The 872-day
siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
, Russia, resulted from the failure of the German
Army Group North
Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies during World War II. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH), the German army high comma ...
to capture Leningrad in the
Eastern Front during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The siege lasted from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944, and was one of the longest and most destructive
siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...
s in history, devastating the city of
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
Timeline of the siege of Leningrad
The timeline of events is as follows.
1941
* June 22:
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
begins.
* June 29: Evacuation of children and women from Leningrad starts.
* June–July: Over 300,000 civilian refugees from
Pskov
Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...
and
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
manage to escape from the advancing Germans, and come to Leningrad for shelter. The German and Russian armies form lines at Leningrad. Total military strength with reserves and volunteers reaches two million men involved on all sides of the emerging battle.
* July 17: Food rationing begins in Leningrad and suburbs.
* July 19–23: First attack on Leningrad by
Army Group North
Army Group North (german: Heeresgruppe Nord) was a German strategic formation, commanding a grouping of field armies during World War II. The German Army Group was subordinated to the ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' (OKH), the German army high comma ...
is stopped 100 km south of the city.
* August 20–September 8: Artillery bombardments of Leningrad are massive, targeting industries, schools, hospitals, and civilian houses.
* August 20–27: Evacuation of civilians is stopped by the German attacks on railroads and other exits from Leningrad.
* August 21: Hitler's Directive No.34 ordered "Encirclement of Leningrad and junction with the Finns."
* September 2–9: Finns finish the capture of the salients of
Beloostrov
Beloostrov (russian: Белоо́стров; fi, Valkeasaari; ), from 1922 to World War II Krasnoostrov (russian: Красноо́стров, lit=Red Island, link=no), is a municipal settlement in Kurortny District of the federal city of St ...
and Kirjasalo and start to prepare defenses.
[National Defence College: ''Jatkosodan historia 2'', 1994]
* September 8: Encirclement of Leningrad is completed when the German forces reach the shores of
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...
.
[ 1141 pages.]
* September 16:
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
gives radio address to citizens of Leningrad. "We shall stand up all together and defend our city".
* September 19: German troops are stopped 10 km from Leningrad. Masses of citizens, women and schoolchildren come to fight in defense lines.
* September 22: Hitler issues "Directive No. 1601" ordering "St. Petersburg must be erased from the face of the Earth" and "we have no interest in saving lives of civilian population."
* October: Food shortages cause serious starvation of civilians. Civilian deaths exceed hundreds of thousands by the end of the Autumn.
Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...
and his family are evacuated to Kuybishev.
* November 8: Hitler's speech in Munich: "Leningrad must die of starvation."
* November: Massive German bombing destroy all major food stores in Leningrad.
*
Tikhvin
Tikhvin (russian: Ти́хвин; Veps: ) is a town and the administrative center of Tikhvinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Tikhvinka River in the east of the oblast, east of St. Petersburg. Tikhvin i ...
strategic offensive operation (10.11–30.12.41),
Malaya Vishera
Malaya Vishera (russian: Ма́лая Ви́шера) is a town and the administrative center of Malovishersky District in Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Population:
History
The name of the town originates from the Malaya Vishera River, a tributary ...
offensive operation (10.11–30.12.41), Tikhvin–
Kirishi
Kirishi (russian: Ки́риши, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kirishsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volkhov River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population:
It was previously kno ...
offensive operation (12.11–30.12.41).
* December: Daily death toll is 5,000–7,000 civilians. Total civilian deaths in the first year of the siege are 780,000 citizens.
[ Studying starvation, epidemics, stress, and other diseases during the siege of Leningrad.]
* December 25: On Christmas Day 5,000 civilian deaths registered in Leningrad, and more unregistered are left buried under the snow until the next year.
* December:
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
wrote in his diary "Leningrad is encircled" then sent a letter to
Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military leader and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, as Regent of Finland (1918–1919), as comma ...
requesting that the Finnish army should stop harassing the railroads north of Leningrad used for American and British food and ammunition supplies to Leningrad by British and American
Arctic convoys
The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...
.
1942
![Medal Defense of Leningrad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Medal_Defense_of_Leningrad.jpg)
* January–December: Direct Nazi artillery bombardments of the
historic center of Saint Petersburg from a distance of 16 km from the
Hermitage
* January–December: Total civilian death toll in the second year of the siege is about 500,000 citizens.
* January–February: The deadliest months of the siege: every month 130,000 civilians are found dead in Leningrad and suburbs.
* January: Energy supplies are destroyed by the Nazi bombardments in the city. Heating supplies are also destroyed, causing more deaths.
* February–April: Bread rations increased to 300 grams per one child per day. Adult workers are allowed a ration of 500 grams per day. Frozen food is delivered in limited amounts only to support active soldiers and key industrial workers. Some food supplies are delivered across the ice on Lake Ladoga. However, many delivery cars are destroyed by Nazi aircraft.
* January–May: Tens of thousands of children join the "Night watch" to stop many fires from the bombing. Many children are killed while performing this duty.
