 Complete the following phrase:  After the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, Simoniak led the brigade in the defense of Hanko until December, when it was evacuated to Leningrad and subordinated to the Leningrad Front commander. In March the brigade was used to form the 136th Rifle Division, of which Simoniak, then a major general, continued in command of. As part of the 23rd and later the 55th Armies the division fought in the Sinyavino Offensive, in fierce fighting to expand a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Tosna River. In January 1943 it fought in 