[ 13. September 2003, 09:28 PM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

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This information has been posted for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes.
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"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." - Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863
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"The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." - William Faulkner

PISKARIOVSKOYE MEMORIAL CEMETERY

http://www.cityvision2000.com/city_tour/piskarev.htm

At this sobering place one can truly understand the scale of tragedy that this city (then called Leningrad) lived through during the Second World War (the 900-day Siege of Leningrad). For over 2 and a half years the Nazis kept Leningrad under siege, but its heroic defenders, both soldiers and civilians, did not surrender. In St. Petersburg we take pride in the fact that during almost 300 years of the city's history enemy forces have never taken the city.

Hundreds of thousands of people died in the city (mostly of cold and starvation) during the siege. About half a million of them, including 420 thousand civilians, are buried in the cemetery's 186 mass graves. The slightly raised mounds are marked by year and a long alley leads the visitor to a monument with a statue of the Motherland, portrayed as a grieving woman. Many of St Petersburg families come to the cemetery once or twice a year to bring flowers and pay tribute to the city's defenders, perhaps to members of their own family, who died during the Siege, which the Russians call Blokada.

Near the entrance there is an eternal flame, where everyone stops insilent mourning and two pavilions, with an exhibit of photographs that need no captions. During summer time Russians drop coins into the little ponds and the money goes for maintenance.

http://students.washington.edu/rkasimov/piskarev.htm



http://www.trachtenberg.org/02.htm

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Ach--I wish Remy had a computer--I would love to have him see this thread. Thanks Crapgame im going to print out some of this and send it to Remy--I think he will get a kick out of it. [img]smile.gif[/img]

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

[ 13. September 2003, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

__________________
This information has been posted for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes.
- - - -
"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." - Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863
- - - -
"The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." - William Faulkner

Thank you for this--damn shame that Russian vets STILL get practically nothing for their sacrifices

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Remembering the last moments:

Night of 29/30 January Milch succeeded in flying-in 124 aircraft to drop supplies into the pocket.
This constituted the highest number of sorties flown for some time, but was too late to affect the inevitable course of events

30 January Special radio broadcast by Goering on the anniversary of Hitler's accession to power.
'A thousand years hence Germans will speak of this battle with reverence and awe.' Paulus signaled Hitler: 'The swastika flag is still flying above Stalingrad. May our battle be an example to the present and coming generations, that they must never capitulate even in a hopeless situation, for them Germany will emerge victorious.' Hitler now decided to promote Paulus to Field Marshal in the hope that he would commit suicide rather than surrender. A number of other officers in the pocket were also promoted.

31 January Paulus surrendered.
This happened at 19:45 hours local time and after the Univermag building had been surrounded, it was Vassili Chuikov’s Sixty-Second Army which had the honour of accepting his surrender. The northern pocket continued to fight on.

2 February The northern pocket surrendered.
This had been reduced to a small area around the Tractor Works and was subjected to a final massive bombardment with a density of guns of no less than 300 per kilometre. The battle for Stalingrad was now over.

3 February Hitler announced the fall of Stalingrad to the German people.
He declared four days of mourning, with the closure of all places of entertainment.

The Germans lost 110,000 killed during the battle and a further 91,000 were made prisoner. No details of the total Soviet casualties are available, but they were high. Of the Germans captured at Stalingrad, some were put to work rebuilding the city, while the others were marched east and ended up in camps from the Arctic Circle down to the borders with Afghanistan. Many died as a result of a typhus epidemic in spring 1943 and others of exhaustion and lack of food. Eventually only some 5,000 returned to Germany long after the war was over. Some high-ranking prisoners, including Paulus himself, disillusioned by what they viewed as Hitler’s betrayal of them, were eventually persuaded by the Russians to make propaganda broadcasts to encourage German troops to surrender.

http://www.stalingrad.com.ru/history...stalingrad.htm

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Thank you very much, Crapgame for the information!

Kai, thank you for the pictures!

I agree with Carl:

And the number of military Soviet casualties in Stalingrad might be some 600.000. And certainly, the civilian casualties is not countable, but it might be very close to the military casualties. Just the inicial bombings of the city caused a huge number of casualties.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun