Nevsky Pyatachok (русский. Не́вский пятачо́к) is the name of the Neva Bridgehead 50 km east south-east of Leningrad and 15km south of Shlisselburg, and was the site of one of the most critical and costly campaigns during the Siege of Leningrad from September 1941 until May 1943 to reopen land communications with the city during the German siege.
The area between Shlisselburg and the bend of the Neva to the south represented the land link between the Soviet-controlled territory and the city defence perimeter. The Red Army objective was to maintain this narrow stretch of the shore, and prevent the German forces from completing the the blockade, thus allowing the transports to reach the population in besieged Leningrad with deliveries of food, medications and other supplies.
The area was initially contested by the Red Army's Krasnogvardeisk Fortified Region, the 55th and the 48th Armies. On 7 September 1941 the German 20th Motorised Division was able to force the elements of the 48th Army out of Shlisselburg, setting the stage for a more than two-year struggle to reopen the land communications with Leningrad by the Red Army.
Initially Germans secured the area, but already at September 20, 1941, Soviets managed to cross the river and establish the bridgehead, but failed to enlarge it. Germans managed to eliminate bridgehead by April 29, 1942, but it was re-established at September 26, 1942.
The struggle for Nevsky Pyatachok went on from January 1942 through to May 1943.
In 1942 the area was a scene of heavy fighting for the German XXVIII Army Corps which, from October 1942, was under a constant assault by the 67th Army.
Eventually Leonid Govorov proposed two operations to the Stavka called the Shlisselburg Operation and the Uritsk Operation, which became the basis of the planning for the Operation Iskra. The intention was for the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front and the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front to destroy the German troops in the Shlisselburg - Siniavino sector, thereby restoring the land communications and raising the siege. They were supported in this by the 13th Air Army, and some units of the Long Range Aviation.
Although the south-eastern perimeter of the siege was temporarily penetrated, Soviet forces only managed to open 10-12km wide corridor, meaning all traffic had to happen under the fire of the German guns. German casualties for the duration of the struggle for the bridgehead estimated to be the size of around 1km by 1.5km in area, were some 160,000 (combat and combat related) in total.
These, and other operations conducted to May 1943 resulted in Red Army casualties estimated at 260,000 in this sector of the front.
After the war, a tradition begun by the children of Leningrad schools for summer trips to the area to participate in search for numerous remains of those that died there for reburial. Official burial ceremonies were then held commemorating the dead of those battles. The ground there is still littered with unidentifiable skeletal remains, and these are often found in the diggings in, and around the former battlefield of the Nevsky Pyatachok.
Today the battlefield of Nevsky Pyatachok is the well-known national and historic landmark in Russia. A memorial was built as part of the "Green Belt of Glory" commemorating the heroic resistance during the siege of Leningrad.
![[2]](/out?u=http%3A%2F%2Fvictory.tass-online.ru%2Fdata%2FPhotos%2FPhoto%2F175.JPEG){kind=link}