09/09/2024
๐ข๐ป ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ต๐ถ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐: ๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ ๐, ๐๐๐๐. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐.
On September 8, 1941, German forces closed in around the Soviet city of , initiating a siege that would last nearly 900 days and claim the lives of 800,000 civilians.
The siege of Leningrad lasted from 8 September, 1941 to 27 January, 1944. During that time nearly a third of the population at the siegeโs beginning, starved to death.
Few people outside realised what the siege was like. For years afterwards kept it dark. Deaths were underestimated.
The toll of that first winter is staggering. Leningrad was totally unprepared for siege - as was for the German attack. It took only 12 weeks for the German and Finnish armies to cut off the city. In that time the evacuation of civilians and obtaining of food supplies were hugely bungled.
Over a million children and dependants were still in the city when the ring closed. In all there were 3.3 million mouths to feed.
โโโโโโโโโโโโ
Vladimir , at 67, was born in Leningrad after the war. But his older brother died in childhood during the devastating siege and is buried in a mass grave at Piskaryovskoye. The Russian leader's mother nearly succumbed to hunger during the siege, while his father fought in the war and was wounded near Leningrad.
Photo: Clutching red roses, Putin every year visits the famed Piskaryovskoye cemetery, where his brother is buried.
