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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:00,030 --> 00:00:09,950 [Music] 2 00:00:13,420 --> 00:00:39,909 [Music] 3 00:00:52,340 --> 00:00:55,470 six weeks into the wall near the town of 4 00:00:55,470 --> 00:00:58,440 stariha rusev German soldiers pondered a 5 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,989 strange contraption captured in recent 6 00:01:00,989 --> 00:01:04,680 fighting it was an artillery system but 7 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:12,060 not like anything of their own each 8 00:01:12,060 --> 00:01:14,580 truck carried a crude looking frame onto 9 00:01:14,580 --> 00:01:22,890 which Rockets were loaded the Soviet 10 00:01:22,890 --> 00:01:25,050 counter-attack here had been supported 11 00:01:25,050 --> 00:01:27,840 by dozens of these rocket launchers it 12 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:29,670 had helped to stall the advance of the 13 00:01:29,670 --> 00:01:32,550 entire German Army Group North striking 14 00:01:32,550 --> 00:01:35,399 towards Leningrad they had bought time 15 00:01:35,399 --> 00:01:38,020 time that would prove crucial 16 00:01:38,020 --> 00:01:50,139 [Music] 17 00:01:52,700 --> 00:01:56,430 the BM 13 multiple rocket launch system 18 00:01:56,430 --> 00:01:58,650 given the girl's name Katyusha by the 19 00:01:58,650 --> 00:02:01,500 troops was a rail launch rack on a truck 20 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:07,170 chassis gears elevated and rotated the 21 00:02:07,170 --> 00:02:09,119 launcher rack into the correct firing 22 00:02:09,119 --> 00:02:11,459 position as determined by an artillery 23 00:02:11,459 --> 00:02:14,730 sight the Rockets were very inaccurate 24 00:02:14,730 --> 00:02:17,700 and would rain down over a wide area 25 00:02:17,700 --> 00:02:20,280 but the Katusha made up for this with a 26 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,640 fearsome rate of fire one Katyusha could 27 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:26,160 launch sixteen Rockets in less than 10 28 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:26,790 seconds 29 00:02:26,790 --> 00:02:29,850 firing on mass they could devastate a 30 00:02:29,850 --> 00:02:33,830 massive area in the blink of an eye 31 00:02:35,030 --> 00:02:38,550 leningrad russia's baltic sea port was a 32 00:02:38,550 --> 00:02:42,410 key objective of the german invasion 33 00:02:42,410 --> 00:02:45,239 from here soviet submarines and the 34 00:02:45,239 --> 00:02:47,640 baltic fleet threatened germany's supply 35 00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:49,920 of iron ore which came by sea from 36 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:59,280 neutral Sweden the plans for the German 37 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,620 invasion stated that the assault on 38 00:03:01,620 --> 00:03:04,260 Moscow could proceed only after 39 00:03:04,260 --> 00:03:06,330 Leningrad and its naval base at 40 00:03:06,330 --> 00:03:09,040 Kronstadt had been captured 41 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,540 [Music] 42 00:03:11,540 --> 00:03:14,340 Hitler with growing confidence in his 43 00:03:14,340 --> 00:03:16,500 own military genius was increasingly 44 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:18,360 involved in strategic planning 45 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:20,640 he was now determined that if necessary 46 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:23,340 the armored forces assaulting Moscow 47 00:03:23,340 --> 00:03:30,270 should be diverted to Leningrad Army 48 00:03:30,270 --> 00:03:33,210 Group North advancing on Leningrad had 49 00:03:33,210 --> 00:03:35,310 been stopped at the so-called Luger line 50 00:03:35,310 --> 00:03:43,200 in July this 175 kilometer of 51 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,780 fortifications had been hastily built by 52 00:03:45,780 --> 00:03:48,240 soldiers of the reserve and citizens of 53 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:59,040 Leningrad in August army group North was 54 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:01,350 reinforced with tanks and dive bombers 55 00:04:01,350 --> 