Tiger Tracks

The German Tiger I heavy tank is one of the better known tanks of World War II. At the start of the war, Germany did not possess any heavy tanks, but combat experience against the French Char B1 and the …

1942-09-16

KS04

The German Tiger I heavy tank is one of the better known tanks of World War II. At the start of the war, Germany did not possess any heavy tanks, but combat experience against the French Char B1 and the British Matilda II in June 1940 showed that the German Army needed a heavier tank. It wasn’t until 1941, when the German Panzers in Russia encountered the Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks in the initial months of Operation Barbarossa, that design and development of Germany’s heavy tank became a high priority. The first combat unit to be equipped with the new Tiger I heavy tanks was the 502 Heavy Tank Battalion, which was only partially equipped before being rushed to the Soviet front in late August 1942. Near the Leningrad area the Tiger I had its first combat debut, and it was at that time the most powerful and heavily armored tank in the world.

Leningrad, Russia

The Siege of Leningrad was a prolonged military blockade undertaken from the south by the Army Group North of Nazi Germany against the Soviet city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) on the Eastern Front in World War II. The Finnish army invaded from the north, co-operating with the Germans until Finland had recaptured territory lost in the recent Winter War, but refused to make further approaches to the city. Also co-operating with the Germans since 1942 in August: the Spanish Blue Division that was transferred to the southeastern flank of the siege of Leningrad, just south of the Neva near Pushkin, Kolpino and its main intervention was in Krasny Bor in the Izhora River area.The siege began on 8 September 1941, when the Wehrmacht severed the last road to the city. Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the Red Army did not lift the siege until 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. The blockade became one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, and it was possibly the costliest siege in history due to the number of casualties which were suffered during it. In the 2ist century some historians have classified it as a genocide due to the systematic starvation and intentional destruction of the city's civilian population.

Wikipedia: Siege of Leningrad

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