The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade (Russian transliteration: blokada Leningrada) was a prolonged military operation by the German Army Group North and the Finnish Defence Forces to capture Leningrad in the Eastern Front theatre of the Second World War. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last land connection to the city was severed. Although the Soviets managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the total lifting took place on 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. It was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history and one of the most costly in terms of casualties.
Germany
* Army Group North (Field Marshal von Leeb)
o 18th Army (von Küchler)
+ XXXXII Corps (2 infantry divisions)
+ XXVI Corps (3 inf divisions)
o 16th Army (Busch)
+ XXVIII Corps (2 inf, 1 armored divisions)
+ I Corps (2 infantry divisions)
+ X Corps (3 infantry divisions)
+ II Corps (3 infantry divisions)
+ (L Corps — Under 9. Army) (2 inf divisions)
o 4th Panzer Group (Hoepner)
+ XXXVIII Corps (1 infantry division)
+ XXXXI Motorized Corps (Reinhard) (1 infantry, 1 motorized, 1 armored divisions)
+ LVI Motorized Corps (von Manstein) (1 infantry, 1 mot, 1 arm, 1 panzergrenadier divisions)
Finland
* Finnish Defence Forces HQ (Marshal of Finland Mannerheim)
o I Corps (2 infantry divisions)
o II Corps (2 inf divisions)
o IV Corps (3 inf divisions)Soviet Union
* Northern Front (Lieutenant General Popov)
o 7th Army (2 rifle, 1 militia divisions, 1 marine brigade, 3 motorized rifle and 1 armored regiments)
o 8th Army
+ X Rifle Corps (2 rifle divisions)
+ XI Rifle Corps (3 rifle divisions)
+ Separate Units (3 rifle divisions)
o 14th Army
+ XXXXII Rifle Corps (2 rifle divisions)
+ Separate Units (2 rifle divisions, 1 Fortified area, 1 motorized rifle regiment)
o 23rd Army
+ XIX Rifle Corps (3 rifle divisions)
+ Separate Units (2 rifle, 1 mot divisions, 2 Fortified areas, 1 rifle regiment)
o Luga Operation group
+ XXXXI Rifle Corps (3 rifle divisions)
+ Separate Units (1 armored brigade, 1 rifle regiment)
o Kingisepp Operation Group
+ Separate Units (2 rifle, 2 militia, 1 armored divisions, 1 Fortified area)
o Separate Units (3 rifle divisions, 4 guard militia divisions, 3 Fortified areas, 1 rifle brigade)
main events:
1941 * April: Hitler intends to occupy and then destroy Leningrad, according to plan Barbarossa and Generalplan Ost
* June 22: The Axis powers' invasion of Soviet Union begins with Operation Barbarossa.
* June 23: Leningrad commander M. Popov, sends his second in command to reconnoiter defensive positions south of Leningrad.
* June 29: Construction of the Luga-line defense fortifications begins together with evacuation of children and women.
* June–July: Over 300,000 civilian refugees from Pskov and Novgorod escaping from the advancing Germans come to Leningrad for shelter. The armies of the North-Western Front join the front lines at Leningrad. Total military strength with reserves and volunteers reaches 2 million men involved on all sides of the emerging battle.
* July 19–23: First attack on Leningrad by Army Group North is stopped 100 km south of the city.
* July 27: Hitler visits Army Group North, angry at the delay. He orders Field Marshal von Leeb to take Leningrad by December.
* July 31: Finns attack the Soviet 23rd Army at the Karelian Isthmus, eventually reaching northern pre-Winter War Finnish-Soviet border.
* August 20 – September 8: Artillery bombardments of Leningrad hit industries, schools, hospitals, and civilian houses.
* August 21: Hitler's Directive No.34 orders "Encirclement of Leningrad in conjunction with the Finns."
* August 20 – 27: Evacuation of civilians is blocked by attacks on railroads and other exits from Leningrad.
* August 31: Finnish forces go on the defensive and straighten their front line. This involves crossing the 1939 pre-Winter War border and occupation of municipalities of Kirjasalo and Beloostrov.
* September 6: German High Command's Alfred Jodl fails to persuade Finns to continue offensive against Leningrad.
* September 2–9: Finns capture the Beloostrov and Kirjasalo salients and conduct defensive preparations.
* September 8: Land encirclement of Leningrad is completed when the German forces reach the shores of Lake Ladoga.
* September 10: Joseph Stalin appoints General Zhukov to replace Marshal Voroshilov as Leningrad Front commander.
* September 12: The largest food depot in Leningrad, the Badajevski General Store, is destroyed by a German bomb.
* September 15: von Leeb has to remove the 4th Panzer Group from the front lines and transfer it to Army Group Center for the Moscow offensive.
* September 19: German troops are stopped 10 km from Leningrad. Citizens join the fighting at the defense lines.
1,496,000 Soviet personnel were awarded the medal for the defence of Leningrad from 22nd December 1942.
* September 22: Hitler directs that "Saint Petersburg must be erased from the face of the Earth".
* September 22: Hitler declares, "....we have no interest in saving lives of the civilian population."
* November 8: Hitler states in a speech at Munich: "Leningrad must die of starvation."
* November 10: Soviet counter-attack begins, forcing Germans to retreat from Tikhvin back to the Volkhov River by December 30, preventing them from joining Finnish forces stationed at the Svir River east of Leningrad.
* December: Winston Churchill wrote in his diary "Leningrad is encircled, but not taken."
* December 6 Great Britain declared war on Finland. This was followed by declaration of war from Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand.
1942 * January 7: Soviet Lyuban Offensive is launched; it lasts 16 weeks and is unsuccessful, resulting in the loss of the 2nd Shock Army.
* January: Soviets launch battle for the Nevsky Pyatachok bridgehead in an attempt to break the siege. This battle lasts until May 1943, but is only partially successful. Very heavy casualties experienced by both sides.
* April 4–30: Luftwaffe operation Eis Stoß (Ice impact) fails to sink Baltic Fleet ships iced in at Leningrad.
* June–September: New German artillery bombards Leningrad with 800 kg shells.
* August: The Spanish Blue Division (División Azul) transferred to Leningrad.
* August 14 – October 27 : Naval Detachment K clashes with Leningrad supply route on Lake Ladoga.
* August 19: Soviets begin a 8 week long Sinyavin Offensive, which fails to lift the siege, but thwarts German offensive plans (Nordlicht).
1943 * January–December: Increased artillery bombardments of Leningrad.
* January 12 – January 30: Operation Iskra penetrates the siege by opening a land corridor along the coast of Lake Ladoga into the city.
* February 10 – April 1: The unsuccessful Operation Polyarnaya Zvezda attempts to completely lift the siege.
1944 * January 14 - March 1: Several Soviet offensive operations begin, aimed at ending the siege.
* January 27: Siege of Leningrad ends. Germans forces pushed 60–100 km away from the city.
* January: Before retreating the German armies loot and destroy the historical Palaces of the Tsars, such as the Catherine Palace, Peterhof Palace, the Gatchina, and the Strelna. Many other historic landmarks and homes in the suburbs of St. Petersburg are looted and then destroyed, and a large number of valuable art collections is moved to Nazi Germany.
* During the siege, 3200 residential buildings, 9000 wooden houses (burned), 840 factories and plants were destroyed in Leningrad and suburbs.