00:04:04,170 from Army Group center they crashed 56 00:04:04,170 --> 00:04:06,540 through the Luger line and encircled the 57 00:04:06,540 --> 00:04:09,440 troops defending it 58 00:04:12,370 --> 00:04:15,940 the Red Army fed its new kV heavy tanks 59 00:04:15,940 --> 00:04:19,418 into the battle they were produced in 60 00:04:19,418 --> 00:04:22,960 Leningrad itself at the Kirov factory 61 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:28,230 [Music] 62 00:04:28,230 --> 00:04:32,020 the front armor of a kv-1 was 75 63 00:04:32,020 --> 00:04:34,990 millimeters thick the German 37 64 00:04:34,990 --> 00:04:37,450 millimeter anti-tank gun barely made a 65 00:04:37,450 --> 00:04:40,510 scratch but early in the war fuel 66 00:04:40,510 --> 00:04:43,360 shortages and poorly trained crews who 67 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,190 didn't know how to repair their vehicle 68 00:04:45,190 --> 00:04:48,070 meant many kV ones and other Soviet 69 00:04:48,070 --> 00:04:50,410 vehicles ended up abandoned at the 70 00:04:50,410 --> 00:04:57,550 roadside on the 19th of August a company 71 00:04:57,550 --> 00:04:59,620 of cavies commanded by senior lieutenant 72 00:04:59,620 --> 00:05:02,530 kolobanov took up an ambush position 73 00:05:02,530 --> 00:05:06,790 near the town of Kresnik var DS kala 74 00:05:06,790 --> 00:05:08,760 Bonoff picked the position himself 75 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,080 overlooking the highway as it goes 76 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,660 through the marshes when a column of 77 00:05:13,660 --> 00:05:16,300 German tanks appeared his tanks took out 78 00:05:16,300 --> 00:05:19,240 the lead and rear vehicles and proceeded 79 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:24,240 to destroy all 22 enemy machines 80 00:05:29,870 --> 00:05:32,750 after the battle collarbone oaf screws 81 00:05:32,750 --> 00:05:34,850 counted a hundred and fifty six marks 82 00:05:34,850 --> 00:05:37,280 where German shells had hit their tanks 83 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:41,080 but failed to penetrate 84 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,590 after hearing reports about the kV tanks 85 00:05:44,590 --> 00:05:47,170 Hitler once more demanded the capture of 86 00:05:47,170 --> 00:05:49,510 Leningrad and it's factory that was 87 00:05:49,510 --> 00:05:53,190 churning out these monsters 88 00:05:54,420 --> 00:05:57,780 but they weren't enough kV ones to stop 89 00:05:57,780 --> 00:06:01,010 the Germans everywhere 90 00:06:03,510 --> 00:06:06,120 while one German corps was held at 91 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:08,550 kresnik Verdes others broke through 92 00:06:08,550 --> 00:06:12,330 nearly bond and toss knife on the 30th 93 00:06:12,330 --> 00:06:14,610 of August the Germans cut the railway 94 00:06:14,610 --> 00:06:16,650 and the highway connecting Leningrad 95 00:06:16,650 --> 00:06:18,990 with the rest of the country Finnish 96 00:06:18,990 --> 00:06:21,480 troops allies of the Germans approached 97 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,030 from the north the city's electricity 98 00:06:24,030 --> 00:06:27,060 supply began to fail but still no 99 00:06:27,060 --> 00:06:29,790 civilians were evacuated an act which 100 00:06:29,790 --> 00:06:33,840 might appear defeatist on the 8th of 101 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:36,120 september the germans captured Silesia 102 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,880 burned on the shore of Lake Ladoga the 103 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,820 final act of encirclement it was the 104 00:06:41,820 --> 00:06:43,580 beginning of a seeds that was to last 105 00:06:43,580 --> 00:06:46,020 882 days 106 00:06:46,020 --> 00:06:50,210 [Music] 107 00:06:50,210 --> 00:06:52,400 when the siege began the city's 108 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,729 population was more than 2.5 million 109 00:06:54,729 --> 00:06:57,789 including approximately 400,000 children 110 00:06:57,789 --> 00:07:00,680 the city contains three hundred thousand 111 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:02,840 refugees from the Baltic republics and 112 