Leningrad: The Brutal Reality Of The 900-Day Siege | Battlefield | War Stories

[Music] [Music] e as the German Advance into Northern Russia continued the rail linked to Leningrad was cut the fate of Leningrad and with it 30 Russian divisions appeared to be sealed the next stage of the battle was expected to be an attack on The Bard [Music] City contrary to their own expectations the men of the German 18th Army were not to be asked to mount a full-scale attack on the city and after a series of hotly contested battles for the outskirts Hitler uncharacteristically ordered his troops to take Leningrad by means of a long drawn out Siege it has been suggested that he was unnerved by the remote controlled explosions which the Russians had used so effectively in Kiev it is a decision which still provokes debate [Music] today there are really two possible explanations for the failure of army Group North to take Leningrad one was the conflicting priorities in the mind of Adolf Hitler and the Army High command Hitler vacillated between prioritizing a number of objectives there is also a school of thought which favors Hitler's adverse reaction to the huge losses of the German sixth Army in Kiev in August and September in Kiev thousands of German troops were lost to remote controlled explosions and thousands of others to desperate street fighting this it is thought persuaded Hitler that no German troops should be made vulnerable by committing them to the inner city streets of Moscow and Leningrad in any event the 18th Army lacked the really heavy artillery necessary to reduce the defenses of Leningrad the massive guns of the German Siege train had already been allocated to the sector of army group South where they were earmarked for the coming battles in the Crimea to move them all the way across Russia would have delayed the operation into [Music] winter to compound the problems of the battles for the attackers Panza group 4 was withdrawn from army Group North in late September 1941 in order to support Army group Center in operation typhoon the final drive on Moscow no German Army group could afford to lose its tanks but Army Group North lost virtually all of its armor the withdrawal of the tanks from army Group North meant that the Army was virtually immobile it was to remain so for almost 3 [Music] [Music] years [Music] it is easy to suggest that the loss of paner group 4 in September 1941 was directly responsible for the failure of army Group North to take its strategic objective of Leningrad however this is by no means certain the capture of a city as large and well-defended as Leningrad was by no means certain even with a strong armored Force nevertheless the removal of paner group 4 clearly did not help the cause of army Group North it meant that Army Group North would be denied this one formation and the size speed and fighting Power to advance quickly into the regions beyond the city of Leningrad link up with the fins and effectively cut off the city from its supplies The Disappearance of paner group 4 proved to be a forerunner of things to come from that point onwards the evidence was clear that of the three German Army groups Army Group North was considered to be the poor relation it soon became obvious that they could expect to receive no substantial additional support of any kind and the artillery Siege train would never be sent to Leningrad the 18th Army therefore had no alternative but to take Leningrad by Siege it seemed that the decisive battles on the Eastern Front would be fought elsewhere with the commencement of the siege of Leningrad a relatively stable front line appeared in the northern sector the 16th Army fought on the right flank of the northern sector where it was adjacent to the left wing of army group Center the 18th Army fought on the Left Flank of the 16th Army and as such formed the extreme Northern end of the front [Music] line Army Group North was to remain doggedly committed to the northern flank of the German armies fighting on the Eastern front for the entire duration of the [Music] [Applause] war [Music] [Music] the siege of Leningrad was the stage for an intense struggle that would in later Years be recognized as a key event in that conflict of inhuman savagery the opening stages were bitterly fought in the suburbs of the city [Music] [Music] when General zukov arrived to take over the defense of the city on the 10th of September 1941 he found the defenders in an advanced state of disorganization and the inhabitants close to panic undaunted he briskly set about bolstering its defenses a shortage of anti-tank guns was dealt with by converting anti-aircraft artillery to the task of attempting to Halt the panzas six brigades of Naval infantry and students were formed and reinforcements drafted in from the kelian isos zukov began to take the fight to the Germans through raids and counterattacks but by now the German troops had pierced the inner circle of defenses and were rampaging through the suburbs after a furious exchange of advances and Retreats by the end of the month The Defenders were hanging onto their City by their fingernails it seemed inevitable that Leningrad would capitulate but as zukov awaited a renewed assault the fourth paner group suddenly departed to join the battle for Moscow and the remaining German forces began to build defenses Hitler had decreed that Leningrad would not be taken by force it would instead be starved into submission but there was a flaw in the plan although the supply situation was difficult without paner group 4 the ring around the city was never completely closed it was still possible to to reach the city over land through the Virgin forests of the Russian motherland it was also possible to bring in supplies by boat across the Waters of lake [Music] loga in October there was some temporary relief for the Defenders the roads had disintegrated into canals of bottomless mud along which wheeled Vehicles could drive only at a snail's pace and only if they were towed by tanks this