The population of besieged Leningrad. Clarification of the number of victims

Know, Soviet people, that you are descendants of fearless warriors!
Know, Soviet people, that the blood of great heroes flows in you,
Those who gave their lives for their homeland without thinking about the benefits!
Know and honor, Soviet people, the exploits of our grandfathers and fathers!

Documentary film “Ladoga” - 1943. About the battle for Leningrad:

By the beginning of 1943, the situation of the surrounded by German troops Leningrad remained extremely difficult. The troops of the Leningrad Front and the Baltic Fleet were isolated from the rest of the Red Army. Attempts to relieve the siege of Leningrad in 1942 - the Lyuban and Sinyavin offensive operations - were unsuccessful. The shortest route between the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, between the southern coast of Lake Ladoga and the village of Mga (the so-called Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge, 12-16 km), was still occupied by units of the 18th German Army.

On the streets and squares of the second capital of the USSR, shells and bombs continued to explode, people died, buildings collapsed. The city was under constant threat of air raids and artillery shelling. The lack of land communications with the territory under the control of Soviet troops caused great difficulties in the supply of fuel and raw materials for factories, and did not allow meeting the needs of troops and civilians for food and basic necessities.

However, the situation of Leningrad residents in the winter of 1942-1943. it was still somewhat better than the previous winter. Electricity was supplied to the city through an underwater cable, and fuel was supplied through an underwater pipeline. The city was supplied with necessary products and goods along the ice of the lake - the Road of Life. In addition, in addition to the highway, an iron line was also built right on the ice of Lake Ladoga.

The commander of the 136th Infantry Division, Major General Nikolai Pavlovich Simonyak, at the observation post. The photo was taken during the first day of the operation to break the blockade of Leningrad (Operation Iskra).

By the end of 1942, the Leningrad Front under the command of Leonid Govorov included: 67th Army - commander Lieutenant General Mikhail Dukhanov, 55th Army - Lieutenant General Vladimir Sviridov, 23rd Army - Major General Alexander Cherepanov, 42- I Army - Lieutenant General Ivan Nikolaev, Primorsky Operational Group and 13th Air Army - Colonel General of Aviation Stepan Rybalchenko. The main forces of the LF - the 42nd, 55th and 67th armies, defended themselves at the line Uritsk, Pushkin, south of Kolpino, Porogi, the right bank of the Neva to Lake Ladoga. The 67th Army operated in a 30 km strip along the right bank of the Neva from Porogi to Lake Ladoga, having a small bridgehead on the left bank of the river, in the area of ​​Moscow Dubrovka. The 55th Infantry Brigade of this army defended from the south highway, which passed on the ice of Lake Ladoga. The 23rd Army defended the northern approaches to Leningrad, located on the Karelian Isthmus.

Units of the 23rd Army were often transferred to other, more dangerous directions. The 42nd Army defended the Pulkovo line. The Primorsky Operational Group (POG) was located on the Oranienbaum bridgehead.

The actions of the LF were supported by the Red Banner Baltic Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Vladimir Tributs, who was based at the mouth of the Neva River and in Kronstadt. It covered the coastal flanks of the front and supported the ground forces with its aviation and naval artillery fire. In addition, the fleet held a number of islands in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, thereby covering the western approaches to the city. Leningrad was also supported by the Ladoga military flotilla. The air defense of Leningrad was carried out by the Leningrad Air Defense Army, which interacted with aviation and anti-aircraft artillery of the front and navy. The military highway on the ice of the lake and the transshipment bases on its shores were protected from Luftwaffe attacks by formations of the separate Ladoga air defense region.

By the beginning of 1943, the Volkhov Front under the command of Army General Kirill Meretsky included: the 2nd Shock Army, the 4th, 8th, 52nd, 54th, 59th Armies and the 14th Air Army. But the following took direct part in the operation: the 2nd Shock Army - under the command of Lieutenant General Vladimir Romanovsky, the 54th Army - Lieutenant General Alexander Sukhomlin, the 8th Army - Lieutenant General Philip Starikov, the 14th Air Army - General - Aviation Lieutenant Ivan Zhuravlev. They operated in a 300 km strip from Lake Ladoga to Lake Ilmen. On the right flank from Lake Ladoga to the Kirov Railway there were units of the 2nd Shock and 8th Armies.

The German command, after the failure of attempts to take the city in 1942, was forced to stop the fruitless offensive and order the troops to go on the defensive. The Red Army was opposed by the German 18th Army under the command of Georg Liederman, which was part of Army Group North. It consisted of 4 army corps and up to 26 divisions. The German troops were supported by the 1st Air Fleet of Air Force Colonel General Alfred Keller. In addition, on the northwestern approaches to the city opposite the 23rd Soviet Army there were 4 Finnish divisions from the Karelian Isthmus task force.

