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The Siege of Leningrad, also known as The Leningrad Blockade (Russian: блокада Ленинграда (transliteration: blokada Leningrada)) was an unsuccessful military operation by the Axis powers to capture Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) during World War II. The siege lasted from September 9, 1941, to January 18, 1943, when a narrow land corridor to the city was established by the Soviets. The total lifting of the siege occurred on January 27, 1944. The Siege of Leningrad was one of the longest and most destructive sieges of major cities in modern history and it was the second most lethal.[8]
Overview
The capture of Leningrad was one of three strategic goals in Hitler's initial plan, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, for invading and conquering the Soviet Union. Hitler's strategy was motivated by Leningrad's political status as the former capital of Russia and the symbolic capital of the Russian Revolution, its military importance as a main base of the Soviet Baltic Fleet and its industrial strength, housing numerous arms factories.[9]
Hitler was so confident of capturing Leningrad that invitations to the victory celebrations to be held in the city's Hotel Astoria were already printed.[10] Although Hitler's plan for taking the city failed, the two-and-a-half year siege caused the greatest destruction and largest loss of life ever known in a modern city.[11]
The siege was conducted by Wehrmacht troops associated with Army Group North, with assistance from the Finnish Army, as part of Barbarossa, which was launched on June 22 1941.[12] The siege followed the Finnish offensive in Karelia, and the German offensive on southern suburbs of Leningrad. Once the offensive portion stopped and the 4th Panzer Group had left for Moscow, the Germans started to dig in as a preparation for executing the siege. GeneralGeorgy Zhukov overlooked this change and made preparations for Leningrad to withstand the expected German assault. [13]
On August 6, 1941, Hitler repeated his order: "Leningrad first, Donetsk Basin second, Moscow third."[14] From the time that the Wehrmacht troops reached the outskirts of the city in August 1941 until the siege ended in January 1944, the Leningrad operations dominated the decision-making of the German High Command concerning all operations in the northern area of the Eastern Front.[4] By August 1941 all railway lines to Leningrad were severed, and the city was encircled on land by Finnish armies to the north and German troops to the south.[15]
Anti-aircraft gun beside cathedral in Leningrad in 1941.
American Lend-Lease food and material supplies to Leningrad began in the last quarter of 1941, while British and American convoys to Murmansk increased this support in 1942 and 1943, providing aid to the remaining civilians and Soviet defenders of the besieged city. During the three successive winters starting with 1941/42, the ice cover on Lake Ladoga was used to relieve the city with supplies brought in via the Road of Life.
In August 1942, another operation for capturing Leningrad code named Operation Nordlicht (Operation Northern Light) was planned by the Germans, but the Sinyavin Offensive by the Red Army pre-empted Nordlicht and it was cancelled.[16] Concurrently, on 17 May 1942 the International Naval Detachment K (with boats from Finland, Germany, and Italy) was deployed on Lake Ladoga. During its patrols, the Detachment interdicted the Leningrad supply route in the southern part of the massive lake, sinking one barge. Bombing and artillery shelling of Leningrad continued from August 1941 onwards.[17][18]
On Hitler's express orders, most of the palaces of the Tsars, such as the Catherine Palace, the Peterhof, the Gatchina, the Ropsha, the Strelna, and other historic landmarks located outside the city's defensive perimeter were looted and then destroyed, with many art collections transported to Nazi Germany.[19] Many Leningrad industries, factories, schools, hospitals, transport facilities and infrastructures, the airport and other locations were destroyed by air raids and long range artillery bombardment during the thirty-month siege.
The Wehrmacht's siege perimeter was finally penetrated by Soviet forces on January 17, 1943 during Operation Iskra, when a narrow corridor was established along the shores of Lake Ladoga. The siege was finally lifted by Marshal Zhukov's offensive on January 27, 1944 as part of the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation.
The diary of Tanya Savicheva, a girl of 11, her notes about starvation and deaths of her grandmother, then uncle, then mother, then brother, the last record saying "Only Tanya is left." She died of progressive dystrophy shortly after the siege. Her diary was shown at the Nuremberg trials.
