Way of communication with besieged Leningrad. Besieged Leningrad: photo chronicle

17.08.2020

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. On the Nuremberg Trials figured the number of 632 thousand people. 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. In early March 1944, Tanya was sent to the Ponetaevsky Home for the Invalids 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 listeners: 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.

V last way. Nevsky Prospect. Spring 1942

After the shelling.

On the construction of an anti-tank ditch

On Nevsky Prospekt near the Khudozhestvenny cinema. The 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

The need to build a new road to Leningrad arose after the blockade around the city closed. The only possibility was to use Lake Ladoga for these purposes. After the onset of cold weather, a complex transport highway was laid right on the ice, the configuration of which changed depending on the conditions. People called it the Road of Life.

The road of life of besieged Leningrad

In terms of attacking Soviet Union Hitler special place led to the capture and destruction of Leningrad. The fall of this historic capital and cradle of the revolution should have preceded the complete defeat of Moscow. Leningrad and Moscow were undoubtedly important strategic points and transport hubs. But even more important was their role in the minds of Soviet citizens. For Hitler, the paramount moment was to undermine the morale of the defenders. Like no one else, he knew how important it was to either inspire or demoralize the crowd.

Therefore, the army group "North" under the command of Fedor von Bock received an order to destroy Leningrad. Initially, it was assumed that the city would be taken immediately, using the blitzkrieg technique. But by the time the troops of the German army approached the intended goal, it had already become clear that a blitzkrieg was not possible on Soviet territory. The military leaders were against a direct assault on the fortified city. So the blockade of Leningrad was proposed. Instead of suffering the inevitable human losses during the assault, the Germans decided to starve the city to death. Constantly watering it with generous artillery fire.

Cars take people out of besieged Leningrad along the "Road of Life".

At first, roads and railways were cut off. And on September 8, 1941, after the capture of Shlisselburg, the history of the besieged Leningrad began - one of the most tragic in the Great Patriotic War. The only communication with the outside world for Leningraders was only the road, which began on the shores of Lake Ladoga. This thin thread, which the defenders of Leningrad managed to stretch at the cost of incredible efforts, gave life and hope.

The road of life through Lake Ladoga

When the blockade ring closed, the only way to communicate with besieged Leningrad remained - through Lake Ladoga, the coast of which continued to be controlled during the Great Patriotic War Soviet army. This lake was very difficult to navigate. Unexpected squally gusts of wind often hit the ships. Therefore, the coast was not equipped with any moorings or piers.

The first delivered cargoes were dumped directly on the wild coast. At the same time, work was urgently carried out to deepen the bottom and equip the harbor. Dugouts were dug on the shore and warehouses were equipped. Telephone and telegraph cables were laid under water. A narrow-gauge railway was laid from the coast to the nearest railway line.

Already on September 12, just four days after the start of the blockade of Leningrad, the first batch of cargo was delivered across Lake Ladoga. There were 60 tons of various ammunition and 800 tons of food. Leningraders were taken on the return flight. During the autumn navigation, before the ice made it impossible to move around the lake, 33.5 thousand people were evacuated from the city by water. During the same time, 60 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to Leningrad.

In addition to adverse weather conditions, transportation was complicated by constant German air raids. The use of available tugs and barges for delivery was strongly encouraged. However, even the full workload of all ships could not provide food for the encircled city in full. In addition, the task was further complicated by the fact that not only food had to be supplied. Weapons were needed to wage war and defend the city. Therefore, part of the cargo was ammunition.

How the Road of Life was laid

From the very beginning it was clear that the shipping route was a temporary measure. The cold was to come soon. Therefore, ahead of time, the employees of the Hydrological Institute and the road department Leningrad front began to design road, which was supposed to be laid directly on the ice of the frozen Lake Ladoga.

In the documents, it was called the military highway No. 101. Heating points were to be located at every fifth kilometer of the route. And the road itself was planned to be 10 meters wide. But in reality, everything was much more complicated than on paper. Despite the fact that the Road of Life passed, as the Leningraders themselves called it, in places of the smallest depths, often the ice broke through, taking not only valuable cargo, but also many human lives.

The length across Ladoga was about 30 kilometers. Tens of thousands of people worked together in this relatively small area under difficult conditions. They were truck drivers and horse-drawn drivers, mechanics who repaired cars, traffic controllers whose task it was to guide drivers along the safest routes. In addition, there were those who directly laid the road. And it was necessary to lay it constantly. Sometimes because the road was covered with snow, sometimes because it was necessary to choose areas with a stronger layer of ice, and sometimes because the road was damaged by German air raids, which were carried out with enviable regularity.

The road of life was constantly being repaired. Divers strengthened it with all possible improvised means, diving under the ice and installing decks and supports there. It was far from being just a wide track laid across the ice. Traffic signs were placed along the road. Medical and heating points were built along the route of the trucks. There were warehouses and bases along the route. Stations were also equipped technical assistance, workshops and catering facilities. Telephone and telegraph communications passed along the road.

The food situation

Meanwhile, the situation in the city was getting worse. In fact, it reached a critical point, stepped over it and confidently moved on. Food was sorely lacking. At the beginning of the siege, there were approximately 2.9 million people in the city. There were no any significant stocks of food in Leningrad. It functioned at the expense of products supplied from the Leningrad region.

In addition, even the small stocks that were available were destroyed in warehouses during the first shelling. The system of issuing products by cards was introduced immediately. However, the issuance rates were constantly cut. By November 1941, the situation was critical. Bread distribution rates fell below the necessary physiological minimum. Only 125 grams of bread were given out per day. For workers, the ration was a little more - 200 grams. This is a small piece of bread. And nothing more. By that time, all stocks had long been exhausted. Many did not survive the harsh winter of 1941.

And do not forget that these 125 grams were not bread made from pure flour, albeit of the lowest grade. Everything that could be edible was added to the bread - food cellulose, cake, wallpaper dust, sacking. There was also the concept of measles flour. It was formed from a sodden, seized and hardened crust, like cement. On the way to Leningrad, many cars sank along with food. Special brigades, under the cover of darkness, searched for these places and, with the help of ropes and hooks, lifted sacks of flour from the bottom. Some part in the very middle could remain dry. And the rest of the flour turned into a hard crust, which was then broken up and added to the blockade bread.

Route to Leningrad

The situation in the city was well known to the drivers of vehicles that delivered tens of tons of various cargoes to the shores of Ladoga in the Leningrad blockade and took evacuees from there. They risked their lives every minute, going out onto the ice of Lake Ladoga. And these are not just big words. In just one day on November 29, 1941, 52 cars went under water. And this is on a stretch of 30 kilometers! Of which the first few kilometers can not even be taken into account - the road there was relatively safe.

On the way, the driver was constantly in danger of going under the ice. Therefore, no one closed the car doors, despite the chill penetrating to the marrow of the bones. So there was a chance to have time to get out of the sinking car. When the situation was especially dangerous (trucks made trips on the already melting ice), the drivers rode all the way on the running board of the car. The thirty-kilometer ice section thus turned into a serious and lengthy test. After all, I had to go at low speed. But almost every driver made two flights a day.

However, the dangers did not end there. The Germans tried to inflict air strikes on the columns during the transport of goods. They aimed both at the trucks themselves and along the route, trying to destroy the track itself. Capricious weather also practically attacked the Ladoga military road. The rising snowstorm quickly leveled the road laid on the ice with the surrounding untouched landscape. There was an extremely great danger of going astray. Many drivers died from the cold, getting lost in a blizzard. To prevent such incidents, many road signs were installed along the route.

Sinking cars on the Road of Life.

blockade winter

In total, Leningraders had to endure three blockade winters. And although it was at this time that the ice road operated best, and a considerable amount of tons of cargo could be delivered along it, it was the winters of the blockade that were the most difficult time for Leningraders. After all, cold was added to the acute problem of malnutrition. There was no central heating, no electricity. Those lucky ones who were able to acquire a potbelly stove, slowly burned everything that could burn in it. In some cases, even furniture and parquet were used.

