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Category: Siege & Battle of Leningrad  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'Stalingrad', 'Kursk: Panzer battle', 'WW2 Reenactment and reenactors', 'Tanks: T-34, Panther, King Tiger'.

Last Battle of 1941-1944 Siege of Leningrad Re-Enacted
St. Petersburg celebrated the 64th anniversary of the complete end of the Siege of Leningrad by Adolf Hitler's army during World War II. To mark the date, residents laid flowers at the places linked to the 1941-1944 blockade. Over 200 re-enactors took part in a re-enactment of the battle that released Leningrad from the siege. The Siege of Leningrad lasted for 872 days beginning Sept. 8, 1941 through Jan. 27, 1944, but in popular memory this has been rounded up to 900 days. The blockade was broken on Jan. 18, 1943, but it took one more year before the Germans were forced to retreat. It is thought that about one million people died: 3% in bombings and 97% of starvation.     [ times.spb.ru :: 2008-01-29 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

Blokade: The Siege of Leningrad - The first Hero City
In 1945, near the end of "The Great Patriotic War" the Soviet Union designated Leningrad Russia's first "Hero City." Though running a close second to the Siege of Stalingrad in death toll, Leningrad's ordeal was more than twice as long. The home of the Winter Palace and a repository of a fortune in pre-revolutionary art, Leningrad was considered Soviet Russia's head. Nevertheless the city endured nearly 3 years of the German Army's efforts to bomb and starve it. Now the definitive film on the Siege of Leningrad has arrived. But it is neither a war epic nor an personal reminiscence. Blockade is an hour-long compilation of footage photographed during the siege.     [ nysun :: 2007-03-14 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

On the Russian front with an anti-tank battalion of the Wehrmacht
Edward Sakasitz, a 21yo private in the German army, came to the Leningrad area in Feb 1942 to join Adolf Hitler's troops laying siege to Russia's old imperial capital. Today, he remembers his World War II experiences with an anti-tank battalion of the Wehrmacht, including his two years on the Russian front. In the Leningrad area, we only stayed 2-3 weeks in one place. Our Panzerjaeger "tank hunter" unit was motorized. My job was to drive half-tracks and motorcycles. I thought: Am I lucky I don't have to walk like the infantry. Many times I had to go with a motorcycle to an infantry company up front, where machine gunners laid in the snow.     [ mcall :: 2007-03-05 :: Wehrmacht: German Armed Forces ]

Red Army Veteran Recalls Agony and Ecstasy of War
On July 1, 13 days after war had begun, came Altshuller's first battle. The regiment was located south of Leningrad near Pskov and the men were begging to be sent to a frontline. "Suddenly a shout rang out. Tanks, German! On the left! Confusion set in. The enemy onslaught was so strong that our regiment was falling back. It was impossible to hold out." That evening he arrived at Luga: it was chaos, crying, and terror. In 1943 Volkhov front offensive began, his regiment had to cross Lake Ilmen. They used horse-drawn vehicles pulled by small Mongolian horses. The Germans fired at us and we had losses, but many of our soldiers managed to get by.     [ sptimes :: 2006-05-12 :: The Red Army & russian partisans ]

226,000 people living who served in the siege of Leningrad
The mayor of St Petersburg has reminded the local legislature that there are still 226,000 people living who served in the siege of Leningrad during WWII. The 900 day siege by German and Finnish troops was unsuccessful, and Leningrad's defenders secured the northern flank of the Russian lines. 73 of these veterans are older than 100 years, but most were actually children during the siege. While 60% of the veterans are 70 years and older, 40% are younger. Everyone inside the city during the siege was under fire, and everyone helped with the defenses, even little children. Over a million Leningrad residents died during the siege, in addition to 300,000 soldiers.     [ strategypage :: 2006-03-13 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

Hitler Didn't Want to Take Leningrad in Eastern Front
Hitler did not want to capture besieged Leningrad during World War II, but intended to starve its citizens to death, a new book by a German historian says. Released in Germany this summer, the book 'Das Belagerte Leningrad' by JÚrg Ganzenmßller challenges the Soviet view of the Siege of Leningrad that the city was not taken because of heroic resistance by citizens and the Red Army. That view still dominates in Russia today.     [ St. Petersburg Times :: 2005-09-04 :: Strategy & Tactics ]

Leningrad siege ends after 900 days
The Soviet Army has lifted the blockade of Leningrad that has been besieged since German forces cut the land link to the city on 8 July 1941. Soviet soldiers broke through the German line of defence and recaptured hundreds of towns and villages in the region. It is believed that hundreds of thousands of Leningrad's population of 2.5 million have died of starvation, exposure, disease or enemy action since 1 Sept 1941. The German army reached Leningrad soon after invading Russia on 22 June 1941 but stopped short of taking Russia's second city after resistance and decided instead on a blockade.     [ bbc :: 2005-05-11 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

The 900-Day Siege of Leningrad
On the eighth of September 1941 the Germans began their attack on the city of Leningrad. It was during this time that the citizens of Leningrad were virtually sealed off from the world, for there was only one road out of the city, over the frozen Neva River. With the commencement of the invasion on Leningrad, the citizens united and grouped together in hope of a quick defeat of the Germans. Over two hundred thousand people volunteered for military duty in the first week. Ironically, the desire to fight for Mother Russia stimulated by the invasion of Leningrad increased Soviet patriotism.     [ stlawu :: 2004-05-11 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

Outcry as Germans recreate war siege in St Petersburg
A German war film being shot in St Petersburg about the dying days of the Third Reich has caused an outcry in a city where memories of the Nazi siege are still fresh. The Downfall traces Hitler's final days and the Red Army's onslaught on Berlin, but St Petersburgers have been incensed by the production team's comments that some of the city resembles the shattered German capital in 1945. The siege was one of the most brutal of the Second World War. More than 800,000 men, women and children starved to death or were killed by shelling and fires when the Nazis blockaded the city for 900 days.     [ telegraph :: 2003-09-23 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

An appetite for surprise - Hunger in the sieged Leningrad
Hunger by Elise Blackwell - The siege lasted 900 days, during which time hunger raged round the city like an abominable disease. "All manner of animals - dogs and cats, sparrows and crows, rats and mice - and then their excrement were eaten… Children were fed hair oil, petroleum, jelly, glue. Root flour and floor sweepings were baked into scones. Dextrin appeared in fritters, cellulose in puddings. Pigskin machine belts and fish glue were spirited from closed factories and boiled into jellies."     [ telegraph :: 2003-08-03 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

The Leningrad Blockade - The 900-day Siege of Leningrad
For everyone who lives in St. Petersburg the Blokada (the Siege) of Leningrad is an important part of the city's heritage. Less than two and a half months after the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany, German troops were nearing Leningrad. The Red Army was outflanked and on Sept 8 1941 the Germans had encircled Leningrad and the siege began. The city's 3 million civilians (400,000 children) refused to surrender and endured increasing hardships in the encircled city. Food and fuel stocks were limited to a mere 1-2 month supply and by the winter of 1941-42 there was no heating, no water supply and very little food.     [ saint-petersburg :: 2003-05-11 :: Siege & Battle of Leningrad ]

See also

'Stalingrad'

'Kursk: Panzer battle'

'WW2 Reenactment and reenactors'

'Tanks: T-34, Panther, King Tiger'.

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