In 1941 the Germans lay siege to Leningrad.

In his autobiographical book “Mein Kampf” (which he wrote while in prison in 1924 and was published the following year) Hitler talks of his hatred of communism and his belief that the superior German race had a destiny to conquer Russia, allowing the German race to grow. However Germany and the Soviet Union did have some common ground.

 

Both nation’s politics were opposed to the allied capitalist nations and on this basis Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact on the 23rd of August 1939. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (named after the two foreign ministers that signed the pact) ensured that the German’s, who were allied with Japan, would not attack Russia over the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts that had been raging since 1932. The pact also included a secret agreement which included carving up of the countries of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania for the political influence (known as “spheres of influence”) of the Nazi party and Soviet Union.

 

When the Germans were unable to take Leningrad, the second largest city in the USSR, Hitler ordered his troops to lay siege to the city. With no supplies in or out of Leningrad, Hitler hoped to starve the people in the city.

 

A hugely symbolic city to the Soviets as it was named after the founder of the communist movement in Russia and the people of Leningrad would not give it up without a fight.

 

On the 12th of January 1943 Soviet forces penetrated a narrow section of the German Siege of Leningrad but although they managed to puncture the defences the siege was not lifted. Finally on the 27th of January 1944 the siege of Leningrad was finally over after 872 days (known as the 900 day siege. Accounts of the death toll vary from just under 1 million to 1.5 million people with just over half being civilians. The people of Leningrad had tremendous resolve and survived one and a half years before breaking the German line and almost 900 days before the siege was lifted.