* May 16: First official decoration of schoolchildren for their courage. 15 thousand children are decorated for their courage during the siege of Leningrad.
* March–May:
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
cases are registered in Leningrad, but the infection is isolated, then stopped. An
epidemic
An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics ...
situation is contained within several weeks, and remains under control for the rest of the year. However, hospitals are suffering from severe bombing, shortages of energy and food. Thousands of doctors and nurses are killed at work. Of about 30,000 medical doctors and 100,000 medical nurses in pre-war St. Petersburg, less than a half survived the siege.
* April 4:
Operation Eis Stoß (Ice impact) begins under the personal control of
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
. Hundreds of Luftwaffe bombers make a series of air raids on Leningrad with incendiary and high explosive bombs.
* May:
Streetcars return to some streets in Leningrad, allowing some children to go to the remaining schools that are not destroyed. Boats on Lake Ladoga start food deliveries to the starving survivors of Leningrad.
* June–September: Newer heavy artillery is stationed 10–28 km from the city and bombards Leningrad with 800 kg shells. The Nazis make special maps of Leningrad for artillery bombardments targeting the city infrastructure, businesses, transportation, schools, and hospitals.
* August 9: Premiere of the
Leningrad Symphony
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, nicknamed the ''Leningrad'', was begun in Leningrad, completed in the city of Samara (then known as Kuybyshev) in December 1941, and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942. At first dedica ...
by the
Leningrad Radio Orchestra (the only symphony orchestra remaining in the besieged city) under
Karl Eliasberg.
*
Sinyavino offensive operation (August–September 1942)
1943
* January–December: Only about seven hundred children were born alive in Leningrad over 1943, in the aftermath of previous years of the siege. Before the war, in 1939, over 175,000 children were born in Leningrad and its suburbs; another 171,000 babies were born in 1938. Most died in the siege, or on roads seeking safety by evacuation.
* January: Temporary penetration through the Nazi siege near Lake Ladoga. The population of Leningrad including suburbs, had decreased from about four million to less than 800,000 civilians and military personnel combined. Most remaining civilians are evacuated to Siberia; many die during the evacuation.
* January 12–30: Breaking of the Leningrad blockade.
Operation "Iskra".
* February: The railroad is temporarily restored, but soon destroyed again by enemy aircraft.
* March–April:
Epidemic typhus and
Paratyphoid fever
Paratyphoid fever, also known simply as paratyphoid, is a bacterial infection caused by one of the three types of ''Salmonella enterica''. Symptoms usually begin 6–30 days after exposure and are the same as those of typhoid fever. Often, a grad ...
start spreading among the survivors, but the epidemic is localized and contained by the mutual efforts of doctors and citizens.
1944
* January: Before retreating, the Germans loot and then destroy the most valuable Palaces of the Tsars, such as the
Catherine Palace
The Catherine Palace (russian: Екатерининский дворец, ) is a Rococo palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 30 km south of St. Petersburg, Russia. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. The Palace is part of the ...
, the
Peterhof, the
Gatchina
The town of Gatchina ( rus, Га́тчина, , ˈɡatːɕɪnə, links=y) serves as the administrative center of the Gatchinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies south-south-west of St. Petersburg, along the E95 highway which ...
, and the
Strelna
Strelna ( rus, Стре́льна, p=ˈstrʲelʲnə) is a municipal settlement in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, about halfway between Saint Petersburg proper and Petergof, and overlooking the shore of ...
. Many other historic landmarks and homes in the suburbs of St. Petersburg are looted and then destroyed, and incalculable amounts of art are taken to Nazi Germany.
* January 14–March 1: The
Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation, the first of
Stalin's ten blows
In Soviet historiography, Stalin's ten blows were the ten successful strategic offensives conducted by the Red Army in 1944 during World War II. The Soviet offensives drove the Axis forces from Soviet territory and precipitated Nazi Germany's coll ...
, liberates Leningrad.
* January 28: Siege of Leningrad ends, after a joint effort by the Army and the
Baltic Fleet
, image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg
, image_size = 150
, caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign
, dates = 18 May 1703 – present
, country =
, allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present)
...
, which provided 30% of aviation power for the final blow to the Germans.
The Germans are forced to retreat 60–100 km from the city.
* February: Survivors begin returning to Leningrad and suburbs, where industries, factories, schools, hospitals, transportation, airports and other infrastructure are found destroyed by air raids and artillery after 2½ years of the siege.
* February–December: Survivors of the siege begin repairs and re-building of the ruined industries, hospitals, housing, and schools.
* June 9–July 15: The
Fourth Strategic Offensive
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
pushes the Finns northwestwards about 30–100 km to the other side of the Bay of Vyborg and River Vuoksi.
1945
* Explosions of land-mines left by the Germans cause thousands of deaths among returning citizens.
