Being there . . . among the countless other World War II Eastern Front buffs who have
vicariously lived through, fought on the outskirts of, and miraculously survived the 900-day
Siege of Leningrad, the 1943 – 1944 “Hero City”. During those two years alone (really 1941 –
1944), it is estimated more than a million non-combatants died of bombings or starvation. Not
even Stalingrad, Kursk, Warsaw, London, Amsterdam, or Cassino suffered such frightful human
disaster. As all serious military know, the “siege” of Leningrad was really not a “siege” but a
blockade systematically imposed on Hitler’s personal order to crush a heroic Soviet city and its
population of mainly women and children. The Fuhrer saw it, and Stalingrad, as the defining
tests between Germany’s National Socialism and Russian Communism. Either Hitler or Stalin
would rule Europe after the colossal struggle.
A MAJOR BLUNDER BY HITLER ON THE EASTERN FRONT IN EARLY WORLD WAR II WAS
BELIEVING THAT LENINGRAD, IF ENCIRCLED, WOULD “. . . FALL LIKE A FALLEN LEAF”. SOME
PLANT STEM-INCREDIBLE FOLIAGE! INEXORABLE GERMAN GRIP-TIGHTENING, BITTER WINTER
BLIZZARDS, FUEL AND FOOD SHORTAGES, DISEASE, IDIOTIC FRONTLINE STRATEGIES WASTING
LIVES, 20-TON PANZER IVs, 3,000 OF THEM REMAING STATIONARY, EVEN HINTS OF LENINGRAD
CANNIBALISM COULDN’T DENT FIERCE SOVIET PRIDE, RESOLUTENESS, AND TENACITY. WHILE
HITLER WATCHED, WAITED, AND WONDERED ABOUT THE “DAMMED LEAF THAT REFUSED TO
FALL”, LENINITES QUIETLY DUG GRAVES FOR THE GERMAN DEAD – – ALLOW AUTHOR PRIT
BUTTAR’S STUNNING “HERO CITY – – LENINGRAD 1943 – 44” (OSPREY PUBLISHING), USING
RECENTLY RELEASED SOVIET SOURCE MATERIAL TO DESCRIBE IN EXCRUITING PAINFUL
CHAPTERS WHAT A HELLHOLE THE GREAT CITY OF THE CZARS HAD BECOME.
Reviewed and highly, highly recommended as a satisfying Christmas gift by Don DeNevi
“HERO CITY – – Leningrad 1943 – 1944”, by Prit Buttar. OSPREY PUBLISHING: 2024, 464 pages,
hardcover, fully illustrated, maps, 6 ¼” x 9 ½”, $40. Visit, www.ospreypublishing.com, or, E-mail:
info@ospreypublishing.com.
No less than renowned and reputed WWII authors Iain MacGregor, “The Lighthouse of
Stalingrad”, and Peter Caddick-Adams, “Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives” (2012), concur that
Prit Buttar’s “Hero City – – Leningrad 1943 – 1944” (2024) may well be the final, definitive word
on the city’s fate.
“Hero City” draws upon German archives to detail the horrific fighting conditions endured by
ordinary German soldiers. Yet, says Prit, it is also a searing indictment of the complicity of the
Wehrmacht forces in war crimes that have forever stained the ground in and around the great
city. The able author argues the final two years of the blockade are defined by the slow and
steady degradation of the German fighting ability. “Not even the greatest army in the world can
continue to fight if skilled and experienced soldiers cannot be replaced or the logistics. But even
Stalin failed to exploit their numerical, and increasingly material advantage throughout 1943,
until their fighting ability steadily improved.”
Following on from his first volume, “To Besiege a City: Leningrad 1941 – 1942”, the
author, in “Hero City”, charts the tactical and strategic successes and failures on both sides until
the final Soviet victory in 1944. A victory not only for the city of Leningrad, but indeed, for the
whole USSR, its echoes continue to define both Russia and its politics today.
Note: Buttar’s Volume 1, “To Besiege a City – – Leningrad 1941 – 1942”,
is still available from Osprey. Wouldn’t both wrapped as one joyfully surprise and please the
recipient? Visit, www.ospreypublishing.com.
