06/22/09

Siege of Leningrad

Leningrad was one of the three main targets in operation Barbarossa. The operation started on June 22, 1941 and the German North Army Group was striking toward Leningrad. On September 1, 1941, the Germans were very close to cutting off the city. On September 15, 1941, the Germans, with help from the Finins from the north, blockaded Leningrad.

The Germans were not able to take the city because General Oberst Herman Hoth did not have enough strength. The bulk of his offensive forces were request south to fight in the Battle for Moscow. But he held forces and used them in the siege. By September the initiative to take the city around its perimeter failed. Thus the siege began and would last until spring 1943. During the siege the Russians took supplies over Lake Ladoga when lake froze over during winter. War provisions were haled across the icy lake. The winter during the siege lots of Russian’s died of hunger and the frigid cold. Beside the Russian supplies being held over Leningrad factories were still producing tanks and other weapons for the Soviet forces around Leningrad.

By January, 1944, German forces were repelled away from the city by Russian offensive. Most of the original army group north troops would never make it back to Germany.

Battlefields Siege of Leningrad