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[Music]
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[Music]
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six weeks into the wall near the town of
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stariha rusev German soldiers pondered a
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strange contraption captured in recent
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fighting it was an artillery system but
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not like anything of their own each
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truck carried a crude looking frame onto
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which Rockets were loaded the Soviet
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counter-attack here had been supported
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by dozens of these rocket launchers it
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had helped to stall the advance of the
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entire German Army Group North striking
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towards Leningrad they had bought time
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time that would prove crucial
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[Music]
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the BM 13 multiple rocket launch system
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given the girl's name Katyusha by the
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troops was a rail launch rack on a truck
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chassis gears elevated and rotated the
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launcher rack into the correct firing
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position as determined by an artillery
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sight the Rockets were very inaccurate
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and would rain down over a wide area
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but the Katusha made up for this with a
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fearsome rate of fire one Katyusha could
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launch sixteen Rockets in less than 10
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seconds
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firing on mass they could devastate a
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massive area in the blink of an eye
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leningrad russia's baltic sea port was a
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key objective of the german invasion
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from here soviet submarines and the
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baltic fleet threatened germany's supply
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of iron ore which came by sea from
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neutral Sweden the plans for the German
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invasion stated that the assault on
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Moscow could proceed only after
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Leningrad and its naval base at
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Kronstadt had been captured
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[Music]
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Hitler with growing confidence in his
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own military genius was increasingly
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involved in strategic planning
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he was now determined that if necessary
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the armored forces assaulting Moscow
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should be diverted to Leningrad Army
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Group North advancing on Leningrad had
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been stopped at the so-called Luger line
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in July this 175 kilometer of
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fortifications had been hastily built by
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soldiers of the reserve and citizens of
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Leningrad in August army group North was
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reinforced with tanks and dive bombers
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from Army Group center they crashed
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through the Luger line and encircled the
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troops defending it
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the Red Army fed its new kV heavy tanks
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into the battle they were produced in
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Leningrad itself at the Kirov factory
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[Music]
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the front armor of a kv-1 was 75
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millimeters thick the German 37
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millimeter anti-tank gun barely made a
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scratch but early in the war fuel
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shortages and poorly trained crews who
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didn't know how to repair their vehicle
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meant many kV ones and other Soviet
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vehicles ended up abandoned at the
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roadside on the 19th of August a company
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of cavies commanded by senior lieutenant
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kolobanov took up an ambush position
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near the town of Kresnik var DS kala
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Bonoff picked the position himself
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overlooking the highway as it goes
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through the marshes when a column of
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German tanks appeared his tanks took out
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the lead and rear vehicles and proceeded
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to destroy all 22 enemy machines
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after the battle collarbone oaf screws
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counted a hundred and fifty six marks
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where German shells had hit their tanks
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but failed to penetrate
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after hearing reports about the kV tanks
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Hitler once more demanded the capture of
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Leningrad and it's factory that was
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churning out these monsters
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but they weren't enough kV ones to stop
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the Germans everywhere
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while one German corps was held at
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kresnik Verdes others broke through
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nearly bond and toss knife on the 30th
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of August the Germans cut the railway
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and the highway connecting Leningrad
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with the rest of the country Finnish
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troops allies of the Germans approached
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from the north the city's electricity
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supply began to fail but still no
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civilians were evacuated an act which
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might appear defeatist on the 8th of
