Siege of Leningrad

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 started on 8 September 1941, when the last land connection to the city was severed. Although the Soviets managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the total lif... more

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 started on 8 September 1941, when the last land connection to the city was severed. Although the Soviets managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the total lifting of the siege took place on 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. The Siege of Leningrad was one of the longest and most destructive sieges of a major city in modern history and it was the third most costly in terms of casualties. 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,... less