Sergey Larenkov has published a new series of his amazing World War II photo mashups. This time they are photos of the Nazi’s Siege of Leningrad travelling forward in time to the modern city, now called Saint Petersburg. Yesterday, Russia celebrated the day they broke the siege.
The Siege of Leningrad was one of the worst in history: 872 days resulted in the death of 1.5 million Soviet soldiers and civilians, plus the evacuation of 1.4 million people.
It was first broken on January 18, 1943. This marked the beginning of the end for Hitler’s forces in the Soviet Union. The Red Army attacked on two fronts as part of Operation Iskra. When they met they opened a 10km wide corridor, which allowed them to help the population of the former imperial city. The siege continued till January 27, 1944. At that point, the Soviet Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive finally pushed the last Wehrmatch and SS units out of the southern part of the city.
Like always, Larenkov’s mashups are particularly striking, bringing the sadness and violence of those days to the now peaceful modern city. [Sergey-Larenkov via English Russia]
JohnHedge
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 6:24 PMHaving been there on a number of occasions and visited all of these sites its a very poignant piece.
olearymo
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 9:31 AM“The Nazi’s Terrifying Siege”
Amazing to think one Nazi did all that…
olearymo
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 9:32 AMIt really is seriously weird being somewhere in Europe and knowing these people were there. Standing in Paris and knowing Adolf Hitler once stood where you’re standing… freaky.