The Red Army tank landing force is moving towards a breakthrough!

A unique film about the siege of Leningrad. Chronicle of those years:

Red Army soldiers take position and prepare for battle - breaking the blockade of Leningrad

German defense

The Germans had the most powerful defense and dense grouping of troops in the most dangerous direction - the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge (its depth did not exceed 15 km). Here, between the city of Mga and Lake Ladoga, 5 German divisions were stationed - the main forces of the 26th and part of the divisions of the 54th Army Corps. They consisted of about 60 thousand people, 700 guns and mortars, about 50 tanks and self-propelled guns. Each village was turned into a strong point, prepared for all-round defense; the positions were covered with minefields, barbed wire barriers and fortified with pillboxes. There were two lines of defense in total: the first included the structures of the 8th State District Power Plant, the 1st and 2nd Gorodki and the houses of the city of Shlisselburg - from the side of Leningrad, Lipka, Worker settlements No. 4, 8, 7, Gontovaya Lipka - from the side of the Volkhov Front , the second included workers’ settlements No. 1 and No. 5, Podgornaya and Sinyavino stations, workers’ settlement No. 6, and the Mikhailovsky village. The defensive lines were saturated with resistance units and had a developed network of trenches, shelters, dugouts, and fire weapons. As a result, the entire ledge resembled one fortified area.

The situation for the attacking side was aggravated by the wooded and swampy terrain in the area. In addition, there was a large area of ​​​​Sinyavin peat mining, which was cut by deep ditches. The territory was impassable for armored vehicles and heavy artillery, and they were needed to destroy enemy fortifications. To overcome such a defense, powerful means of suppression and destruction were required, as well as a huge strain of forces and means of the attacking side.

On January 2, 1943, in order to break the blockade of Leningrad, the strategic offensive Operation Iskra began.

Girl from the besieged city - People of Legend (USSR 1985):

Plan and preparation of the operation. Shock groups of the Soviet army

Back in November 1942, the LF command presented its proposals to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief for preparing a new offensive near Leningrad. It was planned to carry out two operations in December 1942 - February 1943. During the “Shlisselburg Operation”, it was proposed that the forces of the LF, together with the troops of the Volkhov Front, break through the blockade of the city and build a railway along Lake Ladoga. During the “Uritskaya Operation” they were going to break through a land corridor to the Oranienbaum bridgehead. The headquarters approved the first part of the operation - breaking the blockade of Leningrad (directive No. 170696 of December 2, 1942). The operation was codenamed "Iskra", the troops were supposed to be in full combat readiness by January 1, 1943.

The operation plan was outlined in more detail in Directive No. 170703 of the Supreme Command Headquarters of December 8. The troops of the LF and VF received the task of defeating the German group in the area of ​​Lipka, Gaitolovo, Moskovskaya Dubrovka, Shlisselburg and, thus, lifting the complete blockade of Leningrad. By the end of January 1943, the Red Army was supposed to reach the line Moika River - Mikhailovsky - Tortolovo. The directive also announced the conduct of the “Mginsk operation” in February with the aim of defeating the German group in the Mga area and ensuring a strong railway connection between Leningrad and the country. Coordination of the fronts' actions was entrusted to Marshal Kliment Voroshilov.

Almost a month was allotted to prepare the operation. Much attention was paid to the interaction between the troops of the two fronts. In the rear, training fields and special camps were created to practice offensive actions of formations in wooded and swampy areas and storm the enemy’s layered defense. Units of the 67th Army practiced methods of crossing the Neva on ice and establishing a crossing for tanks and artillery. In the LF, at the direction of Govorov, artillery groups were formed: long-range, special purpose, counter-mortar and separate group of guards mortar units. By the start of the operation, thanks to reconnaissance efforts, the command was able to get a fairly good idea of ​​the German defenses. In December, a thaw occurred, so the ice on the Neva was weak, and the swampy terrain was difficult to access, therefore, at the suggestion of the commander of the Leningrad Fleet, Headquarters postponed the start of the operation to January 12, 1943. In early January, the State Defense Committee sent Georgy Zhukov to the Volkhov Front to reinforce it.

