On January 27 Russia marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the Siege of Leningrad (today’s St.Petersburg), which lasted for 872 days and cost more than 1 million lives of the residents of the besieged city, having to overcome hunger, cold and bombings, and 1 more million soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army’ Leningradsky Front, killed confronting the Nazis in the outskirts of the city. The siege of Leningrad started on September 8, 1941, and the city was completely liberated two and a half years later, on January 27, 1944. The siege of Leningrad is an example of unprecedented courage and staunchness of both the army and civilians. It is not only one of the most tragic pages in the history of WWII, but also one that has affected the entire world.
Today we are publishing a series of piercing photos taken in blockaded Leningrad in 1941-1944.
First victims of German bombardments, September 1941. Corner of Nevsky and Ligovsky Avenues.Women digging anti-tank ditch nearby Leningrad, Autumn 1941Air bomb crater on Fontanka emb.Two women in a bombed lodging in Leningrad.The trolleybuses at standstill on the Nevsky Avenue without electricity supply, December 1941Siege survivers being evacuated via the Road of Life on Ladoga Lake, the only connection link to the Russian-controlled territory.City dwellers taking water in Neva river, December 1941New Year 1942 celebration in a children hospital in blockaded LeningradGathering corpses buried in snow at Volkov cemetery, Spring 1942Leningrad. Early spring of 1942. Farewell to a classmate.A dystrophic woman in Leningrad, 1942City residents are digging the ground in front of the Isaak Cathedral to plant vegetables, Spring 1942Antiaircraft defense emplacement on Universitetskaya emb, Summer 1942School-lesson in a bomb-shelter, 1942Barrage balloons on Nevsky AvenueAssembling automatic guns at a Leningrad factoryDeactivated German air bomb on a street of Leningrad.Blockade is lifted! January 1944
God bless the Russian people. Long live the Russian people.
Pingback: Leningrad the Unconquered | Oriental Review