🌟 On January 12, 1943, the Red Army forces launched an offensive that was later codenamed Iskra (Spark).
The goal of the operation was to break the siege of Russia’s city of Leningrad.
⚔️ At 9.30 am on January 12, two thousand Soviet weapons opened fired on Nazi positions. Soviet artillery of the Leningrad Front shelled the left bank of the Neva River for two hours and twenty minutes. After the barrage, soldiers of four first-echelon divisions launched an attack across the frozen river. Light tanks and armoured vehicles supported the infantry.
By late January, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts dissected the Wehrmacht’s defences with powerful strikes from both sides and pushed the enemy 12 kilometres back from Lake Ladoga.
❗️The Germans lost about 30,000 killed, wounded and missing.
☝️ Although the siege of Leningrad was completely lifted only on January 27, 1944, Operation Iskra made it possible to partially unblock the city, considerably improving conditions of living for the besieged people.
🌟 Before that, the famous Road of Life across the ice of Lake Ladoga was the city’s only connection to the mainland.
#WWII #Victory78 #WeRemember #SiegeOfLeningrad
The goal of the operation was to break the siege of Russia’s city of Leningrad.
⚔️ At 9.30 am on January 12, two thousand Soviet weapons opened fired on Nazi positions. Soviet artillery of the Leningrad Front shelled the left bank of the Neva River for two hours and twenty minutes. After the barrage, soldiers of four first-echelon divisions launched an attack across the frozen river. Light tanks and armoured vehicles supported the infantry.
By late January, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts dissected the Wehrmacht’s defences with powerful strikes from both sides and pushed the enemy 12 kilometres back from Lake Ladoga.
❗️The Germans lost about 30,000 killed, wounded and missing.
☝️ Although the siege of Leningrad was completely lifted only on January 27, 1944, Operation Iskra made it possible to partially unblock the city, considerably improving conditions of living for the besieged people.
🌟 Before that, the famous Road of Life across the ice of Lake Ladoga was the city’s only connection to the mainland.
#WWII #Victory78 #WeRemember #SiegeOfLeningrad
Russia commemorates the Day of Military Honour marking the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad.
🌟 #OTD in 1944, during the “January Thunder” operation against the 18th German army, the Soviet Leningrad Front crushed the Peterhof-Strelnya Nazi formation pushing the enemy back from the city by 60-100 km and completed the lifting of the siege in cooperation with the troops of the Volkhov Front.
🕯 Since 8 September 1941, Leningrad had been under siege which lasted 872 days, with the only connection to the outer world provided by the Road of Life across lake Ladoga. During the siege, over 1 million Leningrad residents were starved to death.
❌ Hitler’s intention regarding the city of Leningrad was to utterly destroy it together with its population. According to a directive sent to Army Group “North” in September 1941, “Following the city's encirclement, requests for surrender negotiations shall be denied, since the problem of relocating and feeding the population cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war for our very existence, we can have no interest in maintaining even a part of this very large urban population.”
☝️ The Red Army made as many as 4 unsuccessful attempts to break the enemy’s circle – in September 1941, October 1941, January 1942 and August-September 1942. January 1943, when the Battle of Stalingrad distracted major Nazi forces, became the pivotal moment.
🌟 Soviet troops broke the siege during “Iskra” operation opening a land corridor 8-10 km wide which allowed more supplies to reach the city until the siege was completely lifted 1 year later.
#WW2 #WWII #WeRemember #SiegeofLeningrad #Nazi #USSR #Soviet
🌟 #OTD in 1944, during the “January Thunder” operation against the 18th German army, the Soviet Leningrad Front crushed the Peterhof-Strelnya Nazi formation pushing the enemy back from the city by 60-100 km and completed the lifting of the siege in cooperation with the troops of the Volkhov Front.
🕯 Since 8 September 1941, Leningrad had been under siege which lasted 872 days, with the only connection to the outer world provided by the Road of Life across lake Ladoga. During the siege, over 1 million Leningrad residents were starved to death.
❌ Hitler’s intention regarding the city of Leningrad was to utterly destroy it together with its population. According to a directive sent to Army Group “North” in September 1941, “Following the city's encirclement, requests for surrender negotiations shall be denied, since the problem of relocating and feeding the population cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war for our very existence, we can have no interest in maintaining even a part of this very large urban population.”
☝️ The Red Army made as many as 4 unsuccessful attempts to break the enemy’s circle – in September 1941, October 1941, January 1942 and August-September 1942. January 1943, when the Battle of Stalingrad distracted major Nazi forces, became the pivotal moment.
🌟 Soviet troops broke the siege during “Iskra” operation opening a land corridor 8-10 km wide which allowed more supplies to reach the city until the siege was completely lifted 1 year later.
#WW2 #WWII #WeRemember #SiegeofLeningrad #Nazi #USSR #Soviet