Remembering Siege of Leningrad Catastrophe, Lifted 80 Years Ago

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the siege of Leningrad catastrophe, which occurred in Russia.   

The story began when Nazis carried out several attacks against Leningrad and then mounted a siege on this brave city on September 8, 1941 – trying to starve the USSR's second-largest city into submission just a few months after launching their invasion of the country in Operation Barbarossa.

For 872 days, the civilians and workers of this industrial center that is currently located in Saint Petersburg went through hell as hunger, cold, and bombardments killed nearly a million people.

According to historians, the German army besieged Leningrad because capturing it was more difficult.

As the Nazis advanced, the city “had time to set up barricades and prepare itself to resist the occupiers, so Hitler ordered the military to destroy it by either sea or land, without entering it.

This unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe led to the death of 470,000 civilians and 50,000 combatants, who had been suffering from a heavy cold and malnutrition.