Vera Viktorovna DERKACHEVA

    Mrs Vera Viktorovna DERKACHEVA, DOB 31.05.1937, was born in Leningrad. Her father defended the city. She lived with her mother from the first day of the Leningrad siege until it was lifted. The siege started on 8 September 1941, when the last road to the city besieged by German and Finnish troops was severed. Although the Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the siege was not lifted by the Red Army forces until 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. It was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, and the costliest in casualties suffered. In total, the siege of Leningrad killed an estimated 800,000 civilians – nearly as many as all the World War II deaths of the USA and the UK combined. At the present time a former University tutor, Mrs DERKACHEVA is a resident of St. Petersburg.