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:05,930 surrounding area the city's supplies of 113 00:07:05,930 --> 00:07:08,509 food and fuel were sufficient for just 114 00:07:08,509 --> 00:07:09,790 30 days 115 00:07:09,790 --> 00:07:15,379 [Music] 116 00:07:15,379 --> 00:07:17,909 Soviet counter-attacks aimed at lifting 117 00:07:17,909 --> 00:07:21,860 the siege were all unsuccessful 118 00:07:28,110 --> 00:07:30,150 the German encirclement near 119 00:07:30,150 --> 00:07:32,280 shlisselburg was only about 12 120 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:34,860 kilometers wide this sector was the 121 00:07:34,860 --> 00:07:37,199 focus of Soviet attempts to lift the 122 00:07:37,199 --> 00:07:37,920 blockade 123 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:42,330 [Music] 124 00:07:42,330 --> 00:07:43,960 [Applause] 125 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,480 that summer Soviet counter-attacks had 126 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:49,520 robbed Army Group north of valuable 127 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,100 weeks it was time that could not be got 128 00:07:52,100 --> 00:07:55,640 back now the attack on Moscow would rob 129 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,940 Army Group north of its best units in 130 00:07:58,940 --> 00:08:00,890 his diary the commander of army group 131 00:08:00,890 --> 00:08:04,340 North Field Marshal von Leeb wrote 11th 132 00:08:04,340 --> 00:08:06,800 of September desperate shortage of time 133 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,290 the army High Command demands seven 134 00:08:09,290 --> 00:08:11,570 mobile divisions be handed over to its 135 00:08:11,570 --> 00:08:15,830 control on the 15th of September his 136 00:08:15,830 --> 00:08:18,140 tanks were on their way towards Moscow 137 00:08:18,140 --> 00:08:21,050 it was a desperately needed respite for 138 00:08:21,050 --> 00:08:23,900 Leningrad the same day 139 00:08:23,900 --> 00:08:25,970 general Zhukov was appointed commander 140 00:08:25,970 --> 00:08:29,270 of the Leningrad front his deputy major 141 00:08:29,270 --> 00:08:33,070 general fedyuninsky came with him 142 00:08:33,070 --> 00:08:36,260 Evon ivanovich fijian insky spent most 143 00:08:36,260 --> 00:08:38,059 of his military career in the Russian 144 00:08:38,059 --> 00:08:41,840 Far East in 1939 he was made a hero of 145 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:43,580 the Soviet Union for his bravery 146 00:08:43,580 --> 00:08:45,860 fighting the Japanese at the Battle of 147 00:08:45,860 --> 00:08:49,880 Cowpens gong in 1941 he commanded a 148 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:52,580 Soviet Rifle Corps in Bella Russia where 149 00:08:52,580 --> 00:08:54,370 he was badly wounded 150 00:08:54,370 --> 00:08:57,260 Zhukov appointment immediately inspired 151 00:08:57,260 --> 00:09:00,260 the defenders of the city there was new 152 00:09:00,260 --> 00:09:03,430 confidence that Leningrad would be saved 153 00:09:03,430 --> 00:09:13,790 [Music] 154 00:09:13,790 --> 00:09:16,760 with characteristic energy Zhukov began 155 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:18,880 to organize the city's defenses 156 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,800 artillery was to be the king and his 157 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,020 secret weapon will be the massive guns 158 00:09:24,020 --> 00:09:28,120 of the red banner Baltic Fleet 159 00:09:31,970 --> 00:09:35,070 powerful naval gunnery halted the first 160 00:09:35,070 --> 00:09:37,410 German offensive just seven kilometers 161 00:09:37,410 --> 00:09:39,230 from the city 162 00:09:39,230 --> 00:09:42,060 [Music] 163 00:09:42,060 --> 00:09:44,790 the 12-inch guns at the coastal thought 164 00:09:44,790 --> 00:09:47,790 of Krasnaya Gorka also served to hold 165 00:09:47,790 --> 00:09:50,720 the German army at bay 166 00:09:50,860 --> 00:09:54,489 [Music] 167 00:09:56,550 --> 00:09:59,440 the shockwaves from their exploding 168 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:01,690 shells were powerful enough to hold 169 00:10:01,690 --> 00:10:04,090 German tanks into the air 170 00:10:04,090 --> 00:10:10,440 [Music] 171 