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The story is both extremely horrifying but also incredibly heroic.

My family was at Leningrad during the siege actually. I've heard a ton of horror stories from it. One of them was that my grandgrandmother worked at a factory in Leningrad during the siege. She had two kids, a son and a daughter that were left at home every day while she had to travel across the city to the factory. Well, one day while she was working, the sister and the brother started fighting at home over something. She was about 16 and he was maybe 10 or 12. Well, since you only got 1 ration of bread per day, it meant they were constantly hungry and tired. During the fight, she stole her brothers bread ration and ate it. Since both were already so weak after over 1 year of the siege, he died from starvation. My grandgrandmother eventually came back the next day from work, and broke down seeing his corpse. That's the story my grandmother told me. She was born a few years after the war though, and was spared from it. Her parents though were scarred for life.

My grandmother, born shortly after the war, often told me stories about her own mother (my great grandmother) and her siblings. One thing that i enver forget, is how one of my grandmothers brothers, who was a child during the siege would, even when he was more than 70 years old, not leave a single crumb behind on the plate. He would wet his finger, and tap the plate to pick up all crumbs. This happened even 50 years after the siege

Fun facts: - The Soviet PPS-43 SMG was designed and made during the siege. - Soviets had to fortify the icy “Road of Life” against attacks from land and air, using fortifications made from ice and snow. Many trucks sank during their run as a result of attacks or ice collapse.

As a classical musician, I love how you mention shostakovich's 7th symphony. The piece was a climax of the musical repertoire

I admire the Soviet fighting spirit, both civilian and army. No other country had to make a bigger sacrifise in world war 2, the statistics of death are almost unbelievable

Loving how good 2022 has been for history tubers. Mark Felton, Armchair Historian, Mr. Mitchell History and plenty more! Armchair Historian has to be the goat though

i suggest anyone who ever wanted to know how costly and tragic the Siege of Leningrad to the people in that city especially the kids , to read the diary of Tanya Savicheva, she is a kid who record the story of her families during the Siege, it was harrowing and incredibly sad, she recorded all the death and dissapearance of her family members from her Grandfather to her mother until eventually, only she left, i'm literally felt crushed after reading it, the suffering a little girl must faced

Fun Fact: After the siege of Leningrad was broken, truckloads of cats were unloaded into the city to eradicate the rodent infestation, and get rid of the possibility of a disease outbreak

Love how the video is exactly 19:42 long

Hello from Moscow! We have a few acquaintances, who's grandparents lived through the siege. These people are extremely concervative with food, not leaving a single crumb after eating, and having special attitude to bread. It is really stunning how they managed to live in such desparate conditions.

Interesting fact, Vladimir Putins older brother died in the siege of Leningrad and his mother nearly past away as well. His father was wounded from one of the counter attacks and when he was in the hospital, they prevented his wife from seeing him when they found out he was giving up his rations for her.

The bravery of the citizens in leningrad is just incredible instead of running away they choose to defend their country not only that but they also helped out building trenches and barriers, truly amazing

Although the citizens didn't have much of a choice they were still brave all around, digging trenches, building barriers and overall just defending their country, truly incredible

I cant imagine what being a civilian in leningrad must have been like, the misery is beyond description

I saw that it was mentioned, but Shostakovich's 7th Symphony "Leningrad" tells the story of the city and the siege. With the knowledge of the context in which it was composed, that its composer was in the city while it was surrounded, it might just be one of the most gut-wrenching pieces ever written. You can feel the suffering, resiliency, relief, and ultimate triumph in every note. If you don't have time to listen to the whole thing, just listen to the last five minutes, the liberation. It's probably one of the most emotional moments in the history of classical music.

The trolleys did actually quit running for a couple months Dec '41 - Feb '42. Great job on the video as usual.

my great-grandfather's family (including my grandmother, who is still alive) moved to the Urals during the war, because the entire industry was evacuated there, and my great-grandfather was a good specialist. My grandmother told me how a train with evacuated residents of Leningrad came to them. A weak woman got out of the train wagon and after walking a few meters fell onto the rails, not even reaching the platform, when residents and soldiers ran up to her, it turned out that the woman was already dead

The resilience of the human spirit when faced with certain death is utterly inspiring.

Probably one of the hardest times to go through in human history.

