The only way to communicate with besieged Leningrad. The road of life across Lake Ladoga: the history of the Great Patriotic War. Blockade Leningrad. Reducing street deaths
Today is the anniversary complete withdrawal blockade of Leningrad.
This, like May 9, is a holiday with tears in our eyes. It is impossible to do without tears - many, many lives were taken by the blockade, the losses for many of us are irreparable.
A test of the courage and resilience of ordinary citizens, incredible living and working conditions in a besieged city - that's what it was. And the city survived.
About the blockade
War again
Another blockade...
Or should we forget about them?
I hear sometimes:
"No need,
There is no need to open wounds."
It's true that we're tired
We are from tales of war
And flipped through the blockade
The lyrics are enough.
And it may seem:
And persuasive words.
But even if it's true
Such a truth -
Wrong!
To again
On earth planet
That winter did not happen again
We need,
So that our children
This was remembered
I don't need to worry
So that that war is not forgotten:
After all, this memory is our conscience.
As a force, we need.
Yuri Voronov
Let's remember how it was, and look at the photos of those years.
Leningrad blockade- military blockade by German, Finnish and Spanish troops (Blue Division). Lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944, 872 days. (The blockade ring was broken on January 18, 1943)
The capture of Leningrad was integral part Germany's plan of war against USSR- plan " Barbarossa » . according to plan Soviet Union should have been completely destroyed within 3-4 months of summer and autumn 1941, during a lightning war (" blitzkrieg"). By November 1941, German troops were to capture the entire European part of the USSR. According to plan " Ost” (“Vostok”) was supposed to exterminate a significant part of the population of the Soviet Union within a few years.
Chronicle of the blockade
At the end of August 1941 years the German units broke through Luga defensive line and rushed to Leningrad with south.
By the beginning of September, the Finns have crossed old Soviet-Finnish border(until 1939) on the Karelian Isthmus to a depth of 20 km from the north.
September 4, 1941 city exposed first artillery shelling from the occupied city Tosno.
6 September 1941 Hitler with his order (Weisung No. 35) stops the offensive Group of Forces "North" to Leningrad and gives orders to the field marshal Leebu to give a significant number of troops for the attack on Moscow.
Only the only railway connection with the coast of Lake Ladoga from the Finland Station has survived - The road of life.
Later the Germans continued surrounding the city with a blockade ring, no more than 15 km from the city center, and went on to a long blockade. In this situation, Hitler, by his decision, doomed the population of the city to starvation.
On the same day, German troops unexpectedly found themselves in the suburbs of the city. German motorcyclists even stopped the tram on the southern outskirts of the city (route No. 28 Stremyannaya St. - Strelna).
But the city was ready for defense. Throughout the summer, day and night, about half a million people, mostly women and children, created defense lines in the city. One of them, the most fortified, called the "Stalin Line" passed along bypass channel. Many houses on the defensive lines were turned into long-term strongholds of resistance.
September 13 arrived in the city Zhukov who took command of the front.
According to G. K. Zhukova, “The situation that developed near Leningrad, Stalin at that moment assessed as catastrophic.
1944 Lifting of blockade
Operation January Thunder
January 14 the Krasnoselsko-Ropshinsky operation of the troops of the Leningrad Front began, as a result of which January 27 1944 blockade was completely lifted!
As a result of a powerful offensive by the troops of the Leningrad Front, German troops were thrown back from Leningrad at a distance of 60-100 km and, 872 days after start the blockade is over.
On this day, Moscow ceded the right to fireworks to Leningrad in commemoration of the final lifting of the blockade. 
Interesting fact: order signed to the victorious troops, contrary to the established order, not Stalin, but on his behalf - Govorov, commander of the Leningrad Front. Such a privilege was not awarded to any of the commanders of the fronts during the Great Patriotic War.
………..
Results of the blockade
Population loss
During the years of the blockade died, according to various sources, from 600 thousand to 1.5 million people. Yes, on Nuremberg Trials figured the number of 632 thousand people. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling; the remaining 97% starved to death.
