DC Under Siege_5of6_Leningrad 1941 The 900 Days
Transcript
00:00The history of man's inhumanity to man has many dark chapters, but none worse than the
00:13war on Germany's Eastern Front.
00:18After the Wehrmacht had gained control of most of Western Europe, Hitler turned his
00:21attention eastwards, to the vast expanses of Russia.
00:26On the 22nd of June, 1941, some 150 German army divisions launched their great invasion.
00:34Operation Barbarossa had begun.
00:44Army Group North was ordered to destroy a strategically important city high on the Baltic
00:48coast.
00:50Hitler was intent on obliterating it at all costs, and ordered that its inhabitants be
00:54shelled and starved to death.
00:58The siege that ensued lasted nearly 900 days, and cost the lives of almost one million civilians.
01:06But the city would not yield to the mighty force at its gates.
01:10Leningrad, 1941.
01:54A vibrant, beautiful city, which boasts a rich cultural heritage.
02:01It is perhaps difficult for the contemporary visitor to imagine the horrors that took place
02:05on its streets just six decades ago.
02:10But they are etched on the fabric and consciousness of the city.
02:14Many of whose inhabitants are able to recall them all too vividly.
02:24Five months after Britain and France had guaranteed the security of Poland in March 1939, a Nazi-Soviet
02:30pact was signed.
02:33One week later, with Soviet backing, Poland was invaded, and World War II began.
02:54The pact had guaranteed that Russia would be safe from invasion by Hitler's forces.
03:00But in the late summer of 1940, the Fuhrer ordered plans for the invasion of his communist
03:05ally, codenamed Operation Barbarossa.
03:13Hitler invaded Russia for three reasons.
03:15First of all, he was determined to smash the Soviet Union's potential to attack Germany
03:23while Germany was engaged with what he saw as its major enemy, Britain.
03:28Secondly, because his long-term plans involved the colonization of Eastern Europe, and Russia
03:35was obviously the largest, by far the largest territory available for that project.
03:41And thirdly, because he had always made fighting and destroying Bolshevism a central part of
03:48the Nazi mission.
03:52Operation Barbarossa evolved into a three-pronged attack by Army Groups North, Center, and South.
04:01Comprising some 150 divisions, they were to advance on a wide front and establish a line
04:07from Archangel to the Volga.
04:11Army Group Center was to attack towards Minsk, Smolensk, and eventually take the capital,
04:17Moscow.
04:19Army Group South was to advance on Kiev and the Ukraine with its rich grain reserves.
04:27Army Group North, supported by 14 Finnish divisions in the Karelian Peninsula north
04:32of Leningrad, was tasked with the destruction of Soviet forces in the Baltic region and
04:38the capture of Leningrad.
04:44With the destruction of Leningrad and Soviet troops in the north, Army Group Center would
04:48have its flank secured and be able to take Moscow. With its capital in German hands,
04:55Russia would be conquered.
04:58Leningrad was the second largest city in the Soviet Union. It was a major industrial center,
05:05particularly producing war material, and it was the base of the Soviet Baltic Sea Fleet.
05:11So for all these reasons, it was an indispensable target for the German offensive and for the
05:18reason it was given high priority in the early weeks and months of the war.
05:49Led by Field Marshal Ritter von Lieb, Army Group North consisted of the 18th Army, commanded
06:00by General von Kuechler, General Hoepner's 4th Panzer Group, and General Busch's 16th
06:08Army.
06:12The Army Group that von Lieb commanded was in many ways the poor relation of the German
06:17forces. With no motorized transport, 80% of its troops had to walk into battle, and the
06:24movement of its guns and equipment was largely reliant on horsepower.
06:33While it had 600 tanks and 430 aircraft, it was perhaps not quite the armored juggernaut
06:39of popular myth.
06:43However this did not deter Hitler, and he believed that the Wehrmacht could accomplish
06:47its goals in only 8 to 10 weeks.
06:56Rumors of Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union had begun to circulate at the beginning
07:00of 1941, but Stalin had refused to believe them.
