This week in the War, 18–24 January 1943: The relief of Leningrad

This week in the war, on 18 January 1943, Soviet forces finally broke through the German lines. Troops on the Leningrad Front were united with troops from the Volkov Front. After 497 days of encirclement, a narrow corridor barely five miles wide was opened and Leningrad was no longer cut off.

Although the blockade was broken, the siege continued. The German defenses were four miles deep and strongly fortified. Trains and trucks passing along the route into Leningrad could only travel at night due to heavy bombardment from the German lines.

In his book Leningrad: State of Siege, Michael Jones reports how German artillery continued to bombard the city for many months and was at its worst as late as August and September.

The city was finally liberated on 27 January 1944 by a force of a million and a quarter men, commanded by Lieutenant-General Leonid Govorov. Later that year, he was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union.