Most of the inhabitants of Leningrad who died during the blockade are buried on Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery.
On the stones are carved the lines of a writer who survived the siege Olga Bergholz. In a long row of graves lie the victims of the blockade, the number of which in this cemetery alone is 640,000 people who died of starvation and more than 17,000 people who fell victim to air raids and artillery shelling. 
The total number of civilian casualties in the city during the entire war exceeds 1.2 million. Also, the bodies of many dead Leningraders were cremated in the ovens of a brick factory located on the territory of the present Moscow Victory Park. A chapel was built on the territory of the park and a monument to the "Trolley" was erected - one of the most terrible monuments of St. Petersburg. On such trolleys, the ashes of the dead were taken to nearby quarries after burning in the furnaces of the plant.
May 8 at Tsarskoye Selo in which the Germans set up an infirmary. famous the Amber Room donated Peter I king Prussia, was completely taken out by the Germans.
……………….
But Leningrad and Leningraders survived and won!! 
In the blockade days, we never found out:
Where is the line between youth and childhood?
We were given medals in forty-three
And only in the forty-fifth - passports.
We are now living a double life:
in the ring and the cold, in hunger, in sorrow,
we breathe tomorrow
happy, generous day -
we have conquered this day.
And will it be night, morning or evening,
but on this day we'll get up and go
army warrior towards
in his liberated city.
We'll go out without flowers
in crumpled helmets,
in heavy padded jackets, in frozen
half masks
as equals, welcoming the troops.
And spreading sword-shaped wings,
bronze Glory will rise above us,
holding a wreath in charred hands.
Olga Berggolts
January - February 1942
………….
The blockade of Leningrad lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 - 872 days. By the beginning of the blockade, the city had only inadequate supplies of food and fuel. The only way to communicate with besieged Leningrad was Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the besiegers' artillery. The capacity of this transport artery was inadequate for the needs of the city. The famine that began in the city, aggravated by problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents. According to various estimates, from 300 thousand to 1.5 million people died during the years of the blockade. The number of 632 thousand people appeared at the Nuremberg Trials. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling, the remaining 97% died of starvation. Photos of Leningrad S.I. Petrova, who survived the blockade. Made in May 1941, May 1942 and October 1942 respectively:
"The Bronze Horseman" in blockade vestments.
The windows were sealed crosswise with paper so that they would not crack from explosions.
Palace Square
Harvesting cabbage at St. Isaac's Cathedral
Shelling. September 1941
Training sessions of the "fighters" of the self-defense group of the Leningrad orphanage No. 17.
New Year in the surgical department of the City Children's Hospital named after Dr. Rauchfus
Nevsky Prospekt in winter. The building with a hole in the wall is Engelhardt's house, Nevsky Prospekt, 30. The breach is the result of a German air bomb hit.
A battery of anti-aircraft guns at St. Isaac's Cathedral is firing, reflecting a night raid by German aircraft.
At the places where the inhabitants took water, huge ice slides formed from the water splashed in the cold. These slides were a serious obstacle for people weakened by hunger.
Turner of the 3rd category Vera Tikhova, whose father and two brothers went to the front
Trucks take people out of Leningrad. "Road of Life" - the only way to the besieged city for its supply, passed through Lake Ladoga
Music teacher Nina Mikhailovna Nikitina and her children Misha and Natasha share the blockade ration. They talked about the special attitude of the blockade to bread and other food after the war. They always ate everything clean, leaving not a single crumb. A refrigerator full of food to capacity was also the norm for them.
Bread card of the blockade. In the most terrible period of the winter of 1941-42 (the temperature dropped below 30 degrees), 250 g of bread was given out per day for a manual worker and 150 g for everyone else.
Starving Leningraders are trying to get meat by butchering the corpse of a dead horse. One of the worst pages of the blockade is cannibalism. More than 2 thousand people were convicted for cannibalism and related murders in besieged Leningrad. In most cases, cannibals were expected to be shot.