During the first winter - from December 1941 to February 1942 - a quarter of a million people died in Leningrad. But with the increase in the norms for the issuance of bread, the death rate became less. In order for the delivery of goods to the besieged city more massively and safely, already in the winter of 1942, they began to build an ice railway, which was supposed to pass directly on the lake. However, its construction was not completed, since on January 18, 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken, and the need for Lake Ladoga station disappeared.

There was another way, which was called the little road of life. It passed along the surface of the Gulf of Finland. Most of the defenders of Leningrad moved along this small route. This way they got to the defended "patch". Numerous soldiers wounded in battle were also sent back along it.

And when the blockade was broken, another road appeared, which was unofficially called the "Road of Victory". It was built right in the swamps and difficult rough terrain for the rapid evacuation of the population and the transport of the necessary products and ammunition.

"Road of Victory"

Sections of ice roads were calculated and laid based on the data of divers and scientists from the Hydrological Institute. On the operational military map The road of life is constantly changing its shape. Often the reason was that the delivery of goods took place in areas that, due to the bombing, became accident-prone. And the weather kept changing. Temperature changes, underwater currents and other external factors sometimes greatly influenced the entire route, and sometimes only a separate section of the route. Traffic on ice tracks was corrected by traffic controllers. During the first winter alone, the ice road moved completely 4 times. And some sections changed their configuration 12 times.

It is with such changes that the difference in data on the length of the path in historical documents. In addition, the map of military highway No. 101 included an overland section to railway station. Some indicated the full mileage, and some indicated only the section that they called the "Road of Life" on the ice of Lake Ladoga.

Monuments on the Road of Life

Flower of Life;
Katyusha;
broken ring;
Crossing;
Diary of Tanya Savicheva;
Lorry;
Rumbolovskaya mountain.

In addition to them, 102 memorial pillars were installed along the highway and the railway and memorial steles. Some of the stelae are included in the complex of monuments and memorials, and some are installed separately.

Among the memorial structures on the Road of Life, the “one and a half” monument stands out. There simply is no other like it. "Lorry" was popularly called a car with a carrying capacity of one and a half tons. It was on such trucks that people and goods were transported along the Road of Life. In the place of the road, where there were the most massive shellings, a life-sized truck, poured out of bronze, rises today.

Monument "Lorry" on the "Road of Life"

Flower of Life

The road of life passed near Vsevolozhsk. There, on the third kilometer of the memorial route, in 1968 the Flower of Life complex was opened. It is dedicated to the youngest victims of the besieged Leningrad. Indeed, during the years of the blockade, children became not only passive victims of hunger and shelling. To the best of their ability, they helped in the defense of the city, taking on those duties that in other circumstances would have been entrusted only to adults. Schoolchildren extinguished incendiary bombs, stood guard, helped in hospitals and collected raw materials for military needs.

The memorial complex consists of three parts. First, a 15-meter sculpture of a flower appears before the visitor, on the petals of which the words of a popular children's song in the USSR: "Let there always be sunshine" and the image of a pioneer boy are carved. This is followed by the Alley of Friendship, which consists of nine hundred birches - according to the number of blockade days. Scarlet pioneer ties are tied on tree trunks in memory of the dead children. Behind the alley is a mound. It is rare that a mention in the guidebooks of the Road of Life is complete without a photo of this mound. Among other attractions, there is a diary of a girl recreated in stone, who successively entered the dates of death of her family members into a notebook in an incorrect children's handwriting.

Monument "Flower of Life" on the "Road of Life"

broken ring

On the western shore of Lake Ladoga, where the Road of Life began, there is another monument. With severe brevity, he symbolically illustrates Interesting Facts about the road. Two massive half-arches, in the form of a broken ring, seven meters high, remind of the blockade ring. And the rupture of the memorial The torn ring points to the Road of Life. Under the ring towards the descent to the lake, right along the masonry, there is a concrete track from the wheels of the car.

