Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944

Posted on by

On September 8, 1941, eleven weeks after Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, his brutal surprise attack on the Soviet Union, Leningrad was surrounded The siege was not lifted for two and a half years, by which time some three quarters of a million Leningraders had died of starvation.Anna Reid s Leningrad is a gripping, authoritative narrative history of this dramatic moment in the twentieth century, interwoven with indelible personal accounts of daily siege life drawn from diarists on both sides They reveal the Nazis deliberate decision to starve Leningrad into surrender and Hitler s messianic miscalculation, the incompetence and cruelty of the Soviet war leadership, the horrors experienced by soldiers on the front lines, and, above all, the terrible details of life in the blockaded city the relentless search for food and water the withering of emotions and family ties looting, murder, and cannibalism and at the same time, extraordinary bravery and self sacrifice.Stripping away decades of Soviet propaganda, and drawing on newly available diaries and government records, Leningrad also tackles a raft of unanswered questions Was the size of the death toll as much the fault of Stalin as of Hitler Why didn t the Germans capture the city Why didn t it collapse into anarchy What decided who lived and who died Impressive in its originality and literary style, Leningrad gives voice to the dead and will rival Anthony Beevor s classic Stalingrad in its impact. Read Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944 – kino-fada.fr One might say that Leningrad is particularly well suited to catastrophes That cold river, those menacing sunsets, that operatic, terrifying moon Anna AkhmatovaWhen the Wehrmacht attacked Leningrad in 1941, Leningraders had yet been generously endowed with war, terror and famines Still, the worst was yet to come Relying for most part on diaries, memoires and interviews of survivors, journalist and historian Anna Reid chronicles Leningrad s ghastly blockade fate durin...With his back to the post, a man sits in the snow, wrapped in rags, wearing a knapsack Probably he was on his way to Finland Station, got tired and sat down to rest For two weeks I passed him every day as I went back and forth to the hospital He sat 1 Without his knapsack 2 Without his rags 3 In his underwear 4 Naked 5 A skeleton with ripped out entrails They took him away in May Vera Kostrovitskaya, diary entry written during the siege of Leningrad The point at which an entire With his back to the post, a man sits in the snow, wrapped in rags, wearing a knapsack Probably he was on his way to Finland Station, got tired and sat down to rest For two weeks I passed him every day as...The German army raced east in the early stages of the Barbarossa campaign and soon reached Leningrad It stopped at the outskirts of the city and settled down to a long siege The Russians, demoralised and bloodied but not beaten, hunkered down too.What followed was three years of unremitting hardship as the inhabitants ran out of food and fuel Hundreds of thousands starved to death and those that survived had to fight to stay alive We see the usual stories of selfless sacrifice and heroism,...Author Anna Reid sets out to disprove some of the myths of the siege of Leningrad ones that say everyone endured stoically , so the focus of this book is about people starving to death about 650,000 to 800,000 It s not a happy book The siege would have been a tragedy regardless, but Soviet leadership made it wor...Perhaps I ll be able to understand Beethoven s music better, and the genius of Lermontov and Pushkin, once I ve been to war Heartbreaking words of 18 year old Oleg to his girlfriend at the advent of operation Barbarossa Hitler s attack on Stalin that would see Leningrad besieged for years by German and Finnish troops and reliant on the incompetence, corruption, paranoia, and callousness of the Soviet Union.This is an expertly written book about a terrible time Caught between the two monstro Perhaps I ll be able to understand Beethoven s music better, and the genius of Lermontov and Pushkin, once I ve been to war Heartbreaking words of 18 year old Oleg to his girlfriend at the advent of operation Barbarossa Hitler s attack on Stalin that would see Leningrad besieged for years by German and Finnish troops and reliant on the incompetence, corruption, paranoia, and callousness of the Soviet Union.This is an expertly written book about a terrible time Caught between the two monstrous regimes of the European 20th century, besieged Leningrad quickly plunges into starvation and apathy The amount of human suffering is unbearable, the injustice and incompetence of Soviet authorities is galling At the height of the hunger, in the winter of 19...The book focuses on the people of Leningrad and their experiences during WWII The was some original research and interviews as well as use of many other published references The book was structured mainly chronologically with a focus on 1941 There were chapters on certain themes cannibalism, purges, crime, etc , a couple of chapters on particular military battles and an odd occasional use of a German officer s experience The way the book was structured, for me, did not allow the story to fl The book focuses on the people of Leningrad and their experiences during WWII The was some original research and interviews as well as use of many other published references The book was structured mainly chronologically with a focus on 1941 There were chapters on certain themes cannibalism, purges, crime, etc , a couple of chapters on particular military battles and an odd occasional use of a German officer s experience The way the book was structured, for me, did not allow the story to flo...The epic Siege of Leningrad during the Second World War is an event that, while not exactly overlooked, seems to be given less importance when compared to the Battle of Stalingrad, or the massive tank clashes of Kursk, or the desperate last gasp defence of Moscow Anna Reid sets out to describe exactly why the Siege was so important, illuminating lesser known details and dispelling popular Soviet myths that sprang up in the years following the war She traces the Siege from the very beginning of The epic Siege of Leningrad during the Second World War is an event that, while not exactly overlooked, seems to be given less importance when compared to the Battle of Stalingrad, or the massive tank clashes of Kursk, or the desperate last g...The distinguished historian, Antony Beevor, wrote that Anna Reid with her Leningrad The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941 1944 provides an honest reappraisal of the myths surrounding this epic siege Her contribution is not in simply retelling the narrative of Leningrad s brave citizenry and their tenacious defense of the city against Nazi aggression, but in exposing the incompetence, cruelty and indifference of Soviet authorities and the Germans alike She shows that life in Leningrad during The distinguished historian, Antony Beevor, wrote that Anna Reid with her Leningrad The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941 1944 provides an honest reappraisal of the myths surrounding this epic siege Her contribution is not in simply retelling ...The books focuses mostly on the civilian experience of the siege, and probably because of a bias in the availability of sources on the experiences of educated middle class people Who wrote A lot.Diaries are a major source, along with interviews conducted many years later, and for me that was the most fascinating aspect of the book Once all the staggeringly grim statistics, the disgusting politics and the bureacratic incompetence are processed, there s this absolutely riveting thread of in The books focuses mostly on the civilian experience of the siege, and probably because of a bias in the availability of sources on the experiences of educated middle class people Who wrote A lot.Diaries are a major source, along with interviews conducted many years later, and for me that was the most fascinating aspect of the book Once all the staggeringly grim statistics, the disgusting politics and the bureacratic incompetence are processed, there s this absolutely riveting thread of i...An excellent account of the horrifying siege of Leningrad now St Petersburg that occurred following the German invasion of June, 1941.This is a ground view look at the siege taken mostly from the diaries, and to a lesser extent, interviews of the survivors Many are wrenching, many are poetic, and provide us with portrayals of their terrible ordeal There is little in the book of the military details of the long blockade and these are told from a humanistic viewpoint for instance there were An excellent account of the horrifying siege of Leningrad now St Petersburg that occurred following the German invasion of June, 1941.This i...

Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944
  • English
  • 01 April 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 492 pages
  • 080271594X
  • Anna Reid
  • Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944