The Soviet "Defense Of" Campaign Medals

[Robert P.]

The entire set of "Hero City" medals,

Defense of:

1. Odessa Aug. 10, 1941 - Oct. 16, 1941 30,000 awarded
2. Sevastopol Nov. 5, 1941 - July 4, 1942 50,000 "
3. Leningrad ----------------------------- 1,470,000 "
4. Stalingrad July 12, 1942 - Nov. 19, 1942 760,000 "

The time period for the Defense of Leningrad remains a little confusing in my mind, not knowing much of the history of the defense of the city. McDaniels puts it like this: "The time period considered for the Defense of Leningrad Medal was for the whole period of the defense..."
Does anyone know what the "whole period of defense" he is referring to would be? Would it be from Aug. 10, 1941 (Odessa) to Nov. 9, 1942 (Stalingrad)? This would be fifteen months. Is this right? The grand scale of this battle, not to mention the capture of the city, is mind-boggling. And with a million and a half involved! Where did all of these men and women come from just for this one battle?

Robert

[John F.]

Robert:

Nice set! I wish the Soviets would have put as much effort into the design of the Capture Medals as they did these.

The one thing I don’t like about these medals is that when the medal is represented as a ribbon on a ribbon bar it is difficult to tell which is which especially if the colors have faded. The ones that come to mind first are the Odessa and Leningrad ribbons.

John

[Vadim K]

The time period for the Defense of Leningrad remains a little confusing in my mind, not knowing much of the history of the defense of the city. McDaniels puts it like this: "The time period considered for the Defense of Leningrad Medal was for the whole period of the defense..."
Does anyone know what the "whole period of defense" he is referring to would be? Would it be from Aug. 10, 1941 (Odessa) to Nov. 9, 1942 (Stalingrad)? This would be fifteen months. Is this right?

Robert, what is meant here is the duration of the defense of Leningrad itself: the siege lasted about 900 (!) days, from September of 1941 to January of 1944. It was one of the most brutal and senseless episodes of that war, with the most conservative estimates of stravation deaths starting at 600,000 people.

The grand scale of this battle, not to mention the capture of the city, is mind-boggling. And with a million and a half involved! Where did all of these men and women come from just for this one battle?

I am not sure what you mean by "million and a half involved"? Do you mean the number of the medals that were awarded? There were actually a lot more people than that involved, since the inhabitants had no other choice: the population of Leningrad was almost 3 million at the beginning of the siege, plus about 200,000 Soviet troops stationed in the city.

[Robert P.]

Thank you, both, for your replies. I'm looking forward to Antony Beevor writing a work on the Leningrad Battle. I just finished his book 'Stalingrad' and am presently reading his 'The Fall of Berlin 1945'. Both are excellent history studies.

Thanks again, for the dates and length of the Leningrad battle. And, yes, I was just referring to the number of awards that were issued for the campaign. Like you say, I'm sure there were thousands of unrecorded casualties, refugees, etc. that were involved within the lengthy ordeal. Anyone have any suggestions as to a good history book of this battle?

Robert

[NavyFCO]

Anyone have any suggestions as to a good history book of this battle?

Robert-

I think the landmark book on Leningrad is entitled "900 Days". I have a copy... Somewhere! If I find it, I'll post up more info for you.

There are some good German-aspect books that concern Leningrad as well. These include Retreat from Leningrad by Steven Newton and Army Group North by Werner Haupt.

I'm certain there are more, but since I mainly focus my collection on the Ukraine and Eastern Europe, these are the only books on Leningrad that I have.

--Dave

[Robert P.]

Thanks, Dave, for the references. Much appreciated.

Robert