07:04There were many reports that were coming in leading up to the launch of Operation Barbarossa,
07:09particularly from informers within Germany. Stalin ignored all these because he was convinced
07:17that Hitler would not make the fatal error of Germany in World War I, namely of fighting
07:25a war on two fronts.
07:29Confident that Germany would not attack, Stalin banned what he considered to be provocative
07:33preparations. This left the Russian army and air force unprepared for the German onslaught,
07:40and in many places, civil defenses were also horribly inadequate.
07:50In July, Army Group North scythed through the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and
07:55Estonia. The Nazi-Soviet pact had enabled Stalin to occupy these states.
08:04And the joyful citizens greeted the German troops as liberators.
08:09Once the SS arrived with torture, murder and deportation, joy soon turned to terror.
08:18In the face of the German onslaught, the surprised and ill-prepared Russian army fell back to
08:23the Luga river, near the ancient city of Novgorod.
08:28The Luga line held until the 21st of August, when the 16th Army outflanked it to the south,
08:34before taking Chudeva and pushing further north near Magar, only 60 kilometres from
08:40Leningrad.
08:47Stalin's insistence that his border be extended into Finnish territory in 1939 had resulted
08:52in the Winter War. When the Soviets had emerged victorious in March 1940, the disputed territory
08:59had been incorporated into the USSR. Now the Finns saw an opportunity to regain their lost
09:06ground.
09:11On the 28th of August, Tallinn fell to the Germans, and at the same time the Finns advanced
09:16on both sides of Lake Ladoga, occupying their former territory.
09:24German and Finnish forces were forming a circle around Leningrad, and the ring was tightening.
09:29The prospects for Russian forces and the city's inhabitants looked bleak.
09:40Leningrad though had been doing its best to prepare for the assault. Tens of thousands
09:45of volunteers had worked around the clock to construct a maze of defences in a triple
09:49line around the city.
10:15Thousands of kilometres of trenches were dug, over 700 kilometres of anti-tank ditches
10:22and tank traps, and approximately 15,000 pillboxes were built. To protect these, fields of anti-tank
10:29and anti-personnel mines were laid.
10:36While Army Group North continued to advance on Leningrad, Hitler's plans were changing.
10:43The advance of Army Group Centre along the Moscow axis became the new priority.
10:48Hitler's plan was to attack Leningrad from the east, and to attack Leningrad from the
10:54west.
10:55The plan was to attack Leningrad from the east, and to attack Leningrad from the west.
11:02The advance of Army Group Centre along the Moscow axis became the new priority.
11:08On the 29th of August, von Lieb ordered his forces to close the ring around the city,
11:13before some of his units were ordered south.
11:17On the 30th, Magar was captured, and with it the last rail link from Leningrad.
11:24Schlisselburg fell on the 8th of September.
11:28The capture of Schlisselburg on the 8th of September was the decisive moment in the siege
11:39of Leningrad.
11:40From this point of view, that it meant that there was no longer any land contact, direct
11:49land contact between Leningrad and the interior of Russia.
11:56It meant that supplies now could only get into Leningrad via the air or across the huge
12:03lake to the east of Leningrad, Lake Ladoga, and Leningrad was in a ring of iron.
12:12On the 10th, the Duderhof Heights were lost, giving the German artillery an excellent view
12:17of the city.
12:20It was now that decisions made elsewhere impacted on the fate of Leningrad.
12:25On the 15th of September, Hitler ordered most of Panzer Group 4 to Army Group Centre
12:30for the assault on Moscow.
12:33Once you suck combat power out of Army Group North in order to feed the burning desire
12:40of Army Group Centre to get to Moscow before winter, Army Group North is left with no armoured
12:46capability at all.
12:48They've just gone 900 miles and they are almost to Leningrad and they're down to one
12:55motorised formation.
12:57They have got no panzer divs left to punch their way to where they want to be.
13:08Three days before Hitler's order, Stalin had sent General Georgy Zhukov to take command
13:12of Leningrad.
13:15Zhukov was the greatest Soviet military leader of World War II.
13:21He was something close to a military genius.
13:27Zhukov's main characteristics as a military commander were his command of detail on the
13:35battlefield, but also an ability to motivate those under his command.
13:42He was very decisive, he gave his all and he demanded everything from those underneath
13:50him.
13:51He was also absolutely ruthless.
13:53He was a Stalinist military commander.
13:56For him it was victory at all costs, whatever the sacrifice of human life this might entail.
14:13When he arrived in Leningrad in early September 1941, after the Germans had managed to block
14:21the city, the main problem was whether the city would be able to defend itself.
14:26The first thing Zhukov did was to overcome these problems, he said that we should do
14:34everything possible to organise the most effective defence of the city.
14:40Zhukov immediately reorganised and strengthened Leningrad's defences.
14:45Reinforcing the armies in the Uritsk and Polkovi sectors, he ordered relentless counter-attacks.
14:52These counter-attacks tied up German forces and prevented them crossing the Neva river.
14:59Von Lieb's troops were then halted by the triple line of defences outside Leningrad.
15:06Leningrad's offensives had also postponed the departure of Panzer Group 4 to Army Group
15:10Centre, adversely affecting the Moscow offensive.
15:16German efforts to close the Iron Ring around Leningrad were further hampered by the Finns'
15:21refusal to advance further than their regained territory.
15:25The Finns had lost a great deal of territory to the Soviets in the Winter War and they
15:30were willing to go to war to get some of that back.
15:35One thing that Marshal Mannerheim knew was that if he was going to continue to live alongside
15:44the very powerful Soviet Union after the war, he could not be a threat to Leningrad.
15:55In the big picture, in the long term, Finland could not afford to be a strategic threat
16:02to the Soviet Union's only year-round port.
16:08By late September, the Leningrad offensive had cost Army Group North in the region of
16:1260,000 casualties and the Russian Army Groups over 300,000.
16:19With both armies exhausted, the mobile phase of the battle was over.
16:24Hitler ordered the city bombed, shelled and starved into submission.
16:28The siege of Leningrad had begun.
16:42The German artillery bombardment of the city started on the 1st of September.
16:46On the 8th, the aerial bombardment followed as the Luftwaffe went into action over Leningrad.
16:596,000 incendiaries and 50 high-explosive bombs caused extensive damage to the south of the
17:08city and destroyed the main food warehouses.
17:28The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
17:33The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
17:38The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
17:43The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
17:48The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
17:53The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
17:58The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
18:03The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
18:08The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
18:13The German artillery bombardment of Leningrad continued.
18:18As enemy forces advanced, evacuations by rail and water by Lake Ladoga began.
18:26The aim was to send one million evacuees to the east.
18:32By the end of August, over 630,000 people had left the city.
18:37But in September, with the Germans tightening their grip on the land,
18:42only 70,000 were sent to safety,
18:45leaving 2.5 million people inside the city.
18:51Leningrad was an important industrial centre,
18:54and in August, many of the factories had followed the city's inhabitants to safety in the east.
18:59Whole plants, including their technical personnel and machines,
19:03were sent to the Volga and the Urals.
19:07After the fall of Schlisselburg on 8th September,
19:11evacuation was only possible by air or across Lake Ladoga.
19:15However, by then, the vital Kirov and Izhora tank factories had relocated,
19:20along with over 10,000 technicians from the aircraft factories.
19:27Despite the loss of these factories,
19:30armaments continued to be manufactured in the city.
19:34Technical colleges were set up to train civilians,
19:37women joined the workforce,
19:39and workshops were set up to manufacture and repair small arms.
19:44In the defence of the city, women played a key role.
19:49And this key role consisted in the simple fact
19:53that as a result of the call to the army,
19:56as a result of the mobilisation and formation of the People's Militia,
20:00it took Leningrad about 650,000 men to defend.
20:06In the city, there were mostly women,
20:10and they played a key role in supporting the industry,
20:16taking care of the families,
20:19and building the most defensive structures.
20:25While the need for weapons outside the city was great,
20:29inside Leningrad there was a more pressing requirement, food.
20:34In August, the rationing of bread and sugar had begun.
20:39Falling grain stocks led to the bread ration being cut twice in September.
20:44Rationing of cereals, fats, meat and fish began,
20:48and electricity supplies were restricted to only a few hours a day.