From here, during the years of the blockade, trucks began their journey, delivering a valuable cargo of food and ammunition to the besieged city. Under the imposing monument, the words from a poem by Bronisław Kezhun are carved:

“Descendant, know: in harsh years,

Faithful to the people, duty and Fatherland,

Through the hummocks of the Ladoga ice

From here we led the way of Life,

So that life never dies.

Monument "Broken Ring" on the "Road of Life"

Osinovetsky lighthouse

The road of life is most often associated with trucks on ice and snowstorms. However, when the ice melted, it did not stop functioning. Just in warm weather, the Ladoga flotilla took over the load. Often it was even more difficult and dangerous than driving on ice. The coastline of Lake Ladoga has never favored shipping.

In late spring, summer and early autumn, ships cruising the lake were guided by the light of the Osinovetsky lighthouse, located on the southwestern shore. This lighthouse is still functioning today. Excursions are not carried out there, since the lighthouse is classified as a strategic facility and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.

The construction of the Osinovetsky lighthouse began in 1905. Since then, he has not interrupted his work. Beacon light points to western border the bay from which the Neva begins its journey. It rises 74 meters above the lake level, and the light of the lighthouse is visible at a distance of 40 kilometers.

Monument "Osinovetsky Lighthouse" on the "Road of Life"

Due to the fact that the Osinovetsky Lighthouse served as an important landmark for ships sailing along the Road of Life during the years of the blockade, it is classified as a cultural heritage site, although it is not a monument as such.

Katyusha

The road of life was the only one connecting thread besieged Leningrad with the rest of the country. The only artery that carried food and ammunition. She was what kept the city alive. The defenders of Leningrad understood this very well, the Leningraders themselves understood this, and the Germans understood this. They desperately tried to cut off this last line of communication in order to finally crush the resistance and destroy the weakened city.

The road of life was under constant fire. To protect against enemy aircraft, the legendary Katyusha installations were used on it. In memory of this, on the site where anti-aircraft units were located during the war years, a monument was erected, reminiscent of these defensive weapons that covered the movement of trucks. It consists of steel beams directed to the sky, each of which is 14 meters long. There are 5 such beams in total. They represent the famous "Katyusha".

Monument "Katyusha" on the "Road of Life"

A poem about the siege of Leningrad

Deep experiences of Leningraders about wartime and blockade hometown found their outlet in art. Poems dedicated to the Road of Life, paintings, photographs, literary essays - everything that could help express feelings was used. Olga Berggolts, Eduard Asadov, Vera Ibner, Boris Bogdanov, Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Lifshits are the most famous poets who glorified the blockade days in their works. But this list is far from complete.

And even today, seven decades later, this theme continues to inspire poets and words of memory, pain and gratitude harmoniously add up to rhymed lines. Here is an excerpt from a contemporary poem:

Road of Life, dear Ladoga,

Oh, how many you were able to save then!

For our grandfathers, grandmothers, I know

There is no sacred place in the world!

I stand before you on my knees

I stand and look thoughtfully into the distance,

From all post-war generations,

As God, I thank you.

And I know: I still dream at night

To all who survived in that blockade hell,

The flow of cars, a sleepless string,

Carrying bread on the Ladoga ice ....

Natalia Smirnova

The Road of Life across Lake Ladoga is a famous transport highway, which during the Great Patriotic War turned out to be the only connecting thread with the besieged Leningrad. In summer - on water, and in winter - on ice. It remained the only link between Leningrad and the rest of the country from September 1941 to March 1943.

Previous events

The road of life through Lake Ladoga was in demand after the complete blockade of Leningrad. This happened because of the failures that the Soviet army suffered at the very beginning of the war. German and Finnish troops almost completely surrounded the northern capital.