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september the germans captured Silesia
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burned on the shore of Lake Ladoga the
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final act of encirclement it was the
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beginning of a seeds that was to last
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882 days
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[Music]
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when the siege began the city's
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population was more than 2.5 million
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including approximately 400,000 children
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the city contains three hundred thousand
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refugees from the Baltic republics and
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surrounding area the city's supplies of
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food and fuel were sufficient for just
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30 days
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[Music]
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Soviet counter-attacks aimed at lifting
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the siege were all unsuccessful
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the German encirclement near
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shlisselburg was only about 12
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kilometers wide this sector was the
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focus of Soviet attempts to lift the
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blockade
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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that summer Soviet counter-attacks had
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robbed Army Group north of valuable
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weeks it was time that could not be got
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back now the attack on Moscow would rob
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Army Group north of its best units in
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his diary the commander of army group
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North Field Marshal von Leeb wrote 11th
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of September desperate shortage of time
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the army High Command demands seven
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mobile divisions be handed over to its
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control on the 15th of September his
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tanks were on their way towards Moscow
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it was a desperately needed respite for
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Leningrad the same day
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general Zhukov was appointed commander
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of the Leningrad front his deputy major
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general fedyuninsky came with him
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Evon ivanovich fijian insky spent most
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of his military career in the Russian
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Far East in 1939 he was made a hero of
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the Soviet Union for his bravery
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fighting the Japanese at the Battle of
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Cowpens gong in 1941 he commanded a
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Soviet Rifle Corps in Bella Russia where
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he was badly wounded
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Zhukov appointment immediately inspired
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the defenders of the city there was new
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confidence that Leningrad would be saved
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[Music]
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with characteristic energy Zhukov began
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to organize the city's defenses
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artillery was to be the king and his
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secret weapon will be the massive guns
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of the red banner Baltic Fleet
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powerful naval gunnery halted the first
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German offensive just seven kilometers
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from the city
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[Music]
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the 12-inch guns at the coastal thought
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of Krasnaya Gorka also served to hold
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the German army at bay
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[Music]
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the shockwaves from their exploding
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shells were powerful enough to hold
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German tanks into the air
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[Music]
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but where the German army had failed the
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Luftwaffe might still succeed three
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months into the German invasion of the
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Soviet Union Army Group North was held
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up outside Leningrad by the heavy guns
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of the Soviet Baltic Fleet so Field
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Marshal von Leeb turned to his dive
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bombers to sink the enemy warships
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[Music]
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their first victim was the old
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battleship
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Maura
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- 1000 kilogram bombs struck her bow
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causing her forward turret magazine to
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explode she quickly sank to the bottom
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of the bed three warships were sunk in
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total depriving the city's defences of
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35 powerful guns
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around the city 1,500 loudspeakers
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broadcast Leningrad City radio now it
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was also used to issue
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air-raid warnings
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[Music]
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when there are no radio programs a
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metronome was put on the air
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slow ticking meant all clear fast
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ticking meant take cover it became known
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as the beating heart of Leningrad above
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the city German bombers were met with
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heavy anti-aircraft fire but the
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Luftwaffe only made a few large-scale
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rays
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[Music]
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shelling by German heavy artillery
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proved much more lethal signs went up on
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street corners with the warning citizens
