Leningrad: State of Siege

by Michael Jones

Overview

When the German High Command encircled Leningrad it was a deliberate policy to eradicate the city’s civilian population by starving them to death. As winter set in and food supplies dwindled, starvation and panic set in.

A specialist in battle psychology and the vital role of morale in desperate circumstances, Michael Jones tells the human story of Leningrad. Drawing on newly available eyewitness accounts and diaries, he shows Leningrad in its every dimension including taboo truths, long-suppressed by the Soviets, such as looting, criminal gangs and cannibalism.

But, for many ordinary citizens, Leningrad marked the triumph of the human spirit. They drew deeply on their inner resources to inspire, comfort and help one another. At the height of the siege an extraordinary live performance of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony profoundly strengthened the city's will to resist. When German troops heard it in their trenches one remarked: ‘We began to understand we would never take Leningrad.

Yet, Leningrad’s self-defence came at a huge price. When the 900-day siege ended in 1944 almost a million people had died and those who survived would be permanently marked by what they had endured, as this superbly insightful and moving history shows.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848541214
Publisher:	John Murray Press
Publication date:	05/28/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael Jones has a PhD in History from Bristol University. He subsequently taught at Bristol Polytechnic, Glasgow University and Winchester College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and now works freelance as a writer, media historical consultant and presenter. He has written two books and for the last 5 years he has conducted Battlefield Tours of the Eastern Front.

Michael Jones was awarded a history PhD by Bristol University and subsequently
taught at Glasgow University and Winchester College. He is a fellow
of the Royal Historical Society and member of the British Commission for
Military History, and works now as a writer, media consultant and presenter.
Among his historical titles he has written books on the battles of Bosworth,
Agincourt, and a biography of the Black Prince. He was TV consultant for Channel 4's
Richard III: Fact or Fiction and National Geographic's Mystery Files: The Princes in
the Tower, and co-author, with Philippa Gregory and David Baldwin, of The
Women of the Cousins' War.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations     ix
List of Maps     xi
Preface     xiii
Timeline     xviii
Bread Rations     xxi
Introduction     1
'An Almost Scientific Method': The German Advance     11
'The Biggest Bag of Shit in the Army': Attempts to Defend     46
The Butcher's Hook: Ordinary Civilians' Experience     81
The Noose: The Blockade Is Not Broken     109
Elena's Sketchbook: The Emerging Horror     142
The Abortionist: The Onset of Mass Starvation     173
One Black Beret: The Authorities Lose Control     203
The Road of Life: Keeping Hope Alive     220
The Symphony: Finding the Will to Survive     238
Operation Spark: The Military Breakthrough     262
Something Necessary: The Siege is Lifted     277
Epilogue     293
Notes     297
Bibliography     306
Index     311

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The Herald (Glasgow), May 17, 2007
“Jones charts the journey through moral and physical nightmare via the recollections of some who clung doggedly to life and from the diaries of many who did not see the end of the torment. It is a powerful narrative, evoking images of a descent into chaos few who had not experienced it could possibly imagine….Jones's gripping account is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in circumstances where it might easily have been overwhelmed, not by German firepower, but by sheer horror.” The Historian “Leningrad: State of Siege makes for compelling reading, and it is recommended to anyone who wants a better understanding of the human, and all too often tragic, dimension of the experience of ordinary people who lived in Leningrad and indeed much of Europe during the Second World War.”

Editorial Reviews

British military historian Jones (Stalingrad) explores the physical and psychological depths of the 872-day siege of Leningrad during WWII-"one of the most horrific sieges in history"-in this sobering chronicle. Leningrad, a city of 2.5 million, was a major objective of Hitler because of its economic, military and symbolic significance (as the "birthplace of the Bolshevik Revolution"). Besieged and poorly served by the corrupt and incompetent city administration, Leningrad descended into starvation, "widespread looting and cannibalism" and deadly epidemics. Despite the appalling conditions, says Jones, "a remarkable humanity still survived," and Leningrad miraculously managed to hold out until the Soviet Army liberated the city in January 1944. It's likely that more than one million civilians perished during the siege. Following in the footsteps of Harrison Salisbury's classic 1969 account, The 900 Days,Jones draws extensively from the diaries of siege victims and interviews with survivors for a harrowing portrait of life reduced to a single pursuit: "the hunt for food." Readers interested in military history, the Soviet Union or the psychology of survival will appreciate this unforgettable saga. 35 b&w illus., 5 maps. (July)

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Publishers Weekly

The Herald (Glasgow), May 17, 2007
“Jones charts the journey through moral and physical nightmare via the recollections of some who clung doggedly to life and from the diaries of many who did not see the end of the torment. It is a powerful narrative, evoking images of a descent into chaos few who had not experienced it could possibly imagine….Jones's gripping account is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in circumstances where it might easily have been overwhelmed, not by German firepower, but by sheer horror.”
 

The Historian “Leningrad: State of Siege makes for compelling reading, and it is recommended to anyone who wants a better understanding of the human, and all too often tragic, dimension of the experience of ordinary people who lived in Leningrad and indeed much of Europe during the Second World War.

From the Publisher