The 872 days of the siege caused unparalleled famine in the Leningrad region through disruption of utilities, water, energy and food supplies. This resulted in the deaths of up to 1,500,000[20] soldiers and civilians and the evacuation of 1,400,000 more, mainly women and children, many of whom died during evacuation due to starvation and bombardment.[4][1][2] One cemetery alone in Leningrad holds half a million civilian victims of the siege. Economic destruction and human losses in Leningrad on both sides exceeded those of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Battle of Moscow, or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The battle for Leningrad is listed among the most lethal sieges in world history, and some historians speak of the siege operations in terms of genocide, as a "racially motivated starvation policy" that became an integral part of the unprecedented German war of extermination against populations of the Soviet Union generally.[21][22]
During the 872-day siege, reports of cannibalism began to appear in the winter of 1941-1942, after all birds, rats and pets were eaten by survivors.[23] Leningrad police even formed a special division to combat cannibalism.[24]
Army Group North under Field Marshal von Leeb advanced to Leningrad, its primary objective. Von Leeb's plan called for capturing the city on the move, but due to strong resistance from Soviet forces, and also Hitler's recall of 4th Panzer Group, he was forced to besiege the city after reaching the shores of Lake Ladoga, while trying to complete the encirclement and reaching the Finnish Army under Marshal Mannerheim waiting at the Svir River, east of Leningrad.[25]
Finnish military forces were located north of Leningrad, while German forces occupied territories to the south.[11] Both German and Finnish forces had the goal of encircling Leningrad and maintaining the blockade perimeter, thus cutting off all communication with the city[dubious – discuss].[26][27][2][25][28][29]
Leningrad fortified region
On June 27, 1941 the Council of Deputies of the Leningrad administration organized "First response groups" of civilians. In the next days the entire civilian population of Leningrad was informed of the danger and over a million citizens were mobilized for the construction of fortifications. Several lines of defenses were built along the perimeter of the city, in order to repulse hostile forces approaching from north and south by means of civilian resistance.[2][4]
One of the fortifications ran from the mouth of the Luga River to Chudovo, Gatchina, Uritsk, Pulkovo and then through the Neva River. The other defense passed through Peterhof to Gatchina, Pulkovo, Kolpino and Koltushy. Another defense line against the Finns, the Karelian Fortified Region, had been maintained in the northern suburbs of Leningrad since the 1930s, and was now returned to service. A total of 190km of timber barricades, 635km of wire entanglements, 700km of anti-tank ditches, 5,000 earth-and-timber emplacements and reinforced concrete weapon emplacements and 25,000 km[citation needed] of open trenches were constructed or excavated by civilians. Even the gun of the Aurora cruiser was mounted on the Pulkovskiye Heights to the south of Leningrad.
Establishing the siege
The 4th Panzer Group from East Prussia took Pskov following a swift advance, and reached the neighborhood of Luga and Novgorod, within operational reach of Leningrad. But it was stopped by fierce resistance south of the city. However, the 18th Army with some 350,000 men lagged behind - forcing its way to Ostrov and Pskov after the Soviet troops of the Northwestern Front retreated towards Leningrad. On July 10 both Ostrov and Pskov were captured and the 18th Army reached Narva and Kingisepp, from where advance toward Leningrad continued from the Luga River line. This had the effect of creating siege positions from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga, with the eventual aim of isolating Leningrad from all directions. The Finnish Army was then expected to advance along the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga.[30]
Orders of battle
Showing Army Group North's advance into USSR in 1941. Coral up to Jul 9. Pink up to Sep 1. Green up to Dec 5.
Separate Units (2 rifle, 1 mot divisions, 2 Fortified areas, 1 rifle regiment)
Luga Operation group
XXXXI Rifle Corps (3 rifle divisions)
Separate Units (1 armored brigade, 1 rifle regiment)
Kingisepp Operation Group
Separate Units (2 rifle, 2 militia, 1 armored divisions, 1 Fortified area)
Separate Units (3 rifle divisions, 4 guard militia divisions, 3 Fortified areas, 1 rifle brigade)
From these, 14th Army defended Murmansk and 7th Army defended Ladoga Karelia; thus they did not participate in the initial stages of the siege. 8th Army was initially part of the Northwestern Front and retreated through the Baltics. (8th army was transferred to Northern Front on July 14).
