this was leningrad in its darkest hour. and then, a miracle happened. lake ladoga. 7000 square miles of inland water. the finns and the germans occupied one quarter of the lake and in the south, the germans this point. between those two points, was a stretch of lakefront still in russian hands. there were nearly 100 miles between the shore and the beleaguered city. 100 miles of what had been open water and was now snow-covered ice. across this frozen surface went tractors, sledges, carving a road across the lake. and soon, across this highway, from the far side of the lake, poured a stream of trucks. bringing in food. oil. grain. fuel. truck load after truckload of fresh life for the people of the city. too late the germans discovered that they had left one avenue of rescue open. their planes bombed the road but the trucks kept rolling, by day, and by night. the lake highway remained open and soon more than trucks would reach the city. the russians were now laying a track across the ice. "to the heroes of leningrad" says the inscription on this locomoti

and leningrad is still free. circumstances than they had anticipated. yes, here too the legend of nazi invincibility was shattered against the iron will and courage of a determined people. the citizens of leningrad have proved that generals may win campaigns, but people win wars. by summer of 1942, new posters were appearing in the streets of moscow. posters that created and welcomed their allies, allies whose help was already arriving in russian ports. allies whose friendliness sent drugs and food and warm clothing to help sustain them in their darkest hours. of all this the , staff of the red army knew they faced the most powerful enemy in history, and that enemy would attack again. when this attack came, the whole of german strength was going to to be concentrated on objective, -- on one objective, the caucusus and the oil. the caucusus mountains represented one of the most powerful in the world. with one practical highway traversing them. and the biggest oilfield is on the other side. to reach baku, the only

thus, began the siege of leningrad.t nearly 70 months. the winter came early that year. the hardest in years. but here unlike elsewhere in russia, the winter was not an ally but an enemy. , 20, 30 below zero temperatures could only mean more suffering and hardship. in the trenches outside of the city, trenches of snow and ice, the defenders stuck firm to their oats. necessary but not to go backward one more step. the enemy, despite its efforts was stopped at the gate of the city. the city that now faced the siege, famine, destitution. necessary but not to gothere was no oil for fuel. no power or the electric lines. the people defied the elements and trudged the necessary miles andlays -- to lathe workbench. the pipes froze and water was shut off. so they dug holes in the streets to get to the water. there was no food. the whole city went on starvation rations. a factory worker at eight ounces of bread a day. everyone else, child and adult alike got only four. to keep the red army of the siege from stocking their city, a

celebrating the sacrifice of the russian people and many battles including moscow, leningrad, and stalingradin 1943 when the soviets are beginning to reclaim lost territory from the invading german army. ♪