Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad

My distaste of communism has been well pronounced here, but that does not diminish the bravery of the Red Army soldiers and the civilians who defended Leningrad from Nazi forces during World War II, or to use the Russian term, the Great Patriotic War.

An accurate account of the number of deaths during the siege of Leningrad is impossible, but it's likely over 1 million perished, many of them civilians. Some died of starvation.

The battle lasted 900 days--a Soviet Victory.

In 1984, along with some co-workers, Mrs. Marathon Pundit visited Leningrad--it didn't revert to the St. Petersburg name until 1991. She's pictured in front of a small section of the sprawling Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad.

Related post:

From English Russia: Photo essay of the discovery of a WWII plane found 68 years after crash

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