Severing lines of communication
On August 6 Hitler repeated his order: "Leningrad first, Donetsk Basin second, Moscow third."[14] From August 1941 to January 1944 anything that happened between the Arctic Ocean and Lake Ilmen concerned the Wehrmacht's Leningrad siege operations.[4]Arctic convoys using the Northern Sea Route delivered American Lend-Lease food and war material supplies to the Murmansk railhead (although the rail link to Leningrad became cut by Finnish armies just north of the city); and also supplies to several other locations in Lapland.[citation needed] After Britain and Canada declared war on Finland, Winston Churchill demanded that Mannerheim and the Finnish armies restore the Murmansk–Leningrad railroad for humanitarian reasons, to allow food supplies to reach Leningrad's civilian population.[citation needed]
Encirclement of Leningrad
Finnish intelligence was particularly helpful for Hitler, as the Finns had broken some of the Soviet military codes and were able to read their low-level correspondence.[citation needed] He constantly requested intelligence information about Leningrad.[4] Finland's role in Operation Barbarossa was laid out in Hitler's Directive 21, "The mass of the Finnish army will have the task, in accordance with the advance made by the northern wing of the German armies, of tying up maximum Russian strength by attacking to the west, or on both sides, of Lake Ladoga".[34]
The last rail connection to Leningrad was severed on August 30, when Germans reached the Neva River. On September 8, the last land connection to the besieged city was severed when the Germans reached Lake Ladoga at Orekhovets. Bombing on September 8 caused 178 fires.[35] Hitler's directive on October 7, signed by Alfred Jodl was a reminder not to accept capitulation.[36]
Finland and Germany
By August 1941, the Finns had advanced within 20km of the northern suburbs of Leningrad, threatening the city from the north, and were also advancing through Karelia, east of Lake Ladoga, threatening the city from the east. However, Finnish forces halted their advance several kilometers away from the suburbs of Leningrad at the old Soviet-Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus. The Finnish headquarters rejected German pleas for aerial attacks against Leningrad and did not advance further south from the River Svir in the occupied East Karelia (160 kilometers northeast of Leningrad), which they reached on September 7. In the southeast, Germans captured Tikhvin on November 8, but failed to complete the encirclement of Leningrad by advancing further north to join with the Finns at the Svir River. A month later, on December 9 a counter-attack of the Volkhov Front forced the Wehrmacht to retreat from the Tikhvin positions to the River Volkhov line.[2][4]
On the 6th of September 1941 Mannerheim received the Order Of The Iron Cross for his command in the campaign[citation needed]. Germany's Chief of Staff Jodl brought the award to him with a personal letter from Hitler for the award ceremony held at Helsinki. Mannerheim was later photographed wearing the decoration while meeting Hitler.[37][38] Jodl's main reason for coming to Helsinki was to persuade Mannerheim to continue the Finnish offensive. During 1941 Finnish President Ryti declared in numerous speeches to the Finnish Parliament that the aim of the war was to gain more territories in the east and create a "Greater Finland"[39][40][41] However, after the war, he stated: "On August 24, 1941 I visited the headquarters of Marshal Mannerheim. The Germans aimed us at crossing the old border and continuing the offensive to Leningrad. I said that the capture of Leningrad was not our goal and that we should not take part in it. Mannerheim and the military minister Walden agreed with me and refused the offers of the Germans. The result was a paradoxical situation: the Germans could not approach Leningrad from the north..." Later it was asserted that there was no systematic shelling or bombing from of the Finnish positions.[11]
Nevertheless the proximity of the Finnish army's positions - 33-35 kilometers from the center of Leningrad - and the threat of a Finnish attack complicated the defense of the city. At one point the Front Commander Popov could not release reserves facing the Finnish Army for deployment against the Wehrmacht because they were needed to bolster the 23rd Army's defence on the Karelian Isthmus.[42] On August 31 1941 Mannerheim ordered a stop to the offensive when the Finnish advance reached the 1939 border at the shores of the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, after which Finnish offensives only continued by way of reducing the salients of Beloostrov and Kirjasalo, which threatened Finnish positions at the coast of the Gulf of Finland and south of river Vuoksi respectively.[43]
