During World War II, Mga was a vital communications node; its capture by the Germans on August 30, 1941, cut the last rail connection between Leningrad and the remainder of the country.Harrison E. Salisbury, The 900 Days (Avon, 1970), p. 304. Later, it was one of the points in which the Soviet Army broke the Siege of Leningrad. The region, mainly comprising forests, was the scene of brutal fighting during the war years and was a resistance point to the German blockade and occupation. As a result, helmets, bullets, parts of weapons and heavy ammunition and other military equipment used both by Axis and Soviet forces during the war are found in sizable amounts in the forests of the region. Recently, inhabitants have often found armed bombs and grenades from the war years.
