Primary source material from those who were there. The siege of Leningrad was a long and bloody contest between two ideologies that did not worry deeply about high casualty rates – Very Highly Recommended
NAME: Leningrad Under Siege, First-Hand Accounts Of The Ordeal FILE: R2981 AUTHOR: Ales Adamovich, Danil Granin, editors Dr Clare Burstall, Dr Vladimir Kisselnikov PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 210 PRICE: £15.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: World War Two, World War 2, World War II, WWII, Second World War, Great Patriotic War, Eastern Front, German Army, Soviet Army, Soviet civilians, siege, starvation, Living Space
ISBN: 1-52676-081-9
IMAGE: B2981.jpg BUYNOW: tinyurl.com/y28mmixe LINKS: DESCRIPTION: Primary source material from those who were there. The siege of Leningrad was a long and bloody contest between two ideologies that did not worry deeply about high casualty rates – Very Highly Recommended The German conduct of WWII was filled with failures and poor judgement, much resulting from Hitler's lack of skills to act as the overall commander. The pact between the Germans and the Soviets was mutually necessary in 1939 to enable German occupation of Poland. Agreeing to share the spoils was only a temporary concession because Hitler always intended to invade the USSR, engage in 'ethnic cleansing' and re-settle ethnic Germans in the place of the Soviets. The Soviets were equally committed under Stalin to treat the agreement as temporary until they could invade Germany. The result was that it was only a question of who acted first and when. Hitler ordered the German invasion of the USSR without considering the approaching winter and with poor intelligence about the risks involved in invading a huge country that was either deep mud or deep snow for much of the year, leaving a relatively short campaign season when mechanized forces could be reliably deployed. The key target should have been the rich agricultural land of the Ukraine and the vital oilfields in the Caucasus. Instead of agreeing the plans of his High Command, Hitler allowed himself to be seduced into attempting to conquer Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. Stalin had the same commitment to defend these three cities on the basis of ideology rather than military objectives that Hitler held to destroy them. That guaranteed a bitter and bloody conflict. For the Germans, it also meant dividing forces so that nowhere would the German line be strong enough to meet any objectives. Stalin was prepared to sacrifice his troops and accept appalling casualty figures. Hitler was happy to wipe out Soviet troops and civilians as part of his political objective to provide space for ethnic Germans. That meant that his sieges of the cities did not aim to starve the populations to force surrender, but to starve the the populations to death. The first-hand accounts of those involved in the conflict are harrowing. Survival became the priority on both sides, as the Russian Winter took a heavy toll on the Germans. Conditions were so grim that cannibalism became common. The graphic descriptions of their lives and experiences by those who were there are reinforced by a grim selection of images in a full photo-plate section.