Taken from letter of a member of 128th rifle division Leningrad Front:
“Dearest Mother,
...I don’t know if this letter will get to you and I know that this maybe the last I am able to send. The trucks supplies for the city are getting fewer and later by the day and I only hope that the driver of the one who is carrying this letter out to you makes it one more time…
… Of course you hear the sounds of the Ballet and Opera being staged every night but there is only one thing again on my mind and the mind of my comrades. We are to be taking our turn on the road blocks tomorrow! I trust Lieutenant General Pshennikov’s vision to stop the Germans from getting into the city. He has only been with us a short few weeks but his honour and bravery are infectious and most of the soldiers have now the steel determination that we will hold the city and turn back the tide…
…It quieter tonight then usual there seems to be none of the distant sounds of explosions that normally fill the night air. ‘Maybe they have given up!’ was the statement made from one of the newer conscripts, I wish I could believe him but I know this is only the small hours before the dawn that will bring either the survival or destruction of this magnificent city. I know that I will do all within my power to protect her….. “