On this day began the famous German siege of Leningrad (1941) during World War Two. Read about it in Russia Today. The Russians never surrendered. In fact, when Hitler insisted on taking Moscow that same year, the final defeat of the German Army began after it was repudiated by several Russian Army Divisions secretly held in reserve by Stalin, just as they (the Germans) were on the outskirts of Moscow - December 6, 1941. The German war machine never recovered from that defeat.