Barrage balloons. Balloons on cables that prevented enemy aircraft from flying low. Balloons were filled with gas from gas holders
Transportation of a gas tank at the corner of Ligovsky Prospekt and Razyezzhaya Street, 1943
Residents of besieged Leningrad collect water that appeared after shelling in holes in the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt
In a bomb shelter during an air raid
Schoolgirls Valya Ivanova and Valya Ignatovich put out two incendiary bombs that fell into the attic of their house.
Victim of German shelling on Nevsky Prospekt.
Firefighters wash off the blood of Leningraders killed in German shelling from the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt.
Tanya Savicheva is a Leningrad schoolgirl who, from the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad, began to keep a diary in a notebook. In this diary, which has become one of the symbols of the Leningrad blockade, there are only 9 pages, and six of them contain the dates of the death of loved ones. 1) December 28, 1941. Zhenya died at 12 o'clock in the morning. 2) Grandmother died on January 25, 1942, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 3) Lyoka died on March 17 at 5 o'clock in the morning. 4) Uncle Vasya died on April 13 at 2 am. 5) Uncle Lyosha May 10 at 4 pm. 6) Mom - May 13 at 730 in the morning. 7) The Savichevs are dead. 8) Everyone died. 9) Only Tanya is left. At the beginning of March 1944, Tanya was sent to the Ponetaevsk nursing home in the village of Ponetaevka, 25 kilometers from Krasny Bor, where she died on July 1, 1944 at the age of 14 and a half from intestinal tuberculosis, blinded shortly before her death.
On August 9, 1942, Shostakovich's 7th Symphony "Leningradskaya" was performed for the first time in besieged Leningrad. The Philharmonic hall was full. The audience was very diverse. The concert was attended by sailors, armed infantrymen, air defense fighters dressed in jerseys, emaciated patrons of the Philharmonic. The performance of the symphony lasted 80 minutes. All this time, the enemy’s guns were silent: the artillerymen defending the city received an order to suppress the fire of German guns at all costs. The new work of Shostakovich shocked the audience: many of them cried, not hiding their tears. During the performance, the symphony was broadcast on the radio, as well as on the loudspeakers of the city network.
Dmitri Shostakovich in a fire suit. During the blockade in Leningrad, Shostakovich, together with the students, went out of town to dig trenches, was on duty on the roof of the conservatory during the bombing, and when the roar of the bombs subsided, he again began to compose a symphony. Subsequently, having learned about Shostakovich's duties, Boris Filippov, who headed the House of Art Workers in Moscow, expressed doubts about whether the composer should have risked himself like that - "because it could deprive us of the Seventh Symphony", and heard in response: "Or maybe otherwise this symphony would not have existed. All this had to be felt and experienced. "
Residents of besieged Leningrad cleaning the streets from snow.
Anti-aircraft gunners with an apparatus for "listening" to the sky.
On the last journey. Nevsky Avenue. Spring 1942
After the shelling.
On the construction of an anti-tank ditch
On Nevsky Prospekt near the Khudozhestvenny cinema. A cinema under the same name still exists on Nevsky Prospekt, 67.
“Leningrad during the war years” - They even tried to leave a small piece of bread for a long time. The Nazi army rushed to Moscow, sweeping away everything in its path. All Leningraders rose to defend the city. The whole country, young and old, stood up to defend the Motherland. Square of victory. People were buried in mass graves. Millions of people rushed to the front to fight the enemies. The blockade lasted 900 days and nights. Dystrophy spread in the city, people fainted from hunger.
"Petersburg - Hero City" - Piskarevskoe cemetery. They worked in every way. Leningrad was awarded the title of "Hero City" for courage and heroism. During the blockade, people experienced terrible hunger. Why Leningrad was awarded the title of Hero City. A few months after the start of the blockade, people began to die. The inhabitants of this city should, should have died. Numerous memorials. Leningrad as one of the first objects of attack.
"Time of the Siege of Leningrad" - Meet the quivering spring, people of the Earth. Leningrad blockade. In January 1943, the blockade was broken by Soviet troops. The city lived and fought. Starvation. Carry the dream through the years and fill it with life. Piskarevsky cemetery. 2 million 544 thousand people. Air raid alert. Many children survived. The country is proud of you. Breaking the blockade. The most terrible siege of the city in military history humanity.
"The diary of Tanya Savicheva" - Recording the letter "m". Only Tanya remained. Brother Leonid (Lyoka). Write on the letter "g". Grandma Evdokia. Grave of Tanya Savicheva. Write on the letter "v". Notebook. Mother. Well, what about Tanya? Write on the letter "b". Diary of Tanya Savicheva. A monument has been erected. Granite monument with bronze bas-relief. Blockade diary of Tanya Savicheva. Tanya Savicheva. Recorded with the letter "L". Myths about Tanya Savicheva. Zhenya's older sister.
"Leningrad 1941-1944" - Monument to the children of besieged Leningrad (Yaroslavl). By November 17, the thickness of the ice reached 100 mm, which was not enough to open the movement. Removing the blockade. K.E. Voroshilov. Encirclement of Leningrad. In Yaroslavl, a monument to the victims of the besieged Leningrad. "City - Hero". City during the Blockade. Monuments. It was Kosygin who organized the movement on the "Road of Life" and settled the differences between the civil and military authorities.
"Children in the blockade of Leningrad" - All the defenders of Leningrad swore not to surrender. Goals. Children of besieged Leningrad. Sister Zhenya died right at the factory. It is necessary to remember those children who dressed their relatives with their own hands. Twelve-year-old Leningrader Tanya Savicheva began to keep her diary. Today, on the road of life stands the monument "Flower of Life". People of Leningrad. Dedicated to the young defenders of the city on the Neva. Even in those terrible war days, children went to school and studied.
The blockade of Leningrad lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 - 872 days. By the beginning of the blockade, the city had only inadequate supplies of food and fuel. The only way to communicate with besieged Leningrad was Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the besiegers' artillery. The capacity of this transport artery was inadequate for the needs of the city. The famine that began in the city, aggravated by problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents. According to various estimates, from 300 thousand to 1.5 million people died during the years of the blockade. The number of 632 thousand people appeared at the Nuremberg Trials. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling, the remaining 97% died of starvation. Photos of Leningrad S.I. Petrova, who survived the blockade. Made in May 1941, May 1942 and October 1942 respectively:
"The Bronze Horseman" in blockade vestments.
The windows were sealed crosswise with paper so that they would not crack from explosions.
Palace Square
Harvesting cabbage at St. Isaac's Cathedral
Shelling. September 1941
Training sessions of the "fighters" of the self-defense group of the Leningrad orphanage No. 17.
New Year in the surgical department of the City Children's Hospital named after Dr. Rauchfus
Nevsky Prospekt in winter. Building with a hole in the wall - Engelhardt's house, Nevsky Prospekt, 30. The breach is the result of a German air bomb hit.
A battery of anti-aircraft guns at St. Isaac's Cathedral is firing, reflecting a night raid by German aircraft.
At the places where the inhabitants took water, huge ice slides formed from the water splashed in the cold. These slides were a serious obstacle for people weakened by hunger.
Turner of the 3rd category Vera Tikhova, whose father and two brothers went to the front
Trucks take people out of Leningrad. "Road of Life" - the only way to the besieged city for its supply, passed through Lake Ladoga
Music teacher Nina Mikhailovna Nikitina and her children Misha and Natasha share the blockade ration. They talked about the special attitude of the blockade to bread and other food after the war. They always ate everything clean, leaving not a single crumb. A refrigerator full of food to capacity was also the norm for them.
Bread card of the blockade. In the most terrible period of the winter of 1941-42 (the temperature dropped below 30 degrees), 250 g of bread was given out per day for a manual worker and 150 g for everyone else.
Starving Leningraders are trying to get meat by butchering the corpse of a dead horse. One of the worst pages of the blockade is cannibalism. More than 2 thousand people were convicted for cannibalism and related murders in besieged Leningrad. In most cases, cannibals were expected to be shot.