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this side of the street is more
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dangerous during shelling the Germans
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didn't target Leningrad's tallest
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buildings or church spires they were
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needed as reference points by the
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artillery spotters who instead guided
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shells onto the city's bridges houses
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and chops Leningrad was truly a city on
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the front line
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[Music]
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monuments were protected by sandbags and
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wooden screens but many would not
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survive German bombardment on the city's
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outskirts the Germans captured the
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Catherine Palace and the grand peterhof
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palace both were looted and destroyed
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the world-famous Amber Room was shipped
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to Germany today its whereabouts remain
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a mystery on the 8th of September German
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bombers targeted the wooden bat AF
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warehouses where the city's food
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reserves were stored the glow of the
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fires could be seen across the city soon
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everyone knew that the flour and sugar
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supplies had been destroyed but the
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situation was even worse than many
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feared the city needed a thousand tons
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of food every day to prevent starvation
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but less than 200 tons were getting
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through the blockade
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the little that could be brought in by
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air was nowhere near enough to feed the
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city's population
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[Music]
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the main supply route into Leningrad now
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lay across Lake Ladoga 50 kilometers of
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open water
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but the lake was notorious for its
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strong winds and sudden storms
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it was why in 1718 Peter the Great had
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ordered the construction of the Ladoga
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canal along the lakes southern shore to
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provide a safe waterway to the city but
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the Germans had reached the southern
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shore of Lake Ladoga cutting the canal
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and rail links into the city the people
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of Leningrad had to build a new port
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from scratch on the lakes western shore
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in the first week of the siege barges
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were unloaded straight onto the beach it
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was the beginning of a supply route that
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would come to be known as the road of
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life
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[Music]
261
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food rationing had been introduced at
262
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the start of the war
263
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Leningrad workers received 800 grams of
264
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bread a day their defendants received
265
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400 grams by the beginning of October it
266
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had been reduced to half that amount it
267
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wasn't nearly enough to sustain those
268
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required to do physical work at the end
269
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of November the city was on the brink of
270
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starvation bread rations were cut
271
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further 250 grams for a worker 125 grams
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for everyone else the quality of the
273
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bread was falling too as the authorities
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turned to unlikely ingredients to
275
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increase its bowl Baker's used burnt
276
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flour recovered from the ruins of the
277
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bad AF warehouses they used oats
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intended for the horses soya barley and
279
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even cellulose from the goshawk paper
280
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mill people often had to queue for hours
281
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in the freezing cold to receive these
282
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meager rations
283
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in November 11,000 died from starvation
284
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350 each day the medical staff could
285
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only look on helplessly
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[Music]
287
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the early winter led to hopes that Lake
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Ladoga would quickly freeze solid
289
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allowing trucks to bring in supplies
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across its frozen surface but the ice
291
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took time to harden
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the Soviets had hoped to establish a
293
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road bridge across the ice using the
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shortest route but this would put
295
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convoys within range of the German
296
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artillery batteries on the southern
297
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shore
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slowly the ice thickened on the 20th of
299
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November across a hundred and eighty
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millimeters of ice
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the first horse-drawn sleighs crossed
302
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the lake two days later the first trucks
303
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cross
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it was a perilous crossing the two ton
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vehicles carried much less than their
306
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full load but several still crashed
307
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through the ice disappearing into the