was the rasputitsa the season of mud which came as a debilitating surprise to the Germans in 1941 General Rouse went to Great Lengths after the war to explain the great significance of the muddy season German losses of tanks and motorized equipment of all types were extraordinarily High during the Autumn muddy period of 1941 the first time that the mud of Russia was encountered a division of the fourth Panza group operating in the area north of gas during the same period lost 50 tanks without a shot being fired 35 of them within 3 days these losses were extremely serious since no Replacements were [Music] received the Germans had no conception of mud as it exists in European Russia in the Autumn of 1941 when Frontline troops were already stuck fast the German High command still believed that mud could be conquered by Brute Force an idea that led to Serious losses of vehicles and equipment at the height of the muddy season tractors and Recovery Vehicles normally capable of traversing difficult terrain are helpless and attempts to plow through the muddy Mass makes roads even more impossible tanks heavy recovery vehicles and even vehicles with good ground clearance simply pushed an Ever growing wall of mud before them until they finally stopped half buried by their own [Music] motion a sudden Frost in the Autumn of 1941 cemented a crippled buried column into a state of complete uselessness and it never moved again because it could not be reached in any other way gasoline toe ropes and Food Supplies were air dropped along the line of stranded armor but all attempts to move were futile often when drivers found themselves bogged down Far From Any habitation they abandoned their vehicles and set out on foot to contact friendly troops in the nearest Village or sought food and shelter from local civilians in order to remain alive until the worst of the muddy season passed for the muddy Seasons vehicles with high ground clearance lightweight and low ground pressure were necessary German trucks had low ground clearance and could not get Traction in deep mud since German Supply cars had wheels too narrow for muddy terrain they sank deep into soft ground even the German motier and Oster of the later years were bogged down in mud as their tracks were too narrow Rouse noted that the awkward looking and slow Russian tractor of pre-war vintage Salvage the heaviest most deeply mired loads after German equipment failed to budge them discover the past with exclusive military history documentaries and adree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all on History hit watch them on your smart TV or on the- go with your mobile device download the app now to watch everything from the gripping story of the B of Brothers to operation Barbarosa and D-Day immerse yourself in the dramatic stories of this remarkable era by signing up via the link in the description inside Leningrad Food Supplies to the besieged city had been diminishing throughout the Autumn by late November they were at their lowest e for the entire duration of The Siege manual workers were receiving only 250 gr of bread per day onethird of their normal requirement without water for sanitation and basic medical supplies disease became inevitable as winter arrived and temperatures fell to Theus 20s thousands began to die each day total starvation threatened constantly to the Germans collapse seemed imminent [Music] back in Berlin a reception with Adolf Hitler as a guest of honor was organized to celebrate the fall of the stricken City the invitations were printed but never posted [Music] Russian resistance remains stubborn and defiant even women soldiers in the Red Army were in combat units the ferocity and inhumanity of the conflict Beggars the imagination in an attempt to relieve the appalling conditions in the city the Russians marked a road across the Frozen southwest corner of lake loga and by the 22nd of November convoys of Supply lorries were just managing to Stave off famine in the city it was a hazardous Passage through the biting Northeastern Gales which swept across the lake the German lraa also did its best to intercept the convoys and break the surface of the ice yet for all its horror the Russians knew that defending this Lifeline to the city was the only possible way of keeping the inhabitants alive [Music] but for some the food coming across the ice was too little too late victims of starvation suffering from falling blood pressure and the wasting of the heart and internal organs would never regain their health many would die months after food and medical supplies finally arrived the children who surv survived would emerge totally traumatized by The Siege as an eyewitness recalled it was reflected in the way many of the children played all by themselves in the way that even in their Collective games they played in Silence with grave faces I saw faces of children which reflected such thoughtfulness and sorrow that those eyes and faces told one more than could be gathered from all the stories of the horrors of [Music] famine as events unfolded it soon became clear that in spite of all the hardships of the siege of Leningrad the northern sector was considered by both sides to be of secondary importance the man of army Group North soon became convinced that they were fighting what they referred to as the Eternal War of the Poor Man casualties along the whole of the Russian front had been enormous but only 67,000 Replacements were allocated to Army Group North as against 131,000 to Army group Center and 119,000 to Army groups South when it came to allocating fresh divisions from the reserves the situation was even less favorable of 21 new divisions released by Army High command in the Autumn of 1941 only three were allocated to Army Group North it was a further indication of things to come one unexpected benefit for the Army group was the occasional support which they received from German Naval units operating in the Baltic as one flank rested on the Baltic Seas Army Group North