As the Finns reached the line during the first days of September, Popov experienced a reduction in pressure on Red Army forces, allowing him to transfer two divisions to the German sector on September 5.[44] However, in November 1941, Finnish forces made another advance towards Leningrad and crossed the Sestra River, but were stopped again at the Sestroretsk and Beloostrov settlements 20-25 km north of Leningrad's outer suburbs.[11][45] There is no information in Finnish sources of such an offensive and neither do Finnish casualty reports indicate any excess casualties at the time.[46] On the other hand, Soviet forces captured the so-called "Munakukkula" hill one kilometer west from Lake Lempaala in the evening of November 8, but Finns recaptured it next morning.[47] Later, in the summer of 1942, a special Naval Detachment K was formed from Finnish, German and Italian naval units under Finnish operational command. Its purpose was to patrol the waters of Lake Ladoga, and it became involved in clashes against Leningrad supply route on southern Ladoga[17][18][11]
Defensive operations
File:Blokada 02.jpgWomen collecting water from a broken street main in Leningrad.
Initial defence of Leningrad was undertaken by the troops of the Leningrad Front commanded by Marshal Kliment Voroshilov which included the 23rd Army in the northern sector between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, and the 48th Army (Soviet Union) occupying the western sector between Gulf of Finland and the Slutsk-Mga position. Also in the Front were the Leningrad Fortified Region, the Leningrad garrison, the Baltic Fleet forces, and the Koporsk, Southern and Slutsk-Kolpin operational groups.
The defence operation to protect the 1,400,000 civilian evacuees was part of the Leningrad counter-siege operations, and was carried under the command of Andrei Zhdanov, Kliment Voroshilov, and Aleksei Kuznetsov. Additional military operations were carried in coordination with the Baltic Fleet naval forces under the general command of Admiral Vladimir Tribuz. Major military involvement in helping evacuation of the civilians was carried by the Ladoga Flotilla under the command of V. Baranovsky, S.V. Zemlyanichenko, P.A. Traynin, and B.V. Khoroshikhin.
Bombardment
By September 8 1941 German forces had largely surrounded the city, cutting off all supply routes to Leningrad and its suburbs. Unable to press home their offensive, and facing defenses of the city organized by Marshal Zhukov, the Axis armies laid siege to the city for 872 days.
Artillery bombardments of Leningrad began in August 1941, increasing in intensity during 1942 with the arrival of new equipment. It was stepped up further during 1943, when several times as many shells and bombs were used as in the year before. Torpedoes were often used for night bombings by the Luftwaffe.[citation needed] Against this, the Soviet Baltic Fleet Navy aviation made over 100,000 air missions to support their military operations during the siege.[48] German shellings and bombings killed 5,723 and wounded 20,507 civilians in Leningrad during the siege.[49]
To sustain the defense of the city it was vitally important for the Red Army to establish a route for bringing constant supplies into Leningrad. This route was effected over the southern part of Lake Ladoga, by means of watercraft during the warmer months and land vehicles driven over thick ice in the winter. The security of the supply route was ensured by the Ladoga Flotilla, the Leningrad PVO Corps, and route security troops. The route would also be used to evacuate civilians from the besieged city. This was because no evacuation plan had been made available in the chaos of the first winter of the war, and the city literally starved in complete isolation until November 20, 1941 when the ice road over Lake Ladoga became operational.
This road was named the Road of Life (Russian: Дорога жизни). As a road it was very dangerous. There was the risk of vehicles becoming stuck in the snow or sinking through broken ice caused by the constant German bombardment. Because of the high winter death toll the route also became known as the "Road of Death". However, the lifeline did bring military and food supplies in and took civilians out, allowing the city to continue resisting the enemy.