Barrage balloons. Balloons on cables that prevented enemy aircraft from flying low. Balloons were filled with gas from gas holders
Transportation of a gas tank at the corner of Ligovsky Prospekt and Razyezzhaya Street, 1943
Residents of besieged Leningrad collect water that appeared after shelling in holes in the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt
In a bomb shelter during an air raid
Schoolgirls Valya Ivanova and Valya Ignatovich put out two incendiary bombs that fell into the attic of their house.
Victim of German shelling on Nevsky Prospekt.
Firefighters wash off the blood of Leningraders killed in German shelling from the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt.
Tanya Savicheva is a Leningrad schoolgirl who, from the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad, began to keep a diary in a notebook. In this diary, which has become one of the symbols of the Leningrad blockade, there are only 9 pages, and six of them contain the dates of the death of loved ones. 1) December 28, 1941. Zhenya died at 12 o'clock in the morning. 2) Grandmother died on January 25, 1942, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 3) Lyoka died on March 17 at 5 o'clock in the morning. 4) Uncle Vasya died on April 13 at 2 am. 5) Uncle Lyosha May 10 at 4 pm. 6) Mom - May 13 at 730 in the morning. 7) The Savichevs are dead. 8) Everyone died. 9) Only Tanya is left. At the beginning of March 1944, Tanya was sent to the Ponetaevsk nursing home in the village of Ponetaevka, 25 kilometers from Krasny Bor, where she died on July 1, 1944 at the age of 14 and a half from intestinal tuberculosis, blinded shortly before her death.
On August 9, 1942, Shostakovich's 7th Symphony "Leningradskaya" was performed for the first time in besieged Leningrad. The Philharmonic hall was full. The audience was very diverse. The concert was attended by sailors, armed infantrymen, air defense fighters dressed in jerseys, emaciated patrons of the Philharmonic. The performance of the symphony lasted 80 minutes. All this time, the enemy's guns were silent: the artillerymen defending the city received an order to suppress the fire of German guns at all costs. The new work of Shostakovich shocked the audience: many of them cried, not hiding their tears. During the performance, the symphony was broadcast on the radio, as well as on the loudspeakers of the city network.
Dmitri Shostakovich in a fire suit. During the blockade in Leningrad, Shostakovich, together with the students, went out of town to dig trenches, was on duty on the roof of the conservatory during the bombing, and when the roar of the bombs subsided, he again began to compose a symphony. Subsequently, having learned about Shostakovich's duties, Boris Filippov, who headed the House of Art Workers in Moscow, expressed doubts whether the composer should have risked himself like that - "because it could deprive us of the Seventh Symphony", and heard in response: "Or maybe otherwise this symphony would not have existed. All this had to be felt and experienced. "
Residents of besieged Leningrad cleaning the streets from snow.
Anti-aircraft gunners with an apparatus for "listening" to the sky.
On the last journey. Nevsky Avenue. Spring 1942
After the shelling.
On the construction of an anti-tank ditch
On Nevsky Prospekt near the Khudozhestvenny cinema. A cinema under the same name still exists on Nevsky Prospekt, 67.
A bomb crater on the Fontanka embankment.
Saying goodbye to a peer.
A group of children from kindergarten Oktyabrsky district for a walk. Dzerzhinsky Street (now Gorokhovaya Street).
In a ruined apartment
Residents of besieged Leningrad disassemble the roof of the building for firewood.
Near the bakery after receiving a bread ration.
Corner of Nevsky and Ligovsky prospects. Victims of one of the first first shelling
Leningrad schoolboy Andrey Novikov gives an air raid signal.
On Volodarsky Avenue. September 1941
The artist behind the sketch
Seeing off to the front
Sailors of the Baltic Fleet with the girl Lyusya, whose parents died during the blockade.
Commemorative inscription on the house number 14 on Nevsky Prospekt
Diorama of the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Hill
Siege of Leningrad – military blockade by German, Finnish and Spanish (Blue Division) forces involving volunteers from North Africa, Europe and Italian naval forces during World War II of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).
It lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 (the blockade ring was broken on January 18, 1943) - 872 days.
By the beginning of the blockade, the city did not have enough food and fuel supplies.
The only way to communicate with Leningrad was Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the artillery and aircraft of the besiegers; the enemy’s united naval flotilla also operated on the lake. The capacity of this transport artery did not meet the needs of the city. As a result, the massive famine that began in Leningrad, aggravated by the especially harsh first blockade winter, problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents.
The battle for Leningrad was the longest during the Great Patriotic War, and lasted from July 10, 1941.
to August 9, 1944, during the 900-day defense of Leningrad, Soviet troops fettered the large forces of the German and the entire Finnish army, contributed to the victories of the Red Army in other sectors of the Soviet-German front. The defense of Leningrad became a symbol of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people and its Armed Forces. Leningrad residents showed examples of steadfastness, endurance and patriotism.
The inhabitants of the city paid a heavy price, whose losses during the blockade amounted to about 1 million people.
During the war, Hitler repeatedly demanded to raze the city to the ground, to exterminate its entire population, to suffocate it with hunger, to suppress the resistance of the defenders with massive air and artillery strikes. About 150,000 fireworks hit the city.
shells, more than 102 thousand incendiary and about 5 thousand high-explosive bombs.
Defense of Leningrad
But his defenders did not flinch.
The defense of Leningrad acquired a nationwide character, expressed in the close cohesion of the troops and the population under the leadership of the city defense committee. In July - September 1941, 10 divisions were formed in the city militia. Despite the most difficult conditions, the industry of Leningrad did not stop its work. During the period of the blockade, 2 thousand tanks, 1.5 thousand aircraft, thousands of guns, many warships were repaired and produced, 225 thousand aircraft were manufactured.
machine guns, 12 thousand mortars, about 10 million shells and mines. The city defense committee, party and Soviet bodies did everything possible to save the population from starvation.
Assistance to Leningrad was carried out along the transport highway across Lake Ladoga, called the Road of Life.
During the periods of navigation, transportation was carried out by the Ladoga Flotilla and the North-Western River Shipping Company. On November 22, a military highway began to operate, laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga, along which only in the winter of 1941/42.
more than 360 thousand tons of cargo were delivered. Over the entire period of operation, over 1.6 million tons of cargo were transported along the Road of Life, about 1.4 million people were evacuated.
Human. To supply oil products to the city, a pipeline was laid along the bottom of Lake Ladoga, and in the fall of 1942 an energy cable was laid. From the sea, Leningrad was covered by the Baltic Fleet.
It also provided military transportation in the Gulf of Finland and on Lake Ladoga. On the territory occupied by the enemy of the Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions, partisans launched an active struggle.
On January 12-30, 1943, an operation was carried out to break the blockade of Leningrad ("Iskra"). The strike groups of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts participated in the operation with the assistance of part of the forces of the Baltic Fleet and long-range aviation. The duration of the operation is 19 days. The width of the combat front is 45 km. The depth of advance of the Soviet troops is 60 km. The average daily advance rate is 3-3.5 km. During the offensive, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts broke through the blockade of Leningrad, creating a corridor 8-11 km wide, which made it possible to restore land communications between the city and the country.
The southern coast of Lake Ladoga was cleared of the enemy. Despite the fact that the further offensive of the Soviet troops did not receive development, the operation to break the blockade was of great strategic importance and was a turning point in the battle for Leningrad.
The enemy's plan to starve the defenders and residents of the city was thwarted. The initiative to conduct hostilities in this area passed to the Red Army.
The troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and part of the forces of the 2nd Baltic Fronts, in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet, carried out the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation.
As a result of the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, the German Army Group North was severely defeated and the blockade of Leningrad was finally lifted, almost the entire Leningrad and Novgorod regions, as well as the main part of the Kalinin region, were liberated, Soviet troops entered Estonia. Thus, favorable conditions were created for defeating the enemy in the Baltic.
