World War II - Leningrad - The Hero City

Good morning, I am taking a break from grabbing documentaries off of Timeline, War Stories, and Absolute History.  This time I am reviewing a documentary on the Our History Channel.  This documentary is called Leningrad – The Hero City and the run time for this documentary is 51:59.  This continues the World War I and World War II theme for November.

Leningrad was subjected to the longest siege in the history of war.  The city was both bombed and shelled by the Nazis.  The siege lasted nine hundred days and killed one million inhabitants.  However, the city and its residents stood against the Nazi invasion.  Leningrad defied the odds and its residents survived without electricity, sewage disposal, and food.  How did they do it?  How could they survive such an onslaught?

Leningrad was the second city in Russia, and its citizens were proud to be part of it.  After the siege, they were given the status of a hero city.  However, its citizens did not feel like heroes for enduring what the Nazis threw at them.  The citizens of Leningrad gathered around and heard about Operation Barbarossa.  The Nazis were going to invade.  Men joined up with the war effort to defend their homes against the Nazi Invasion.  The people were recruited to dig trenches around Leningrad to defend against the Nazi Invasion.

The Nazis destroyed the Red Air Force within days and were on the march.  Hitler was determined to triumph over communism.  He said Operation Barbarossa would make the world hold its breath.  The citizens of Leningrad prepared for the coming invasion.  However, nothing could stop the Nazis from surrounding Leningrad.  The citizens turned to defend the city itself.  300,000 people joined the militia to defend the city street by street.  Martial law was declared.  Penalties were issued.  Train conductors did not give any information on the stops.  Suspicion and tension filled the air.
Nothing could stop the Nazi army.  Leningrad was surrounded.  The Finish Army helped the Nazis in surrounding Leningrad.  Leningrad was cut off from Russia.  It could not support itself and depended on supplies from the outside.  The world held its breath, waiting for Leningrad to fall.

However, the Nazis were in for supplies.  The Russians would fiercely defend their city.  They had watched what the Nazis had done during the blitzkrieg and applied those lessons.  The bombing had not panicked the Russians.  The radio networks played patriotic music.  The people went to work cleaning the streets after bombing raids.  They celebrated the small victories.  People drew closer together while under threat.  The Germans bombed around a clock and the factories stayed open around the clock to keep the people supplied with weapons.

However, the situation started to change.  Hitler changed tactics and the Nazis dug in.  He figured it was only time before Leningrad would fall.  Citizens were put on ration.  The Russians had to figure out a way to get supplies into the city.  Planes could only bring in a small number of supplies.  Pets were being eaten.  The party leaders looked at Lake Ladoga to try to bring supplies in.  A man was sent out on horseback to see if he could reach the other side.  He did and an eighteen-mile ice road was built.  The task seemed impossible but they had to try.

A small number of supplies were brought in over this ice road.  Rations were severe and everyone went hungry.  Hunger was a way of life for the people of Leningrad.  To learn more about the siege of Leningrad tune into the rest of this episode to learn more.

Wow, this documentary immediately gave an old-school feel with its black-and-white film sharing.  It provided a different feel in comparison to other documentaries on Leningrad.  At first, it is a bit jarring to watch, however, you got used to it.  I found myself enjoying it much better than I do BBC-produced documentaries.  Would this be something I show to a history classroom?  Yes, I would show this episode to a history class.  Although very old school in form, it was very well done and the information was presented well.  It also incorporated survivors of the Leningrad too.  Put this documentary on the top of your list to show to a classroom.