Leningrad under Siege

Seventy years ago, on January 27, 1944, Soviet forces definitively broke the 872-day Siege of Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was then known. Up to 1.5 million people were killed during the devastating 1941-1944 siege of Russia’s second city by Nazi Germany. Only 3 percent of them were killed by air strikes and artillery bombardments: The remaining 97 percent starved or froze to death. This RIA Novosti photo essay shows life in Leningrad during those terrible days. Photo: City residents drag a corpse along Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s main street. 01.04.1942.

City residents undergo general military training on the square in front of the Alexandriinsky Theater. Leningrad, October 1941.

Soldiers set up a barrage balloon on Nevsky Prospekt during the siege. 19.09.1941.

During the siege, antitank hedgehogs, dragon’s teeth and barricades were put up at all entrances to the city. Leningrad, October 1941.

A nurse with a stretcher rushes toward an injured man. 01.09.1942.

A stenciled street sign reading: “Citizens! This side of the street is more dangerous during artillery bombardment.” 10.12.1942.

A Leningrad street pictured after a German artillery bombardment. 01.01.1942.

An anti-aircraft gun and streetcar No. 12 in Leningrad. October 1942.

Residents of besieged Leningrad line up for water. 01.02.1942.

Leningrad residents clear the city’s streets after the first winter of the siege.

The Road of Life across Lake Ladoga was the only chance for the salvation of Leningrad, and it was thanks to this ice road over the lake that any of the city’s residents survived. The scale of freight and passenger traffic over Lake Ladoga was unprecedented. At least 1,000 metric tons of food had to be delivered to Leningrad every day of the siege.

In total, 361,109 metric tons of freight – primarily food – was brought in to the city across the lake. Over 550,000 Leningrad residents were transported out of the besieged city via the Road of Life.

Empty picture frames hang in the State Hermitage Museum. 01.11.1941.

Artworks were stored in the Hermitage’s basement and storerooms during the siege. 01.05.1942.

Damage caused to the Hermitage by artillery bombardments. 01.01.1944.

A concert for injured Red Army soldiers at a hospital. Galina Barinova, a violinist from the Moscow Conservatoire, performs. Leningrad, May 11, 1943.

Monuments such as the one to Czar Nicholas I on St. Isaac’s Square were boarded up to conceal and protect them during the siege. March 1, 1943.

Red Army soldiers link up after breaking the Siege of Leningrad. Reproduction of a 1944 photo.