Gunfire crackled and tank shells boomed in a snowy field outside St. Petersburg on Sunday as hundreds of people re-enacted the World War II battle that broke the Siege of Leningrad, marking the battle's 65th anniversary. About 4,000 spectators, including survivors of the 900-day Nazi blockade, gathered near the village of Nikolskoye to watch the re-enactment.
The 350 participants,dressed in German and Red Army uniforms staged a 40-minute mock battle that turned the snow black with gun powder and smoke. The primary aim was educational, said Mikhail Kurykin, 88, a World War II veteran. ``Such shows are particularly necessary for young people _ children, teenagers,' he said. ``Many of them already don't know that much about that historical period, but the memory of those hard and heroic times should not die.'
The siege began September 9, 1941. German troops surrounded the city, then known as Leningrad, choking off supply routes. An estimated 1.5 million people perished _ most through starvation.
The re-enactment replicated Marshal Georgy Zhukov's offensive of January 27, 1944, part of the operation that created a supply channel to the besieged city, ending the siege. Valentina Sysoyeva, 81, was 13 when the blockade began.
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