20:53Beer production was halted,
20:56and all of the malt, barley, soya beans and bran
20:59were sent to the bakeries to supplement the flour.
21:03As the siege wore on, many other substances,
21:06including sawdust, were added.
21:10By 20 November, the bread ration had been cut a further three times,
21:15making five cuts in 11 weeks.
21:19The daily ration consisted of 375 grams for priority workers,
21:24250 grams for engineers and technicians,
21:28and 125 grams for employees, their dependents and children.
21:33This was a decrease from the normal consumption in June
21:37of between 60 and 80%.
21:58This is a soup made from the same porridge.
22:02In the evening, we sometimes had mamalyga.
22:05Mamalyga is corn flour,
22:08it was also used to make some kind of porridge.
22:11And a piece of bread, 500 grams,
22:14and 30 grams of granulated sugar.
22:17Granulated sugar.
22:20But sometimes we wanted to put sugar in our pockets,
22:25and the next time we could go home,
22:29we would give it to our mother or father.
22:33Once the Germans cut the rail links east,
22:37Leningrad's only means of supply had been via Lake Ladoga.
22:41This route, relying on slow barges crossing the lake day and night
22:45in all weathers, was inevitably vulnerable to German air attacks.
22:49In October and November 1941,
22:53shipping carried 60,000 tons of food, fuel and ammunition
22:57across the lake to the city.
23:00Aerial supply was sometimes possible,
23:03and between 14 and 28 November,
23:061,200 tons of high-calorie foods were flown in.
23:10However, this was never enough to sustain the city.
23:14Leningrad had begun to starve to death.
23:19The Stavka, the Soviet high command,
23:23knew that should Army Group North succeed in destroying Leningrad,
23:27then it could swing south and take Moscow.
23:31With Army Group Center already threatening Moscow,
23:35Stalin recalled Zhukov to the capital in November.
23:39Before he left, Zhukov put into operation an attack on the German army.
23:43Troops from the Leningrad region joined the 54th Army,
23:47and the Volkhov Army Group attacked in the Magar region to the east of the city.
23:51The fighting continued through November.
23:55While it did not force the Germans back,
23:59it did hold down German divisions bound for the attack on Moscow.
24:03Meanwhile, after three weeks' hard fighting,
24:07the Germans had taken Tikhvin in early November,
24:11and Lake Ladoga's only remaining rail links to Moscow had been cut.
24:15As temperatures dropped below minus 30,
24:19German forces could go no further, and fighting continued in the area for a month.
24:23Then, with a mighty effort,
24:27Russian forces attacked Tikhvin from the north and east.
24:31German communications south were cut by a third Russian thrust.
24:35On 9 December, the Germans withdrew from Tikhvin.
24:39Pursued westwards by the Russian armies,
24:43the Germans fell back to their October positions across the River Volkhov.
24:47The importance of the limited Soviet military successes
24:51at the end of 1941 and beginning of 1942
24:55was that even if they didn't break the siege,
24:59they showed that the German lines
25:03would not advance further.
25:07They showed that the Red Army could contain
25:11and to some measure push back the German advance.
25:15And this was something of a morale booster,
25:19even though for the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad
25:23it was a major disappointment that the promised relief
25:27had not come and conditions in the city grew even worse.
25:34While they had gained ground and recaptured the vital rail link,
25:38the Russian counter-offensives had indeed done little
25:42to alleviate the pressure inside the city.
25:46To compound the supply problems, winter came early to Lake Ladoga
25:50and the ice severely reduced ship-borne supplies.
25:54The Leningrad Military Council drew up plans
25:58for an ice road across the lake.
26:02While the ice was too thick for shipping and too thin for trucks,
26:06by the 22nd of November
26:10the first convoy struggled across the lake's newly marked route.
26:14However, shortly afterwards a partial thaw set in
26:18and 40 trucks and their valuable cargo were lost through the thinning ice.
26:22Poor organisation meant that deliveries
26:26were falling well short of the city's daily requirements.
26:30A.A. Zhandanov, Leningrad's Communist Party chief
26:34and Kuznetsov, secretary of the local party,
26:38took charge of the road and deliveries quickly increased.