was the only formation which could look for substantial support from the Cs Marine the German Navy had played a significant role in the Soviet German war in the Baltic the Germans sealed up the powerful Russian front with minefields by doing so they also trapped the Soviet submarine Fleet as the Germans ADV Advanced along the Baltic Coastline they took control of Russian bases so that the Soviet Baltic Fleet had to remain bottled up in Leningrad the function of the Soviet Baltic Fleet during 1941 and 42 was limited solely to supplying fire support to the Soviet forces fighting to defend the city this aspect of the fighting was also to provide the stage for a daring attack led by the stokers of hin ulich Rudell the Luft vafer was ordered to sink the Soviet Battleship Marat Rudell managed this amazing feat in the face of fierce anti-aircraft fire with a single well-placed bomb on the deficit side the 18th Army had to become involved in a number of amphibious operations to capture the Baltic Islands which placed a great strain on what were already severely limited resources throughout the whole course of the war the lack of powerful reinforcements severely limited the Strategic options available for the Army group command it also required a great deal of juggling of available divisions to maintain the extended front line and the siege of Leningrad which was to drag on for almost 3 years the Germans had closed right up on the city and into the outer suburbs but the ring was not closed an important consideration at this time was the role of the fins they agreed to move close to Leningrad their fifth General manaheim making it quite clear that he was prepared to take action to recover Finnish territory yielded to Russia in the winter war of 1939 but that he would not take part in the direct attack on Leningrad itself [Music] that was one of the conditions Finland made on entering the war against Russia on the side of the Germans manaheim was as mindful of the political conditions as he was of the military conditions because of finland's vulnerability to Future Russian aggression this meant that the German and Finnish armies were never able to cut off Leningrad completely from the rest of the world in both winter and summer the Russian forces were still able to get resources across Lake loga in the northeast of the city from the winter of 1942 onwards the railway to the east of Leningrad was completed and Leningrad was connected to the rest of the Soviet Union which enabled the forces to supply the inhabitants of the city helping some of them to survive the siege the Soviet negotiators in the Soviet Finnish peace talks which took place in 1944 War actually recalled that the Russians recognized what the fins had done for them if the fins had moved forward and closed the Ring of Siege around Leningrad it would have meant the death of the city despite the fact that some supplies got through it was precious little starvation drove the population to Extreme Measures including the horrifying excess of cannibalism the first cases occurred Ur at the beginning of December 1941 the Soviet criminal code made no mention of such a crime as cannibalism so Soviet officials could at first only Define it as an extreme form of banditry according to the top secret report of the military procurator of Leningrad AA ketov dated 27th of February 1942 investigations of cannibalism led to criminal charges against 26 individuals in December 1941 366 in January 1942 and 494 in the first 2 weeks of February 1942 investigation revealed that Not only was human flesh consumed by individuals but it was also sold to other citizens by the 20th of February 1942 866 individuals were under criminal investigation or actual indictment for suspected cannibalism only 18% of this number had any previous criminal record of the 886 suspect individuals 322 were men and 564 women almost 30% were aged over 40 the next largest group being in their [Music] 30s more ghoulish still was the discovery of extensive intrusions into cemeteries and the mutilation of the recent Dead one evening in March 1942 The Watchman at the bogoslowski cemetery detained a woman with a sack once opened the sack revealed the bodies of five infants the increase in cannibalism forced the city authorities to set up police guards at all the major cemeteries with the first Snows of 1941 came a cruely bitter winter the temperature continued to fall and the German soldiers now paid dearly for the arrogance of the high command that had refused to admit the possibility of anything other than a quick decisive campaign few men in the German trenches had more than summer clothing and Frostbite took an agonizing toll German machinery and guns had never been designed to function in such extremes engines seized up metal tank tracks split apart in the cold ammunition would not fire the fierceness of the cold was far beyond the experience of most Germans emboldened by the problems they saw in the German ranks a series of Soviet counterattacks managed to roll back many of the German gains around Leningrad with Incredible exertions the Germans kept up a semblance of Defense the tactics of winter Warfare centered around contests for the possession of roads and inhabited places in Russia Villages and roads were infinitely more important than they were on the rest of the continent in other German theaters of war no one particular Road ever became a crucial Factor since a well-developed road Network always offered a choice of alternate routes in Russia the possession of a single Road was often a matter of life or death for an entire Army the extreme tactical importance of inhabited places during the 6 months of winter explains the fact that the Russians would frequently much rather destroy them than surrender them to the [Music] [Music] enemy in the bitter trench warfare outside Leningrad the defender had a definite advantage in Winter because as a rule their positions could could not be seen in the snow except at very close range The