A vital military supply center, and the symbolic crown jewel of the Soviet Union, Leningrad was one of the main objectives of Hitler when he invaded the country. He was not prepared to encounter stiff resistance, however, and despite reaching the town by late fall, he found most of its several-million-strong civilian population mounting a defense. Unable to take the city straight away, Hitler’s forces encircled it, cutting off supplies and communication. The siege would last for 900 days.

On this day, January 18, in 1943, Russia announced they had finally broken through the siege of Leningrad. There was a lot less of the city left. Non-stop German bombardments destroyed many of the structures, and massive food shortages combined with a bitterly cold Russian winter decimated the city’s population.

The siege remains one of the most destructive events of any war. The number of civilians who starved alone varies between 600,000 and 1.5 million. Likely the only reason the city was not entirely wiped out was a tenuous connection, called the “road of life,” with the mainland over Lake Ladoga. In the summer barges would bring in supplies and evacuate civilians, while in the winter trucks drove over ice under continual enemy shelling.