Leningrad: State of Siege

Prof. Walter Moss writes: "In Leningrad: State of Siege, British military historian Michael Jones mainly recounts the effects of the German siege on the people of Leningrad. Beginning in September 1941, it caused the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Leningraders, especially during the winter of 1941-2. For seventeen months, until mid-January 1943, the Germans succeeded in blockading the city, cutting it off--except for an "ice road" over Lake Ladoga--from the rest of the country. Even after the blockade was broken, the siege continued another year, until late January 1944, when Soviet troops pushed the Germans back far enough to end it. Jones suggests that the total number of Leningrad deaths caused by the 872-day siege exceeded one million." [Read more at[..]

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many secrets have been revealed about life under Communist rule. One of the events we now have a more balanced picture of is the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis beginning in 1941 and lasting almost 900 days. Official Soviet information centered on the heroic resolve of the citizens of Leningrad, led by their popular party leaders. That, of course, is not the true story, as this extremely well written book discloses. The common people of the city suffered horribly, and the death toll was staggering. Even cannibalism was rampant in parts of the city. Mesanwile, the party leaders hoarded food and made sure that they and their families and well-connnected friends were well fed, and hardly noticed the tragedy unfolding around them. The book makes excellent use of contemporary diaries to highlight what actually happened during the siege, and there are many tales of both heroism & horror. The people of Leningrad suffered horribly, but their spirit, in the end, was not broken. Read this book to discover the best and the worst about people in an almost impossible situation.

Stalin's dictatorship showed its flaws vividly in the first days and months of the war. Less than three months after Hitler attacked Russia in 1941, Leningrad was surrounded and besieged, forbidden from surrender and therefore doomed to starvation. The tale was told in excruciating detail in Harrison Salisbury's 900 Days, and now historian Michael Jones provides a sobering update, Leningrad, by tapping into newly available eyewitness accounts and diaries. He looks at aspects of the siege long-suppressed by the Soviets, and paints a very up-close-and-personal portrait of this difficult time. It is presented in eleven chapters that read like fine magazine journalism, each examining different facets of residents' experience in the besieged city, each as well-written and affecting as the last. (As reviewed in Russian Life)

In his invasion of Leningrad, during Operation Barbarossa in June of 1941, Hitler despised the Russians (and the City of Leningrad) so much that, rather than expend valuable resources and manpower to overrun it, he elected to blockade the city and starve it into submission. The author marks this attempt at mass starvation as the only such instance in Twentieth Century warfare history. According to this well researched book, which uses many interviews and newly revealed documents, Hitler almost succeeded in starving the Russians of Leningrad into submission. As he relentlessly bombarded the city with artillery for more than 900 days and nights, he leveled the city and left it prostrate. On his target list were all human related "choke points" such as water pumping stations, electrical grids, and all factories and infrastructure that could provide food, and anything else that would accelerate the city's demise. The results were predictable: the citizens underwent unimaginable hardships that included among others, eating rats, and even engaging in a sizable amount of cannibalism. As the city was leveled above ground, citizens were forced to live like scared dogs underground emerging only for brief spells at night to forage for food. Despite all of the misery, there were still many stories of heroism among Leningrad citizens, as they made it their patriotic duty to share and support each other. Eventually Hitler's war priorities changed and the siege of Leningrad was lifted and the city managed to survive, but with more than a million lives lost. There are still many WW-II stories yet to be told, and the suffering of the Russian people who lost nearly 30 million are foremost among them. For me, this was a sobering book about a period of time that we American still know too little about. Five stars

This book was not an easy read, but one that needed to be written, especially considering all the new literature out there, in both English and Russian, about the siege. This work brings together accounts from dozens of sources and interviews to tell an altogether harrowing tale of how millions trapped within Leningrad had to struggle to survive. One of the main points this book will try to address, as Jones did in his previous book on Stalingrad, is how the citizens and soldiers of this city managed to survive and eventually defeat their German opponents. The psychological angle is one that is not often presented as being important. Usually, weapons, commanders, and numbers are glorified or blamed by one side or the other. Here, we have that idea of 'morale' being given center stage, as well as seeing what it is capable of achieving. Very interesting descriptions are given in regards to when Zhukov took over control of the North Western Front from Voroshilov. On September 11th, 1941, Zhukov assumed command and soon after the 4th Panzer Group was taken out of the area and switched over in preparation for Operation Typhoon, which would throw it against the defenders of Moscow. Zhukov, apparently, couldn't be convinced by those around him that the Germans were digging in around Leningrad and further offensive actions were being discontinued. The end result was a series of needless offensives by Red Army troops in the Oranienbaum bridgehead and around Leningrad which needlessly wasted lives. When a commander refused to obey, in one instance, he was 'sacked' and his replacement was given the same orders. At another part of the front a marine landing unit of 200 men was sent against their target in broad daylight, they were picked off in the water by the Germans and only 14 managed to reach the shoreline (pg. 117). The actions on the Nevsky bridgehead are quite telling of the time and desperation the Red Army found itself in. Units of the 54th Army, under Kulik, were a mere 9 miles away from the Nevsky bridgehead, which if broken through to would have created a corridor to besieged Leningrad. As Kulik's forces could not break through, it appears that Zhukov tried his hardest from the other side. He threw unit after unit into action, trying to break through to the 'main land'. Divisions were ground down to mere hundreds of men and, at least one marine brigade, simply ceased to exist. This seems to ring quite true with what I am familiar with in regards to Zhukov. He seems to be more than willing to sacrifice ten thousand or twenty thousand men if it means saving millions. On the 21st of November, Zhdanov, after taking over when Zhukov left to help defend Moscow, ordered Colonel Ivan Frolov and his 80th Rifle Division into battle with exhausted soldiers who were short on ammunition. Frolov refused to issue the orders and was replaced by another commander who would send his men into a frontal assault over an open expanse of a frozen lake, "the men were