- Military history of Leningrad Oblast during World War II
Military history of Leningrad Oblast during World War II which replaced the
Ingria (Ingermanland) after a temporary autonomy during the 1920s and 1930s, documents the level of destruction suffering duringWorld War II by its infrastructure and population.Initial period of war
On
27 June 1941 the Council of deputies of the working people of Leningrad decided to mobilize thousands of people for the construction of fortifications. TheLeningrad Narodnoe Opolcheniye Army begun to be formed almost immediately while city fortifications to ring it were built around it to offer a measure of defence. One of the fortifications ran from the mouth of theLuga River toChudovo ,Gatchina ,Uritsk ,Pulkovo and then through theNeva River . The other defence passed throughPetergof to Gatchina, Pulkovo,Kolpino andKoltushy . Another defence against theFinns was built in the northern suburbs of Leningrad (Nevanlinna). In all 190 km of timberbarricade s, 635 km of barbed wire entanglements, 700 km ofanti-tank ditch es, 5,000 earth-and-timber emplacements and reinforced concrete weapon emplacements, and 25,000 km ofopen trench es were built by civilians. Even the gun off theRussian cruiser Aurora was mounted on thePulkovskiye Heights to the south of Leningrad. These measures proved their worth when Soviet troops of theNorthwestern Front were defeated in the Baltic Soviet Republics at the end of June, and theArmy Group North had forced its way toOstrov andPskov . On10 July both cities were captured and German troops reachedKunda andKingisepp from where they advanced to Leningrad fromIivananlinna , the Luzhski region and from the south-east, and also to the north and south of theLake Ilmen in order to isolate Leningrad from the east, and to join the Finns at the eastern bank of theLake Ladoga . The shelling of Leningrad began on4 September , and aerial bombing on8 September , starting 178 fires in Leningrad. In early October the Germans refused to assault the city and Hitler's directive on7 October , signed byAlfred Jodl was a reminder not to accept a capitulation.Period of the siege
In
1942 , during thesiege of Leningrad , 25,000-30,000Ingrian Finns were deported toSiberia by theNKVD . WhenNazi Germany occupied the southern and western parts of Ingria, most of the remaining Ingrian Finns were evacuated toFinland or allowed to resettle there after petitioning the German authorities.The siege continued until Operation "Spark" — a full-scale offensive by troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts — started the morning of
12 January 1943 . After fierce battles, the Red Army units overcame the powerful German fortifications to the south of the Ladoga Lake, and on18 January 1943 the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts met, opening a land corridor to the besieged city.In January
1944 , a Soviet offensive drove the Germans from the southern outskirts of the city, ending the siege. Later, in the summer of 1944, the Finns were pushed back to the other side of theBay of Vyborg and theVuoksi River . The bravery of the city's defenders was an important symbol of the Soviet will to resist - in the first few weeks of the war the British had been so disheartened by the collapse of the Soviet armies, they thought a Nazi victory was all but inevitable. The warnings to citizens of the city as to which side of the road to walk on to avoid the German shelling have been restored and can still be seen. The ultimate number of casualties during the siege is disputed. After the war, The Soviet government reported about 670,000 deaths from 1941 to January 1944, mostly from starvation and exposure. Some independent estimates give a much higher death toll of anywhere from 700,000 to 1.5 million, with most estimates around 1.1 million. Most of these victims were buried in thePiskarevskoye Cemetery . On3 February 1944, the Soviet assault began. A Soviet armoured group quickly penetrated the German line and established a bridgehead on the western bank ofNarva . On14 February 1944, theRed Army Volkhov and Leningrad fronts launched operations aimed at forcing the GermanGeneralfeldmarschall Georg von Küchler 'sArmy Group North back from its positions nearOranienbaum and out ofReichskommissariat Ostland (Estonia ). In the process, the attack was expected to encircle Generaloberst Georg Lindemann's 18.Army. The huge force fell