Civilian casualties
![Klodt 200603](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Klodt_200603.jpg)
As Soviet records during the war were incomplete, the ultimate number of casualties during the siege is disputed. The death toll of the siege varies anywhere from 600,000 to 2,000,000 deaths. After the war, the Soviet government reported about 670,000 registered deaths from 1941 to January 1944, explained as resulting mostly from starvation, stress and exposure.
Some independent studies suggest a much higher death toll of between 700,000 and 1.5 million, with most estimates putting civilian losses at around 1.1 to 1.3 million. Many of these victims, estimated at being at least half a million, were buried in the
Piskarevskoye Cemetery. Hundreds of thousands of civilians who were unregistered with the city authorities and lived in the city before the war, or had become refugees there, perished during the siege with no record at all. About half a million people, both military and civilians, from
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
,
Pskov
Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...
and
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
, fled from the advancing Nazis and came to Leningrad at the beginning of the war.
The flow of refugees to the city stopped with the beginning of the siege. During the siege, part of the civilian population was evacuated from Leningrad, although many died in the process. Unregistered people died in numerous air-raids and from starvation and cold while trying to escape from the city. Their bodies were never buried or counted under the severe circumstances of constant bombing and other attacks by the Nazi forces. The total number of human losses during the 29 months of the siege of Leningrad is estimated as 1.5 million, both civilian and military. Only 700,000 people were left alive of a 3.5 million pre-war population. Among them were soldiers, workers, surviving children and women. Of the 700,000 survivors, about 300,000 were soldiers who came from other parts of the country to help in the besieged city. By the end of the siege, Leningrad had become an empty "ghost-city" with thousands of ruined and abandoned homes.
Food shortages
Rations were reduced on September 2: manual workers had 600 grams of bread daily; state employees, 400 grams; and children and dependents (other civilians), 300 grams per day.
After heavy German bombing in August, September, and October 1941, all main food warehouses were destroyed and burned in massive fires. Huge amounts of stored food reserves, such as grain, flour and sugar, as well as other stored food, were completely destroyed. In one instance, melted sugar from the warehouses had flowed through the floors into the surrounding soil. Desperate citizens began digging up the frozen earth in an attempt to extract the sugar. This soil was on sale in the 'Haymarket' to housewives who tried to melt the earth to separate the sugar or to others who merely mixed this earth with flour. The fires continued all over the city, due to the Germans bombing Leningrad non-stop for many months using various kinds of incendiary and high-explosive devices during 1941, 1942, and 1943.
In the first days of the siege, people finished all leftovers in "commercial" restaurants, which used up to 12% of all fats and up to 10% of all meat the city consumed. Soon all restaurants closed, and food rationing became the only way to save lives, rendering money obsolete. The carnage in the city from shelling and starvation (especially in the first winter) was appalling. At least nine of the staff at the
seedbank
A seed bank (also seed banks or seeds bank) stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease res ...
set up by
Nikolai I. Vavilov starved to death surrounded by edible seeds so that its more than 200,000 items would be available to future generations.
It was calculated that the provisions both for army and civilians would last as follows (on September 12, 1941):
* Grain and flour (35 days)
* Groats and pasta (31 days)
* Meat and livestock (33 days)
* Fats (45 days)
* Sugar and confectionery (60 days)
On the same day, another reduction of food took place: the workers received 500 grams of bread; employees and children, 300 grams; and dependants, 250 grams. Rations of meat and groats were also reduced, but the issue of sugar, confectionery and fats was increased instead. The army and the
Baltic Fleet
, image = Great emblem of the Baltic fleet.svg
, image_size = 150
, caption = Baltic Fleet Great ensign
, dates = 18 May 1703 – present
, country =
, allegiance = (1703–1721) (1721–1917) (1917–1922) (1922–1991)(1991–present)
...
had some emergency rations, but these were not sufficient, and were used up in weeks. The flotilla of Lake Ladoga was not well equipped for war, and was almost destroyed in bombing by the German ''Luftwaffe''. Several barges with grain were sunk in Lake Ladoga in September 1941 alone, later recovered from the water by divers.
This grain was delivered to Leningrad at night, and was used for baking bread. When the city ran out of reserves of malt flour, other substitutes, such as finished
cellulose
Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...
and cotton-cake, were used. Oats meant for horses were also used, while the horses were fed wood leaves. When 2,000 tons of mutton guts had been found in the seaport, a food grade
galantine
In French cuisine, galantine () is a dish of boned stuffed meat, most commonly poultry or fish, that is usually poaching (cooking), poached and served cold, often coated with aspic. Galantines are often stuffed with forcemeat, and pressed into ...
was made of them. When the meat became unavailable, it was replaced by that galantine and by stinking
calf skin
Calfskin or calf leather is a leather or membrane produced from the hide of a calf, or juvenile domestic cattle. Calfskin is particularly valuable because of its softness and fine grain, as well as durability. It is commonly used for high-quality ...
s, which many survivors remembered until the end of their lives. During the first year of the siege, the city survived five food reductions: two reductions in September 1941, one in October, and two reductions in November. The latter reduced the daily food consumption to 250 grams daily for manual workers and 125 grams for other civilians.
