-Wolmar in mid-October. The Soviet forces cut