Leningrad Under Siege: First-hand Accounts of the Ordeal

by Ales Adamovich, Daniil Alexandrovich Granin, Clare Burstal (Translator), Vladimir Kisselnikov (Translator)

Overview

Leningrad was under siege for almost three years, and the first winter of that siege was one of the coldest on record. The Russians had been taken by surprise by the Germans' sudden onslaught in June 1941.

This book tells the story of that long, bitter siege in the words of those who were there. It vividly describes how ordinary Leningraders struggled to stay alive and to defend their beloved city in the most appalling conditions. They were bombed, shelled, starved and frozen. They dug tank-traps and trenches, built shelters and fortifications, fought fires, cleared rubble, tended the wounded and, for as long as they had strength to do so, buried their dead. Many were killed by German bombs or shells, but most of them died of hunger and cold.

Based on interviews with survivors of the siege and on contemporary diaries and personal memoirs. The primary focus is on three people: a young mother with two small children, a boy of sixteen at the outbreak of war, and an elderly academic. We see the siege through their eyes as its horrors unfold and as they struggle to survive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844154586
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	01/09/2008
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Daniil Alexandrovich Granin is a historian and author specializing in the Eastern Front during World War Two.

Table of Contents

Translators' Foreword vii

Dramatis Personae xxiii

1 Three Out of Three Million 1

2 I Will Never Leave My City 13

3 The First Evacuation of the Children 20

4 The Small World of Georgi Alexeievich Kniazev 32

5 I Am Sixteen 39

6 Learning from the Stoics 43

7 The First Bombardment 47

8 The 100th Day of the War 64

9 The End of Childhood 73

10 The Situation Worsens 81

11 The Ice-bound Sphinxes 88

12 I Dream of Bread 94

13 Nearing the Limit 102

14 Saving the Children 116

15 The Noose Tightens 128

16 The Final Pages 139

17 Remaining Human 154

18 I Am in a Frantic Hurry to Live! 163

19 900,000 Are Leaving 175

20 A Cold and Uncomfortable Journey 180

21 We Are Still Alive! 188

22 Leningrad Will Never Die 193

23 Epilogue 198

Recommended Reading 205

Index 207