308
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frozen death
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[Music]
310
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drivers stood on their running boards
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ready to leap clear if the ice began to
312
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crack on their return journey the same
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trucks were used to evacuate as many
314
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civilians as possible
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the road of life was 30 kilometers long
316
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it included garages rest stops and field
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hospitals
318
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there were several alternative routes
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depending on the ice and driving
320
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conditions to defend the road to
321
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defensive lines were constructed on top
322
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of the ice eight kilometers from the
323
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german-held shore they included
324
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machine-gun nests and ice trenches the
325
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road was also protected by anti-aircraft
326
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guns and air cover but German bombs and
327
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shells still claimed many victims
328
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in the first week alone 52 trucks were
329
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lost
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[Music]
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despite these extraordinary efforts to
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keep the city supplied and to get the
333
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civilians out 53,000 leningraders died
334
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in december most from starvation
335
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there were reports of people dropping
336
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dead in the street without warning each
337
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day burial detachments had to remove a
338
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hundred corpses from Leningrad's
339
00:18:37,630 --> 00:18:41,080
pavements the diary of one Leningrad I
340
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recorded how despair gave way to apathy
341
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people now died in a very simple manner
342
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first they lose interest in everything
343
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then
344
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they lie in bed and never rise again
345
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they die as if falling asleep and the
346
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surrounding people half-dead themselves
347
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pay them no attention many drivers on
348
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the road of life made two trips every
349
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day one by day one by night dozens of
350
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trucks were wrecked in traffic accidents
351
00:19:18,310 --> 00:19:20,530
more than when destroyed by German
352
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aircraft so the order was given for
353
00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,940
vehicles to start using their headlights
354
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trucks that crashed through the ice sank
355
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so fast that for several minutes the
356
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ghostly glow of the headlights could be
357
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seen at the bottom of the lake
358
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almost 300 trucks were lost in the first
359
00:19:45,340 --> 00:19:48,730
month of the road but they had kept the
360
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city alive
361
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you
362
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hundreds of thousands perished from
363
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,200
starvation in that first winter the
364
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scale of the suffering was almost beyond
365
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imagination
366
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[Music]
367
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more than a million would die before
368
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this the most devastating siege in
369
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,920
history was finally home
370
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[Music]
371
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Leningrad encircled by German and
372
00:20:35,220 --> 00:20:37,499
Finnish forces witnessed hundreds of
373
00:20:37,499 --> 00:20:40,440
civilian deaths every day but these were
374
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not collateral casualties
375
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Hitler had decided that Leningrad shall
376
00:20:44,669 --> 00:20:47,279
be wiped off the map secret orders
377
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entitled the future of Leningrad stated
378
00:20:49,590 --> 00:20:52,289
after Soviet Russia has been defeated
379
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the further existence of this population
380
00:20:54,570 --> 00:20:57,330
center is of no interest in this war for
381
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existence we have no interest in keeping
382
00:20:59,639 --> 00:21:01,919
even part of this great city's
383
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population for the Soviet Union it was
384
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vital that Leningrad be held at all
385
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costs
386
00:21:11,990 --> 00:21:14,809
it was an important industrial city with
387
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many factories and the home base of the
388
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Baltic Fleet its loss would mean the
389
00:21:21,620 --> 00:21:23,240
loss of the northern port of Murmansk
390
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,580
where the Arctic Convoys arrived
391
00:21:25,580 --> 00:21:27,800
carrying military aid from Britain and
392
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:32,809
America and for many Leningrad remained
393
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the cultural and spiritual capital of
394
00:21:35,270 --> 00:21:38,900
the USSR its fate was watched by people
395
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from across the Soviet Union they came
396
00:21:42,860 --> 00:21:44,990
to see their fate entwined with that of
397
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the city the Soviet High Command decided
398
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,460
to breach the encirclement at its
399
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thinnest point the shlisselburg senior
400
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vina corridor here only 10 kilometers
401
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separated troops of the Red Army's
402
00:22:01,790 --> 00:22:04,070
Leningrad front from the front line of
403
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the Volkhov front but it was heavily
404
00:22:07,610 --> 00:22:09,830
defended with three lines of
405
00:22:09,830 --> 00:22:12,700
fortifications
406
00:22:14,230 --> 00:22:16,840
on the night of the 19th of September a
407
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,720
small force led by captain Vasily doback
408
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,210
crossed the neva river in fishing boats
409
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[Music]
410
00:22:24,830 --> 00:22:27,809
