The attempt of the 2nd shock army to break the blockade of besieged Leningrad in the summer of 1942 ended in failure. To prepare a new offensive operation, codenamed Iskra, the Supreme Command Headquarters sends General Rokossovsky to the Volkhov Front as its representative. He does not have strong reserves or miracle weapons that can quickly turn the tide at the front in favor of the Soviet troops, and his only trump card is his excellent mastery of Suvorov's science of defeating the enemy not by number, but by skill. He is opposed by his longtime adversary, Field Marshal Manstein, who is preparing Operation Northern Lights to capture Leningrad before the autumn rains.