Siege of Leningrad

The Siege of Leningrad took place in World War II from 1941-44 when the Germans surrounded the city almost completely (save for a narrow corridor which the Soviets were able to open in 1943) in an attempt to starve them into submission. The death toll in the city during the siege was said to be upwards of a million and a half. Needless to say, this set of photos is not particularly cheery.

 A farewell in Leningrad, in the spring of 1942. The German Siege of Leningrad caused widespread starvation among citizens, and lack of medical supplies and facilities made illnesses and injuries far more deadly.

  

 Female aircraft spotters on the roof of a Leningrad building, Soviet Union, May 1942

  

 Harvesting cabbage near St. Isaac's Cathedral in Leningrad, August 1942

  

 In a street of Leningrad after German air raid

  

 Leningrad militiamen receive weapons - Canadian Ross rifles model 1910(Mk III), 

and RGD-33 hand grenades on the table

  

 Leningrad, 1944

  

 Residents of Leningrad running through the streets 

in the early days of the Great Patriotic War

  

 Soviet sniper on the Leningrad Front in March, 1943

  

 Soviet sniper, Leningrad, 1942

  

 Soviet soldiers take a break after heavy fighting on the Leningrad Front, 1944

  

 Soviet troops in trenches during the siege on Leningrad, 1942

  

 Standing in the backyard of an abandoned house in the outskirts 

of the besieged city of Leningrad, a rifleman of the Red Army aims 

and fires his machine gun at German positions on December 16, 1942

  

Three men burying victims of Leningrad's siege in 1942

  

 Two female Russian soldiers with their Degtyaryov light machine gun, 

during the Siege of Leningrad, January 1943

  

 Two Soviet snipers in winter camouflage gear 

in the snow near Leningrad. 1941-44

  

 Two teen girls helping to assemble submachine 

guns during the siege of Leningrad, 1943

  

Workers and residents building fortifications outside Leningrad