In an instant, almost two and a half million civilians, as well as several hundred thousand people living in the suburbs, found themselves isolated in besieged Leningrad. It was decided not to surrender the city. To provide such a number of people with food and everything necessary, this path was required, which was equipped on the coast of Ladoga, which remained under the control of Soviet troops. Air transportation was an alternative, but they could not deliver all the necessary cargo.

The food situation

It should be noted that at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the city had enough food. Flour - almost two months, cereals - almost three. Meat was supposed to be enough for 38 days, butter - for a month and a half.

After the German attack, food supplies to the city were intermittent. Therefore, already at the beginning of September, a week before the complete blockade, there was only two weeks of flour left in Leningrad, 23 days of cereals, exactly three weeks of fat, and no more than 19 days of meat products.

Thus, after the supply channels to Leningrad were blocked, the city found itself on the verge of disaster in a matter of days.

The road of life through Lake Ladoga

In order to supply Leningrad with everything necessary, it was necessary to send cargo water transport. From the city itself to the Ladoga coast there were roads and railways. But to receive a large volume of cargo, they had to be expanded. Build new berths, dig special fairways for them.

It should be noted that before the start of the war most of cargoes to the city went around this lake - along shipping channels. Therefore, there were very few ships capable of operating on the lake. At the same time, the decision that the organization of the highway along Lake Ladoga was necessary was made on August 30 by a special resolution of the State Defense Committee.

Osinovets Bay was chosen to receive ships, which was located one and a half kilometers from the Ladoga Lake station. As well as the Holtzman Bay, which stood another one and a half kilometers further. Ports were built with the help of four dredgers.

In September, at the disposal of the North-Western River Shipping Company, to which Leningrad belonged, there were 5 lake tugs and another 72 river ones, about a hundred barges.

Route to Leningrad

Cargoes were sent to Leningrad along the Road of Life through Lake Ladoga along one pre-approved route.

From the railway station "Volkhov" they were transported to the river pier in the Gostinopolye region. Here they were transferred to numerous barges. They were delivered by tugboats to Novaya Ladoga. Already from there they were accompanied by a dozen tugboats. Sometimes they were replaced by ships of the river flotilla. So they got to the bay of Osinovets.

Here they were already transferred to a narrow gauge railway and sent along the Irinovskaya branch of the Oktyabrskaya railway. Then they already got directly to Leningrad.

All transportation was led by Ladoga military flotilla. The head of the entire route, including the ports, was Major General Shilov.

In order to prevent the Germans from interfering with the delivery of goods to besieged Leningrad, a special air defense detachment operated, located on the right bank of the lake. He covered the entire route from German air raids.

First barges

The first barges along the Road of Life to Leningrad arrived on September 12, 1941. For the whole of September, the city received about 20,000 tons of cargo. At the same time, transportation was still unsafe. Due to storms on Ladoga, several barges sank.

On September 17 and 18, two barges with people were wrecked at once. One had 520 servicemen on their way to Leningrad. Only 300 people were saved. On the other - 300 civilians who were evacuated from the city. Most of them died. After that, it was forbidden to transport people on barges. For this, only self-propelled vessels began to be used.

They, in turn, were regularly bombed by German aircraft. In November 1941, an aerial bomb tore off the bow patrol ship"Constructor". About 200 people died. Mostly they were civilians who were evacuated from the city.

After the beginning of the freeze-up, on November 22, the ice road was opened. Some ships managed to deliver cargo until December 4th.

In total, in the autumn of 1941, about 60,000 tons of cargo were transported along the Road of Life, two thirds of which were food. It was possible to evacuate about 33,000 Leningraders. German aviation sank five tugs and 14 barges.

At this time, due to the restriction of food supplies in Leningrad, card system. Employees, dependents and children were entitled to only 200 grams of bread per day. Workers - 400 each. Since November 1, the situation has worsened. The norms were reduced to 150 and 300 grams, respectively.

blockade winter

The road of life during the Great Patriotic War along the ice track began to be prepared back in October. It was assumed that it would be two-lane, up to ten meters wide. Nutritional and heating points were equipped every five kilometers.