26:42Towards the end of December, the authorities had constructed
26:46four roads across the ice, two for military vehicles
26:50and two for supply trucks. With the ice one metre thick,
26:54the routes could accommodate 24-hour two-way traffic.
26:58Along the road of life, as the vital lifeline became known,
27:02there were roads and road service posts,
27:06manned by engineers who repaired the ice.
27:10There were rescue services and communication points,
27:14medical stations and combat security posts.
27:18All were constructed and operated under heavy German bombardment,
27:22but the route remained open.
27:26Constructing the route was incredibly hazardous.
27:30It was such a case to improvise bridges across those portions
27:34from where the ice was thick enough to bear the weight
27:38to the next point. There were several routes
27:42ultimately that were created in order to spread the load
27:46across the ice. Hundreds and eventually thousands
27:50of vehicles were going across, up to 4,000 a day
27:54at the height of the operation of the ice road
27:58in the winter of 1941-42.
28:02On 22 December, deliveries reached 700 tonnes
28:06and the following day 800 tonnes arrived, exceeding
28:10Leningrad's daily needs for the first time.
28:14This came too late for many of Leningrad's inhabitants.
28:18I realised that people were dying of hunger
28:22not long before their father died.
28:26My father was one of the first victims of the cold.
28:30It was a particularly strong impression.
28:34I remember that day well.
28:38I remember well how I tried
28:42to bring him back to his senses,
28:46to bring him back to life,
28:50but I failed.
28:56He died peacefully.
29:00We managed to bury him.
29:04The grave of my father still exists,
29:08unlike most of those who died later,
29:12when the greatest thing that their loved ones
29:16could have done was to bring him
29:20to the brother's grave, where he was buried.
29:24Many people died in November 1941.
29:28In December, the figure rose to 50,000
29:32and by January 1942 it had reached 120,000.
29:36People died at home, as they walked to work,
29:40at their machines and as they queued for food.
29:44Often there was no one at home or at work
29:48with the strength left to drag them
29:52The authorities were unable to cope with the dead
29:56and registration of deaths ceased as numbers increased.
30:00Sometimes deaths would deliberately go unrecorded
30:04so that the ration card of the deceased
30:08could continue to sustain the rest of the family.
30:12Ration card theft from the living
30:16as well as the dead was rife, as was forgery,
30:20but the secret police did little to dissuade
30:24the city's desperate inhabitants
30:28from committing some of the most appalling crimes.
30:32With all of the city's cats and dogs already gone,
30:36even the frozen piles of corpses had to be guarded
30:40to prevent the madness of hunger
30:44driving some to hack off the limbs of the dead.
30:48The city was ravaged with cannibalism.
30:52In some cases this was the result
30:56of people just being crazed with hunger
31:00and really losing any kind of control.
31:04In other cases it might be deliberate decision
31:08by someone having to take the decision
31:12over life and death for their own family.
31:16...killing one child in order to use that child's body
31:20to feed themselves and other children.
31:24There are cases of husbands killing wives
31:28or children killing parents.
31:46...or forbidding small children to go outside
31:50because they knew that children
31:54were a potential target of criminal offences.
31:58On the black market they sold cutlets of unknown origin
32:02and many associated this with the fact
32:06that human flesh was used for food.
32:10With starvation and extreme cold came disease.
32:15The war was coming to an end
32:19and hospitals could do little to alleviate the suffering.
32:23This is a fragment from my diary
32:27dated 10th January 1942,
32:31the most difficult period of the blockade.
32:35It's one of the most difficult days.
32:39It's an emotional outburst.
32:43The water doesn't go anywhere.
32:47We have to collect snow and melt it.
32:51There's no electricity.
32:55There's a small smoker burning.
32:59The washing machine doesn't work.
33:03There's nothing to eat.
33:07Just recently my mother changed our coffee pot
33:11and now we have no electricity.
33:15In early January food and fuel reserves were so low
33:19that work on the ice road was stepped up
33:23and the speed of the convoys increased.
33:27The work was successful
33:31and by the 18th supply deliveries had doubled.
33:35On 24th January everybody's daily bread ration was doubled.