The effects of starvation led to the consumption of zoo animals and household pets.
Much of the wallpaper paste in the buildings was made from potato starches. People began to strip the walls of rooms, removing the paste, and boiling it to make soup. Old leathers were also boiled and eaten.
The extreme hunger drove some to eat the corpses of the dead who had been largely preserved by the below freezing temperatures.
Reports of
cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
began to appear in the winter of 1941–42 after all food sources were exhausted, but stayed comparatively low given the high amounts of starvation.
Meat patties, made from minced human flesh went on sale in the 'Haymarket' in November 1941,
[Reagan, p. 77] leading to the banning of ground meat sales in the city.
Many bodies brought to cemeteries in the city were missing parts.
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, dea ...
-level food rationing was eased by new vegetable gardens that covered most open ground in the city by 1942.
Damage to public utilities
The Nazis cut almost all supplies to Leningrad, garment industries and retailers closed, and most schools as well as most public services became obsolete, causing a massive exodus of women and children. During all three winters of the siege (1941–42, 1942–43, and 1943–44), water pipelines were constantly destroyed by the bombing and artillery bombardments. Women sought water under the icy ground. During the siege, winters were the time of the highest mortality rates among the civilian population. Tens of thousands of civilians froze to death in Leningrad.
Due to a lack of power supplies, many factories were closed down and, in November, all public transportation services became unavailable. The construction of the pre-war designed metro system was stopped, some unfinished tunnels were used as public shelters during aerial bombing and artillery bombardments. In the spring of 1942, some tramway lines were reactivated, but trolleybuses and buses were inoperable until the end of the war. The use of power was forbidden everywhere except at the General Staff headquarters,
Smolny, district committees, air defense bases, and in some other institutions. By the end of September, oil and coal supplies had run out. The only energy option left was to fell trees. On October 8 the executive committee of Leningrad (Ленгорисполком) and regional executive committee (облисполком) decided to start cutting timber in
Pargolovsky and
Vsevolozhsky District
Vsevolozhsky District (russian: Все́воложский райо́н) is an administrativeOblast Law #32-oz and municipalLaw #17-oz district (raion), one of the seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the central northwestern p ...
s in the north of the city. By October 24 only 1% of the timber cutting plan had been executed.
Civilian population evacuation
Almost all public transportation in Leningrad was destroyed as a result of massive air and artillery bombardments in August–September 1941. Three million people were trapped in the city. Leningrad, as a main military-industrial center in Russia, was populated by military-industrial engineers, technicians, and other workers with their civilian families. The only means of evacuation was on foot, with little opportunity to do so before the expected encirclement by the ''Wehrmacht'' and Finnish forces.
86 major strategic industries were evacuated from the city. Most industrial capacities, engines and power equipment, instruments and tools, were moved by the workers. Some defense industries, such as the
LMZ, the
Admiralty Shipyard
The JSC Admiralty Shipyards (russian: link=no, Адмиралтейские верфи) (''formerly Soviet Shipyard No. 194'') is one of the oldest and largest shipyards in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg. The shipyard's building ways can ac ...
, and the
Kirov Plant
The Kirov Plant, Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) ( rus, Кировский завод, Kirovskiy zavod) is a major Russian mechanical engineering and agricultural machinery manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was establ ...
, were left in the city, and were still producing armor and ammunition for the defenders.
Evacuation was organized by
Kliment Voroshilov
Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov (, uk, Климент Охрімович Ворошилов, ''Klyment Okhrimovyč Vorošylov''), popularly known as Klim Voroshilov (russian: link=no, Клим Вороши́лов, ''Klim Vorošilov''; 4 Februa ...
and
Georgi Zhukov
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov ( rus, Георгий Константинович Жуков, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐukəf, a=Ru-Георгий_Константинович_Жуков.ogg; 1 December 1896 – ...
and was managed by engineers and workers of Leningrad's 86 major industries, which were themselves also evacuated from the city, by using every means of transportation available.
The evacuation operation was managed in several 'waves' or phases:
* The 'First wave' was from June to August 1941; 336,000 civilians, mostly children, managed to escape because they were taken in, and evacuated with the 86 industries that were dismantled and moved to Northern Russia and Siberia.
* The 'Second wave', from September 1941 to April 1942: involved 659,000 civilians who were evacuated mainly by watercraft and the ice road over lake Ladoga east of Leningrad.
* The 'Third wave', from May 1942 to October 1942: 403,000 civilians were evacuated, mainly through the waterways of lake Ladoga east of Leningrad.
The total number of civilians evacuated was about 1.4 million, mainly women, children and personnel essential to the war effort.