Defenders were able to keep their forces under cover and wait until the moment their fire could be used most effectively the attacker was also impeded and easily detected even in camouflage clothing the principal weapon of the defender became the machine gun as its performance was not diminished by snow in which mortars and light artillery Lo lost most of their effectiveness Replacements were also becoming a problem for the German forces after the war it became clear from the Diaries of army Group North that the commanders of both formations had intentionally prohibited even during calm periods the removal of a unit from the front in order to Grant it a period of rest it was better to keep the divisions at the front and assign them them to a narrower sector as otherwise a reserve unit which had been removed from the northern front was certain to be taken by the Supreme command and assigned more pressing pressure points on either the central or the southern front although the northern front was regarded as being of secondary importance it was in no sense a Backwater there was still a great deal of terrible fighting in very difficult ter rain with extensive swamps and few roads through the vast sections of trackless forest which presented a logistical [Music] nightmare Army Group North and the Army divisions were facing the most difficult conditions on the Eastern Front the climate and the terrain were completely different around Leningrad it is very marshy and boggy there were also very few roads so all transport Logistics were very difficult [Music] indeed to compound the difficulties for the Germans by October of 1941 the first partisan attacks had begun to cause severe difficulties in the rear areas the effects of these attacks were further compounded by the fact that the underdeveloped infrastructure of Russia meant that there were very few roads or Railways which could be used as alternatives to those blocked by partisan activity the Russian winter was a nightmare along the whole of the front but it was Army Group North which bore the brunt of the most extreme Russian Winters it is impossible to exaggerate the cruel realities of fighting in the Ferocious winters of Northern Russia in addition to their geographical and climactic difficulties the fighting Spirit of the Red Army facing Army Group North was no less intense than that displayed on the other sectors the siege of Leningrad has become synonymous with endurance and suffering but there was also a great deal of intense combat as a series of miniature battles rolled backwards and forwards Around The Siege lines outside Leningrad despite coming very close to Victory on a number of occasions Army Group North was never able to close the ring around Leningrad completely and the high command continued to draw desperately needed divisions away from the Army Group North sector in order to feed other hardpressed sectors the result of this attrition from two directions was that a ferocious Soviet offensive in January 1944 finally broke the resistance of army Group North and raised The Siege the lifting of the siege of Leningrad in 1944 forced Army Group North to fall back to a new defensive front composed of a series of partially constructed defenses known as the panther line this line should have represented a fallback position for the German forces but work was beginning much too late the panther line was envisaged as a series of strong fortifications incorporating parts of the northern regions of the Soviet Union in a line running southwards from Lake deina and lake pcov near the town of NAA on the Baltic coast of Estonia it was envisaged that the German troops retreating behind the line would occupy a series of excellent defensive points the German troops would therefore have a rest bite from the rigor of the retreat and be able to hold the Soviet Army at Bay meanwhile the armored formations and the air formations of the German Army were repaired and returned to the fry to renew combat with their Soviet foes however the panther line was constructed merely as an afterthought when it was much too late the German armies had suffered defeats and simply did not have enough troops to man the line effectively in those areas where adequate defenses have been prepared in the line and there were sufficient German troops and aircraft available it proved a very formidable obstacle for the Soviet Army to overcome had it been properly prepared as part of a coherent overall strategic plan the panther line could have been held the panther line was only ever going to provide a temporary solution to the mounting problems of army Group North the destruction of the neighboring Army group Center in June 1944 tore a huge gap in the German lines and left the right flank of army Group North vulnerable to a Soviet attack Hitler was forced to San stion another series of withdrawals from the panther line Army Group North were forced to retreat in relatively good order towards Germany fighting a series of ferocious defensive battles as they went the most notable of these being the defense of NAA in 1944 the battle for NAA plays a very important part in the Soviet German war because NAA is the gateway to Estonia the Germans recognized the importance of holding Nava and there were initially 12 divisions organized into what was called AB tyong NAA a special force grouping which was to fight with enormous courage and [Music] distinction the defense of Nava was a bitterly fought encounter a breakthrough here would have compromised many German troops in the Baltic regions of Estonia and lvia European SS along with the German regular Army divisions managed to hold back the forces of the Soviet Leningrad front throughout January February and March their bitter attritional contest was not characterized by sophisticated tactical Maneuvers it was a bloody slugging match the German formations were saved by the early spring Thor of late March 1944 which produced Seas of mud floods of at least 1 foot deep in an area of 100 to 