The Siege of Leningrad, also known as The Leningrad Blockade was the German siege of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) during World War II and was one of the longest sieges of a city in modern history. The German plan was coded as Operation Nordlicht (Operation North Light). The siege lasted from September 8, 1941, until it was lifted on January 27, 1944.
On June 27, 1941 the Council of Deputies of the Leningrad administration decided to mobilize thousands of people for the construction of fortifications. Several defenses were built. 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
The German bombings of the Nevsky prospektto Gatchina, Pulkovo, Kolpino and Koltushy. During the 1930s, another defense line against the Finns (KaUR) had been built in the northern suburbs of Leningrad, and it was now taken into use. In all, 190 km of timber blockages, 635 km of wire entanglements, 700 km of anti-tank ditches, 5,000 earth-and-timber emplacements and ferro-concrete weapon emplacements and 25,000 km of open trenches were built by civilians. Even the gun of the cruiser Aurora was mounted on the Pulkovskiye Heights to the south of Leningrad. German bombings killed thousands of civilians in Leningrad. However, when Soviet troops of the North-Western Front in the end of June were defeated in the Baltic Soviet Republics, the Wehrmacht had forced its way to Ostrov and Pskov. On July 10, both cities were captured and the Germans reached Kunda and Kingisepp whereupon they advanced to Leningrad from Narva, the Luzhski region, and from the south-east and also to the north and south of the Lake Ilmen in order to isolate Leningrad from the east and to join the Finns at the eastern bank of Lake Ladoga. The last rail connection to Leningrad was severed on August 30, when Germans reached the Neva River. The shelling of Leningrad began on September 4. 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. In early October, the Germans refused to assault the city and Hitler's directive on October 7, signed by Alfred Jodl was a reminder not to accept capitulation.
By August, the Finns had reconquered the Karelian Isthmus, threatening Leningrad from the West, and were advancing through Karelia east of Lake Ladoga, threatening Leningrad from the North. In any event, the Finnish forces halted at the 1939 border. 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 which they reached at September 7, 160 kilometers north-east of Leningrad. In the south, Germans captured Tikhvin on November 8, but failed to advance further north and connect with Finns at the River Svir. A Soviet counterattack forced Germans to retreat from Tikhvin, on December 9, all the way to the River Volkhov.
The eastern front at the onset of the Siege of Leningrad.On September 4, Jodl came to persuade Mannerheim to continue the Finnish offensive and it is said that Mannerheim refused. After the war, the former Finnish president Ryti said: "On August 24, 1941, I visited the headquarters of Marshal Mannerheim. The Germans aimed us at crossing the old border and at continuation of the offensive to Leningrad. I said that the capture of Leningrad wasn't our goal and that we shouldn't 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 were not able to approach Leningrad from the north…" Later it was asserted that there was no systematic shelling or bombing out of the Finnish territory.
On the other hand, the Soviets didn't know what Ryti and Mannerheim had told the Germans, and no one knows if their words were meant to last forever or only until the anticipated German victory was at hand. In any case, the mere threat of a Finnish attack complicated the Soviet defence of Leningrad. For example, at one point the Front Commander Popov could not transfer certain reserves against the Germans because they were needed to bolster the 23rd Army's defence on the Karelian Isthmus.[1] Mannerheim gave order at August 31 to stop the attack when the straightened line leaning to the 1939 border at the shores of Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga was reached.[2] When the Finns started to reach that line during the first days of September, Popov noticed Finnish lessening pressure quickly and already at September 5 two divisions were transferred to German front.[3]Later, in the summer of 1942, a special Naval Detachment K was formed under the Finnish operative command. Its purpose was to patrol the waters of Lake Ladoga, although it was involved in clashes against Leningrad supply route on southern Ladoga with the assistance of German and Italian naval forces
After the massive Nazi bombings began on September 8, 1941, all main food warehouses were destroyed, so huge amounts of stored food reserves, such as grains, flour and sugar, as well as other stored food, were wiped out in bombings and fires. The fires continued all over the city, because the Nazis were bombing Leningrad non-stop for many months using all kinds of fire-bombs and heavy air-bombs during 1941 and 1942.
On the same day, another food reduction took place: the workers received 500 grams of bread; employees and children, 300 grams; and dependents, 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 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 bombings by German aviation. Several barges with grain were sunk in lake Ladoga in September 1941 alone. A significant part of that grain, however, was later lifted out of the waters by divers. This dampened grain was delivered to Leningrad at night, and was used in bread baking. When the city ran out of reserves of malt flour, other substitutes, such as finished cellulose 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 was made of them. Later, when the meat became unavailable, it was replaced by that galantine and by stinking calf skins, which many survivors remembered till the end of their lives.
During the first year of the siege, the city survived five food reductions: two reductions in September of 1941, one in October 1941, two reductions in November 1941. The latter reduced the daily food consumption to 250 grams daily for manual workers and 125 grams for other civilians. Reports of cannibalism began to appear in the winter of 1941-1942, after all birds, rats and pets were eaten by survivors. Starvation-level food rationing was eased by new vegetable gardens that covered most open ground in the city by 1943.
Women of Leningrad collecting water from a broken street mainDue to a lack of power supplies, many factories were closed down and, in November, all public transportation services became unavailable (in the spring of 1942, some tramway lines were reactivated, but trolleybuses and buses were inoperable until the end of the war). 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 come to an end. 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 the Pargolovo district and also the Vsevolzhskiy district in the north of the city. By October 24, only 1% of the timber cutting plan had been executed.
Barrage airships in front of the Saint Isaac's Cathedral during the battle of Leningrad
Damage from one of 250 thousand German shells and bombs dropped on LeningradAbout 1.3 million people managed to escape from the besieged city of Leningrad in two years between September 1941 and November 1943. Another 1.2 million civilians perished in the city. There were only 0.7 million people left out of 3 million pre-war population. Among those left in the siege were soldiers, workers, surviving children and women. Of those 700,000 surviving people about 300,000 were soldiers who came from other parts of the country to help the besieged city of Leningrad.
86 major strategic industries were evacuated from the city. Most industrial capacities, engines, power equipment, instruments and tools, were moved by the workers. Some defence industries, such as the LMZ, the Admiralty Shipyard, and the Kirov Plant, among some other industries were left in the city, and were still producing armory and amunition for defenders.
The Nazis cut almost all supplies to Leningrad, so almost all food and catering disappeared, garment industries and retail closed, most schools as well as most public services became obsolete, causing massive exodus of women and children.
Hundreds of buildings, public schools, hospitals and industries were destroyed by the Nazi bombings and air-raids.
Museums and palaces in the suburbs were destroyed, vandalized and looted by the Nazis, while the personnel of museums was trying to save some art. Only parts of art collections from the famous suburban palaces of the Tsars were evacuated in time, while some of the saved art was stored in the basements of the Hermitage until the end of war.
By September 8, the Germans had largely surrounded the city, blocking off all supply routes to Leningrad