The encirclement was broken in the wake of Operation Iskra - (English: Operation Spark) - a full-scale offensive conducted by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts. This offensive started in the morning of January 12, 1943. After fierce battles the Red Army units overcame the powerful German fortifications to the south of Lake Ladoga, and on January 18, 1943 the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts met, opening a 10-12km wide land corridor, which could provide some relief to the besieged population of Leningrad.
The siege continued until January 27, 1944, when the Soviet Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive expelled German forces from the southern outskirts of the city. This was a combined effort by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts, along with the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts. The Baltic Fleet provided 30% of aviation power for the final strike against the Wehrmacht.[48] In the summer of 1944, the Finns were pushed back to the other side of the Bay of Vyborg and the Vuoksi River.
September 19: German troops are stopped 10 km from Leningrad. Citizens join the fighting at the defense lines.[citation needed]
1,496,000 Soviet personnel were awarded the medal for the defence of Leningrad from 22nd December 1942.
September 22: Hitler directs that "Saint Petersburg must be erased from the face of the Earth".[58]
September 22: Hitler declares, "....we have no interest in saving lives of the civilian population."[58]
November 8: Hitler states in a speech at Munich: "Leningrad must die of starvation."[11]
November 10: Soviet counter-attack begins, forcing Germans to retreat from Tikhvin back to the Volkhov River by December 30, preventing them from joining Finnish forces stationed at the Svir River east of Leningrad.[59]
1942
January 7: Soviets begin 16 week unsuccessful Lyuban Offensive; losing the 2nd Shock Army.
January: Soviets launch battle for the Nevsky Pyatachok bridgehead in an attempt to break the siege. This battle lasts until May 1943, but is only partially successful. Very heavy casualties experienced by both sides.
April 4 - 30: Luftwaffe operation Eis Stoß (Ice impact) fails to sink Baltic Fleet ships iced in at Leningrad.[60]
June–September: New German artillery bombards Leningrad with 800 kg shells.
August 19: Soviets begin 8 week Sinyavin relief offensive, which fails but thwarts German Nordlicht plan.[61]
1943
January–December: Increased artillery bombardments of Leningrad.
January 12 – January 30:Operation Iskra opens a land corridor along the coast of Lake Ladoga into the city.
1944
January 14 - March 1: Several Soviet offensive operations begin, aimed at ending the siege.
January 27: Siege of Leningrad ends. Germans forces pushed 60–100 km away from the city.
Additional notes
Controversy over Finnish participation
Almost all historians regard the siege as a German operation and do not consider that the Finns effectively participated in the siege.[62] Only Nikolai Baryshnikov has been a strong supporter of the view that active Finnish participation occurred. The main issues which counted in favour of the former view are: (a) the Finns stayed at the pre-winter war border at the Karelian Isthmus, despite German wishes and requests, and (b) they did not bombard the city from planes or with artillery and did not allow the Germans to bring their own land forces to Finnish lines.
^Carell 1966, pp. 205–240 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCarell1966 (help)
^Suvorov 2005, pp. 399–402 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSuvorov2005 (help)
^ abHiggins 1966, pp. 151 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHiggins1966 (help)
^Military-Topographic Directorate, maps No. 194, 196, Officer's Atlas. General Staff USSR. 1947. Атлас Офицера. Генеральный штаб вооруженных сил ССР. М., Военно-топографическоее управление,- 1947. Листы 194, 196
^Glantz 2001, pp. 185–191 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGlantz2001 (help)
^Пыхалов, И (2003). "«великая оболганная война»". Военная литература. Со сслылкой на Барышников В.Н.Вступление Финляндии во Вторую мировую войну. 1940-1941 гг. СПб. Militera. pp. с. 28. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |yearpublished= ignored (help)
^"«и вновь продолжается бой…»". Андрей Сомов. Центр Политических и Социальных Исследований Республики Карелия. Politika-Karelia. Retrieved 2007-09-25. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |datepublished= ignored (help)
^Glantz 2001, pp. 33–34 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGlantz2001 (help)
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Spanish volunteers
Finland[1][2][3]
Soviet Union
Russian map of the operations around Leningrad in 1943 Blue are the German and allied Finnish troops. The Soviets are red.[1]
