World War: Two Sieges

Last week at opposite ends of the Russian Front, the German Army besieged two Russian cities:

Lionhearted Leningrad. Rain and the first snow, driving Field Marshal Ritter von Leeb's northern forces like Hitler's fury, impeded German and Finnish efforts to close the ring around Leningrad (see map).

Admitting that "hunger and internal confusion as aids in breaking the Russian resistance" were unpredictable elements, the Germans undertook a heavy and lengthy bombardment of the city. All day long-range Nazi cannon, skulking in ash-colored Karelian soil, cracked high explosives into Leningrad's defenses. All night the...

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