Union forces should have seized Petersburg in June 1864, but through a mixture of confusion and incompetence they failed and a year-long siege followed.

Almost 700,000 French and German troops had been killed or wounded in this hellish protracted siege that earned the chilling nick-name "The Mincer."

The grim, powerful story of the "Hero City" that lost one million of its citizens as it steadfastly withstood a 900-day German siege.

The battles for the strategically-vital town in Nottinghamshire, England are classic examples of how a siege was conducted during the long and bitter English Civil War.