Siege of Leningrad

Type of action: Siege in World War II

Date: 1941–1944

Location: Leningrad, Soviet Union

Combatants: Soviets vs. Germans

Principal commanders: Soviet, Georgy Zhukov (1896–1974); German, Wilhelm von Leeb (1876–1956)

Result: Soviet victory; blockade lifted

A major goal in Adolf Hitler’s war plan was Operation Barbarossa, a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union. The German forces attacked along an eight-hundred-mile front with the northern army, led by Wilhelm von Leeb, aimed at Leningrad (June 22, 1941). Only hours after entering Soviet territory, the German Luftwaffe (air force) had annihilated most of the Russian front-line aircraft. Ground troops, unsupported and poorly led, retreated, and many surrendered. To assist in the defense of Leningrad, reserve troops, workers’ battalions, and student battalions were mobilized. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were ordered to dig antitank ditches, trenches, and other defenses.

The bombing attacks on Leningrad targeted industrial sites, communications and transportation centers, bridges on the Neva River, air bases, and naval ports.

After weeks of intense air raids failed to bring about the collapse of the city, the Nazi leadership decided to encircle it and starve the population into submission. By September, 1941, three million people were trapped and isolated from the rest of the Soviet Union. This blockade would last nine hundred days.

General Georgy Zhukov was ordered by Joseph Stalin to take command in the defense of Leningrad. Under his leadership, German advances were halted, additional regular troops were brought to resist the Wermacht, and a system of organization for civilian life in the city was established.

In January, 1942, a mass evacuation of civilians began, consisting primarily of children and the elderly. The route of escape took them across the frozen ice road of Lake Ladoga and then east into rural Russia, where the majority would later succumb to starvation and freezing.

The principal concern of the city authorities was maintaining a food supply. The possibility of aid from the outside was negligible because of the blockade. Furthermore, the air attacks had destroyed much of the city’s reserves. The decision was made to issue each citizen a ration card to be used each day to obtain food. Through the winter of 1941–1942, the rations were cut five times as supplies dwindled.

In addition to food shortages, a fuel shortage ensued as both oil and coal supplies were used up. The daily life of the residents of Leningrad was marked by a lack of food, light, and heat and by continual air attacks. In November, 1941, more than 11,000 died; in January, 1942, between 3,500 and 4,000 died daily from starvation and freezing. By January, the water mains and sewers had frozen and broken, causing water shortages and epidemics.

In spite of such dire privations, morale was sustained in several ways. Theatrical performances, cinemas, poetry readings, schools, and many factories continued on as best they could.

The ice road across Lake Ladoga brought slight relief to the starving civilians. Food supplies, although meager, were brought in by motor transports. A petrol pipeline was also laid to bring more fuel into the city.

With the coming of spring (1942 and 1943), Leningrad residents planted vegetables throughout the city. A more somber duty was the disposal of the dead in mass graves. Thousands had died on the streets and in homes. Too weak to bury their dead or to carry them to cemeteries, many just left family members along the streets.

The long nightmare for Leningrad ended in January, 1944, with the arrival of a large Soviet force that met up with the troops of the Leningrad front. The counteroffensive lasted only a few days as the Germans began to retreat to Estonia. The blockade was lifted on January 27, 1944.

Significance

After nine hundred days, a city of 3 million was reduced to 600,000. Never in history had a city suffered such a loss of civilian life.

Milestones in the Siege of Leningrad

Resources

Barber, John, and Mark Harrison. The Soviet Home Front, 1941–1945. London: Longman, 1991.

Salisbury, Harrison E. The Nine Hundred Days: The Siege of Leningrad. New York: Harper & Row, 1969.

Volkogonov, Dimitri. Stalin, Triumph and Tragedy. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991.