33:39The Germans, bringing the supplies,
33:43began to carry women and children away from the city on their return journey
33:47and many of the sick and wounded were also evacuated to the east.
33:51During the 1941-42 winter
33:55the Soviet armies had continued to harass and attack Army Group North.
33:59The Red Army had special cold-weather clothing
34:03and their personal and motorised equipment was designed and built
34:07to withstand the cold.
34:11The Germans and the German generals
34:15after the war explained the reason for their defeat
34:19that not only the talents of the Russian commanders
34:23were the reason for their defeat
34:27but also that General Zima was the most important enemy of the Germans.
34:31The German army was initially not ready
34:35to fight against the Soviet Union in winter.
34:39There were no serious preparations for this.
34:43The Soviet Union, of course, was hoping for a long war
34:47and the Red Army and the Red Navy
34:51were better equipped to defend Leningrad.
34:55Having regained Tikhvin and made the Volkhov region
34:59relatively safe from further German attacks in December
35:03the Red Army went on the offensive again in mid-January
35:07assaulting the German lines from Schlisselburg to Novgorod.
35:11The 54th Army and the Volkhov Army Group
35:15assaulted from the north and south-east.
35:19The fighting ebbed and flowed until mid-June 1942.
35:23The long drawn-out battle succeeded in tying up thousands of German troops
35:27keeping them away from Leningrad itself.
35:31Following Thor, the ice road disappeared
35:35but three major projects had been undertaken.
35:39To cut fuel consumption and speed deliveries, the old truck route was shortened.
35:43A new branch rail line was laid from the southern shore of Lake Ladoga
35:47to the main line east
35:51and a new underwater fuel pipeline was laid
35:55reinvigorating Leningrad's military industries.
35:59Activation was over by the spring of 1942.
36:03Conditions in Leningrad remained grim.
36:07The noise of bombs and shells was still the background chorus to daily life.
36:11However, the inhabitants of the beleaguered city
36:15tried to maintain as normal a life as possible.
36:29While my father was still alive,
36:33we were playing the piano in four hands
36:37as a gift to my father.
36:41We played a symphony by Haydn in four hands.
36:45It is recorded in my diary. My father was very pleased.
36:49I must say now,
36:59that he was not as pleased
37:03as he was probably in pain.
37:11Pain...
37:15And anxiety for the fate of his son and wife.
37:19Probably, all of this fell on him.
37:23But I recorded it in my diary. My father was very pleased.
37:29In an attempt to raise the blockade and preempt a German offensive,
37:33the Stavka launched one of its own.
37:37On 19 August, with an advantage in men of 4 to 1,
37:41the Soviets attacked across the Neva River.
37:45The Germans counterattacked
37:49and nearly succeeded in encircling the Soviet troops.
37:53They managed to escape, however,
37:57but the Germans still had 26,000 casualties,
38:01which the Germans could ill afford.
38:05Although all German hopes of capturing Leningrad were now dashed,
38:09the Soviets themselves had sustained over 110,000 casualties.
38:13As the second winter approached at the end of 1942,
38:17the lessons learned from the previous year were put into practice.
38:21The city's defences were strengthened
38:25under the supervision of the Leningrad Army Group,
38:29which then occupied them in depth.
38:33From the spring of 1942, with the return of public transport
38:37and an increase in the electricity and water supplies,
38:41Leningrad's industry was rejuvenated.
38:45T-34 tanks were produced in large numbers,
38:49along with artillery, small arms and ammunition.
38:53The war was severe, and much had been done
38:57to alleviate the hardships of the first winter under siege.
39:01Every park, garden or vacant space was used to plant vegetables.
39:05In January 1943, two Red Armies penetrated the blockade
39:09by creating a corridor south of Schlisselburg and Legladoga,
39:13at last connecting Leningrad by land
39:17with the rest of the Soviet-held territory.
39:21Stavka, who had succeeded von Lieb one year before,
39:25ordered his army to resist the Soviet forces at all cost.
39:29But they could not, and were thrown back nearly 10 km from the lake.
39:33The Stavka ordered the Leningrad and Volkhov armies
39:37to dig in and defend this corridor,
39:41which they did by turning the area into a series of fortified regions.