I discovered this battle thanks to Brian Moyahans book "Leningrad: Siege and Symphony" that narrated the process on which Shostakovichh wrote his seventh symphony and the performance of it in a freezing theatre. I recommend both the book and the symphony, both are works of art by themselves!

Спасибо большое за то что даришь нам свой контент и рассказываешь про это историческое событие коснувшиеся мой город. Мы помним о нём, заботимся о ветеранах и надеемся что подобное не когда в мире не повторится. Привет из Санкт-Петербурга

I remember reading about Leningrad kids eating up the new leaves in the entire park out of hunger, it's just heartbreaking to read even just a few lines of words. Heroic city, heroic people, great respect from China.

I used to live in Saint Petersburg for 5 years. I noticed that a lot of native citizens (especially elder ones) never throw away food if you still can eat it. This is especially true for bread. They told me that this is how they were raised by their parents and grandparents who survived the siege and for whom even the smallest piece of bread was a treasure. Really tells you how traumatized people were having gone through this

As a resident of St. Petersburg, I am always extremely interested in how foreigners look at the Siege. Thank you very much for the video!

one of the many definitions of a hero, someone still fighting for what he believes even if he’s starving, sleepy and injured he still fights

As a kid of about 8-10 years old I had read a book called "Boris", about the siege of Leningrad. From Boris's point of view. Another kid of my age then. It's made a huge impression on me.

Dimitri Shostakovich is one of the most famous Russian composers of the 20th century and I listened to the Gadfly suite including "Romance" from the Gadfly you should listen to this beloved masterpiece and I know he was born in Leningrad.

My great-grandfather was one of those who died under the ice, supplying the city via "road of life". I am grateful to all oh those heroes. Thank you, Griffin, for remind me of what truly matters

I’m not joking 2 weeks ago, I was trying to look for battle of Berlin videos and then the very next day, armchair historian uploaded one. Then last night at 1 am I was looking at Leningrad documentary and I was mainly looking for armchair and it finally came out today

I am extremely happy that this is being covered. Leningrad's survival is such a harrowing but awe-inspiring lesson from history. I, unfortunately, have never read the diary of the little girl. I have been lucky enough to find one of my favorite pieces of music. Shostakovich's Symphony does strike deep into my soul even though I am lucky to have never suffered an experience as these people or the composer.

What made me truly disturbed and angered when I read about the Leningrad Siege as a student was the fact people resorted to cannibalism in order to survive. May the poor souls who perished during the siege rest in peace and may all sins be forgiven to those that had to resort to all methods to survive

My great-grandfather was sixteen when he joined the partizan forces, he was a boy from Leningrad and later became a capitan in the Red army, after the war ended. To all of the questions he replied that it was horrific and that he is thankful that he never witnessed any other war, he sadly passed away but it is important that we do remember the sacrifice of everyone who got involved in war.

I studied abroad in St. Petersburg in the summer of 2019, lived with a host family who's grandmother lived through the Seige. I also got to visit the memorials of all those lost during the Seige. To see the conditions and hear about the tenacity the Soviet people had was insane. Every night my host mother and I would drink tea and chat about our lives in different parts of the world. Fun experience it was

You're absolutely cranking these out at the moment, keep up the good work.

I didn't know the people of St. Petersburg had to endure such a prolonged siege during WW2. I'm surprised the Nazis kept up the siege so vehemently for so long too. Thank you for another very informative episode. Merry Christmas out there everybody. ✝️🎄

i was born and raised in st. petersburg, and the idea of not leaving a single crumb of food was drilled into me from the start, and it actually helps me now, i feel i'm way more efficient with my food than i otherwise would be

Got into listening Shostakovich's music for about 2 months already and went into this video hoping you'd feature his 7th symphony somewhere in it, but I thank you even more for having started the video with an introduction talking about it right off the bat!

Such an amazing quality of content and detail and is well formed for this topic! Leningrad was such a hard hit city during ww2 and I loved how you showed it

The animation has gotten insane! Another excellent video

I remember when I followed this channel with 2000 subs now it’s where it’s at it’s insane. Good job man

This a great remaster to one of my favorite older videos I've been here on armchair history from the beginning. And for certain this is my favorite channel on KZfaq

Your videos are improving so much everytime you bring out a new one. I shed a tear while listening to the intro

I recommend watching the Soviet Storm documentary, they do a really good episode on Leningrad (and a bunch of other topics too)

I love it that your completing Eastern Front WW2 important events especially the Siege of Leningrad. Hope the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive will be foretold in here next.

