By Christopher Miskimon
During World War II, the Soviet city of Leningrad endured a siege lasting 900 days. The suffering and starvation of the populace became as legendary as their endurance. In late 1943, the German Army began to retreat from their perimeter around the city, having suffered severe defeats elsewhere and dealing with extreme weather. Realizing an opportunity, the Red Army launched an attack. The German suffered heavy casualties, losses they could no longer afford to replace. German fighting capabilities gradually eroded just as the Soviets gained hard-won experience and combined this with their numerical and material superiority. The pressure became too much, and the Germans finally were pushed back far enough to permanently break the siege.
The author is one of the foremost experts on the Eastern Front in both world wars, with numerous titles to his credit. In this latest work he recounts the events around the end of the siege of Leningrad. This includes the combat between German and Soviet, the deprivations of the civilians, and the complicity of German forces in war crimes committed in the vicinity.
Hero City: Leningrad 1943-44 (Prit Buttar, Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2024, 464 pp., maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $40, HC)
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