According to federal law"On the days of military glory (victory days) of Russia" dated March 13, 1995
Leningrad blockade
The blockade of Leningrad lasted exactly 871 days. This is the longest and most terrible siege of the city in the history of mankind. Almost 900 days of pain and suffering, courage and selflessness.
Many years after the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad, many historians, and even ordinary people, wondered if this nightmare could have been avoided. Escape - apparently not. For Hitler, Leningrad was a "tidbit" - after all, the Baltic Fleet and the road to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk are located here, from where help from the allies came from during the war, and if the city had surrendered, it would have been destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth.
Was it possible to mitigate the situation and prepare for it in advance? The issue is controversial and deserves a separate study.
The first days of the siege of Leningrad
On September 8, 1941, during the offensive of the fascist army, the city of Shlisselburg was captured, thus the blockade ring was closed. In the early days, few believed in the seriousness of the situation, but many residents of the city began to thoroughly prepare for the siege: in just a few hours, all savings were withdrawn from the savings banks, the shops were empty, everything that was possible was bought up.
Not everyone managed to evacuate when systematic shelling began, but they began immediately, in September, the evacuation routes were already cut off. There is an opinion that it was the fire that occurred on the first day of the siege of Leningrad in the Badaev warehouses - in the storage of the city's strategic reserves - that provoked a terrible famine during the siege days.
However, recently declassified documents give slightly different information: it turns out that there was no such thing as a "strategic reserve", since in the conditions of the outbreak of war to create a large reserve for such a huge city as Leningrad was (and at that time about 3 million people) was not possible, so the city ate imported food, and the existing stocks would only be enough for a week.
Literally from the first days of the blockade, ration cards were introduced, schools were closed, military censorship was introduced: any attachments to letters were prohibited, and messages containing decadent moods were confiscated.
Siege of Leningrad - pain and death
Memories of the blockade of Leningrad people who survived it, their letters and diaries reveal a terrible picture to us.
A terrible famine struck the city. Money and jewelry depreciated. The evacuation began in the autumn of 1941, but only in January 1942 did it become possible to withdraw a large number of people, mostly women and children, through the Road of Life. There were huge queues at the bakeries, where daily rations were given out. In addition to hunger, besieged Leningrad was also attacked by other disasters: very frosty winters, sometimes the thermometer dropped to -40 degrees.
Fuel ran out and water pipes froze - the city was left without electricity and drinking water. Another problem for the besieged city in the first blockade winter was rats. They not only destroyed food supplies, but also spread all kinds of infections. People were dying, and they did not have time to bury them, the corpses lay right on the streets. There were cases of cannibalism and robbery.
Life of besieged Leningrad
At the same time, Leningraders did their best to survive and not let their native city die.
Not only that: Leningrad helped the army by producing military products - the factories continued to work in such conditions. Theaters and museums restored their activities. It was necessary - to prove to the enemy, and, most importantly, to ourselves: the blockade of Leningrad will not kill the city, it continues to live!
One of the clearest examples of amazing selflessness and love for the Motherland, life, and hometown is the story of the creation of one piece of music. During the blockade, D. Shostakovich's most famous symphony was written, later called "Leningrad". Rather, the composer began to write it in Leningrad, and finished already in the evacuation.
When the score was ready, it was taken to the besieged city. By that time, the symphony orchestra had already resumed its activities in Leningrad.
On the day of the concert, so that enemy raids could not disrupt it, our artillery did not let a single fascist aircraft near the city! All the days of the siege, the Leningrad radio worked, which for all Leningraders was not only a life-giving source of information, but also simply a symbol of continuing life.
Road of Life - the pulse of the besieged city
From the first days of the blockade, the Road of Life began its dangerous and heroic work - the pulse of besieged Leningrad A.
