World War II Leningrad: A History From Beginning to End (World War 2 Battles Book 6) by Hourly History

Author:Hourly History [History, Hourly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hourly History
Published: 2017-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Encircling Leningrad

"Early next year we enter the city (if the Finns do it first we do not object), lead those still alive into inner Russia or into captivity, wipe Leningrad from the face of the earth through demolitions, and hand the area north of the Neva to the Finns."

—German High Command

The citizens of Leningrad were informed on June 27, 1941, that the city was in peril. The authorities imposed martial law. The city was to be governed by Lieutenant-General Popov, who commanded the Leningrad garrison, along with the local Communist Party head and the head of the Leningrad Soviet Executive. The authorities mobilized more than one million of the city’s residents to build fortifications along the perimeter of Leningrad to keep the enemy force and their Finish allies, who were advancing from the north and south, from succeeding in their aims.

Aware of the danger, Leningrad had begun to evacuate its citizens on June 29, sending more than 1,700,000 citizens, including over 400,000 children, out of Leningrad to the Volga region. During the three years of the siege, approximately 1.4 million people would be evacuated in three different stages: June to August 1941; September 1941 to April 1942; and May to October 1942. Most of the evacuees were women, children, and the elderly, but people who were regarded as essential to the war effort was also evacuated.

Leningrad’s defenses, commanded by Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, included Russia’s 23rd Army which was located between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga, and the 48th Army to the west. The Leningrad Military District PVO Corp and Baltic Fleet’s naval aviation units were charged with providing air cover. In early summer, the total military strength of the Leningrad defenses numbered two million men.

Southern fortifications ran from the mouth of the Luga through the Neva River, with a second defensive line running through Peterhof, Gatchina, Pulkovo, Kolpino, and Koltushy. Leningrad had previously had a line of defense against the Finns in the 1930s on its northern border and that fortification system was once again put to use. The boundaries of the defenses were impressive: 190 miles of timber barricades, 395 miles of wire, 430 miles of ditches to repel tanks, and 5,000 earth-and-timber emplacements and concrete weapon emplacements.

The defenders of Leningrad were facing the world’s best-trained, most battle-tested military force, and the Germans were confident of victory. Hitler’s timeline was specific and succinct: “Leningrad first, Donetsk Basin second, Moscow third.” In geographical terms, that meant that anything going on between the Arctic Ocean and Lake Ilmen was part of the German plan to besiege Leningrad. When the Finns cut off the Murmansk railhead’s link to Leningrad, the delivery of America’s Lend-Lease equipment and British food and supplies was cut off from the city.

While the center and southern segments of the German troops headed for Moscow and Ukraine, Germany’s Army Group North quickly marched through Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia until reaching Leningrad. With 600 factories that made it second only Moscow in terms of its production, Leningrad was vital to the survival of the nation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.