For its operation and protection, a road administration was created, led by engineer Monakhov. He was subordinate only to the chief of the rear of the front.

During the organization of the ice road, it was established that the phenomenon of resonance was often fatal. For example, a heavy truck overcame a route on ice without problems, and a passenger car following it could fall through the ice at a certain speed. Therefore, in order to avoid such accidents, a strictly defined speed was prescribed for cars.

Winter 1942-1943

The next winter turned out to be no less difficult, although preparations for it began in advance. On the road in the winter of 1942-1943, it was decided to lay a narrow gauge railway, in addition to the highway. Its cargo turnover was to be 2,000 tons of cargo per day.

In addition, on December 20, the movement of horse-drawn vehicles was opened. And in four more - for the automobile. In early December 1942, construction began on the pile-ice railway. By mid-January, the 43rd had built about ten and a half kilometers. Then, after the blockade was broken, the construction was curtailed.

Already in mid-January, Shlisselburg was liberated. At the same time, the road of life passed through the ice until March 1943.

The results of the work of the Road of Life

In total, during the existence of this route, 206,000 tons of cargo were delivered to Leningrad.

112,000 tons were fodder and food. Including 56,000 tons of flour, almost 10 thousand tons of cereals, two and a half thousand tons of meat, almost five thousand tons of fish, about three thousand tons of sugar, about seven and a half thousand tons of vegetables.

Also, 18,500 tons of coal and more than 50,000 tons of ammunition were brought to the besieged city.

Monuments to the Road of Life

To date, 7 monuments have been installed on the road of life. Monuments appeared along its entire length. All of them are included in the "Green Belt of Glory".

For the first few kilometers, on which there were transport columns from the Rzhevka railway station to Leningrad, four memorial steles were installed. They are called "Rzhevsky corridor". They are a natural continuation of the road of life along Leningrad itself.

On the third kilometer of the route there is a memorial complex "Flower of Life". It was created in 1968 by architects Melnikov and Levenkov. There are also eight steles here, which are the pages of the diary of the Leningrad schoolgirl Tanya Savicheva, who endured the entire blockade. They were created in 1975 by the same Levenkov.

On the tenth kilometer of this road, the Rumbolovskaya Gora complex is located, and on the 17th - Katyusha near the village of Kornevo. At the Ladoga Lake railway station, a monument to a steam locomotive occupies a key place. And near the village named after Morozov, a monument "Crossing" was erected.

The Broken Ring monument deserves special mention. It is located on the shores of Lake Ladoga, on the 40th kilometer of the highway to which this article is dedicated. Landmark - the village of Kokkorevo. It was in this place that the convoys headed for the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga.

The memorial consists of two reinforced concrete arches, symbolizing the blockade ring, in which the city of Leningrad found itself. The gap that can be seen between them is the Road of Life. Under the arches on a concrete platform, you can see the traces of car treads. And next to it are two more reinforced concrete balls white color. They imitate searchlight installations, which were actively used during the Great Patriotic War. The composition of the memorial complex is completed by a genuine anti-aircraft gun.

The monument appeared in 1966. In 2014, the Eternal Flame was lit here, which was specially brought from the Piskarevsky cemetery. Near it, the traditional winter marathon under the symbolic name "Road of Life" starts every year.

Today is a special day in St. Petersburg. It was on this day, in 1941, that the Nazis closed a blockade ring around Leningrad, in which the city lived for a terrible 872 days. It was on this day that the Nazis for the first time carried out a massive bombardment of the Northern capital, an enemy ring closed around the city and the countdown of the terrible days and nights of the defense of Leningrad began, which shocked the whole world with its tragedy and heroism. The city was often bombed, and hunger became a constant companion of every Leningrader.

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.

The capture of Leningrad was an integral part of the developed Nazi Germany plan of war against the USSR - the plan "Barbarossa". It provided that the Soviet Union should be completely defeated within 3-4 months of the summer and autumn of 1941, that is, during a lightning war ("blitzkrieg"). By November 1941, German troops were to capture the entire European part of the USSR.