In summer - water, and in winter - an ice path connecting Leningrad with the "mainland" along Lake Ladoga. On September 12, 1941, the first barges with food came to the city along this route, and until late autumn, until storms made navigation impossible, barges went along the Road of Life. Each of their voyages was a feat - enemy aircraft constantly made their bandit raids, the weather conditions were often not in the hands of the sailors either - the barges continued their voyages even in late autumn, until the very appearance of ice, when navigation was no longer possible in principle.
On November 20, the first horse and sledge convoy descended onto the ice of Lake Ladoga. A little later, trucks went along the ice Road of Life. The ice was very thin, despite the fact that the truck was carrying only 2-3 bags of food, the ice broke through and it was not uncommon for the trucks to sink. At the risk of their lives, the drivers continued their deadly journeys until the very spring. Military Highway No. 101, as this route was called, made it possible to increase the bread ration and evacuate a large number of people.
The Germans constantly tried to break this thread connecting the besieged city with the country, but thanks to the courage and fortitude of the Leningraders, the Road of Life lived by itself and gave life to the great city.
The significance of the Ladoga highway is enormous, it has saved thousands of lives. Now on the shore of Lake Ladoga there is a museum "The Road of Life".
Children's contribution to the liberation of Leningrad from the blockade. Ensemble of A.E.Obrant
At all times there is no greater grief than a suffering child. Blockade children are a special topic. Having matured early, not childishly serious and wise, they, along with adults, did their best to bring victory closer. Children are heroes, each fate of which is a bitter echo of those terrible days.
Children's dance ensemble A.E. Obranta is a special piercing note of a besieged city. During the first winter of the siege of Leningrad, many children were evacuated, but despite this, for various reasons, many children remained in the city. The Palace of Pioneers, located in the famous Anichkov Palace, switched to martial law with the outbreak of war.
I must say that 3 years before the start of the war, the Song and Dance Ensemble was created on the basis of the Palace of Pioneers. At the end of the first blockade winter, the remaining teachers tried to find their pupils in the besieged city, and the ballet master A.E. Obrant created a dance group from the children who remained in the city.
It is terrible even to imagine and compare the terrible blockade days and pre-war dances! Nevertheless, the ensemble was born. At first, the guys had to be restored from exhaustion, only then they were able to start rehearsals.
However, already in March 1942, the first performance of the band took place. The fighters, who had seen a lot, could not hold back their tears, looking at these courageous children. Remember How long did the siege of Leningrad last? So during this considerable time the ensemble gave about 3,000 concerts. Wherever the guys had to perform: often the concerts had to end in a bomb shelter, since several times during the evening the performances were interrupted by air raid alerts, it happened that young dancers performed a few kilometers from the front line, and in order not to attract the enemy with unnecessary noise, they danced without music, and the floors were covered with hay.
Strong in spirit, they supported and inspired our soldiers; the contribution of this team to the liberation of the city can hardly be overestimated. Later, the guys were awarded medals "For the Defense of Leningrad".
Breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad
In 1943, a turning point occurred in the war, and at the end of the year, Soviet troops were preparing to liberate the city.
On January 14, 1944, during the general offensive of the Soviet troops, the final operation began to lift the blockade of Leningrad. The task was to inflict a crushing blow on the enemy south of Lake Ladoga and restore the land routes connecting the city with the country. By January 27, 1944, the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, with the help of Kronstadt artillery, broke through the blockade of Leningrad. The Nazis began to retreat. Soon the cities of Pushkin, Gatchina and Chudovo were liberated.
The blockade was completely lifted.
Leningrad blockade— tragic and great page Russian history, claiming more than 2 million human lives. As long as the memory of these terrible days lives in the hearts of people, finds a response in talented works of art, is passed from hand to hand to descendants - this will not happen again!
The blockade of Leningrad was briefly but succinctly described by Vera Inberg, her lines are a hymn to the great city and at the same time a requiem for the departed.
"Glory to you too, great city,
Merged front and rear. In unprecedented difficulties
Survived. Fought. Won"
Survived. Fought. Won"
The Great Patriotic War
Battle of Kursk (with photo)
Battle of Stalingrad (with photo)
Poems about WWII
The collapse of the USSR (CIA contribution)
