Now available in paperback, this is the first major history of the siege of Leningrad in over a decade, To Besiege a City transports the reader into the furnace of battle.

Acclaimed Eastern Front historian Prit Buttar has created a masterful account of the first year of the terrible siege of Leningrad that began in September 1941. The capture of the city came tantalisingly close late that year, but Hitler paused to avoid costly urban fighting. Determined to starve Leningrad into submission, what followed was a winter of unimaginable suffering for ordinary citizens and defenders alike. First-hand accounts from Soviet and German soldiers, many never previously published, together with those of the civilians trapped in the city detail the relentless spectre of death which defined life in and around Leningrad.

Personal vignettes dotted throughout this book give a glimpse into the reality of life in a city under siege. The teenage volunteer climbers, weak from hunger, scaling the slender spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress to shroud it in camouflage as the German bombers circle overhead like vultures. Or the soldier trombonist completing a long day on the front line to perform Shostakovich’s epic Seventh Symphony alongside a starving and sickly orchestra – an act of defiance broadcast to defenders and attackers alike.

To Besiege a City expertly analyses the strategic failings on both sides while simultaneously detailing the horrific realities of daily life during a merciless war.