How the Red Army managed to defend Leningrad during WWII russiaherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from russiaherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
How the Red Army managed to defend Leningrad during WWII (PHOTOS) Boris Kudoyarov, colorized by Julius Jääskeläinen One of the longest and most terrible sieges in world history claimed the lives of more than a million residents of the second most important city in the Soviet Union.
“The Fuehrer is unshakeable in his decision to raze Moscow and Leningrad to the ground in order to completely get rid of the population of these cities, whom otherwise we would be forced to feed during the winter.,” chief of staff of the Army High Command Franz Halder wrote in his diary on July 8, 1941, at the very start of Operation Barbarossa. As a result of a rapid advance of Army Group North through the Baltic republics, the enemy approached Leningrad as early as the summer of 1941. In the meantime, the Finnish army was approaching the city from Karelia.