his men quietly landed on the far bank
411
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and took the German trenches by surprise
412
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,240
with this foothold across the river
413
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,059
a Soviet marine Brigade moved rapidly to
414
00:22:36,059 --> 00:22:43,050
reinforce do Biggs position this strip
415
00:22:43,050 --> 00:22:45,360
of land called by the soldiers the
416
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:47,640
Netscape piata chalk the neva patch
417
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would become legendary
418
00:22:52,590 --> 00:22:55,049
two German parachute regiments
419
00:22:55,049 --> 00:22:57,419
redeployed from Crete were amongst the
420
00:22:57,419 --> 00:22:59,850
reinforcements sent to crush the Soviet
421
00:22:59,850 --> 00:23:02,100
bridgehead they were plunged straight
422
00:23:02,100 --> 00:23:05,419
into the ferocious fighting
423
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they failed to eliminate the bridgehead
424
00:23:11,049 --> 00:23:13,809
but had squeezed it until it was just 2
425
00:23:13,809 --> 00:23:18,779
kilometers long and 500 meters deep in
426
00:23:18,779 --> 00:23:22,330
October this tiny strip of land was the
427
00:23:22,330 --> 00:23:24,190
only hope for lifting the siege of
428
00:23:24,190 --> 00:23:27,429
leningrad all red army reserves were on
429
00:23:27,429 --> 00:23:29,289
their way to moscow where another
430
00:23:29,289 --> 00:23:34,720
desperate battle raged the struggle at
431
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,029
the bridgehead was brutal attritional
432
00:23:37,029 --> 00:23:39,999
warfare German shells swept back and
433
00:23:39,999 --> 00:23:42,460
forth across the whole area forcing the
434
00:23:42,460 --> 00:23:44,950
Soviet soldiers to dig deep to find
435
00:23:44,950 --> 00:23:47,249
cover
436
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,700
another attempt to break through was
437
00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:57,340
planned for November by now
438
00:23:57,340 --> 00:23:59,620
bread rations in the city were down to
439
00:23:59,620 --> 00:24:02,950
125 grams they weren't much more for
440
00:24:02,950 --> 00:24:06,429
frontline soldiers one commander
441
00:24:06,429 --> 00:24:08,380
conducted an exercise to test the
442
00:24:08,380 --> 00:24:11,230
strength of his men most were exhausted
443
00:24:11,230 --> 00:24:20,590
after walking just 400 meters in a
444
00:24:20,590 --> 00:24:22,809
speech at Munich on the 8th of November
445
00:24:22,809 --> 00:24:25,960
Hitler declared Leningrad has nothing to
446
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,050
count upon it will fall sooner or later
447
00:24:29,050 --> 00:24:32,040
there are no forces to raise the siege
448
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,600
Leningrad 'is doomed to die from
449
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:36,900
starvation
450
00:24:37,370 --> 00:24:39,800
at the beginning of November the Red
451
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:41,540
Army got tanks across the neva
452
00:24:41,540 --> 00:24:44,870
and captured more German trenches in
453
00:24:44,870 --> 00:24:47,290
turn the Germans fed in their own
454
00:24:47,290 --> 00:24:50,290
reinforcements
455
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,739
in November the Red Army lost 5,000 men
456
00:24:54,739 --> 00:24:58,309
killed in the neva patch the Germans too
457
00:24:58,309 --> 00:24:59,779
suffered heavy losses
458
00:24:59,779 --> 00:25:02,570
the tiny bridgehead had become a
459
00:25:02,570 --> 00:25:07,129
slaughterhouse in Leningrad itself 4,000
460
00:25:07,129 --> 00:25:10,879
were dying every day from starvation on
461
00:25:10,879 --> 00:25:15,610
some days this figure rose to 7,000
462
00:25:15,610 --> 00:25:19,159
January 1942 became the worst month of
463
00:25:19,159 --> 00:25:21,950
the entire siege non workers had their
464
00:25:21,950 --> 00:25:25,070
food ration stopped entirely the
465
00:25:25,070 --> 00:25:28,009
electricity supply failed water pipes
466
00:25:28,009 --> 00:25:30,830
froze solid in temperatures of minus 30
467
00:25:30,830 --> 00:25:34,460
degrees centigrade furniture wooden
468
00:25:34,460 --> 00:25:37,700
fences anything that would burn was used
469
00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:39,360
for firewood
470
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:41,679
[Music]
471
00:25:41,679 --> 00:25:45,109
one Leningrad er Yelena scriabin er
472
00:25:45,109 --> 00:25:47,989
wrote in her diary death has become a
473
00:25:47,989 --> 00:25:51,499
phenomenon observed at every turn when
474
00:25:51,499 --> 00:25:53,749
you step outside in the morning you
475
00:25:53,749 --> 00:25:55,940
stumble over corpses lying in the
476
00:25:55,940 --> 00:25:59,389
gateway and in the street the dead
477
00:25:59,389 --> 00:26:02,179
bodies lie there for a long time because
478
00:26:02,179 --> 00:26:05,150
there's nobody to dispose of them
479
00:26:05,150 --> 00:26:15,940
[Music]
480
00:26:15,940 --> 00:26:17,020
[Applause]
481
00:26:17,020 --> 00:26:48,010
[Music]
482
00:26:48,010 --> 00:26:51,119
[Applause]
483
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:28,680
[Music]
484
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,140
even in the worst months of the siege
485
00:27:34,140 --> 00:27:36,510
the people of Leningrad still went to
486
00:27:36,510 --> 00:27:39,570
work the Kirov factory just four
487
00:27:39,570 --> 00:27:41,820
kilometers from the front line didn't
488
00:27:41,820 --> 00:27:44,540
stop producing tanks for a single day
489
00:27:44,540 --> 00:27:47,280
half assembled tanks were even used to
490
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,060
fire on the enemy from the factory floor
491
00:27:50,060 --> 00:27:52,470
the Leningrad Institute of plant
492
00:27:52,470 --> 00:27:54,720
industry was dedicated to the research
493
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,120
of commercial crops he contained the
494
00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,720
world's largest seed bank 28th Institute
495
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:02,970
workers died from starvation during the
496
00:28:02,970 --> 00:28:05,550
siege but the plant breeding collection
497
00:28:05,550 --> 00:28:08,100
containing several tons of crops rice
498
00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:10,910
and potatoes remained intact
499
00:28:10,910 --> 00:28:13,580
[Music]
500
00:28:13,580 --> 00:28:17,330
in February 1942 the food situation
501
00:28:17,330 --> 00:28:20,610
gradually began to improve the ration
502
00:28:20,610 --> 00:28:23,480
was increased to 500 grams for workers
503
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,150
400 grams for office workers 300 grams
504
00:28:27,150 --> 00:28:29,990
for children and non workers
505
00:28:29,990 --> 00:28:31,590
[Music]
506
00:28:31,590 --> 00:28:33,929
the revolting additives to the bread we
507
00:28:33,929 --> 00:28:37,230
use less and less people now receive
508
00:28:37,230 --> 00:28:40,999
their rations on time and almost in form
509
00:28:40,999 --> 00:28:44,850
on the 16th of February meat in the form
510
00:28:44,850 --> 00:28:46,919
of frozen beef and mutton was
511
00:28:46,919 --> 00:28:48,840
distributed amongst the population for
512
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:51,509
the first time in months things were
513
00:28:51,509 --> 00:28:56,100
starting to look up so far in the war
514
00:28:56,100 --> 00:28:58,440
the Red Army's prospects of lifting the
515
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:00,840
Leningrad siege had been limited because
516
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,240
the fighting around Moscow had sucked up
517
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:05,779
all available reserves but by January
518
00:29:05,779 --> 00:29:09,179
1942 the German army was retreating from
519
00:29:09,179 --> 00:29:12,690
Moscow now a large-scale operation was
520
00:29:12,690 --> 00:29:15,360
possible at Leningrad Soviet divisions
521
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,940
on the Volkhov River prepared to assault
522
00:29:17,940 --> 00:29:20,070
the flank and rear of German Army Group
523
00:29:20,070 --> 00:29:26,549
North swampy broken ground meant that
524
00:29:26,549 --> 00:29:29,700
tanks were of little use the success of
525
00:29:29,700 --> 00:29:31,649
this offensive will be down to the
526
00:29:31,649 --> 00:29:34,060
infantry and the artillery
527
00:29:34,060 --> 00:29:37,450
[Music]
528
00:29:38,229 --> 00:29:41,419
