January 27, 1944. Soviet forces defeat the German army outside Leningrad, ending an 872-day siege.You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to IntoHistory.comHistory Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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It's late summer 1941 in Leningrad, the second largest city in the Soviet Union. A school teacher named Maria hurries a group of young children through the streets. Overhead, German fire planes swoop low, spewing machine gun fire. Maria has the children stick close to the brick walls of the buildings lining the street, desperately trying to find safety.
A month ago, Nazi Germany broke its non-aggression pact with the USSR and attacked Russia with the biggest invasion force in the history of warfare. Since then, German forces have advanced rapidly. Now, Leningrad is under attack, and Maria is risking her life to evacuate the children in her care before the Germans cut off all escape routes from the city.
A bomb lands at the other end of the street, and the children throw themselves to the ground. Maria urges them back to their feet again. They're too exposed to enemy fire out in the open. Maria decides they must get to the train station, so they have to keep moving. But as the children get up, another plane roars overhead.
Bullets shatter the windows in a nearby apartment block, and the children scream. But Maria can see the train station entrance now. It isn't far. Picking up one small child who's sobbing uncontrollably, she hurries the others along the street as fast as she can. Finally, they run into the train station's cavernous lobby. It's packed with people also desperate to escape the city.
Maria knows the children with her are more protected here than out on the streets, but she also knows they won't truly be safe until they've escaped Leningrad. It will take several more weeks for the German forces to finally cut off the last safe route out of Leningrad. But after that, there will be no escape.
Nearly 3 million people will be left trapped inside the city, and they'll remain there for almost 900 days. More than a million soldiers and civilians will die, and Leningrad will be reduced to ash and rubble before the longest siege of World War II finally comes to an end on January 27, 1944. American History Tellers is sponsored by Hills Pet Nutrition.
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