Germany's iron-blooded campaign against Poland opened the curtain on the war, and as Britain and France declared war on Germany, a major war broke out over Eurasia. If you want to say where the battle in the European battlefield of World War II was the most intense, it was the war between Germany and the Soviet Union. As a result, the Soviet Union lost more than 20 million soldiers, and germany's main combat troops were also lost.
In the countless battles of the Soviet-German War, the defense of Leningrad can be said to be quite tragic. In this battle, the main city of the Soviet Union, Leningrad, was surrounded by Germany for more than two years, and the city was destroyed at the same time, and the Soviet Union also lost a large number of soldiers, which can be said to be the most costly defense war of the Soviet Union.
At that time, in order to destroy Leningrad in one fell swoop, Germany sent a large number of soldiers, turning the local area into ruins, but also let about 1 million Soviet soldiers die on the battlefield, and also caused hundreds of thousands of local residents to starve to death. The inhabitants were starved to death mainly because of the German siege.
In the German battle plan, Leningrad was quickly crushed, so that the scene of the Polish battlefield was staged in Leningrad. Why, then, did Germany finally change its battle plan and instead carry out a siege mission on the ground for more than 900 days?
It has to be said that Germany is determined to take Leningrad. The city of Leningrad was the birthplace of the October Revolution in Soviet Russia and is known as the second capital of the Soviet Union. It not only has a strategic location in the Baltic Sea, but also serves as a transportation hub and industrial center of the Soviet Union.
For this place, Germany is determined to win. Hitler demanded that the Germans must take the city, completely wipe out the "red forces" of the Soviet Union, paralyze the main industries of the Soviet Union, and divide the economic zones of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the Soviet Union will never abandon this "revolutionary base area."
Against this backdrop, the Soviets and Germans gathered a large number of troops locally in Leningrad. On the eve of the war, Germany sent the army to divide into north and south roads to encircle Leningrad. Germany's Army Group South had a strength of 700,000 troops, army group North had more than 300,000 troops and a large number of armored fighting vehicles and thousands of cannons.
Although in the ensuing war, the German army defeated the Soviet union's assembled troops, causing the Soviet Union to lose hundreds of thousands of troops, and turning Leningrad into a sea of fire, the stubborn resistance of soviet soldiers united with the local population to resist stubbornly, without the slightest idea of withdrawing or giving up. This seriously hampered the German plan to take Leningrad.
At the same time, Germany was already fighting a decisive battle with the Soviet Union in Moscow. In order to support the German forces in the Battle of Moscow, army group north, which concentrated on attacking Leningrad, began to advance towards Moscow. After the large drawdown of Army Group North, the German and Soviet soldiers around Leningrad were at a delicate balance, and neither could defeat each other in a short time.
In order to reduce losses, Soviet soldiers in Leningrad did not make a large-scale breakthrough. The Germans, on the other hand, cling to the fact that as long as the Soviet Union collapsed in the Battle of Moscow and Leningrad was occupied, it was only a matter of time, and they were not in a hurry to launch an offensive. Subsequently, the Germans showed their position of not accepting negotiations and turned around and began to besiege Leningrad.
The German siege not only made it difficult for the local Soviet soldiers, but also starved the city's 3 million inhabitants, eventually causing hundreds of thousands of residents to starve to death.