12:45 Tallinn seems to be multiplying.

One of the interesting facts I would like to drop is that massive efforts were undertaken to alleviate the hunger. One unexpected example is when the chemical scientists of one of the local universities managed to come up with a process of extracting and purifying edible food matter from the clumped up masses of burned foodstuffs that were found in the warehouses mentioned at 4:45 .

"Deadliest siege of WW2" One of (if not) the deadliest siege in history!

its so weird that i watched your older version of this video literally just yesterday and now this is out

I loved the old-school style of animations that felt like the ones you all used to use! I'm glad this battle was dug into more, it feels so overlooked all because it wasn't a big bang of a battle that could be used politically. Instead, it was slow and grueling battle of attrition.

incredible video sir- had me glued to the chair

It's such a sad story. Straight of a horror movie. And what makes it even scarier is that it actually happened.

Interesting fact: Hitler was so convinced that Leningrad would fall that he planned to hold celebrations in hotel Astoria. One of the most expensive and luxurious hotel still standing today in Saint Petersburg.

A full-length Soviet-Afghan War video would be super awesome

Thanks for postig this great video, it's so cool to see where my grandfather fought during the siege. 58. infantry division, 158. artillery regiment in the triangle Strelna -> Uritzk -> Krasnyj Gorod, before they were put into the evacuation corridor of the Kessel of Demjansk. He sadly wasn't talking a lot about this time, but it's understandable. So many photos in his albums of War with the title "Soldatenschicksal💀⚰".

I love love love love looooooove that you included Shostakovich. it made my whole day even though it was a minor detail in the video

Like many people in the comments, I have also had family go through the siege. My grandmother has told me many stories about the limited number of food going round and family members giving each other their last rations of bread so that the other can survive. Truly heartbreaking

This must a be a video remake of Griffin's older videos on Leningrad which not going to lie the animation in this video is very remarkably well crafted. Round of applause 👏 🙌 to the animators in Griffin's team.

Great job Griffing ,what a great video ,I love your content ! Keep it going!

Thank you for your great work this year and for hopefully more years to come!

My grandfather, Walter, made it through the 41-42 winter before being evacuated at the start of navigation season. He refused to tell me a single word about that time until his very last days and was angry if he heard any German. Only thing I knew is that his blind mother didn't allow him to be evacuated somewhere in the autumn of 41, and that the ship full of children at which he was supposed to be was sunk by the Germans. Eventually, they returned to Leningrad. He started a family and in 1966 moved to where I live now, 15-minute stroll away from Piskaryovskoye memorial cemetery.

This channel continues to amaze me with its production values and storytelling, while still maintaining the accuracy of the events it is portraying. It is important we continue to study these events to be aware of what atrocities human being's are capable of, otherwise we are doomed to repeat them.

Your videos have been nothing but impressive and always caught me in awe with the smooth animation. It would be great if there a is a video from you guys talking about the Malayan campaign, for me I find it a very underrated topic despite the great resources of the Malay Peninsula being the main reason why Japan did Pearl Harbour, in order to cripple the US pacific fleet so it is easier to blunder the Southeast Asia. I also read documentaries about how the IJA general overseeing the Malayan campaign spoke about how the IJA was severely lacking and he knew in the long run the commonwealth forces will prevail, so he threatened the British general, Percival that the IJA will level Singapore to the ground in order to scare Percival to surrender which work. I would love to learn more from you guys, learning history has never been much fun and easier ever since i came across this channel.

Wow absolutely amazing work!

I was just watching battle of the bulge videos lately and I have to say it's good to too see Armchair historian covering the siege of Lenin grad

thank you for covering this, its by fair my the most interesting part of the war for me. Its also sadly been largely overshadowed by berlin and Stalingrad. let us never forget the Heros of Leningrad.

When the war started, my grandmother was only 10 years old. Her father, my great-grandfather, went to the front, never returning from there. Together with my great-grandmother and brother, they survived the siege and the war. At night, my grandmother put out incendiary bombs on the roofs, every day in the cold she herself went for bread. War is terrible, it's sad to see how people are dying in war right now .. Never forget, never again🙏

Thank you for your content bro. Greetings from Chile

I read in an old book that the sacrifices of the citizens of Leningrad could easily compare to the sacrifices the citizens of Stalingrad made during this war.

Shostakovich's seventh symphony is something to listen to, especially when you have the context for it, but that also applies to all of Shostakovich's work. To me the best composer that ever existed, try his second cello concerto, trumpet & piano concerto (choose a version where it's not "just" a piano concerto), or seventh string quartet.

I absolutely love your channel :)

One of my favorite stories from leningrad was when Sudayev had won the new submachinegun trials to make a simpler gun than the ppsh41 (that being the pps42), he snuck his way into Leningrad with prints and some of his guns to set up production in the city. He had no contact with the other factories producing the guns in Moscow and when he eventually left he'd find the other factories had made a ton of changes to the gun, further simplifying them, giving us the pps43. Ian from forgotten weapons has a cool vid going over one of the pps42s

I enjoy watching every your video, but separately want to say Thank you so much for an objective look at history of my country. Without traditional western russophobia and stereotypes.

My great grandfather who had served in WW1 served there, sustaining a serious injury when a grenade hit him all over with shrapnel, multiple pieces logged into his head but they could not remove them so he ended up paralyzed later on in his life.

I really love your videos bro, they are awesome and have such great quality! Keep with that good job :)

Excellent quality video, outstanding

Love animation of Historic events.

Videos like this make you realised that the soviets saved us from fascism, and we owe that to them.

High quality work per usual

Love your videos, especially those covering ww2. I was wondering if you could make some videos about ww1 from perspective of the kingdom of Serbia?

Bro that intro gave me chills

I can't even imagine the level of bravery the citizens of Leningrad showed and how awful thier suffering was.

Griffin, your intros are getting better and better!

Bro you are very educational I learned many things from you. Thx!!

One small correction: at 12:45 the main city of the territory of former country of Latvia was named the same as the Estonia's main city 'Tallinn', despite the fact that the main city of the Latvian territory was named as 'Riga'.

"We would rather die to the last man than give up the city that bears the name of Lenin" from the diary of a Red Army soldier on the Neva sector of the front

Really well done. Keep up the good work. Can you do a siege of Petersburg during the American civil war? Thanks for the amazing content!

Astounding work!

can you do the battle of Byalistok - Minsk next?

This is what I call a true siege.

The choice of music in this video is amazing, really fits with the battles.

Obviously the animators are fantastic, but the scene at 15:11 is possibly my favorite bit of animation I’ve seen from this channel

Maximum respect to the men and women who sacrificed themselves to the bitter cold defence of Leningrad

Wait a second! Why is no one talking about the cigarettes on Hitler's desk? Hitler didn't smoke!

Спасибо вам огромное за такой интересный и исторический ролик

I think this is the best animated video I’ve seen you post.

My Russian grandma was 6 when the siege started. She was 9 when it ended. I have heard many stories from her.

This commentary was originally written beneath a history feels video about this episode of history of my country. I think it fits here well. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fdV-pNaUzcnQpHU.html Upd: that day I met her, she was great as always. My grandma was besieged in Leningrad when she was 6. The ilnesses she developed as a consequence of severe malnutrition during that period haunt her to this day. But the memories are even worse. If I remember correctly, her father and my great grand father tied himself to a pole near a factory machine to be able to work while being severely malnutritioned. He did it willingly. She suffered a coma and a clinic death immediately after she was taken out of that hell through the road of life, when the siege was broken. That happened because she was fed with goat milk and her starved system wasn't able to take it. Never the less, she stayed incredibly strong, raised my father, my brother and me, and still teaches me things. She became candidate master of sport and devoted her life to rebuilding the country after the war and making it great. She calculated land stability of many hydro-power stations and other strategically important buildings in USSR and abroad. Now I study in the city in which she once lived and suffered. Former Leningrad is now the most beautiful and advanced city in Russia, IMHO. Marks of the war and the siege are still left in some places in the city, to remind people of what has happened. Thank you for your appreciation of this horrible period of Soviet history and history of my country, despite the things that are going on right now. I'm going to go meet her after a walk in a few minutes.

Very good animations! A lot of action, 💥