In June 1941, the Emergency Headquarters of the Defense of Leningrad, under the leadership of Zhdanov and Voroshilov, decided to build the Luga defensive line. Heavy fighting west of Pskov forced part of the front to withdraw, and on July 9 - to leave Pskov. Fighting on the Luga direction restrained the enemy. The first attacks of the Germans, intending to overcome the Luga frontier on the move, were repulsed with great losses for them.