Atlas of Battles

battle, major, interwar and Second World War

Operation Spark

Operation Spark was a battle fought on 12 January 1943 at Saint Petersburg, in what is now Russia; it lasted 18 days. It was part of the Eastern Front, which ran from 1941 to 1955. The recorded result: Soviet victory. Recorded strength: 26 divisions; 700 artillery; 50 tanks against 20 divisions; 15 brigades; 4,600 artillery; 500 tanks; 900 aircraft.

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Operation Iskra (January 1943). The plan of the Soviet offensive.
Operation Iskra (January 1943). The plan of the Soviet offensive.. VT1978, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought12 January 1943lasted 18 days
WhereSaint Petersburg, Russia59.900N, 31.067E
OutcomeSoviet victory
BelligerentsNazi GermanyagainstSoviet Union
Casualties and losses8,905 to 45,570 casualtiesandKrivosheev's official soviet data: 33,940 killed; 71,142 wounded
Part ofEastern Front1941 to 1955

Where it sits in the Eastern Front

Baltic Sea campaigns, 1939Battle of Moscow, 1941Battle of Kiev, 1941Battle of Smolensk, 1941Summer War, 1941Defense of Brest Fortress, 1941Battle of Lwów, 1941Battle of Rossieny, 1941Action of 26 June 1941, 1941Defense of Borisov, 1941Solovyovo crossing, 1941Siege of Mahilow, 1941Battle of Lepel, 1941Baltic Operation, 1941Action of 9 July 1941, 1941Siege of Odesa 1941, 1941Siege of Leningrad, 1941Battle of the Sea of Azov, 1941Battle of Petrikowka, 1941Battle of Bryansk, 1941Battle of Mtsensk, 1941Battle at Borodino Field, 1941First Battle of Kharkov, 1941Capture of Gorlovka, 1941Action of 6 December 1941, 1941Battle of Jibrieni, 1941Kerch-Feodosia Landing Operation, 1941Tatsinskaya Raid, 1942Operation Wirbelwind, 1942Battle of Lyuban, 1942Battles of Rzhev, 1942Lake Ilmen action, 1942Kholm Pocket, 1942Barvenkovo–Lozovaya offensive, 1942Battle of the Kerch Peninsula, 1942Second Battle of Kharkov, 1942Demyansk Pocket, 1942Battle of Kalach, 1942Attack of the U-209 on the convoy near Matveyev Island, 1942Battle of Stalingrad, 1942Attack on Stalingrad, 1942Battle of Cape Burnas, 1942Battle of Sukho Island, 1942Defense of the Adzhimushkay quarry, 1942Battle of Kursk, 1943Battle of Kiev, 1943Battle of Lenino, 1943North-Caucasian offensive operation, 1943Aul Bridgehead, 1943Operation Spark, 1943Voronezh–Kastornoye Offensive, 1943Third Battle of Kharkov, 1943Battle of Sokolovo, 1943Battle of Prokhorovka, 1943Donbass Strategic Offensive, 1943Battle of Belgorod, 1943Battle of the Dnieper, 1943Bukrin Bridgehead, 1943Battle of the Caucasus, 1943Battle of Nevel, 1943Battle for Narva, 1944Battle of Romania, 1944Battle of Studzianki, 1944Battle of Auvere, 1944Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket, 1944Nikopol–Krivoi Rog Offensive, 1944Battle for Narva Bridgehead, 1944Battle of Rivne, 1944Narva Offensive February 1944, 1944Battle of Kovel, 1944Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive, 1944March 1944 Narva Offensive, 1944Narva Offensive, 1944Odesa offensive, 1944Ol′shanskiy amphibious landing, 1944Crimean Offensive, 1944First Battle of Târgu Frumos, 1944Battle of Gurby, 1944Landing of Turkestan legionnaires near Guryev, 1944Battle of Nerva Island, 1944Šiauliai Offensive, 1944Belostock Offensive, 1944Battle of Brody, 1944Battle of Tannenberg Line, 1944Battle of Radzymin, 1944Battle of the Dukla Pass, 1944Moonsund Landing Operation, 1944Battle of Memel, 1944Amphibious Operation at Liinahamari, 1944Battle of Leszczawa Górna, 1944Battle of Debrecen, 1944Battle of Bautzen, 1945Battle of Kolberg, 1945Siege of Danzig, 1945Battle of Bydgoszcz, 1945Liberation of Warsaw, 1945Siege of Breslau, 1945Heiligenbeil Pocket, 1945Battle of Kosmach, 1945East Pomeranian Offensive, 1945Battle of Zhovkva, 1945Battle of the Oder–Neisse, 1945Battle of Berlin, 1945Battle of the Seelow Heights, 1945Battle in Berlin, 1945Battle of Radekhiv, 1945Storming of the Reichstag, 1945Attack on Variazh, 1945Attack on Werbkowice Railway Station, 1946Attack on Hrubieszów, 1946Battle of Sushky, 1955Battle of the Bozhykiv Forest, 196019391960Operation Spark, 1943
120 placed engagements of the Eastern Front in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date12 January 1943
to 30 January 1943
PlaceSaint Petersburg, Russia
59.900N, 31.067E
KindBattle, interwar and Second World War
Strength26 divisions; 700 artillery; 50 tanks20 divisions; 15 brigades; 4,600 artillery; 500 tanks; 900 aircraft
Casualties and losses8,905 to 45,570 casualtiesKrivosheev's official soviet data: 33,940 killed; 71,142 wounded
Commanders
  • Georg Lindemann
Operation SparkOperation SparkSinyavino OffensiveSiege of NöteborgSiege of NöteborgSiege of OreshekBattle of the NevaSiege of NöteborgBattle of the NevaVyborgGatchinaNarvaTikhvinLappeenrantaLugaKolpinoSlantsy100 km59.900N, 31.067E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Operation Spark
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 5 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Operation Spark today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2024-09-09. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024.

The recorded site stands at about 17 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from -10 to 47 m, 57 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 83% tree cover, 7% grassland, 6% built-up.

tree cover: 83%grassland: 7%built-up: 6%wetland: 2%tree cover 83%grassland 7%built-up 6%wetland 2%
west to east, 10.0 km0 to 34 mnorth to south, 10.0 km4 to 44 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

Contested ground: this site was fought over 5 times between 1611 and 1943.

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1943

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: SOV 2ND ASSAULT ARMY(+)Defender: GER 18TH ARMY(-)
Strength120,00030,000
Casualties28,000 (23.3%)4,150 (13.8%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1074
Outcomeattacker won
Duration2 days
Front width13 km13 km
Attacker advanced7 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 492), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Operation Spark is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 350 in present-day Russia.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q233278, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Operation Iskra, revision 1370633404, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.