Saint Petersburg (former Leningrad) has marked the 81st anniversary of the end of a nearly 900-day siege by Nazi forces. Leningrad is the only city in world history with a population of several million people that was able to withstand almost 900 days of encirclement. The siege by Nazi Germany lasted 872 days from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944. The ring was broken on January 18, 1943, and on January 27, 1944, a ceremonial salute was fired to mark the end of the blockade. By that time th

The Siege of Leningrad (the name of St. Petersburg in Soviet times) is one of the most tragic events of World War II. It lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. The Nazis surrounded the city. Food was delivered to besieged Leningrad via the Road of Life, an ice road that operated from November 22, 1941 to April 23, 1942. Bread could only be obtained with special food stamps. The daily bread allowance was only 250 grams for industrial workers and just 125 grams for clerks, children, an

As the seat of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and a centre of Soviet industry, Leningrad was a prime target of Hitler's Russian invasion. Supported by the Finns, intent on recovering territory they had lost in the Finnish-Soviet Winter war the previous year, Nazi forces rapidly broke through the city's lines of defence, many cobbled together by its civilian population. This film - which features rarely seen archive footage now digitally restored - explores the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted