Product Description

Leningrad (now reverted to its pre-1914 name of St Petersburg) was surrounded by German forces in 1941 and cut off from the rest of Russia. It was besieged for nearly three years, the great city's population suffering terribly in the bitter cold of the Russian winter. Over a million men, women and children died of starvation and hypothermia, but the city fought on and never surrendered. In 1943 the Russian army broke through to link up with the garrison and end the longest, bloodiest siege of the Second World War.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #279155 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 334 pages

About the Author
David M Glantz is a former US Army intelligence specialist with a unique knowledge of the Russian army and Russian military history. His WHEN TITANS CLASHED is the standard single volume account of the war in Russia.

Customer Reviews

Hmmmmmmmmmm
Ok, so im a 18 year old student, who is currently writing my Personal Study for a History A-Level and im studying the Siege of Leningrad and i came to Amazon to pick up some literature on the subject, i bought this book and "900 Days the Siege of Leningrad" By Harrison E Salisbury

This book is much more of a easier text than the Salisbury's. It has many more pictures and maps, which is very helpful in order to get a feel for the actual Siege. It is however a lot less concise. It has less background and gives less time to the German tactics during the Siege. I have affectionatly given this book the nickname "The Idiots guide to the Siege of Leningrad", but that IS in comparison to Salisbury's book

My Basic advice is...

If you are studying this subject then buy both, they are both incredibly useful texts, for diferent reasons. This book is useful for attitudes during the Siege and for maps and pictures (it sounds childish but you really do need to see the Siege from a visual perspective to believe some of it)

However, if you do not wish to purchase noth texts for whatever reason, then Salisbury's book is the better purchase, it has so much infomation in it and it is more helpful for the person who is studying this subject

Very informative, not as good style.
For a Russian standpoint on the Eastern Front of World War 2 Glantz is the definate source. Most books on the subject tend to be over Germainsed and this is quite to the contrary here it is the Soviet army that has first place.

The book covers the entire 900 day siege well, as does it include what happend leading to it and the aftermath. But one cannot help to think the book could have been more concise and clear. Glantz's text is informative but dry and you have to keep at it to finish the book. The broad strokes are all there but that is what you get.

This in addition to plenty of photographs, many of which are very good. There are many maps in a clear simplistic way, which is good, although sometimes the text referes to locations omitted on the map.

So this is an informative and complete book on the Siege of Leningrad, but a dry read. Recommended if you are looking for a Russian prespective and a really interested in the subject.

A really dissapointing book
This book is subtitled "900 Days of terror". But the terror to which the citizens of Leningrad were subjected is confined to some 10 pages of description (see if you can find them!). This book nowhere resembles a story of the human element to this major episode in WWII.

If you like to know which units of which division are lined up against those of the enemy at what place and time, then this book will delight. For example, "XXXXI Motorized and XXXVIII Army Corps' 1st and 6th Panzer, 36th Motorized, and 1st Infantry Divisions penetrated the 2nd DNO's and 90th Rifle Divisions' defences along the Luga River at Kingisepp, Ivanskoe and Bol'shoi Sabsk on 11 August."

These passages are not aided by the fact that most of the maps do not show rivers, they are ununmbered and the book lacks a list of maps. Place names in the text are not always shown on the associated maps.

This is a straight military history of the Leningrad siege, awash with tactics and strategy, but almost totally lacking any account of the experiences of the siege subjects themselves.

A glance at just the Table Of Contents of "Leningrad: State of Siege" by Michael Jones shows that this IS a book where the human experience is described.

Glantz's book has been let down by his publisher.