140 M Square even Soviet tanks stuck fast in the Torrance of mud and the German forces were able to retreat once more the incredible resistance offered by Army group Nara a scratch formation drawn from the Slender resources of army Group North represents an impressive example of military improvisation and stands comparison with the other German defensive battles fought elsewhere in Russia and Italy the main stay of resistance in NAA was the third SS Panza core which included the long- serving SS police division along with the new SS Viking division comprised of volunteers from different nationalities by October 1944 the situation around Nava from a German point of view was hopeless but unlike the countless Garrison squandered by Hitler in a pointless series of hold at all costs orders Army group NAA managed to escape and rejoin Army Group North constant retreat was now the order of the day as the Army group was driven back through the Baltic states towards Germany but Army Group North would never make it [Music] home while the Red Army rolled on towards Berlin the man of army Group North were finally cornered in the Kurland peninsula of lvia there The Battered remnants of the army group held off all attacks by the Red Army for six long months they were under siege from late October 1944 through to May [Music] 1945 in January 1945 the two armies which had served since 1941 as Army Group North were re named Army group kland The Hard One mantle of army Group North was transferred to a scratch assembly of beaten units under the command of a swift succession of temporary leaders the spirit of the man of army Group North remained behind in [Music] kerland [Music] the German divisions which found their way to kerland were stuck there they were bladed by the Russians and there was nothing they could do they could no longer make any useful contribution to the greater course of the war elsewhere in many respects it was a very wasteful and IR responsible gesture on the part of Hitler this albeit scratch Army was still a considerable Force which could have made a valuable contribution elsewhere but it was not to be made available despite everything that that the besieged Red Army could throw at them the surviving elements of the 16th and 18th armies now officially known as Army group kland continued to resist all further attempts to force them into surrender fighting for the kand peninsula was grinding in nature it was not like the Western and Eastern fronts characterized by large formations sweeping along the frontier in impressive sophisticated operations in the kland fighting the Germans trapped in this region were gradually slowly and surely pushed back in spectacular fashion into something of a geographical culdesac by the Red Army they were well served served to The Bitter End by the ships of the Cs Marine who managed to evacuate some divisions recalled to Germany on occasion they even managed to bring in some much needed reinforcements the German Navy did have an important role to play When the Red Army began to advance along the Baltic Coast to break into East Prussia because if at all possible the German Navy had to try and contain Soviet Naval operations even more importantly they had a grievous burden to try and evacuate as many of the German civilians and German military units who had been trapped and transport them back into German [Music] [Music] territory the naval aspect in the closing stage of the war does demonstrate that the German Navy could operate well even in the face of disaster which was now pending the C's Marine was absolutely vital in explaining why German formations fought bitterly to the end for the pointless battle for the Kurland Peninsula the peninsula from the Army's point of view was militarily useless indeed many German commanders in late 1944 and spring 1945 constantly requested Hitler to give up the kland peninsula this would release the 26 divisions that were fighting there in order to bolster their defense in what were more important military regions nearer to [Music] home the German Navy had used the Baltic Sea throughout World War II as a training ground for its submarine commanders dernitz a committed Nazi who was in charge of the Navy at this stage regarded the retention of the Gulf of Danzig in the Baltic Sea as essential in order to train his sub Marine Commanders to use the extremely powerful new submarine the type 21 which the German Navy were developing towards the end of the war the Cs Marine therefore played a critical role in explaining why the German formations fought so bitterly for the kand peninsula trapped in kland the survivors of the old army Group North maintained their cohesion and fighting ability until the final surrender on May the 8th 1945 almost 4 years since they had first moved into Russia on that day 203,000 men began the Long March into Soviet captivity many would never return and others were held as slave laborers until 1955 a high price to pay for their long [Music] defense of the three huge Army groups which Hitler sent into Russia it could be argued that Army Group North was the most successful in carrying out the tasks assigned to it although the campaign ultimately ended in failure for them the man of army Group North retained their military cohesion with some units achieving the rare distinction of serving for the whole four years of the Russian war in the same Army [Music] group [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: War Stories

Views: 644,337

Keywords: 900-Day Siege, Battlefield Realities, Brutal Warfare, City Under Siege, Civilian Suffering, Frontline Realities, Frontline Warfare, Historical Documentary, Historical Insights, Human Sacrifice, Leningrad Catastrophe, Military Campaigns, Military Operations, Siege Survival Stories, Soviet Military History, WW2 Documentary, WW2 Events, War Experiences Capture, War Memories, War Stories, Warfare Chronicles

Id: jxV_-Dusinw

Length: 48min 17sec (2897 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 15 2023