ZG 26 concentrated in airfield strikes as Army Group North pushed toward Leningrad precipitating a clash with the 5 IAP. 6./ZG 26 reported a loss on 10 August when a MiG-3 belonging to 71 IAP and piloted by Captain Ivan Gorbachyov, rammed one its aircraft. In a notable action on 12 August ZG 26 destroyed 10 to 15 aircraft at Volosovo airfield while the escorting II./JG 54 claimed seven aircraft in combat. On 13 August II./ZG 26 reported one loss over Kingisepp in action with 6 IAP. Commanding officer, JG 54, Hannes Trautloft, believed the ZG 26 attacks were having an impact. 24 Bf 110s from I./ZG 26 straffed Kotly airfield but found only one aircraft and suffered one machine damaged in air combat on 16 August. ZG 26 achieved success against Nizino airfield which housed the 5 IAP on 19 August. For the cost of one Bf 110, Soviet records reported that 20 fighters were destroyed and a further 13 damaged in the attack in contrast to German claims of 40 destroyed. This claim took the total number of claims made by ZG 26 from 22 June 1941, to 191 Soviet aircraft destroyed in the air and 663 on the ground.
