(1/10) Battlefield II Leningrad Ep6 World War II

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The Siege of Leningrad September 8, 1941 - January 27, 1944
For centuries the cultural heart of Russia and the second largest city in the Soviet Union, Leningrad was a prime target of the advancing German Army Group North in June 1941.
One of the stated reasons for the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940 was to protect the former Czarist capital, St. Petersburg, later called Leningrad, from Finnish attack. When the Germans invaded, they called on the Finns to attack Leningrad from the north.
On the shore of Lake Ladoga, Leningrad had political significance as the city named for the founder of the Russian Revolution, but it also had military significance as it prevented the Germans from sweeping around the north of Russia and attacking Moscow from behind.
The population of Leningrad turned out shortly after the invasion and dug antitank ditches around the city. Two hundred thousand Red Army defenders protected 3,000,000 inhabitants.
Within weeks of crossing the border, the Germans cut the Leningrad-Moscow railway and the Germans advanced on the city. The attack failed and the Nazi Generals appealed to Hitler to start a siege, so panzer units badly needed elsewhere could be released.
Hitler readily agreed on September 29, 1941. Furthermore, he ordered that the city be reduced so that the Germans would not have to feed its population. Relentless shelling and air raids began and lasted for the next 872 days.
Soviet naval units tried to evacuate the sick and wounded, but Leningrad came to symbolize the horrors of the Eastern Front. Starvation claimed thousands of lives, and it was not uncommon to find corpses left in the street. Six hundred fifty thousand died in 1942 alone. The brutal winter of 1941-42 that stopped the Germans in the south only added to Leningrads agony.
Supplies came in sporadically by barge across Lake Ladoga during the summer of 1942 and during the winters trucks would drive over the frozen ice. Truck convoys would sink in bomb craters left by Stuka attacks and would disappear in the rapidly melting ice as the temperature increased in the spring. Some 500,000 residents were taken out, but most stayed and many died. The summer thaws would reveal more corpses in the streets, forgotten and buried by snow.
Starvation was eased in 1943 by vegetable gardens that were planted on any open ground. Incredibly, war production continued in factories frozen by winter air coming through shell holes and bomb craters in the ceiling.
In January 1943, the siege was broken by a Soviet offensive, but not completely lifted. The rail line with Moscow was reestablished. The Soviet offensive of January 1944 lifted the siege, and for the first time in almost 900 days the populace could walk openly in the streets without fear of air attack.
The siege of Leningrad was dramatized for the entire world. Dimitri Shostakovitch wrote his Seventh Symphony, the Leningrad Symphony, during the siege. Leningrad came to symbolize the Soviet-Nazi conflict, and Americans especially identified with the Leningrad inhabitants.
Stalin bestowed the Order of Lenin on the city in 1945, and the title Hero City of the Soviet Union was awarded in 1965. Leningrad still remains a symbol of Nazi brutality and aggression on the Eastern Front.(Excerpt World War II Database "online.")

Category:

Education

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• World
• War
• II
• Leningrad
• Nazi
• Eastern
• Front
• Soviet
• Moscow
• Russia
• Germans
• Soviet-Finnish
• St.
• Petersburg
• Lake
• Ladoga

[orangedac]

Respect to Russia man.

They faced down the threat and kicked ass.

[ElephantRage]

ETERNAL GLORY AND RESPECT FOR THE WOMEN AND MEN OF THE SOVIET UNION WHO FOUGHT BACK THE NAZI BEAST.

SPASIBA TOVARICH.

[zachrulesandiscool]

@truthifizer I completely agree with you. Its almost as if Italy was responsible for Germany's defeat, even if they were their ally :p

[truthifizer]

@zachrulesandiscool It was not unlikely at all that the Germans would win. In fact, had Hitler not dellayed his offensive by two months (he had to help Mussolini who was getting his ass kicked), they would have won.

[zachrulesandiscool]

@BetheHans Mhm, Hitler was indeed an idiot. The Russian campaign, it could of worked, but was unlikely. EIther way he had to invade them eventually as Stalin wanted war with his German ally too, but much further on in history. If anyone else has gone through with that plan though it would not of lasted as long though. Hitler's orders to all his troops to stay where they were in the first Winter saved the campaign from total annihilation.

[IMNODOCTOR]

@releasetaiwan Not really a mistake but it was really inevitable and was forced to make the "pre-emptive strike" choice in a no-win situation. Had Hitler been wise, he should have been contented with what he had and not invade Poland. The invasion of Danzig and treatment of Jews were his biggest mistakes as it was the reason why the allies went to war against Germany. If he hadn't done so...he could have won Einstein and others on his side.

[BetheHans]

Hitler is such a stupid Nazi thug who thought he knew everything. The German general staff was the best in the world and their advice would have been paid heed had it heard by any rational human being. Their prediction about the disaster of the Russian campaign would come true in the end. Yet Hitler paid no attention to their advice. Had I been Hitler, I would have immediately canceled the plan to invade Russia and instead, focused on enforcing Nazi rule over the occupied countries.

[Leonidas19981]

@orangedac

bad thing is they lost nearly wut? 10,000,000 people civilian and soldier alike

[GeraltOfSerbia]

@jackzero99 Ok lets say it is exactly 50 million deaths, now would actually WW2 even start without Hitler and nazi Germany? I don't think so, sooner or later USSR, UK and USA would crush Japanese empire, Italy wouldnt dare to start war on their own. Civilian casualties in Asia were mostly cuz of Japanese massacres, for helping Doolitle's pilots, more than 100.000 Chinese were slaughtered by Japanese occupants in few months, best example of Japanese brutality in WW2

[jackzero99]

@GeraltOfSerbia Your numbers are wrong; 50,000,000 is the total number of deaths in WWII including Asia.

[GeraltOfSerbia]

@jackzero99 That is not true, Hitler is responsible for more than 50.000.000 civilians and soldiers killed in WW2 but looking at civilian casualties, Stalin's destruction of military capability of USSR in pre-war years actually led to deaths of more than 15.000.000 Soviet civilians during the war so that way you can actually say that Stalin is, although not directly, responsible for deaths of many more innocent people than Hitler...

[jackzero99]

@GeraltOfSerbia Half of the Soviet deaths were Stalin's fault. Stalin killed more Soviet citizens than Hitler