In Janurary 1943 Russian units had sucessfully broken the blockade of Leningrad. However the Soviets failed to continue the offenssive, mainly due to a lack of ammunition. On the 22 July 1943 the Mga Offensive was launched to push the 18th Army out of the Mga-Volkhov area. The offensive failed in it's objective but did manage to drive a wedge into the German's defenses and inflict heavy losses on the 18th Army.