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(Monday, September 8, 1941; part of the Eastern Front of World War II) — The siege of Leningrad, a prolonged military blockade undertaken from the south by the Army Group North of Nazi Germany against the Soviet city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) on the Eastern Front in World War II, began today when the Germans reached Lake Ladoga at Shlisselburg.

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The Germans also drop 6,000 incendiary bombs on the city today, not only killing multitudes of the citizenry, but also destroying hundreds of tons of food supplies in the 4-acre Badayev warehouse complex.

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The blockade would become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, and it was possibly the costliest siege in history due to the number of casualties which were suffered throughout its duration.

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In the 21st century, some historians have classified it as a genocide due to the systematic starvation and intentional destruction of the city’s civilian population.

Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on Jan. 18, 1943, the Red Army did not lift the siege until Jan. 27, 1944, 872 days after it began.