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Beginning of Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for the German invasion of the USSR. The goal was defeat of the Red Army and German control of the Western portion of the USSR. It was comprised of three distinct sections, one attacking the north alongside the Finns, one taking the central area to Moscow, and one fighting in the Caucasus to the Black Sea and Odessa.
Image: A general map of German troop movements leading up to the invasion of the USSR. -
Evacuation of Leningrad
One of the perks of having a massive horde of Germans invading your country is that they're not exactly subtle about it. The time needed to get various troops into position gave the citizens of Leningrad time to prepare for the worst. Women and children evacuated to villages in Central Russia and Siberia, reducing the population by around 250,000.
Image: Russian soldiers escort families to relative safety. -
Beginning of the Siege of Leningrad
By early September, Leningrad was completely cut off from the outside world. The first immediate disaster was the bombing of several food storage units in the southern part of the city. While the amount of supplies actually lost was negligible, many survivors blame the loss of the warehouses for the high losses that first winter.
Image: German soldiers besieging the city. -
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Siege of Leningrad
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Process of Annihilation
Author Constantine Krypton states in his 1956 book Osada Leningrada that "The process of annihilation in the population began at the end of the month of November in 1941. Its outward sign in the life of the city was the appearance on the streets of every possible kind of sled, principally children's sleds with corpses on them."
Image: One of the sled-hearses of Leningrad. -
The Road of Life
The Road of Life was a supply line established across the south portion of Lake Lagoda. It carried around 360,000 tons of supplies into the besieged city and evacuated around 514,000 citizens. It functioned as an ice road in the winter months and a sailing route when the lake thawed. Convoys crossing the lake were subject to German snipers, but the Finnish forces, who had easier access to its base of Tikhvin, did nothing to shut the route down.
Image: Trucks crossing the frozen Lake Lagoda. -
Increased Artillery Bombing
The Germans stationed around the city had been using incendiary bombs since the beginning of the siege. However, new equipment came in the summer of 1942, allowing an increase in the frequency of attacks. This presented a new challenge for those being bombed: the starving citizens had to run for shelter, expending precious energy. -
Performance of the Seventh Symphony
Dmitri Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony is considered to be one of the most important artistic pieces of the Second World War. It was composed over a period of a year, starting when Leningrad was a free city and ending in a performance by a starving, weakened orchestra to a starving, weakened audience. It was also broadcast to the German forces massed outside the city, as a show of defiance.
Image: The first performance of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, in the Leningrad Philharmonic. -
Operation Iskra
Operation Iskra was the first successful attempt at alleviating the siege. which aimed to open a land corridor to Leningrad. Half the Soviet forces went across Lake Lagoda to flank the German forces, while the rest attacked head-on, with both groups fighting towards each other. The operation was successful, and allowed more supplies to enter the city and evacuations to be made.
Image: Soviet soldiers meeting after successfully breaking through German lines. -
German Defeat at Stalingrad
The tipping point on the Eastern front, and arguably of WWII, was the Battle of Stalingrad. There, Soviet forces defeated the German invaders in a pitched battle lasting six months. Harsh winter conditions and a mismanagement of troops contributed to the eventual Soviet victory. It is known as the single conflict with the highest death toll, and marked an significant change in German control of the western part of the USSR.
Image: Soviet soldiers moving through trenches in Stalingrad -
End of the Siege
The position of German forces in the East continued to deteriorate. Soviet offences had broken through many sections of the line, and high command saw the chance to lift the siege. The Leningrad and Volokhov divisions expelled German forces from the Eastern section of the city, lifting the siege after 900 days.
Image: Leningraders celebrating the end of the siege.