on the sector of SS-Obergruppenfüher Felix Steiner'sIII (Germanic) SS Panzer Corps , hitting the area of the 9th and10th Luftwaffe Field Division s. TheLuftwaffe units crumbled quickly, and soon Army Group North was falling back to new positions around theNarva river on the western border of Ingria. Steiner's SS Corps brought up the rear, fighting many bloodyrearguard actions until it finally reached the positions inIivananlinna on the eastern bank of Narva river which provided a natural chokepoint between the Northern end ofLake Peipus and theBaltic Sea . This position, known as thePanther line , was where von Küchler wanted to set up his defense.Adolf Hitler refused, and replaced von Küchler with GeneralfeldmarschallWalter Model as commander of Army Group North. Model agreed with von Küchler, however, being one of Hitler's favourites, he also was allowed more freedom by Hitler. Using this freedom to his advantage, Model managed to fall back and begin establishing a line along the Narwa river with a strong bridgehead on the Eastern Bank. This appeased Hitler, and also followed the German standard operating procedure for defending a river line. The main brunt of the Soviet attack was to fall on Steiner's SS Corps, positioned east of the strategically important town ofNarva . Steiner's corps was mostly made up of SS "Freiwilligen" or volunteer formations. SS men fromScandinavia ,Belgium ,France , TheNetherlands ,Hungary ,Romania ,Italy ,Spain and theBaltic States joined German formations in the defense of the river line. The Dutchmen of the 4.SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade "Nederland" and the various nationalities of the11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland began frantically digging in along what had become known as the "Narva Line". The defensive line ran for over seven miles, from the village ofLilienbach in the north to the village ofDolgaja Niva in the south, bulging eastwards from the Narva river near Iivananlinna. 63,227 Ingrian refugees, including theVotes and theIzhorians , had left for Finland by31 October 1944. Many of them settled in Finnish families, helping them by working on farms. After the war, the Soviets demanded these people back and Finland had to return them to theSoviet Union after the armistice. The Ingrians were promised by Soviet authorities that they could return to their own region, but instead were deported to different parts of the Soviet Union. 55,773 Ingrians arrived and were scattered to the regions ofNovgorod ,Kalinin ,Vologda ,Sverdlovsk , and elsewhere. Some years after the war even those children of Ingrian descent that had been adopted by Finnish families were reclaimed by the Soviet Union. Later some Ingrians moved back to Ingria. Others moved toEstonian SSR , partly because of similarities between theEstonian language and Finnish.See also
*
Ingria
*North Ingria
*Ingrian
*Ingrians
*Ingrian language
*Ingrian Finns
*Izhorians
*Votes
*Swedish Ingria
*East Finnish
*Ingrian War
*Pereswetoff-Morath
*Nyen
*Greater Finland
*Finnic
*Treaty of Stolbovo
*Dominions of Sweden
*Karelian language
*Finnish Karelia
*Karelia External links
* [http://www.thenausea.com/elements/germany/germany-document1.html "...1941, action against the jews. Ivangorod"]
* [http://www.ushmm.org/kovno/mass/images/456.jpgEinsatzgruppe member kills a Jewish woman and her child near Ivangorod. 1942.]
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Ivangorod.html Execution at Ivangorod]
* [http://www.nortfort.ru/gatchina/index_e.html Gatchina]
* [http://www.peter-engelhardt.com/foto-wolchow-eng.htm Historische Photosammlung 2 (Weltkrieg II)]
* [http://www.inkeri.com/english.html INGRIA IN ENGLISH]
* [http://www.serendib.be/gievandenberghe/artikels/afbeeldingen/beeldfoto11.jpeg Iwangorod, 1942]
* [http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/bluebrigade.html The Blue Brigade]
* [http://helmer.aksis.uib.no/Ingrisk/western.html Western Ingria]
* [http://history.gatchina.ru/palace/war/war6.htm В сожженной Гатчине]
* [http://www.gorod.gatchina.biz/dll_9103002 Гатчинский дворец, годы испытаний]
* [http://city.gatchina.ru/school/gym/razruha/pushkin(okonchanie).htm Группа ГРГ «Остланд»...]
* [http://city.gatchina.ru/school/gym/war/p3-3.htm Ленинградский фронт.]
* [http://history.gatchina.ru/palace/exib/warexib2.htm "Этот день мы приближали, как могли…"]
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