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Russia Marks 75th Anniversary of Leningrad's 872-Day Nazi Siege

Sputnik

Russia marks the end of the Nazi’s siege of Leningrad on 27 January.

The Siege of Leningrad St. Petersburg endured from September 1941 to January 1944, when food and military supplies were delivered to the city via Lake Ladoga, the only route called the Road of Life that connected the city with the rest of Russia.

In January 1942, in the midst of an unusually cold winter, when Adolf Hitler's forces tightened their grip on the Soviet Union, the city's food rations reached an all-time low of only 125 grams (about 4-1/2 oz.) of bread per person a day. In just two months, 200,000 people died in Leningrad of cold and starvation.

The blockade was partially broken on 18 January 1943, but the city residents had to wait for one more year until its complete removal.

The Russian Baltic Fleet provided 30 per cent of aviation power for the final strike against the Nazis.

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Residents of besieged Leningrad leave a bomb shelter after the end of an alarm.
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An anti-aircraft battery at St. Isaac's Cathedral fires, repelling a night raid by German aircraft.
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Residents of besieged Leningrad collecting water that appeared in holes in the asphalt after shelling.
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People on Nevsky Prospect (Nevsky Avenue) of the blockaded city. Leningrad, October 1941.
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Installation of an aerostat air barrage on Nevsky Prospekt in Leningrad during the blockade.
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Citizens of besieged Leningrad build fortifications on the streets of the city, 1941
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Tanks drive out of the arch of the General Staff on Palace Square and head to the war front, Leningrad, 1942.
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Baltic citizens march to the war front along the streets of Leningrad, 1941
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Children celebrate New Year in a Leningrad hospital during the siege.
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Female fighters of the Local Air Defence (MPVO) stand on alert on the roof of house number 4 on Halturina street (Millionnaya Street), Leningrad, 1942.
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Harvesting cabbage in a garden at St. Isaac's Cathedral.
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Woman drags a sledge with her husband who is weak from starvation during the Leningrad siege.
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Citizens build defensive structures on the easternmost tip of Vasilyevsky Island in Leningrad, 1942.
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An example of a daily bread ration which was given to residents of besieged Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, is exhibited at the Museum of the History of Leningrad.
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A house located in Ligovskiy Pereulok after the bombing.
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Anti-tank bumps on the streets of besieged Leningrad.
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Women at a factory сasting metal in besieged Leningrad, 1 January 1942
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A traffic controller on the "Road of Life" across Lake Ladoga, 1 February 1943
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After a raid by enemy aircraft on the streets of besieged Leningrad. The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
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Residents of the city transport a coffin of a deceased person on a sledge during the siege of Leningrad.
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Children at a lesson on the porch of a school destroyed by German shelling, 1 October 1943
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Bombers of the 14th Air Force support the troops of the Volkhov Front in breaking the blockade of Leningrad, 1 January 1943.
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People reading the latest news: "The blockade is broken!", 18 January 1943.
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The blockade is broken! The meeting of the soldiers of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. 18 January 1943.
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