Urban damage
Severe destruction of homes was caused by the Nazi bombing, as well as by daily artillery bombardments. Major destruction was done during August and September 1941, when artillery bombardments were almost constant for several weeks in a row. Regular bombing continued through 1941, 1942, and 1943. Most heavy artillery bombardments resumed in 1943, and increased six times in comparison with the beginning of the war. Hitler and the Nazi leadership were angered by their failure to take Leningrad by force. Hitler's directive No. 1601 ordered that "St. Petersburg must be erased from the face of the Earth" and "we have no interest in saving lives of the civilian population."
![RIAN archive 2153 After bombing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/RIAN_archive_2153_After_bombing.jpg)
The siege of Leningrad's blockade lasted about 900 days. The city sustained damage due to artillery attacks, air raids, and the struggle of famine. Although the city took significant damage, Alexander Werth, a Leningrad native, claims the city took less damage than any other major city affected by the war. Cities like
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, and
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
sustained far more damage than Leningrad did. Leningrad suffered less damage than most German occupied USSR cities, such as
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
, which later was burned to ashes. The damages might not be catastrophic, but they were significant, German artillery and bombers destroyed 16% of the city's housing. They also targeted their infrastructure, destroying streets and water and sewage pipes. Nearly half of the schools were wiped out and 78% of the hospitals. Not all houses were destroyed but every single structure had some kind of damage to it that gives each house a historic-artistic value.
Since the city was blockaded, nothing can move in or out of the city. The only time people could get food delivered was when
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...
froze over and soldiers could come in to help the civilians. Public utilities were completely cut off from Leningrad.
Civilian support of military operations
The resistance of the surviving civilian population of Leningrad provided crucial support for military operations during the battle of Leningrad. The total number of civilian volunteers helping the military is estimated to be equal to the number of civilians left in the city – about 500,000 of them were fire-watching. Many women and children risked their lives helping military operations at the front line. 15,000 children were decorated for their courage in military operations during the siege. The Nazis had a special intelligence unit that operated in secrecy, focused on causing more death and destruction in Leningrad through sabotage to destroy the morale and spirit of its citizens. Some of the Nazi secret agents were arsonists, arrested while setting fires at storage facilities. Water and food supplies were often found poisoned by the Nazis who had infiltrated the city. Volunteer militia brigades were involved in assisting civilians – mainly women and children.
While the population of Leningrad was depressed by the long and exhausting siege, people still tried to lift their spirits in the time when they were struggling to survive. The popular film star
Boris Babochkin
Boris Andreyevich Babochkin (russian: Бори́с Андре́евич Ба́бочкин; 18 January 1904 – 17 July 1975) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor and director. Boris Babochkin was one of the first internationally r ...
made many visits to the city. He gave numerous stage performances; he delivered several copies of the classic film
Chapayev
Vasily Ivanovich Chapayev or Chapaev (russian: link=no, Василий Иванович Чапаев; 5 September 1919) was a Russian soldier and Red Army commander during the Russian Civil War.
Biography
Chapayev was born into a poor peasan ...
, which was a highly popular movie. Symphony performances for survivors of the siege were rare, but attendance was high, regardless of the risks and exhaustion of everybody. Perhaps the most important booster of morale was
Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, entitled "Leningrad". The symphony did much to raise the spirits of the defenders. At its
Leningrad premiere, Marshal Zhukov ensured that what was called the "eighty minutes of silence" took place; his soldiers at the front did their utmost to stop the city bombing so as to not interrupt the performance.
Music performances were broadcast over the
Leningrad radio 24/7. At rare times when music was not broadcast, a metronome was placed before the radio microphone to assure the people that the resistance was ongoing. Performers and radio personnel worked without compensation, they received 250–500 grams of food per day, mainly low grade bread. Poets
Olga Bergholz
Olga Fyodorovna Bergholz ( rus, Ольга Фёдоровна Берггольц, p=ˈolʲɡə ˈfʲɵdərəvnə bʲɪrˈɡolʲts, a=Ol'ga Fyodorovna Byerghol'cz.ru.vorb.oga; – November 13, 1975) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, playwri ...
and
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
contributed their talents to support the morale of civilians and military personnel fighting in the city.
Aftermath
Following Germany's capitulation in May 1945, a concerted effort was made in Germany to search for the collections removed from the museums and palaces of Leningrad's surrounding areas during the war. In September 1945, the Leningrad Philharmonic returned to the city from Siberia, where it was evacuated during the war, to give its first peacetime concert performances. For the defense of the city and tenacity of the civilian survivors of the siege, Leningrad was the first city in the Soviet Union to be awarded the title of
Hero City in 1945.
Siege commemoration
Economic and human losses caused incalculable damage to the city's historic sites and cultural landmarks, with much of the damage still visible today. Some ruins are preserved to commemorate those who gave their lives to save the city. As of 2007, there were still empty spaces in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
suburbs where buildings had stood before the siege.
Siege influence on cultural expression
The siege caused major trauma for several generations after the war. Leningrad/St. Petersburg as the cultural capital, suffered incomparable human losses and the destruction of famous landmarks. While conditions in the city were appalling and starvation was constantly with the besieged, the city resisted for nearly three years.