According to Hitler's plan, Leningrad was to be wiped off the face of the earth, and the troops defending it were to be destroyed. Having failed in their attempts to break through the defenses of the Soviet troops inside the blockade ring, the Germans decided to starve the city out. On September 13, shelling of the city began, which continued throughout the war.

September 8, 1941 is considered the beginning of the blockade, when the land connection between Leningrad and the whole country was interrupted. However, the inhabitants of the city lost the opportunity to leave Leningrad two weeks earlier: the railway connection was interrupted on August 27, while tens of thousands of people gathered at the stations and in the suburbs, waiting for the possibility of a breakthrough to the east. The situation was further complicated by the fact that with the outbreak of the war, Leningrad was flooded with at least 300,000 refugees from the Baltic republics and neighboring Russian regions.

More than 2.5 million inhabitants, including 400 thousand children, turned out to be in the besieged city. There were very few food and fuel supplies. The catastrophic food situation of the city became clear on September 12, when checks and accounting of all edible stocks were completed. The resulting famine, exacerbated by bombing, problems with heating and paralysis of transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among the inhabitants.

But Leningraders continued to work - administrative and children's institutions, printing houses, clinics, theaters worked, scientists continued to work. Teenagers worked in factories, replacing their fathers who had gone to the front.

Lake Ladoga remained the only way to communicate with besieged Leningrad. On November 22, the movement of cars began along the ice road, which was called the Road of Life. The Germans bombed and shelled the road, but they failed to stop the movement. In winter, the population was evacuated and food was delivered. In total, about a million people were evacuated.

Part of the emaciated people taken out of the city could not be saved. Several thousand people died from the consequences of starvation after they were transported to the mainland. Doctors did not immediately learn how to care for starving people. There were cases when they died, having received a large amount of high-quality food, which for an exhausted organism turned out to be essentially poison. At the same time, as all researchers unanimously note, there could have been much more victims if the local authorities of the regions where the evacuees were placed had not made extraordinary efforts to provide Leningraders with food and qualified medical care.

In December 1941, the situation deteriorated sharply. Death from starvation has become massive. The sudden death of passers-by on the streets became commonplace - people went somewhere about their business, fell and died instantly. Special funeral services picked up about a hundred corpses daily from the streets. Another important factor in the increase in mortality was the cold. January and early February 1942 became the most terrible, critical months of the blockade.

In January 1942, the Red Army made its first attempt to break through the blockade. The troops of the two fronts - Leningrad and Volkhov - in the area of \u200b\u200bLake Ladoga were separated by only 12 km. However, the Germans managed to create an impenetrable defense in this area, and the forces of the Red Army were still very limited. The Soviet troops suffered huge losses, but did not manage to move forward. The soldiers who broke through the blockade ring from Leningrad were severely exhausted.

Only on January 18, 1943, the encirclement was broken through, and the enemy was driven back from the city. January 27, 1944 - Day complete withdrawal blockade of Leningrad, which became the bloodiest in the history of mankind.

According to various sources, from 400 thousand to 1.5 million people died in the city over the years.

By order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief dated May 1, 1945, Leningrad received the title of Hero City for the heroism and courage shown by the inhabitants during the blockade. On May 8, 1965, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Hero City of Leningrad was awarded the order Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to find the names of all the dead, but it is necessary to remember this terrible date, these terrible events that led to the death of thousands of people.

September 8 is rightfully considered a sacred date for Petersburgers. Despite the fact that quite a lot of time has passed, the memory of their feat will be eternal.

Besieged Leningrad: photo chronicle

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

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.

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 listeners: 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.

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 Prospect. Spring 1942

After the shelling.

On the construction of an anti-tank ditch

On Nevsky Prospekt near the Khudozhestvenny cinema. The cinema under the same name still exists on Nevsky Prospekt, 67.