meanwhile general fedyuninsky was put in
529
00:29:41,419 --> 00:29:44,059
command of the 54th army tasked with
530
00:29:44,059 --> 00:29:47,469
breaking through to the besieged city
531
00:29:47,469 --> 00:29:50,330
the Germans turned the high railway
532
00:29:50,330 --> 00:29:52,489
embankment near the village of pegasi a
533
00:29:52,489 --> 00:29:56,259
into a formidable earthwork
534
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:04,710
[Music]
535
00:30:04,710 --> 00:30:07,919
Red Army losses were horrendous their
536
00:30:07,919 --> 00:30:11,299
progress minimal
537
00:30:15,550 --> 00:30:17,770
the second shock army under general
538
00:30:17,770 --> 00:30:20,440
click off attacked German positions near
539
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:22,780
the town of you ban to the south of the
540
00:30:22,780 --> 00:30:23,870
fortified corridor
541
00:30:23,870 --> 00:30:27,760
[Music]
542
00:30:28,519 --> 00:30:30,919
but in their haste to raise the siege
543
00:30:30,919 --> 00:30:33,739
the Stavka High Command ordered attacks
544
00:30:33,739 --> 00:30:35,330
that were not properly planned and
545
00:30:35,330 --> 00:30:39,190
lacked proper artillery support
546
00:30:40,460 --> 00:30:43,350
one divisional commander general and
547
00:30:43,350 --> 00:30:46,019
chief AF reported after crossing the
548
00:30:46,019 --> 00:30:48,149
river and climbing the left bank our
549
00:30:48,149 --> 00:30:50,429
infantry came under intense machine-gun
550
00:30:50,429 --> 00:30:53,519
and mortar fire our artillery couldn't
551
00:30:53,519 --> 00:30:56,130
suppress the enemy fire it couldn't even
552
00:30:56,130 --> 00:30:58,230
make a proper ranging and didn't have
553
00:30:58,230 --> 00:31:03,120
enough ammunition the survivors had to
554
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:06,950
return to their starting positions
555
00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,660
Red Army units had advanced 30
556
00:31:10,660 --> 00:31:12,790
kilometers through the frozen forests
557
00:31:12,790 --> 00:31:13,630
and swamps
558
00:31:13,630 --> 00:31:16,660
it was the same distance again to reach
559
00:31:16,660 --> 00:31:21,720
Leningrad the threat of encirclement
560
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,670
hovered over the German troops the
561
00:31:24,670 --> 00:31:26,650
logical decision seemed to be to order
562
00:31:26,650 --> 00:31:29,650
at retreat but Hitler had forbidden any
563
00:31:29,650 --> 00:31:32,560
more retreats Field Marshal von Leeb
564
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,170
commander of army group North asked to
565
00:31:35,170 --> 00:31:38,110
be relieved of command general von
566
00:31:38,110 --> 00:31:41,790
kuchler was now in charge von kuchler
567
00:31:41,790 --> 00:31:44,290
concentrated on holding key roads and
568
00:31:44,290 --> 00:31:47,140
railways this approach was the German
569
00:31:47,140 --> 00:31:49,930
Salvation Army Group North was able to
570
00:31:49,930 --> 00:31:52,540
keep its units resupplied and reserves
571
00:31:52,540 --> 00:31:54,400
could be moved quickly to threatened
572
00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:55,350
areas
573
00:31:55,350 --> 00:31:58,710
[Music]
574
00:31:59,390 --> 00:32:02,340
meanwhile the lead units of the second
575
00:32:02,340 --> 00:32:04,290
shock army had to be supplied by the
576
00:32:04,290 --> 00:32:06,870
only road that ran along a corridor just
577
00:32:06,870 --> 00:32:09,090
five kilometers wide between the
578
00:32:09,090 --> 00:32:11,280
villages of samosa and Spassky a
579
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:11,960
polished
580
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,760
[Music]
581
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:16,770
the forward units were short of
582
00:32:16,770 --> 00:32:20,070
ammunition food and fuel the Soviet
583
00:32:20,070 --> 00:32:23,730
offensive was called off in February now
584
00:32:23,730 --> 00:32:25,740
the men prepared to defend the ground
585
00:32:25,740 --> 00:32:28,680
they captured but it wasn't easy digging
586
00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,110
in in the middle of a swamp and the
587
00:32:31,110 --> 00:32:33,180
supply problems meant many soldiers
588
00:32:33,180 --> 00:32:36,660
began to suffer from malnutrition in
589
00:32:36,660 --> 00:32:39,170
March Hitler demanded that von kuchler
590
00:32:39,170 --> 00:32:41,640
encircle the Soviet troops that had
591
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,580
dented the German life the operation was
592
00:32:44,580 --> 00:32:49,200
codenamed wild beast a simultaneous
593
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,390
assault by five German divisions
594
00:32:51,390 --> 00:32:53,550
effectively sealed off the Soviet
595
00:32:53,550 --> 00:32:57,210
penetration the Soviet 2nd shock army
596
00:32:57,210 --> 00:32:59,370
was virtually cut off from the rest of
597
00:32:59,370 --> 00:33:03,180
the army just a tiny corridor 1.5 to 2
598
00:33:03,180 --> 00:33:05,820
kilometers wide was left open all that
599
00:33:05,820 --> 00:33:07,980
remained was for the Germans to crush
600
00:33:07,980 --> 00:33:11,080
the encircled Soviet units
601
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:14,669
[Music]
602
00:33:14,669 --> 00:33:16,769
but first they launched a fresh assault
603
00:33:16,769 --> 00:33:19,980
against the neva patch by April a
604
00:33:19,980 --> 00:33:22,200
thousand Soviet soldiers were dug in
605
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:22,879
there
606
00:33:22,879 --> 00:33:25,649
the Germans waited until the river neva
607
00:33:25,649 --> 00:33:27,659
was full of drifting ice making it
608
00:33:27,659 --> 00:33:29,850
impossible for the Soviets to reinforce
609
00:33:29,850 --> 00:33:32,220
the bridgehead then they unleashed a
610
00:33:32,220 --> 00:33:35,009
torrential artillery barrage the last
611
00:33:35,009 --> 00:33:36,929
sign of life seen from across the river
612
00:33:36,929 --> 00:33:39,269
was a crude banner bearing the single
613
00:33:39,269 --> 00:33:40,900
word help
614
00:33:40,900 --> 00:33:46,670
[Music]
615
00:33:46,670 --> 00:33:49,590
meanwhile the encircled 2nd shock army
616
00:33:49,590 --> 00:33:52,320
received a new commander Lieutenant
617
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:55,050
General and Ray of Las off by the
618
00:33:55,050 --> 00:33:57,360
beginning of May the Stavka had decided
619
00:33:57,360 --> 00:33:59,760
to try to extricate the remnants of this
620
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,270
battered force but the day before the
621
00:34:03,270 --> 00:34:07,610
planned withdrawal the Germans attacked
622
00:34:09,510 --> 00:34:11,879
the Soviets fought desperately to hold
623
00:34:11,879 --> 00:34:14,100
the perimeter as units began to withdraw
624
00:34:14,100 --> 00:34:16,379
through the tiny corridor back to the
625
00:34:16,379 --> 00:34:19,500
frontline but it was slow progress and
626
00:34:19,500 --> 00:34:22,739
four days later the Germans finally cut
627
00:34:22,739 --> 00:34:27,540
off the 2nd shock army a Soviet
628
00:34:27,540 --> 00:34:29,639
artillery officer recorded conditions
629
00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:33,149
inside the pocket the entire area was
630
00:34:33,149 --> 00:34:35,609
swept by German fire the dead and
631
00:34:35,609 --> 00:34:38,010
wounded lay all around some were
632
00:34:38,010 --> 00:34:41,100
delirious others cried out for water to
633
00:34:41,100 --> 00:34:43,080
drink some even asked us to shoot them
634
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,230
because they couldn't do it themselves
635
00:34:45,230 --> 00:34:48,629
the Germans didn't attack they kept us
636
00:34:48,629 --> 00:34:51,000
trapped like an animal in its lair and
637
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,580
bombed and shelled without mercy
638
00:34:56,580 --> 00:34:59,650
the last soldiers to escape slipped out
639
00:34:59,650 --> 00:35:02,350
under cover of darkness by the end of
640
00:35:02,350 --> 00:35:05,740
June 10000 had got away but the Germans
641
00:35:05,740 --> 00:35:08,130
had 30,000 prisoners
642
00:35:08,130 --> 00:35:11,370
[Music]
643
00:35:11,370 --> 00:35:13,590
amongst them was the commander of the
644
00:35:13,590 --> 00:35:18,320
2nd shock army general Andrey Vlasov
645
00:35:20,730 --> 00:35:23,770
blasts off agreed to cooperate with his
646
00:35:23,770 --> 00:35:26,530
German captors and became a willing to
647
00:35:26,530 --> 00:35:28,240
love Nazi propaganda
648
00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:31,900
he wrote pamphlets entitled the appeal
649
00:35:31,900 --> 00:35:34,300
of the Russian liberation committee to
