On this day - 8 September
Historical items of interest as featured in the papers of the day.
Siege of Leningrad begins
Leningrad was a city in the Soviet Union, known in the present day as St Petersburg in Russia. On September 8th 1941 it was placed under siege by the Axis powers in World War 2. The German's approached the city from the south while the Finnish approached the city from the north forming a ring around it. The siege lasted for 872 days (125 weeks).
The siege was incredibly costly in every sense. The loss of life was incredibly high on both sides and between 1 and 2 million civilians lost their lives (estimates vary). There are reports of civilians were pushed into cannibalism to survive.
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