🗓 On 8 September 1941, the Siege of Leningrad – today’s St Petersburg – commenced. For 872 days, the city was cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union, enduring starvation, shelling, disease and extreme cold. At the height of the winter of 1941–1942, the daily bread ration for many residents fell to just 125 grammes. Temperatures dropped below -30°C, electricity and heating failed, and hundreds of thousands died from hunger and exhaustion. Yet Leningrad refused to surrender. Factories continued producing weapons, while schools, hospitals and cultural institutions remained open. In August 1942, Dmitri Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony was performed in the besieged city, becoming a powerful symbol of its resistance. Leningraders even planted vegetable gardens in parks and on squares, including cabbage on St Isaac's Square. The city's lifeline was the Road of Life across frozen Lake Ladoga, bringing in food and supplies and evacuating civilians. The blockade was finally broken on 27 January 1944. More than one million people died during the siege – one of the most devastating episodes of the Second World War. 85 years on, we honour the memory of those who endured it and remember the courage and resilience of Leningrad's people. Their story is remembered in Britain, too: in 2020, a plaque was unveiled in Manchester in recognition of the brave people of besieged Leningrad. 📸 Sputnik