Under Siege
World War Two on the Russian Front involved levels of brutality and civilian casualties which dwarfed the fighting that had gone before in Europe, writes James Kinnear
The statistics relating to the Siege of Leningrad are a prime example of the brutality of the fighting on the Eastern front.Civilian losses during the 872-day siege were greater than the combined US and British military losses for the entire war. For the civilian populations of cities which were directly attacked during the war, whether London or Leningrad or later Berlin, Dresden and the industrial cities of Japan, the war was not a distant experience related by news emanating from the front line, it was the daily reality of being on that front line. And the civilian contribution has always been a major factor in the eventual outcome of wars, whether by a nurse, doctor, fireman, policeman or those working in civilian defence plants to keep the military forces supplied.