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,350 but where the German army had failed the 172 00:10:16,350 --> 00:10:23,130 Luftwaffe might still succeed three 173 00:10:23,130 --> 00:10:25,050 months into the German invasion of the 174 00:10:25,050 --> 00:10:27,840 Soviet Union Army Group North was held 175 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,360 up outside Leningrad by the heavy guns 176 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,690 of the Soviet Baltic Fleet so Field 177 00:10:33,690 --> 00:10:36,000 Marshal von Leeb turned to his dive 178 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,410 bombers to sink the enemy warships 179 00:10:38,410 --> 00:10:42,240 [Music] 180 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:44,580 their first victim was the old 181 00:10:44,580 --> 00:10:45,420 battleship 182 00:10:45,420 --> 00:10:47,810 Maura 183 00:10:48,130 --> 00:10:51,699 - 1000 kilogram bombs struck her bow 184 00:10:51,699 --> 00:10:54,130 causing her forward turret magazine to 185 00:10:54,130 --> 00:10:56,829 explode she quickly sank to the bottom 186 00:10:56,829 --> 00:10:59,980 of the bed three warships were sunk in 187 00:10:59,980 --> 00:11:02,440 total depriving the city's defences of 188 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:06,180 35 powerful guns 189 00:11:07,279 --> 00:11:10,610 around the city 1,500 loudspeakers 190 00:11:10,610 --> 00:11:14,120 broadcast Leningrad City radio now it 191 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:15,439 was also used to issue 192 00:11:15,439 --> 00:11:17,700 air-raid warnings 193 00:11:17,700 --> 00:11:19,760 [Music] 194 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:22,440 when there are no radio programs a 195 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:24,330 metronome was put on the air 196 00:11:24,330 --> 00:11:28,650 slow ticking meant all clear fast 197 00:11:28,650 --> 00:11:31,740 ticking meant take cover it became known 198 00:11:31,740 --> 00:11:38,220 as the beating heart of Leningrad above 199 00:11:38,220 --> 00:11:40,200 the city German bombers were met with 200 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,960 heavy anti-aircraft fire but the 201 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,240 Luftwaffe only made a few large-scale 202 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:47,330 rays 203 00:11:47,330 --> 00:11:50,350 [Music] 204 00:11:50,350 --> 00:11:52,490 shelling by German heavy artillery 205 00:11:52,490 --> 00:11:56,389 proved much more lethal signs went up on 206 00:11:56,389 --> 00:11:58,850 street corners with the warning citizens 207 00:11:58,850 --> 00:12:01,189 this side of the street is more 208 00:12:01,189 --> 00:12:06,319 dangerous during shelling the Germans 209 00:12:06,319 --> 00:12:08,269 didn't target Leningrad's tallest 210 00:12:08,269 --> 00:12:10,910 buildings or church spires they were 211 00:12:10,910 --> 00:12:12,559 needed as reference points by the 212 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:15,230 artillery spotters who instead guided 213 00:12:15,230 --> 00:12:17,689 shells onto the city's bridges houses 214 00:12:17,689 --> 00:12:22,699 and chops Leningrad was truly a city on 215 00:12:22,699 --> 00:12:24,500 the front line 216 00:12:24,500 --> 00:12:27,780 [Music] 217 00:12:27,780 --> 00:12:30,610 monuments were protected by sandbags and 218 00:12:30,610 --> 00:12:33,310 wooden screens but many would not 219 00:12:33,310 --> 00:12:37,540 survive German bombardment on the city's 220 00:12:37,540 --> 00:12:39,700 outskirts the Germans captured the 221 00:12:39,700 --> 00:12:42,070 Catherine Palace and the grand peterhof 222 00:12:42,070 --> 00:12:45,420 palace both were looted and destroyed 223 00:12:45,420 --> 00:12:48,220 the world-famous Amber Room was shipped 224 00:12:48,220 --> 00:12:51,370 to Germany today its whereabouts remain 225 00:12:51,370 --> 00:12:58,060 a mystery on the 8th of September German 226 00:12:58,060 --> 00:13:00,130 bombers targeted the wooden bat AF 227 00:13:00,130 --> 00:13:02,080 warehouses where the city's food 228 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,870 reserves were stored the glow of the 229 00:13:04,870 --> 00:13:07,420 fires could be seen