push to Lyuban on the road to Leningrad. On 13 August I./StG 2 knocked out a major supply bridge on the Volkhov River which disrupted withdrawing Soviet forces. StG 2 rendered invaluable support to the XXXIX Panzer Corps and XXXVIII Army Corps at Schlüsselburg, cutting off Leningrad, beginning the siege of the city and leaving the Road of Life the only means to supply the defenders. By September 1941, both gruppen were operating against supply and troop concentrations around Lake Ladoga. On 19 September StG 2 formed part of six major bombing raids against the city from 08:14 and 23:00. 442 people were killed when a hospital was hit. StG 2 lost three Ju 87s. Through August StG 2 lost three destroyed and one damaged and the following month five Ju 87s were lost. The Baltic Fleet operated from Leningrad in the Gulf of Finland. The powerful fleet provided the Red Army with fire support along the coastline. Richthofen was ordered to destroy the fleet and he tasked Dinort with the task. The anti-aircraft artillery barrages over the city were heavy. Among the first victims of StG 2 operations was the Soviet destroyer Steregushchy. Soviet destroyer Gordy, Grozyaschi, and Silny were damaged. One pilot, Hans-Ulrich Rudel sank the battleship Marat. In the same action, the commanding officer of III./StG 2, Ernst-Siegfried Steen was killed when he was shot down attacking the Soviet cruiser Kirov. Steen crashed alongside the ship and his bomb detonated damaging the vessel. A third vessel, battleship October Revolution was damaged during the attacks. Soviet destroyer Minsk was sunk in shallow waters by a bomb dropped by Leutnant Egbert Jaekel. Hauptmann Günther Schwarzel took temporary command on 24 September until replaced by Gustav Preßler, 1 October. On 28 September, future Geschwaderkommodore Ernst Kupfer, flew three missions to Leningrad and was shot down each time; the first mission resulted in a hit on a cruiser but he was hit by Soviet fighters and force landed at an airfield. On the second he was damaged by ground fire after a hit in the engine. On the third occasion he and his gunner were wounded when they crashed into a forest after taking damage from ground fire. Both groups were returned to Luftflotte 2 for the Battle of Moscow. The German offensive began on 2 October 1941. I./StG 2 fought over the Vyazma pocket until 9 October. Thereafter, it supported