Leningrad: State Of Siege, by Michael Jones

The siege of Leningrad was one of the epic examples of urban warfare, of a sort, in World War II, but unlike the case of Stalingrad (to give but one example), its epic nature was not in the realm of combat, but rather an epic of endurance. Unfortunately, even more than is the case with most such epic battles, Leningrad has been shrouded in lies for a variety of reasons, and this book does a good job exploring those reasons even if the result is not necessarily a very happy read. Not all incidents of history are edifying or enjoyable, and this battle in particular is full of unpleasant reminders of the darker side of humanity that lies beneath the surface most of the time but appears during our worst times to demonstrate the savage heart that lurks beneath so many people. Indeed, what is most interesting about this book and about the siege in particular is just how many different ways that the savage heart of humanity intersected with the struggle of the survivors of the siege (and many who did not survive, alas) to remain human even at the very limits of human existence. The haunting specter of this particular siege pushes us to ask ourselves where we would be, on the side of savages or the side of those who retained their humanity even while facing the threat of perishing in one of the most horrible ways imaginable, starvation in the midst of an urban environment. What would we do to survive, and what cost would we pay in order to preserve our justice and our humanity? Most of us would rather not have to find out.

It is striking that even though the siege of Leningrad lasted for nearly 1000 days, it is only a few months, namely the winer of 1941-1942, that mark the decisive part of the siege. Those who survived the period from December 1941 to late March 1942 had a good chance of surviving the siege as a whole, but hundreds of thousands of people perished in the city during that particular time for a variety of reasons, most of which point to the inhumanity of German besiegers, who adopted a deliberate policy of seeking to starve Leningrad (now St. Petersburg again) out of existence, the incompetence of most of the military leadership in the area, who failed to undertake basic defensive maneuvers to preserve the logistical connections or to adopt sensible strategies for making it possible to supply the stricken city in a timely fashion, as well as the total corruption of the city’s elite, who hoarded food supplies even as the ordinary population of the city faced the threats of starvation, disease, and gangs of savage cannibals even as they enjoyed luxuries. Worse yet, the corrupt elites of Leningrad sought to portray themselves as heroic defenders of the city in the face of Stalin’s hostility towards those who had managed to survive despite his own incompetence at the beginning of the Eastern campaign of World War II. By and large, everyone who had something to hide sought to cover their tracks and portray themselves as glorious defenders of the nation when most of them had behaved in ways that allowed for hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians to be killed in the horrors of battle, the random senseless slaughter of German artillery barrages, or the savage hunger of their fellow citizens.

In terms of its contents, this book is about 300 pages and is divided into eleven chapters that are roughly chronological as well as thematic in nature. The book begins with a list of illustrations, a list of maps, a preface, a timeline, and a discussion of bread rations over the course of the siege. After a short introduction, the main contents of the book begin with a chapter about the German advance on the Northern front of Barbarossa, in a loose alliance with the Finns, that included the deliberate design of starving the people of Leningrad out of existence (1). This is followed by the ineffectual attempts of the Soviet Army under some truly awful leadership to defend the areas outside of Leningrad, which led to Leningrad being nearly surrounded by the German forces (2) by late 1941. This is followed by a chapter which discusses the experience of ordinary civilians at the beginning of the siege (3), as well as another chapter which covers the failed attempts by Zhukov to break the siege through massive attacks in an area where hundreds of thousands of troops were simply butchered (4) while the Germans focused on cutting off food supplies to the stricken city. After that the author takes a look at the efforts by people in the city to record their experiences in diaries and sketchbooks that provide a look at the emerging horror of the siege in the winter of 1941 (5). This is followed by a chapter which discusses the onset of mass starvation among the people of Leningrad, though not their corrupt rulers (6). After this there is a discussion of how the city’s leaders started to lose control of large parts of the city to gangs of cannibals who preyed on starving ordinary fellow citizens of the city (7). After this the author turns to efforts on the part of Soviets during the winter to keep some supplies open along an ice road over Lake Ladoga into Leningrad (8) as well as efforts by the city’s musicians (including army musicians) to play a symphony written in honor of their struggle to survive (9). This is followed by a discussion of Operation Spark, which provided the breakthrough to end the blockade of the city (10), as well as a discussion of how the siege as a whole was eventually lifted (11). The book then ends rapidly with a short epilogue, notes, bibliography, and index.