across the city soon 230 00:13:07,420 --> 00:13:09,670 everyone knew that the flour and sugar 231 00:13:09,670 --> 00:13:12,100 supplies had been destroyed but the 232 00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:14,590 situation was even worse than many 233 00:13:14,590 --> 00:13:18,010 feared the city needed a thousand tons 234 00:13:18,010 --> 00:13:20,440 of food every day to prevent starvation 235 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:23,140 but less than 200 tons were getting 236 00:13:23,140 --> 00:13:25,830 through the blockade 237 00:13:25,990 --> 00:13:28,250 the little that could be brought in by 238 00:13:28,250 --> 00:13:30,830 air was nowhere near enough to feed the 239 00:13:30,830 --> 00:13:33,300 city's population 240 00:13:33,300 --> 00:13:37,670 [Music] 241 00:13:37,830 --> 00:13:41,020 the main supply route into Leningrad now 242 00:13:41,020 --> 00:13:44,530 lay across Lake Ladoga 50 kilometers of 243 00:13:44,530 --> 00:13:47,280 open water 244 00:13:48,170 --> 00:13:50,930 but the lake was notorious for its 245 00:13:50,930 --> 00:13:55,480 strong winds and sudden storms 246 00:13:56,480 --> 00:14:00,350 it was why in 1718 Peter the Great had 247 00:14:00,350 --> 00:14:02,480 ordered the construction of the Ladoga 248 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,570 canal along the lakes southern shore to 249 00:14:05,570 --> 00:14:08,810 provide a safe waterway to the city but 250 00:14:08,810 --> 00:14:10,220 the Germans had reached the southern 251 00:14:10,220 --> 00:14:12,680 shore of Lake Ladoga cutting the canal 252 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:15,290 and rail links into the city the people 253 00:14:15,290 --> 00:14:17,660 of Leningrad had to build a new port 254 00:14:17,660 --> 00:14:20,089 from scratch on the lakes western shore 255 00:14:20,089 --> 00:14:23,990 in the first week of the siege barges 256 00:14:23,990 --> 00:14:26,720 were unloaded straight onto the beach it 257 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,149 was the beginning of a supply route that 258 00:14:29,149 --> 00:14:31,459 would come to be known as the road of 259 00:14:31,459 --> 00:14:33,200 life 260 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,119 [Music] 261 00:14:37,370 --> 00:14:39,680 food rationing had been introduced at 262 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:40,940 the start of the war 263 00:14:40,940 --> 00:14:44,030 Leningrad workers received 800 grams of 264 00:14:44,030 --> 00:14:46,550 bread a day their defendants received 265 00:14:46,550 --> 00:14:50,540 400 grams by the beginning of October it 266 00:14:50,540 --> 00:14:52,790 had been reduced to half that amount it 267 00:14:52,790 --> 00:14:55,490 wasn't nearly enough to sustain those 268 00:14:55,490 --> 00:15:00,440 required to do physical work at the end 269 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:02,510 of November the city was on the brink of 270 00:15:02,510 --> 00:15:04,820 starvation bread rations were cut 271 00:15:04,820 --> 00:15:09,140 further 250 grams for a worker 125 grams 272 00:15:09,140 --> 00:15:13,070 for everyone else the quality of the 273 00:15:13,070 --> 00:15:15,410 bread was falling too as the authorities 274 00:15:15,410 --> 00:15:17,450 turned to unlikely ingredients to 275 00:15:17,450 --> 00:15:20,240 increase its bowl Baker's used burnt 276 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:22,190 flour recovered from the ruins of the 277 00:15:22,190 --> 00:15:24,860 bad AF warehouses they used oats 278 00:15:24,860 --> 00:15:28,400 intended for the horses soya barley and 279 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:30,920 even cellulose from the goshawk paper 280 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,430 mill people often had to queue for hours 281 00:15:34,430 --> 00:15:36,380 in the freezing cold to receive these 282 00:15:36,380 --> 00:15:39,080 meager rations 283 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,630 in November 11,000 died from starvation 284 00:15:43,630 --> 00:15:48,230 350 each day the medical staff could 285 00:15:48,230 --> 00:15:50,070 only look on helplessly 286 00:15:50,070 --> 00:15:52,960 [Music] 287 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,420 