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The last
overland connections with the city were severed in early September.
Leningrad and its population of 3 million were under siege, with
enough food for one month. A trickle of supplies was hauled across
Lake Ladoga. Terrible hunger set in. The German forces encamped on
the outskirts of town for a protracted siege. Hitler forbade his
commanders to accept a surrender. Leningrad and its population,
Hitler ordered, would be bombed and shelled to death. Although
Hitler’s plan was not carried out in full, by the time the siege
was lifted and Leningrad liberated in January 1944, an estimated
million inhabitants had died of severe hardship and horrifying
starvation. |
