(http://img.thefreedictionary.com/thumb/6/66/Blokada_Leningrad_diorama.jpg)
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
During WWII, German and Finnish forces invaded the Soviet Union and encircled the city of Leningrad—now St. Petersburg—blocking supply lines for 872 days. Sparse food and fuel supplies delivered by barge and sled kept the city's arms factories operating and its 2 million inhabitants barely alive, while 1 million children and sick and elderly people were evacuated. Still, hundreds of thousands died of starvation, disease, and shelling from German artillery. How was the siege broken? Discuss...
Source: The Siege of Leningrad Is Lifted (1944) (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Siege+of+Leningrad)