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Moscow
announced that the German siege on Leningrad, which had lasted since
September 1941, was over. The blockade had caused terrible privation
in food, medicines, and running water. These conditions, coupled
with bombardments and shelling by the Germans and their accomplices,
as well as the terrible cold of the far north, subjected the
besieged millions of inhabitants to horrific suffering and caused
frightful losses among them. The number of victims, although
unknown, is estimated at 1 million, if not more. Hitler had ordered
his armed forces to reject the surrender of Leningrad, Russia’s
second-largest city, and to reduce the city to rubble and obliterate
its population. He failed, but Leningrad paid a terrible price.
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