the early winter led to hopes that Lake 288 00:15:55,420 --> 00:15:57,670 Ladoga would quickly freeze solid 289 00:15:57,670 --> 00:15:59,529 allowing trucks to bring in supplies 290 00:15:59,529 --> 00:16:02,470 across its frozen surface but the ice 291 00:16:02,470 --> 00:16:05,640 took time to harden 292 00:16:08,740 --> 00:16:11,360 the Soviets had hoped to establish a 293 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:13,640 road bridge across the ice using the 294 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:15,920 shortest route but this would put 295 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:17,930 convoys within range of the German 296 00:16:17,930 --> 00:16:19,730 artillery batteries on the southern 297 00:16:19,730 --> 00:16:22,029 shore 298 00:16:22,350 --> 00:16:25,650 slowly the ice thickened on the 20th of 299 00:16:25,650 --> 00:16:27,480 November across a hundred and eighty 300 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:28,710 millimeters of ice 301 00:16:28,710 --> 00:16:31,110 the first horse-drawn sleighs crossed 302 00:16:31,110 --> 00:16:35,580 the lake two days later the first trucks 303 00:16:35,580 --> 00:16:37,540 cross 304 00:16:37,540 --> 00:16:40,990 it was a perilous crossing the two ton 305 00:16:40,990 --> 00:16:43,120 vehicles carried much less than their 306 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,389 full load but several still crashed 307 00:16:46,389 --> 00:16:49,029 through the ice disappearing into the 308 00:16:49,029 --> 00:16:50,760 frozen death 309 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:54,000 [Music] 310 00:16:54,319 --> 00:16:56,790 drivers stood on their running boards 311 00:16:56,790 --> 00:16:59,430 ready to leap clear if the ice began to 312 00:16:59,430 --> 00:17:04,199 crack on their return journey the same 313 00:17:04,199 --> 00:17:06,150 trucks were used to evacuate as many 314 00:17:06,150 --> 00:17:09,829 civilians as possible 315 00:17:10,670 --> 00:17:14,339 the road of life was 30 kilometers long 316 00:17:14,339 --> 00:17:17,970 it included garages rest stops and field 317 00:17:17,970 --> 00:17:19,640 hospitals 318 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:21,709 there were several alternative routes 319 00:17:21,709 --> 00:17:23,990 depending on the ice and driving 320 00:17:23,990 --> 00:17:29,330 conditions to defend the road to 321 00:17:29,330 --> 00:17:31,280 defensive lines were constructed on top 322 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:33,650 of the ice eight kilometers from the 323 00:17:33,650 --> 00:17:36,500 german-held shore they included 324 00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:40,160 machine-gun nests and ice trenches the 325 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,260 road was also protected by anti-aircraft 326 00:17:42,260 --> 00:17:48,890 guns and air cover but German bombs and 327 00:17:48,890 --> 00:17:53,530 shells still claimed many victims 328 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,780 in the first week alone 52 trucks were 329 00:17:59,780 --> 00:18:00,140 lost 330 00:18:00,140 --> 00:18:12,410 [Music] 331 00:18:14,030 --> 00:18:16,860 despite these extraordinary efforts to 332 00:18:16,860 --> 00:18:19,050 keep the city supplied and to get the 333 00:18:19,050 --> 00:18:23,220 civilians out 53,000 leningraders died 334 00:18:23,220 --> 00:18:28,000 in december most from starvation 335 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,980 there were reports of people dropping 336 00:18:29,980 --> 00:18:33,160 dead in the street without warning each 337 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,920 day burial detachments had to remove a 338 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:37,630 hundred corpses from Leningrad's 339 00:18:37,630 --> 00:18:41,080 pavements the diary of one Leningrad I 340 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:45,120 recorded how despair gave way to apathy 341 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:48,210 people now died in a very simple manner 342 00:18:48,210 --> 00:18:51,270 first they lose interest in everything 343 00:18:51,270 --> 00:18:52,510 then 344 00:18:52,510 --> 00:18:55,530 they