Battle of Leningrad (21st Century Crisis)

The Battle of Leningrad (Russian: Битва за Ленинград) was fought between the Soviet and Axis forces for the city of Leningrad. For the Germans and their Nordic allies, the battle was part of the larger Operation Scandinavia. For the Soviet Union, it was simply one out of many defensive efforts.

Leningrad was known as the "prize city", Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the Royal Supreme Commander of the Royal Scandinavian Forces, proclaimed that if Leningrad was successfully conquered, then it would establish Scandinavian supremacy over the once-feared Soviet Union.

For the Soviet forces, the Karelian Front fought the German-Nordic invasion. They had been battered by months of fighting, and had lost the Karelian Isthmus to the invaders. The Karelian Front retreated into Leningrad, where they were nearly finished off by the German and Nordic forces in brutal house-to-house and street-to-street fighting. In addition, the Axis occupiers grew complacent, having already claimed the entire city. However, pockets of Soviet resistance remained. This would complete the First Phase of the Battle of Leningrad.

Carl Gustaf Mannerheim renamed Leningrad to Carlburg, and ordered Nordic and German troops to destroy statues of Lenin and all communist symbols. However, they were not often successful, due to Soviet resistance that remained in the city, as the City of Leningrad declared, "We shall fight to the last man, last drop of blood, for the integrity of Leningrad and the Motherland."

To the south, General Georgy Zhukov was able to gather reinforcements from Siberia, who were well-trained in fighting, especially in wintry and wooded terrain. Zhukov's reinforcements included 302,420 men from Soviet Russia and 304,209 men from Siberia. In the city, Mannerheim requested for more German troops and reinforcements. However, Hitler refused, as he was also fighting a war in the west. This left battered Scandinavian troops in Leningrad, who clearly weren't physically or even mentally prepared for more battle, to fight motivated and fresh Soviet reinforcements.

Zhukov's reinforcements arrived, and flushed out the remaining Scandinavian forces in Leningrad. Seeing Hitler's refusal as an act of betrayal, Mannerheim broke Scandinavia's alliance with Germany and began a fighting retreat back north into traditional Nordic lands.