The siege of Leningrad was commemorated in the late 1950s by the
Green Belt of Glory
The Green Belt of Glory is a war memorial surrounding Saint Petersburg, Russia, commemorating the Siege of Leningrad of the Second World War. The belt consists of multiple small memorials marking the historical front line.
History
The concept o ...
, a circle of public parks and memorials along the historic front line. Warnings to citizens of the city as to which side of the road to walk on to avoid the German shelling can still be seen (they were restored after the war). Russian tour guides at
Peterhof, the palaces near St. Petersburg, report that it is still dangerous to go for a stroll in the gardens during a thunderstorm, as German artillery shrapnel embedded in the trees attracts lightning.
The siege in music
*
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
wrote the Seventh Symphony, some of which was written under siege conditions, for the
Leningrad Symphony
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, nicknamed the ''Leningrad'', was begun in Leningrad, completed in the city of Samara (then known as Kuybyshev) in December 1941, and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942. At first dedica ...
. According to
Solomon Volkov
Solomon Moiseyevich Volkov (russian: Соломон Моисеевич Волков; born 17 April 1944) is a Russian journalist and musicologist. He is best known for ''Testimony'', which was published in 1979 following his emigration from the So ...
, whose testimony is disputed, Shostakovich said "it's not about Leningrad under siege, it's about the Leningrad that Stalin destroyed and that Hitler nearly finished off".
* American singer
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...
wrote a song called
"Leningrad" that referred to the siege. The song is partially about a young Russian boy, Viktor, whose father has died.
*
The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
wrote a song called "When the War Came" about the heroism of
civilian scientists. The lyrics state: "We made our oath to Vavilov/We'd not betray the
solanum
''Solanum'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant (aubergine, brinjal). It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...
/The acres of
asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
/To our own pangs of starvation".
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov ( rus, Никола́й Ива́нович Вави́лов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ vɐˈvʲiləf, a=Ru-Nikolay_Ivanovich_Vavilov.ogg; – 26 January 1943) was a Russian and Soviet agronomist, botanist a ...
was a Russian botanist whose laboratory, a
seedbank
A seed bank (also seed banks or seeds bank) stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease res ...
containing 200,000 types of plant seeds, many of them edible, was preserved throughout the siege.
* Italian melodic
death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
band Dark Lunacy's 2006 album 'The Diarist' is about the siege.
* A line in the song 'Scared', by the Canadian band 'The Tragically Hip', references Russian efforts to save paintings during the siege of Leningrad. "You're in Russia ... and more than a million works of art...are whisked out to the woods...When the Nazis find the whole place dark...they'd think God's left the museum for good."
* Dutch
death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
band Hail of Bullets' song, "The Lake Ladoga Massacre", from their album "...Of Frost and War" is about the siege.
The Siege in literature
*
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
's ''Poem without Hero''.
* American author Debra Dean's ''
The Madonnas of Leningrad
''The Madonnas of Leningrad'', Debra Dean, Debra Dean's first novel, tells the story of Marina, a docent at the Hermitage Museum, State Hermitage Museum during the 900-day Siege of Leningrad. Marina's clear and detailed recollections of the Hermit ...
'' tells the story of staff of the Hermitage Museum who saved the art collection during the siege of Leningrad.
* American playwright, Ivan Fuller, wrote a three-play cycle about various art forms that helped people survive the siege. ''Eating into the Fabric'' focuses on a theatre company rehearsing ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' during the siege. ''Awake in Me'' is the story of poet and radio announcer,
Olga Bergholz
Olga Fyodorovna Bergholz ( rus, Ольга Фёдоровна Берггольц, p=ˈolʲɡə ˈfʲɵdərəvnə bʲɪrˈɡolʲts, a=Ol'ga Fyodorovna Byerghol'cz.ru.vorb.oga; – November 13, 1975) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, playwri ...
. ''In Every Note'' focuses on Shostakovich composing the Seventh Symphony before being evacuated from Leningrad.
* American author
Elise Blackwell
Elise Blackwell is an American novelist and writer. She is the author of five novels, as well as numerous short stories and essays. Her books have been translated into five languages, adapted for the stage, and served as the inspiration for the s ...
published a novel ''Hunger'' (2003), which provided an acclaimed historical dramatization of events surrounding the siege.
* British author
Helen Dunmore
Helen Dunmore FRSL (12 December 1952 – 5 June 2017) was a British poet, novelist, and short story and children's writer.
Her best known works include the novels ''Zennor in Darkness'', '' A Spell of Winter'' and ''The Siege'', and her last ...
wrote an award-winning novel, ''
The Siege
''The Siege'' is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by Edward Zwick. The film is about a fictional situation in which terrorist cells have made several attacks in New York City. The film stars Denzel Washington, Annette Bening, Tony Sh ...
'' (2001). Although fictitious, it traces key events in the siege, and shows how it affected those who were not directly involved in the resistance.