39:45Over half a million people had been evacuated over the ice
39:49and only as many followed in the summer.
39:53With deaths and evacuations, the population of the city
39:57had fallen to approximately 700,000 civilians and 420,000 soldiers.
40:01The late onset of winter meant that the main route for shipping
40:05was able to carry supplies well into November.
40:09In January 1943, a new railway was built,
40:13from Schlisselburg along the southern shore of Legladoga
40:17to the east.
40:19A second parallel line was built in May,
40:23and with these two important supply lines,
40:27Leningrad's civilian and military needs were met.
40:31However, German shelling continued,
40:35and 6,000 Leningraders were killed in the summer and autumn of 1943.
40:39The Russian advances during 1943
40:43had maintained its 1941 positions,
40:47meant that the near total blockade was over.
40:51However, despite having a front of over 160 km,
40:55the German 16th and 18th armies held on tenaciously
40:59to their positions around the city,
41:03and there would be much hard fighting before the siege could be raised.
41:07With Moscow saved,
41:11the German army at Stalingrad destroyed,
41:15and the German tank forces at Kursk being decisively defeated,
41:19Stalin, Zhukov and the vast manpower reserves of the Soviet Union
41:23launched a three-pronged attack against Kuchler's army.
41:27The hugely superior forces pushed the Germans back
41:31through the heavy January snows.
41:35Savagely fighting all the way.
41:39Kuchler was replaced by Field Marshal Model at the end of January 1944,
41:43but on 12 February, Soviet forces took Luga town,
41:47and on 15 February, the Luga and Narva lines
41:51were completely cleared of Germans.
41:55They had now been pushed back almost 160 km from Leningrad.
41:59With the German army group north in fighting retreat,
42:03the citizens had allowed themselves to celebrate.
42:07At 8pm on 27 January,
42:11searchlights and coloured fireworks had arced into the night sky,
42:15and 24 salvos crashed out from over 300 guns.
42:19It was a delight and a general delight.
42:23Everyone's eyes were shining.
42:27It was a colossal event for the whole city.
42:31That's what it was all about.
42:35We were just delighted.
42:39What was so special about it?
42:43Well, maybe they had some tea there,
42:47but the main thing was that there was a celebration inside.
42:51It had taken 880 days of hunger,
42:55horror and destruction to liberate the city.
42:59880 days during which the citizens of Leningrad
43:03had died in their hundreds of thousands.
43:07Despite this, those that could work
43:11produced the arms for the crucial offensives of 1943
43:15and those in 1944, which liberated the city.
43:19We didn't think about capitulation,
43:23we didn't think about giving up the city.
43:27You know, it's amazing.
43:31Even today I am surprised
43:35that if I try to imagine myself
43:39in 1942,
43:43I never thought about it.
43:47I had another thought,
43:51that there was a life of people in such extreme conditions,
43:55but there was a life of people,
43:59that is, they quarreled and reconciled,
44:03and fell in love and got jealous,
44:07and kept their careers,
44:11and showed selflessness.
44:15That is, the whole complex of questions,
44:19which are still blocked.
44:23During the siege,
44:27between 800,000 and 1 million civilians died
44:31from starvation, shelling and bombing.
44:35For every day under siege, Leningrad lost over 1,000 people.
44:39The figures for the military are no less staggering.
44:43By the war's end, the fighting had cost the Red Army
44:47millions were killed, captured or missing,
44:51and over 2.8 million sick and wounded.
44:55For Russians, Leningrad in World War II
44:59is a supreme example of sacrifice,
45:03endurance, fortitude, heroism.
45:07This great city that had been the capital of Russia
45:11was the centre of its scientific and cultural life
45:16for a very long time,
45:20is the epitome of these qualities
45:24which are so valued in Russia,
45:28and so it remains to this day a symbol
45:32of what Russians can and in World War II did achieve.
45:36The siege of Leningrad has no equal in history
45:40for its length in suffering, misery and death.
45:44But remarkably, the indomitable spirit and endurance
45:48of its citizens conspire to wreck the ambitions
45:52of the German dictator and his war machine.
46:14© BF-WATCH TV 2021