650
00:35:34,300 --> 00:35:36,760
soldiers and commanders of the Red Army
651
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:40,180
and why have I taken up the struggle
652
00:35:40,180 --> 00:35:44,080
against Bolshevism in them he appealed
653
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:46,620
to Red Army soldiers to join a new
654
00:35:46,620 --> 00:35:50,880
anti-bolshevik Russian Liberation Army
655
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,500
blasts off helped to recruit Russian
656
00:35:53,500 --> 00:35:57,540
prisoners of war to fight against Ally
657
00:35:57,540 --> 00:36:00,430
general Vlasov became so notorious that
658
00:36:00,430 --> 00:36:03,040
Russians referred to all Soviets who
659
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,150
sided with the Germans as blasts oft see
660
00:36:06,150 --> 00:36:09,040
but most had no allegiance to general
661
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:09,490
Vlasov
662
00:36:09,490 --> 00:36:12,430
the so called heavies were Soviet
663
00:36:12,430 --> 00:36:14,650
prisoners of war who hoped the Germans
664
00:36:14,650 --> 00:36:17,890
in non-combat roles and many anti
665
00:36:17,890 --> 00:36:19,750
Bolsheviks and nationalists from the
666
00:36:19,750 --> 00:36:22,450
USSR fought in their own ver marked
667
00:36:22,450 --> 00:36:27,220
units known as the eastern legions most
668
00:36:27,220 --> 00:36:29,470
of Blas offs Russian Liberation Army was
669
00:36:29,470 --> 00:36:33,370
captured near Prague in 1945 it's men
670
00:36:33,370 --> 00:36:35,920
were sent to the gulag blasts off and
671
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:38,480
other officers were hanged as traitors
672
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,420
[Music]
673
00:36:42,420 --> 00:36:44,880
the Red Army had failed to break the
674
00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:47,900
Leningrad siege in the spring of 1942
675
00:36:47,900 --> 00:36:51,029
now the road of life across Lake Ladoga
676
00:36:51,029 --> 00:36:54,380
began to melt
677
00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,640
on just one day the 20th of April about
678
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:02,800
80 trucks were lost through the thinning
679
00:37:02,800 --> 00:37:05,590
ice the road of life was closed to heavy
680
00:37:05,590 --> 00:37:07,990
vehicles the Russians waited anxiously
681
00:37:07,990 --> 00:37:10,510
for the lake to open to shipping they
682
00:37:10,510 --> 00:37:12,730
knew that when he did ships and ports
683
00:37:12,730 --> 00:37:14,710
would come under heavy air and artillery
684
00:37:14,710 --> 00:37:18,730
attack the severe winter meant it wasn't
685
00:37:18,730 --> 00:37:21,370
until the 22nd of May that the lake was
686
00:37:21,370 --> 00:37:24,160
clear of drifting ice the first ships
687
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:26,230
made their crossings evacuating
688
00:37:26,230 --> 00:37:28,770
civilians and bringing in supplies
689
00:37:28,770 --> 00:37:31,210
Soviet air defenses proved highly
690
00:37:31,210 --> 00:37:34,330
effective only 1% of incoming supplies
691
00:37:34,330 --> 00:37:37,750
were lost to German air attack the
692
00:37:37,750 --> 00:37:40,390
Germans sent for Italian mas torpedo
693
00:37:40,390 --> 00:37:42,550
boats which had proved effective in the
694
00:37:42,550 --> 00:37:45,340
Mediterranean and sea ball armed ferries
695
00:37:45,340 --> 00:37:46,990
which had been designed for the invasion
696
00:37:46,990 --> 00:37:48,210
of England
697
00:37:48,210 --> 00:37:51,760
but despite grand expectations axis
698
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:53,970
naval forces failed to make an impact
699
00:37:53,970 --> 00:37:57,040
Russian tugs and barges had an extremely
700
00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,620
shallow draft so torpedoes passed
701
00:37:59,620 --> 00:38:03,430
harmlessly underneath them their naval
702
00:38:03,430 --> 00:38:06,220
bases and ships were hit hard by the Red
703
00:38:06,220 --> 00:38:08,970
Army Air Force
704
00:38:10,379 --> 00:38:13,980
axis naval operations were abandoned
705
00:38:13,980 --> 00:38:17,119
[Music]
706
00:38:17,119 --> 00:38:20,310
it remained critical to break the siege
707
00:38:20,310 --> 00:38:23,430
of leningrad the road of life by water
708
00:38:23,430 --> 00:38:25,950
or ice brought in the bare minimum to
709
00:38:25,950 --> 00:38:27,810
keep the city fed and the troops
710
00:38:27,810 --> 00:38:31,520
supplied with fuel and ammunition
711
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:35,430
six months later in november 1942 the
712
00:38:35,430 --> 00:38:37,650
front commanders general Zhukov and
713
00:38:37,650 --> 00:38:40,320
marshal Voroshilov began to plan
714
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:44,310
operation Iskra it was decided to attack
715
00:38:44,310 --> 00:38:46,680
once more at the bottleneck where the
716
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,619
German encirclement was thinnest units
717
00:38:49,619 --> 00:38:51,599
of the Volkhov front would attack from
718
00:38:51,599 --> 00:38:53,880
without as troops of the Leningrad front
719
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:57,990
attacked from within the artillery
720
00:38:57,990 --> 00:39:00,540
barrage began at dawn on the 12th of
721
00:39:00,540 --> 00:39:03,890
January 1943
722
00:39:04,150 --> 00:39:04,420
[Music]
723
00:39:04,420 --> 00:39:07,470
[Applause]
724
00:39:07,470 --> 00:39:10,590
as the last shells whistled overhead the
725
00:39:10,590 --> 00:39:13,650
assault began but everywhere the Red
726
00:39:13,650 --> 00:39:15,510
Army run into fierce resistance from
727
00:39:15,510 --> 00:39:20,820
well entrenched German troops t-34s
728
00:39:20,820 --> 00:39:22,890
could only crawl across what was
729
00:39:22,890 --> 00:39:26,550
effectively a heavily cratered peat bog
730
00:39:26,550 --> 00:39:27,820
[Music]
731
00:39:27,820 --> 00:39:30,040
they were easy pickings for the German
732
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:32,300
anti-tank guns
733
00:39:32,300 --> 00:39:34,640
but the simultaneous attack on both
734
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:37,280
fronts began to bear fruit after two
735
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:39,890
days just two kilometers separated the
736
00:39:39,890 --> 00:39:44,450
Soviet troops these final meters proved
737
00:39:44,450 --> 00:39:47,030
the hardest Soviet tanks were knocked
738
00:39:47,030 --> 00:39:49,430
out or got stuck in the bog it was up to
739
00:39:49,430 --> 00:39:51,530
the infantry to storm the German
740
00:39:51,530 --> 00:39:54,010
positions
741
00:39:54,910 --> 00:39:57,130
[Music]
742
00:39:57,130 --> 00:40:00,200
general fedyuninsky now deputy front
743
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,329
commander repeatedly visited the
744
00:40:02,329 --> 00:40:04,790
frontline to urge his men armed he
745
00:40:04,790 --> 00:40:07,220
ordered attacks around the clock there
746
00:40:07,220 --> 00:40:09,020
was to be no letter for the German
747
00:40:09,020 --> 00:40:14,480
defenders the German tactic as before
748
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:16,609
was to hold key positions along the
749
00:40:16,609 --> 00:40:19,460
transport network work settlements
750
00:40:19,460 --> 00:40:21,650
number one and number five on the only
751
00:40:21,650 --> 00:40:23,329
Road between the lake and the rail
752
00:40:23,329 --> 00:40:26,630
terminus were turned into fortresses if
753
00:40:26,630 --> 00:40:29,300
the Red Army could just cut the road the
754
00:40:29,300 --> 00:40:31,010
German defense was doomed
755
00:40:31,010 --> 00:40:33,509
[Music]
756
00:40:33,509 --> 00:40:36,059
Vaughn Cutler had to decide whether to
757
00:40:36,059 --> 00:40:38,929
hold on or withdraw from the bottleneck
758
00:40:38,929 --> 00:40:42,660
he opted to hold on
759
00:40:42,660 --> 00:40:47,999
[Music]
760
00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,490
under unrelenting assault from both
761
00:40:56,490 --> 00:40:58,950
sides the German defenses began to
762
00:40:58,950 --> 00:41:01,220
crumble
763
00:41:03,900 --> 00:41:07,450
the Red Army sustaining massive losses
764
00:41:07,450 --> 00:41:09,790
all the way fought through the intricate
765
00:41:09,790 --> 00:41:12,640
German defenses at the last moment
766
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:15,460
German units at shlisselburg made a dash
767
00:41:15,460 --> 00:41:19,630
for safety but not many made it at
768
00:41:19,630 --> 00:41:22,960
midnight on the 18th of January 1943
769
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:26,380