* In 1981
Daniil Granin
Daniil Aleksandrovich Granin (russian: Дании́л Алекса́ндрович Гра́нин; 1 January 1919 – 4 July 2017), original family name German (russian: Ге́рман), was a Soviet and Russian author.
Life and career
Granin st ...
and
Ales Adamovich
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Adamovich ( be, Аляксандр Міхайлавіч Адамовіч, translit=Aliaksandr Michailavič Adamovič, russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Адамо́вич; 3 September 1927 – 26 January ...
published ''The Blockade Book'' which was based on hundreds of interviews and diaries of people who were trapped in the besieged city. The book was heavily censored by the Soviet authorities due to its portrayal of human suffering contrasting with the "official" image of heroism.
* In
Boris Strugatsky
The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 A ...
's book
Search for Destiny or the Twenty Seventh Theorem of Ethics the author describes his childhood memories of the Siege (in the chapter "A Happy Boy").
*
Kyra Petrovskaya Wayne, a Russian soldier and, later, writer, illustrated life in besieged Leningrad in ''Shurik: A Story of the Siege of Leningrad'', which tells the story of an orphan whom Petrovskaya found and cared for during the siege.
*
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...
's ''
After The Siege'' is a science fiction story influenced by the author's grandmother's experiences during the siege.
* ''
City of Thieves'' by American writer
David Benioff
David Friedman (; born September 25, 1970), known professionally as David Benioff (), is an American writer, director and producer. Along with his collaborator D. B. Weiss, he is best known as co-creator and showrunner of '' Game of Thrones'' (2 ...
takes place in besieged Leningrad and its surroundings; it tells the story of two young Russians tasked with finding eggs by an
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
colonel within six days.
* Gillian Slovo's ''Ice Road'' written in 2004 is a fictional account of Leningraders from 1933 to during the siege. It has historical references and focuses on a number of people's quest for survival.
* ''The Bronze Horseman'' by
Paullina Simons
Paullina Simons (born 1963) is a Russian-born American writer and the international best-selling author of the novels ''Tully'', ''Red Leaves'', ''Eleven Hours'', '' The Bronze Horseman'', '' Tatiana and Alexander'', ''Lily'' and '' The Summer Ga ...
, a novel about a young girl and her family. She lost all her family during the Siege.
* The Arab-Israeli author
Emil Habibi
Emile Shukri Habibi ( ar, إميل حبيبي, he, אמיל חביבי, 28 January 1922 – 2 May 1996) was a Palestinian-Israeli also mentioned the siege in his
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
''The Love in my Heart'' (الحب في قلبي), part of his collection ''Sextet of the Six Days'' (سداسية الايام الستة). Habiby's character visits a graveyard containing the siege's victims and is struck by the power of a display he sees commemorating the children who died, it inspires him to write some letters in the voice of a Palestinian girl detained in an Israeli prison.
* Ilya Mikson wrote a book inspired by the story and life of
Tanya Savicheva
Tatyana Nikolayevna Savicheva (russian: Татья́на Никола́евна Са́вичева), commonly referred to as Tanya Savicheva (23 January 1930 – 1 July 1944), was a Russian child diarist who endured the siege of Leningrad duri ...
.
* Catherynne M. Valente's ''Deathless'', a 20th-century retelling of a Russian fairy tale, is set partly in Leningrad during the siege. Valente quotes Anna Akhmatova's poetry throughout the novel.
The siege in other art forms
*
Auteur
An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
film director
Andrey Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...
included multiple scenes and references to the siege in his semi-autobiographical film ''
The Mirror''.
* At the time of his death in 1989,
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...
was working on a film about the siege. It drew heavily on Harrison Salisbury's "The 900 Days", and was a week away from going into production when Leone died of heart failure.
*
Alexander Sokurov
Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov, PAR (russian: link=no, Александр Николаевич Сокуров; born 14 June 1951) is a Russian filmmaker. His most significant works include a feature film, ''Russian Ark'' (2002), filmed in a s ...
's 2002 film ''
Russian Ark
''Russian Ark'' (russian: link=no, Русский ковчег, ''Russkij Kovcheg'') is a 2002 Experimental film, experimental historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. In ''Russian Ark'', an unnamed narrator wanders through the Winter ...
'' includes a segment which depicts a city resident building his own coffin during the siege.
Notable survivors of the siege
*
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
– poet and writer
*
Boris Babochkin
Boris Andreyevich Babochkin (russian: Бори́с Андре́евич Ба́бочкин; 18 January 1904 – 17 July 1975) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater actor and director. Boris Babochkin was one of the first internationally r ...
– actor, director
*
Olga Berggoltz – poet and writer, decorated for her courage
*
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist.
Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
– poet, Nobel Prize laureate
*
Bruno Freindlich – actor
*
Alisa Freindlich – actress
*
Vera Inber
Vera Mikhailovna Inber (russian: link=no, Вера Михайловна Инбер), born Shpenzer (10 July 1890, Odessa11 November 1972, Moscow), was a Russian and Soviet poet and writer.