lie in bed and never rise again 345 00:18:55,530 --> 00:18:59,110 they die as if falling asleep and the 346 00:18:59,110 --> 00:19:01,630 surrounding people half-dead themselves 347 00:19:01,630 --> 00:19:09,370 pay them no attention many drivers on 348 00:19:09,370 --> 00:19:11,590 the road of life made two trips every 349 00:19:11,590 --> 00:19:16,270 day one by day one by night dozens of 350 00:19:16,270 --> 00:19:18,310 trucks were wrecked in traffic accidents 351 00:19:18,310 --> 00:19:20,530 more than when destroyed by German 352 00:19:20,530 --> 00:19:23,560 aircraft so the order was given for 353 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,940 vehicles to start using their headlights 354 00:19:27,890 --> 00:19:31,010 trucks that crashed through the ice sank 355 00:19:31,010 --> 00:19:33,560 so fast that for several minutes the 356 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,320 ghostly glow of the headlights could be 357 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,910 seen at the bottom of the lake 358 00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:45,340 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 00:19:48,730 --> 00:19:51,450 city alive 361 00:19:51,820 --> 00:19:53,880 you 362 00:19:56,940 --> 00:19:59,440 hundreds of thousands perished from 363 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,200 starvation in that first winter the 364 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,870 scale of the suffering was almost beyond 365 00:20:04,870 --> 00:20:06,210 imagination 366 00:20:06,210 --> 00:20:10,970 [Music] 367 00:20:10,970 --> 00:20:14,190 more than a million would die before 368 00:20:14,190 --> 00:20:17,160 this the most devastating siege in 369 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,920 history was finally home 370 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:30,930 [Music] 371 00:20:32,090 --> 00:20:35,220 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 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,029 not collateral casualties 375 00:20:42,029 --> 00:20:44,669 Hitler had decided that Leningrad shall 376 00:20:44,669 --> 00:20:47,279 be wiped off the map secret orders 377 00:20:47,279 --> 00:20:49,590 entitled the future of Leningrad stated 378 00:20:49,590 --> 00:20:52,289 after Soviet Russia has been defeated 379 00:20:52,289 --> 00:20:54,570 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 00:20:57,330 --> 00:20:59,639 existence we have no interest in keeping 382 00:20:59,639 --> 00:21:01,919 even part of this great city's 383 00:21:01,919 --> 00:21:07,739 population for the Soviet Union it was 384 00:21:07,739 --> 00:21:09,960 vital that Leningrad be held at all 385 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:11,990 costs 386 00:21:11,990 --> 00:21:14,809 it was an important industrial city with 387 00:21:14,809 --> 00:21:17,120 many factories and the home base of the 388 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:21,620 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 00:21:32,809 --> 00:21:35,270 the cultural and spiritual capital of 394 00:21:35,270 --> 00:21:38,900 the USSR its fate was watched by people 395 00:21:38,900 --> 00:21:42,860 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 00:21:44,990 --> 00:21:50,240 the city the Soviet High Command decided 398 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,460 to breach the encirclement at its 399 00:21:52,460 --> 00:21:55,220 thinnest point the shlisselburg senior 400 00:21:55,220 --> 00:21:59,650 vina corridor here only 10 kilometers 401 00:21:59,650 --> 00:22:01,790 separated troops of the Red Army's 402 00:22:01,790 --> 00:22:04,070 Leningrad front from the front line of 403 00:22:04,070 --> 00:22:07,610 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 00:22:23,210 --> 00:22:24,830 [Music] 410 00:22:24,830 --> 00:22:27,809 his men quietly landed on the far bank 411 00:22:27,809 --> 00:22:30,440 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 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:50,870 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 00:23:08,460 --> 00:23:11,049 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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