Luga Defensive Line

Luga defensive line
Part of the Leningrad strategic defensive the Battle of Leningrad the Great Patriotic War World War II
Pillbox on Langina Hill, at the site of the Luga line 58°42′54″N 29°50′34″E
Date 10 July – 24 August 1941 Location Luga, Shimsk, Kingisepp, Leningrad Oblast, Soviet Union Result Advance of Army Group North delayed by one month (in the Luga area for 45 days), line broken by German forces in the Shimsk and Kingisepp areas, Soviet forces encircled, abandoned the line and retreated
Belligerents
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany	USSR Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Georg von Küchler Erich Hoepner Ernst Busch Erich von Manstein	Kliment Voroshilov Markian Popov Konstantin Pyadyshev Andrey Astanin Filipp Starikov Stepan Akimov Valentin Semashko
Strength
Army Group North	Luga Operational Group: more than 100,000 men
Casualties and losses
	55,535 men

The Luga Defensive Line (Luga fortified position; Russian: Лужский оборонительный рубеж) was a system of Soviet fortifications (defensive line) of approximately 300 kilometres long, built in June–August 1941 on the territory of Leningrad region, from the Narva Gulf, along the rivers Luga, Mshaga, Shelon to Lake Ilmen with the aim of preventing a breakthrough by troops of the German Army Group North to the north-east in the direction of Leningrad.

Major defensive operations of the Soviet Red Army took place at the line in July and August of 1941 halting Wehrmacht's rapid advance across the Baltic states and delaying its approach to Leningrad by about a month. The line was abandoned towards the end of August.