The siege began on September 8, 1941, when the Wehrmacht cut off the last road to the city. Although Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on January 18, 1943, the Red Army did not lift the siege until January 27, 1944, 872 days after it began. The blockade became one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, and it is probably the costliest siege in history due to the number of casualties it resulted in. In the 21st century, some historians called it a genocide due to the systematic starvation and intentional destruction of the city's civilian population.