Video: 'That Shock Army that Broke the Most Brutal Siege of WW2'

(Monday, January 18, 1943, 9:30 a.m. Moscow Standard Time; during Operation Iskra, part of the Siege of Leningrad on the Eastern Front of World War II) — The Red Army of the Soviet Union today broke the German Wehrmacht’s 515-day siege of Leningrad a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) on the Eastern Front of World War II.

The lead elements from the 67th Army’s 123rd Rifle Division and 2nd Shock Army’s 372nd Rifle Division linked up near Workers Settlement No. 1, thus technically breaking the blockade and marking an important date in the Siege of Leningrad.

The siege began on Sept. 8, 1941, when the Wehrmacht severed the last road to the city.

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

The blockade became 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 that were suffered throughout its duration.

While not classed as a war crime at the time, 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.