Siege of Leningrad
The Blokada
The 900 day battle
Less than two and a half months after the Soviet Union was attacked by Nazi Germany, German troops were already approaching Leningrad. The Red Army was outgunned and on September 8 1941 the Germans had fully enclosed leningrad.The city's almost 3 million civilians including about 400,000 children refused to surrender and endured rapidly increasing hard times in the encircled city. Food and fuel stocks were limited to a limit of 1-2 month supply, public transport was not operational and by the winter of 1941-42 there was no heating, no water supply, almost no electricity and very little food. In January 1942 in the depths of an unusually cold winter, the city's food rations reached an all time low of only 125 grams and about 1/4 of a pound of bread per person per day. In just two months, January and February of 1942, 200,000 people died in Leningrad of cold and starvation. Despite these tragic losses and the inhuman conditions the city's war industries still continued to work and the city did not surrender.
Event Information
The Blokada
Several hundred thousand people were evacuated from the city across Lake Ladoga via the famous "Road of Life" it was called. in russian it was "Doroga Zhizni"- the only route that connected the unsieged city with the mainland. During the warm season people were taken by ferry to the mainland, and in winter - carried by trucks that drove across the frozen lake under constant enemy encounters.
When?
Monday, Sep 8, 1941, 06:00 PM
Where?
Russia, Saint Petersburg
Soldiers of saint petersberg
The beginning of the Siege
The encircled city now becomes an active battle ground
canons of the Siege
The soldiers in battle for mother russia
sources
* "The Siege of Leningrad, 1941 - 1944." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Ibis Communications, 2006. Web. 4 Mar. 2014
* "Siege of Leningrad." MSN Encarta. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.