The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad

by Harrison E. Salisbury

Release Date: 16 September, 2003

Edition: Paperback

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"Let no one forget. Let nothing be forgotten."

Having adopted two children from St. Petersburg orphanages and having twice visited the city in the past three years, I read this book from the perspective of an adoptive parent trying to gain a better understanding of the society and city my children came from. I was not disappointed. This well researched book tells the nearly forgotten tragic story of the people of Leningrad during what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War (WWII). It begins in great detail explaining Stalin's blunders before the war, which nearly allowed the Nazis to win a swift and easy victory. The bulk of the book of course recounts the stories of how a people, almost abandoned by its own country, coped with one of the most savage sieges of history. Finally, the book tells of the sad fate of many of the heroic survivors. The book does not try to tell the German perspective nor should it. By telling the stories of the victims we are more easily reminded of the horror of war and are less inclined to glorify aggression. The theme rather is taken from Leningrad poet, Olga Berggolts , "Let no one forget, let nothing be forgotten." For those of us not used to Russian names, places or war heroes, it can be difficult to keep track of how the war and the siege are progressing in the book. Poets, writers, composers and artists may seem a bit over represented in the book, but the reader should remember that since the book is non-fiction, the author had to rely on real accounts of what happened. These accounts are much more likely to have been written about the more famous. On the other hand, having been to St. Petersburg, it's hard to find someone there who is not at least a poet, writer, composer or artist at heart. So the author might have the right mix of artist/not artist accounts in the book after all.

The largely forgotten 900days

I'd like to mention this. Although the subject of this book is the one of the tragic battles in WWII( and largely forgotten) , It's not a 100% military history book. It's more like what happened and how Russian people suffered and finally prevailed Nazi juggernaut. Unlike Stalingrad, Hitler determined not to make his legions into the city of Leningrad.instead Armeegruppe Nord kept maintaining an encirclement of the city until 1944 . no doubt there were numeorus innocenet civilian victims.(and German soldiers loses were equally high.. if you need more information on this subject , read. Mr. sydnor's "solders of destruction" which well represents Armeegruppe Nord's bloody road to Leningrad) this book rather focuses on this painful victory of people of Leningrad than purely military triumph..(vainglory?)
for die-hard German Military fan, this book would be a great dissapointment yet, it is readable,well searched and balanced one.
If you are interested in military more than human drama.. it would be better purchase Col.Glantz 's 900days of terror(2001), but If you like to read human drama.. this book is for you.