Biography
Her father Moshe owned a scientific publishing ...
– poet, writer
*
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ( rus, Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, p=vʲiktər lʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He ...
– chess grandmaster
*
Grigori Kozintsev – film director, decorated for his courage
*
Evgeny Mravinsky – symphony director
*
Alexander Ney
Alexander Ney (russian: link=no, Александр Ней; born September 1939 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is an American sculptor and painter. After establishing himself in 1972 as a resident of France, he immigrated to the United States in 197 ...
- artist
*
Nikolai Cherkasov – actor
*
Nikolai Punin
Nikolay Nikolayevich Punin (russian: link=no, Никола́й Никола́евич Пу́нин; – August 21, 1953) was a Russian art scholar and writer. He edited several magazines, such as ''Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo'' among others, and w ...
– curator of the
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...
and the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
*
Dmitry Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...
– composer, decorated for his courage
*
Boris Strugatskiy
Boris may refer to:
People
* Boris (given name), a male given name
*:''See'': List of people with given name Boris
* Boris (surname)
* Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his ...
– science fiction writer
*
Mark Taimanov
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific ch ...
– chess grandmaster
*
Galina Vishnevskaya
Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya (russian: links=no, Галина Павловна Вишневская, Ivanova, Иванова; 25 October 192611 December 2012) was a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist who was named a People's Artist o ...
– opera singer
*
Kyra Petrovskaya Wayne – soldier/sniper and writer
See also
*
Hunger Plan
The Hunger Plan (german: der Hungerplan; der Backe-Plan) was a partially implemented plan developed by Nazi bureaucrats during World War II to seize food from the Soviet Union and give it to German soldiers and civilians. The plan entailed the gen ...
*
Tanya Savicheva
Tatyana Nikolayevna Savicheva (russian: Татья́на Никола́евна Са́вичева), commonly referred to as Tanya Savicheva (23 January 1930 – 1 July 1944), was a Russian child diarist who endured the siege of Leningrad duri ...
*
World War II casualties
World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, or about 3% of the 2.3 billion (est.) people on Earth in 1940. Deaths directly caused by the war (including military and civ ...
*
Regia Marina, an Italian Navy operation on Lake Ladoga in 1942
*
List of famines
This is a list of famines.
List
See also
Main article lists
* Bengal famine
* Droughts and famines in Russia and the Soviet Union
* Famine in India
* Famines in Czechia
* Famines in Ethiopia
* Great Bengal famine of 1770
* Great Fam ...
*
Dutch famine of 1944
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
*
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo ( sh, Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Backlund, L. S.: Nazi Germany and Finland. University of Pennsylvania, 1983. University Microfilms International A. Bell & Howell Information Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
* BARBAROSSA. By Alan Clark. Perennial, 2002.
* Baryshnikov, N. I. and Baryshnikov, V. N.: 'Terijoen hallitus', TPH 1997. pp. 173–184.
* Baryshnikov, N. I., Baryshnikov, V. N. and Fedorov, V. G.: Finland in the Second World War (in Russian: Финляндия во второй мировой войне). Leningrad. Lenizdat, 1989.
* Baryshnikov, N. I. and Manninen, O.: 'Sodan aattona', TPH 1997. pp. 127–138.
* Baryshnikov, V. N.: 'Neuvostoliiton Suomen suhteiden kehitys sotaa edeltaneella kaudella', TPH 1997, pp. 7–87.
* Балтийский Флот. Гречанюк Н. М., Дмитриев В. И., Корниенко А. И. и др., М., Воениздат. 1990.
* 1141 pages.
*
* Константин Симонов
Записи бесед с Г. К. Жуковым1965–1966 —
* Vehviläinen, Olli. Translated by Gerard McAlister. Finland in the Second World War between Germany and Russia. Palgrave. 2002.
*
Kay, Alex J. (2006): Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder. Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940–1941. Berghahn Books. New York, Oxford.
* Higgins, Trumbull. Hitler and Russia. The Macmillan Company, 1966.
* Fugate, Bryan I. Operation Barbarossa. Strategy and Tactics on the Eastern Front, 1941. 415 pages. Presidio Press (July 1984) .
* Winston S. Churchill. Memoires of the Second World War. An abridgment of the six volumes of The Second World War. By Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston. .
* Russia Besieged (World War II). By Bethel, Nicholas and the editors of Time-Life Books. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books 1981. 4th Printing, Revised.
* The World War II. Desk Reference. Eisenhower Center director Douglas Brinkley. Editor Mickael E. Haskey. Grand Central Press, 2004.
* The story of World War II. By Donald L. Miller. Simon & Schuster, 2006. .
External links
Photos from the siege over-imposed on photos from today's St Petersburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leningrad
Sieges involving Germany
Sieges involving the Soviet Union
1940s in Leningrad
Conflicts in 1941
Battles and operations of World War II involving Germany