Yuri Levitan the voice of Soviet wartime
770
00:41:26,380 --> 00:41:29,770
radio was able to announce after seven
771
00:41:29,770 --> 00:41:32,110
days of fighting troops of the Volkov
772
00:41:32,110 --> 00:41:34,750
and Leningrad fronts met on the 18th of
773
00:41:34,750 --> 00:41:37,060
January and raised the siege of
774
00:41:37,060 --> 00:41:42,010
leningrad in just three weeks
775
00:41:42,010 --> 00:41:44,230
a railway was built across the cratered
776
00:41:44,230 --> 00:41:46,140
landscape of the bottleneck
777
00:41:46,140 --> 00:41:47,789
[Music]
778
00:41:47,789 --> 00:41:50,559
it was just five kilometers from the
779
00:41:50,559 --> 00:41:52,480
German lines and under constant
780
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,750
shellfire
781
00:41:55,230 --> 00:41:58,680
Leningrad was still on the front line
782
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:01,300
but at last it was getting enough food
783
00:42:01,300 --> 00:42:05,080
and fuel the Red Army lacked the
784
00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:06,910
strength to push the Germans back any
785
00:42:06,910 --> 00:42:09,369
further the reserves of German Army
786
00:42:09,369 --> 00:42:11,619
Group North had arrived and were dug in
787
00:42:11,619 --> 00:42:15,580
on the high ground German defenses were
788
00:42:15,580 --> 00:42:18,310
traditionally built around the mg34 or
789
00:42:18,310 --> 00:42:21,730
the mg42 machine gun the rest of the
790
00:42:21,730 --> 00:42:23,500
infantry were effectively there to
791
00:42:23,500 --> 00:42:26,290
support the machine-gun team by autumn
792
00:42:26,290 --> 00:42:29,290
1943 the Red Army had developed tactics
793
00:42:29,290 --> 00:42:31,960
for attacking German infantry Soviet
794
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:34,359
rifle platoons supported by artillery
795
00:42:34,359 --> 00:42:36,790
and mortars aim to wipe out enemy
796
00:42:36,790 --> 00:42:39,070
machine gun positions in the first few
797
00:42:39,070 --> 00:42:40,210
minutes of the assault
798
00:42:40,210 --> 00:42:43,210
the remaining rifle armed Germans would
799
00:42:43,210 --> 00:42:45,359
be seriously outgunned by Soviet troops
800
00:42:45,359 --> 00:42:51,300
armed with submachine guns but from late
801
00:42:51,300 --> 00:42:54,340
1943 the Germans began to change the
802
00:42:54,340 --> 00:42:56,530
balance once more with the introduction
803
00:42:56,530 --> 00:43:00,100
of the mp40 three now if the infantry
804
00:43:00,100 --> 00:43:01,960
squads machine-gun team was knocked out
805
00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:04,810
a squad armed with the new mp40 threes
806
00:43:04,810 --> 00:43:07,390
could still provide heavy accurate fire
807
00:43:07,390 --> 00:43:10,060
against enemy attackers Hitler himself
808
00:43:10,060 --> 00:43:12,850
gave the new weapon its name stone given
809
00:43:12,850 --> 00:43:16,210
the assault rifle
810
00:43:16,210 --> 00:43:19,730
it wasn't until the beginning of 1944
811
00:43:19,730 --> 00:43:21,830
that the Stavka launched the operation
812
00:43:21,830 --> 00:43:24,410
that would finally end the siege of
813
00:43:24,410 --> 00:43:26,740
leningrad
814
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:30,400
by then German army group North had had
815
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,260
nearly two years to dig in on the
816
00:43:32,260 --> 00:43:36,850
outskirts of the city the Stavka planned
817
00:43:36,850 --> 00:43:39,100
to begin the operation at the Iranian
818
00:43:39,100 --> 00:43:41,110
bound bridgehead which had stubbornly
819
00:43:41,110 --> 00:43:43,420
held out against the Germans thanks to
820
00:43:43,420 --> 00:43:46,840
the heavy guns of its coastal fort from
821
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:49,120
here the Red Army would launch itself
822
00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:50,890
against the flank of German Army Group
823
00:43:50,890 --> 00:43:53,710
north leading the attack will be general
824
00:43:53,710 --> 00:43:55,780
fedyuninsky at the head of the second
825
00:43:55,780 --> 00:43:57,700
shock army which had been secretly
826
00:43:57,700 --> 00:43:59,800
redeployed to the bridgehead under the
827
00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,560
cover of darkness by attacking from the
828
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:04,600
coast the massive firepower of the
829
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:06,400
Baltic Fleet could be used to support
830
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:08,590
the assault with more than a hundred
831
00:44:08,590 --> 00:44:11,020
heavy naval guns available for the
832
00:44:11,020 --> 00:44:14,560
operation they included the guns of the
833
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:16,960
battleship mera refloated after being
834
00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:20,530
sunk by Stukas in 1941 and the enormous
835
00:44:20,530 --> 00:44:23,370
coastal guns of the Krasnaya Gorka fort
836
00:44:23,370 --> 00:44:26,430
the assault began on the 14th of January
837
00:44:26,430 --> 00:44:30,250
1944 Soviet newspapers and radio carried
838
00:44:30,250 --> 00:44:32,830
no reports about the operation but the
839
00:44:32,830 --> 00:44:34,690
people of Leningrad could hear the
840
00:44:34,690 --> 00:44:37,180
distant Thunder of the bombardment they
841
00:44:37,180 --> 00:44:39,520
knew what it meant that the final
842
00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:41,980
offensive was underway the one that
843
00:44:41,980 --> 00:44:44,350
would end the siege once and for all
844
00:44:44,350 --> 00:44:48,270
no one doubted its success
845
00:44:48,270 --> 00:44:51,210
the attack from Iranian bomb caught Army
846
00:44:51,210 --> 00:44:53,940
Group North by surprise in the face of
847
00:44:53,940 --> 00:44:56,460
an overwhelming Soviet assault German
848
00:44:56,460 --> 00:44:57,750
defences collapsed
849
00:44:57,750 --> 00:45:01,020
a week later Soviet troops laden with
850
00:45:01,020 --> 00:45:03,480
captured trophies met at the town of
851
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:07,140
rupture German Army Group North retreat
852
00:45:07,140 --> 00:45:09,930
became a rout the front line raced away
853
00:45:09,930 --> 00:45:13,110
from Leningrad the rumble of guns
854
00:45:13,110 --> 00:45:14,850
receded into the distance
855
00:45:14,850 --> 00:45:18,870
at long last silence descended over the
856
00:45:18,870 --> 00:45:22,710
city of Leningrad according to official
857
00:45:22,710 --> 00:45:26,100
reports 642 thousand civilians died
858
00:45:26,100 --> 00:45:29,010
during the siege of leningrad but many
859
00:45:29,010 --> 00:45:30,570
deaths never made it into an official
860
00:45:30,570 --> 00:45:34,410
report the real total was probably near
861
00:45:34,410 --> 00:45:38,250
a 1 million 3% were called by bombs and
862
00:45:38,250 --> 00:45:43,980
shells 97% by starvation about 1.8
863
00:45:43,980 --> 00:45:45,960
million people were evacuated from
864
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,980
Leningrad during the war by 1945 the
865
00:45:49,980 --> 00:45:52,590
city's population was just one-fifth of
866
00:45:52,590 --> 00:45:56,030
what it had been at the start of the war
867
00:45:56,030 --> 00:45:59,250
this was the longest siege of a large
868
00:45:59,250 --> 00:46:02,670
city in world war ii and the costliest
869
00:46:02,670 --> 00:46:06,960
siege in history army group North was
870
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:08,550
bogged down in the forests and swamps
871
00:46:08,550 --> 00:46:10,730
around Leningrad for more than two years
872
00:46:10,730 --> 00:46:14,100
it comprised one-fifth of German
873
00:46:14,100 --> 00:46:15,540
strength on the Eastern Front
874
00:46:15,540 --> 00:46:18,570
but pinned outside Leningrad it was
875
00:46:18,570 --> 00:46:20,790
unable to influence the war's decisive
876
00:46:20,790 --> 00:46:22,830
battles all of which were fought on
877
00:46:22,830 --> 00:46:27,960
other fronts far to the south in the
878
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:30,510
vast open expanse between Kharkov and
879
00:46:30,510 --> 00:46:32,910
the Volga River the Red Army would have
880
00:46:32,910 --> 00:46:35,330
to learn to fight another kind of war
881
00:46:35,330 --> 00:46:39,990
highly mobile armored warfare and it was
882
00:46:39,990 --> 00:46:42,690
here in the South in 1942
883
00:46:42,690 --> 00:46:44,700
that the world would learn the name of
884
00:46:44,700 --> 00:46:49,180
another Soviet city Stalingrad
885
00:46:49,180 --> 00:46:54,699
[Music]
886
00:47:12,630 --> 00:00:00,000
you
91849
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