The whole truth about the greatest tragedy and the immortal feat of the hero city in the Great Patriotic War. "Poisonous nest - Petersburg must disappear from the face of the earth!" Hitler said in September 1941, when only 15 kilometers remained from the front line to the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress. Why did the Wehrmacht manage to close the blockade ring? Whose fault is the second largest and most important city of the USSR with a population of more than 2.5 million people, the largest cultural center and the most important port of the country, was completely surrounded? At what cost did Leningrad defend and why did the attempts of the Soviet troops to break through the Blockade in the fall of the 41st failed, which would have saved millions of lives? What was the role of G.K. Zhukov in the Leningrad defense and can he be considered the "savior" of the city on the Neva? For the first time restoring the true history of the grandiose battle for Leningrad based on materials from not only domestic, but also foreign archives, this book answers the most difficult, controversial and painful questions.