By the end of 1942, Leningrad had fewer than one million residents. The city required 1000 tons of food in a day, but the most it received were 100 tons, which was rationed by the authorities.īased on city records, in December of 1941 52,000 people died due to a lack of food and exposure to the cold, while many more may have died unaccounted for. Food and fuel supplies that came through the “Road of Life” and the frozen Lake Ladoga proved insufficient. The Soviets repaired the line in a week, and food supplies began trickling to Leningrad. On December 9th the Tikhvin rail-head was recaptured by Soviets, and 7000 German soldiers killed, and the rest pushed 50 miles from there. On December 6th 1941 the road dubbed the ‘Road of Life’ was open, but the 300 trucks that were bringing supplies, stalled due to breakdowns and blizzards. A 200 mile road out of the city was constructed in 27 days by thousands of people to Zaborie. By November 1941, starvation had claimed the lives of 11,000 people, and the number increased during winter. Their bombing also destroyed power stations, and the city suffered chronic food shortages. The nearest rail head outside the city was 100 miles to the East at Tikhvin town, which fell to the Germans. The city was cut off from Russia and supply lines in the air and river which were constantly under attack. By September 8th German tanks were 10 miles from Leningrad. The Germans were first repelled by a determined Russian defense, and could not attack and occupy the city, hence the blockade. Zhdanov urged all Leningrad residents to get ready to defend the city to death, from German invaders. General Markian Popov took over Leningrad governance, while Andrei Zhdanov became the head of the local party committee.
German bombers also dropped propaganda leaflets claiming the residents would starve if they didn’t surrender. He told German Generals that once Leningrad was surrounded and bombarded from the air and with artillery fire, the resolve of the city residents to fight would wane. Hitler had expected the City to ‘fall like a leaf’ and even prepared an event to celebrate. Over 3 million Axis troops and 3,500 tanks were involved when Operation Barbarossa began on June 22nd of 1941. The city was also one of those targeted by Germans, under the Operation Barbarossa, that targeted the entire Soviet Union-USSR. The Germans first attacked Leningrad by artillery shell on September 1st, 1941. The siege was instigated by Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. This 900-day-long siege counts as the most tragic period of the city’s history, where an estimated 700,000 people in a population of about 2.5 million died in the blockade due to bombardment, cold, and starvation. The Siege of Leningrad began on September 8th, 1941 and lasted until January 27th, 1944. Siege of Leningrad (September of 1941 to January of 1942) It was also significant for marking the first time that Americans saw the horrors of the Holocaust in Europe first-hand. Operation Torch was ultimately successful. The Allied Forces were joined by the Eighth Army that drew forces from India, Canada, Australia, and other countries part of the British Commonwealth. It was also intended to take some of the pressure off of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Front. Operation Torch was aimed at opening the Mediterranean for Allied shipping by opening up a way to access southern Europe through north Africa.
It marked the first time the British and Americans had worked together on an invasion plan, and the first time that American forces fought alongside their European counterparts.
It was planned during a Washington Conference of June 1942, attended by President Franklin Roosevelt, and UK premier Winston Churchill. Operation Torch was an Allied invasion of what was then French North Africa that lasted from November 8th through 10th in 1942. Below is a list of some of the most influential battles fought in World War Two, fought in western Europe and beyond.
#MAJOR TANK BATTLES OF WORLD WAR II SERIES#
Between these super powers a series of major battles were fought that claimed millions of military and civilian lives on all sides, and left marks in the historical record like none ever experienced in warfare to date. It pitted the Allied Powers led by Britain, the United States, Russia and France, against the Axis powers of Hitler-led Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. World War II began on September 1st, 1939 with the Nazi German invasion of Poland, and ended on September 2nd, 1945 when Imperial Japan formally signed its terms of surrender to become the last of the Axis powers to fall.
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