Operation Leningrad

by Leo Kessler

Published 29 April 2005
This story is set in the summer of 1942. Leningrad, Russia's premier city after Moscow, has been besieged by German and Finnish troops for weeks in a siege that will eventually last 900 days. Leningrad, built by Peter the Great, is a prestige object for both the Russians and the Germans. Stalin will defend it to the last; Hitler will fight to the last to gain it. Now, Hitler personally prepares a daring and ambitious plan. The city is surrounded save for a narrow corridor based on Lake Ladoga. There the Russians, not expecting a German armoured attack in the snow that's soon to come, had reduced their forces to three infantry divisions. Aware of this, Hitler decides to send in his elite "Wotan". It will use Finland as its base, passing secretly through the immense forests of the area, and take the defenders of Lake Ladoga by surprise. The war - a battle of the Titans - has become a personal matter between Hitler and Stalin, and Wotan will undergo tremendous suffering and losses to make Hitler's dream come true.