To Besiege a City

''[An] excellent account.'' - Richard Overy, The Telegraph Shortlisted for the Military History Matters Book of the Year Award 2024 A ground-breaking history of the siege of Leningrad, masterfully brought to life by a leading expert using original Russian and German source material. Starting in September 1941, the Red Army and the civilian population of Leningrad endured a bitter 900-day siege, struggling against constant bombing, shelling, and starvation inflicted by the encircling Axis forces. The Soviets made repeated, but unsuccessful, bids to break German lines and reach the city, failing to end the siege but nevertheless defying the odds to construct and defend the ''Road to Life'' over the frozen Lake Ladoga, across which meager supplies were transported to the embattled garrison. Although they defeated Russia''s Second Shock Army twice over, the German infantry divisions were also steadily eroded, their resources and morale depleted under the pressure of near-constant assaults and battles. With To Besiege a City, Eastern Front historian Prit Buttar interweaves first-hand accounts with revelatory research to deliver the first major history of the siege of Leningrad in over a decade, expertly analyzing strategic failings on both sides while simultaneously detailing the horrific realities of daily life during a merciless war.>

Auteur
Prit Buttar studied medicine at Oxford and London before joining the British Army as a doctor. After leaving the army, he worked as a GP, first near Bristol and then in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. He is extensively involved in medical politics, both at local and national level, and served on the GPs' Committee of the British Medical Association. He has appeared on national TV and radio, speaking on a variety of medical issues. He contributes regularly to the medical press. An established expert on the Eastern Front in 20th-century military history, his previous books include the critically acclaimed Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany's Eastern Front 194445 (Osprey 2010) and Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II (Osprey 2013) and a definitive four-part series on the Eastern Front in World War I which concluded with The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 191721 (2017). He now lives in Kirkcudbright in Scotland.

Texte du rabat

A ground-breaking history of the siege of Leningrad, masterfully brought to life by a leading expert using original Russian and German source material.

Contenu

List of Illustrations List of Maps Dramatis Personae Introduction Chapter 1: The Window to the West Chapter 2: Stalin's Purges Chapter 3: Flawed Plans for War Chapter 4: Barbarossa Unleashed Chapter 5: The Approach to Leningrad Chapter 6: Sinyavino and Tikhvin Chapter 7: Starvation: The First Winter Chapter 8: Bandenkrieg: The Partisan War Chapter 9: Lyuban: The Price of Optimism Chapter 10: Lyuban: Attrition and Failure Chapter 11: Summer 1942 Chapter 12: A Bloodstained Autumn Chapter 13: Towards the Second Winter Chapter 14: A Bitter Stalemate Notes Bibliography Index