To carry out the operation, strike groups were formed as part of the LF and VF fronts, which were reinforced with armored, artillery and engineering formations, including from the Headquarters reserve. On the Volkhov Front, the basis of the strike group was Romanovsky’s 2nd Shock Army. It included, including the army reserve, 12 rifle divisions, 4 tank, 1 rifle and 3 ski brigades, a guards breakthrough tank regiment, 4 separate tank battalions: 165 thousand people, 2100-2200 guns and mortars, 225 tanks. The army was supported from the air by about 400 aircraft. The army received the task of breaking through the enemy’s defenses in a 12 km section from the village of Lipki on the shore of Lake Ladoga and to Gaitolovo, reaching the line of Workers’ Villages No. 1 and No. 5, Sinyavino, and then developing the offensive until connecting with the LF units. In addition, the troops of the 8th Army: 2 rifle divisions, a brigade Marine Corps, a separate tank regiment and 2 separate tank battalions, launched an auxiliary attack in the direction of Tortolovo, the village of Mikhailovsky. The advance of the 2nd Shock and 8th Army was supported by about 2,885 guns and mortars.

From the LF side main role Dukhanov's 67th Army was supposed to play. It consisted of 7 rifle divisions (one guards), 6 rifle, 3 tank and 2 ski brigades, 2 separate tank battalions. The offensive was supported by the artillery of the army, the front, the Baltic Fleet (88 guns with a caliber of 130-406 mm) - about 1900 guns, the 13th Air Army and naval aviation - about 450 aircraft and about 200 tanks. Units of the 67th Army were supposed to cross the Neva on a 12 km section between the Nevsky Piglet and Shlisselburg, concentrating their main efforts in the direction of Maryino and Sinyavino. The LF troops broke through German defense in the Moskovskaya Dubrovka, Shlisselburg sector, they were supposed to connect with the VF formations at the line of Workers' Villages No. 2, 5 and 6, and then develop an offensive to the southeast and reach the line on the Moika River.

Both strike groups numbered about 300 thousand people, approximately 4,900 guns and mortars, about 600 tanks and more than 800 aircraft.

Sappers of the Volkhov Front, Red Army soldier A.G. Zubakin and Sergeant M.V. Kamensky (right) make passages in a wire fence in the Sinyavino area. The photo was taken during the first day of the operation to break the blockade of Leningrad (Operation Iskra).

Siege Leningrad. Shestakovich's 7th Symphony:

Beginning of the Offensive. January 12, 1943

On the morning of January 12, 1943, troops from two fronts simultaneously launched an offensive. Previously at night, aviation dealt a powerful blow to Wehrmacht positions in the breakthrough zone, as well as to airfields, control posts, communications and railway junctions in the enemy rear. Tons of metal fell on the Germans, destroying their manpower, destroying defensive structures and suppressing morale. At 9:30 in the morning, the artillery of two fronts began artillery preparation: in the offensive zone of the 2nd Shock Army it lasted 1 hour 45 minutes, and in the sector of the 67th Army - 2 hours 20 minutes. 40 minutes before the infantry and armored vehicles began to move, attack aircraft, in groups of 6-8 aircraft, struck pre-reconnaissance artillery and mortar positions, strongholds and communications centers.

At 11:50, under the cover of the “wall of fire” and the fire of the 16th fortified area, the divisions of the first echelon of the 67th Army went on the attack. Each of the four divisions—the 45th Guards, 268th, 136th, and 86th Rifle Divisions—were reinforced by several artillery and mortar regiments, an anti-tank artillery regiment, and one or two engineering battalions. In addition, the offensive was supported by 147 light tanks and armored cars, the weight of which could be supported by the ice. The particular difficulty of the operation was that the Wehrmacht’s defensive positions were along the steep, icy left river bank, which was higher than the right. The German fire weapons were arranged in tiers and covered all approaches to the shore with multi-layered fire. In order to break through to the other bank, it was necessary to reliably suppress German firing points, especially in the first line. At the same time, we had to be careful not to damage the ice on the left bank.

The assault groups were the first to make their way to the other side of the Neva. Their fighters selflessly made passages in the barriers. Behind them rifle and tank units crossed the river. After a fierce battle, the enemy’s defenses were breached in the area north of the 2nd Gorodok (268th Rifle Division and 86th Separate Tank Battalion) and in the Maryino area (136th Division and formations of the 61st Tank Brigade). By the end of the day, Soviet troops broke the resistance of the 170th German Infantry Division between the 2nd Gorodok and Shlisselburg. The 67th Army captured a bridgehead between the 2nd Gorodok and Shlisselburg, and construction began on a crossing for medium and heavy tanks and heavy artillery (completed on January 14). On the flanks the situation was more difficult: on the right wing, the 45th Guards Rifle Division in the “Neva patch” area was able to capture only the first line of German fortifications; on the left wing, the 86th Rifle Division was unable to cross the Neva at Shlisselburg (it was transferred to a bridgehead in the Maryino area to attack Shlisselburg from the south).

In the offensive zone of the 2nd shock (went on the offensive at 11:15) and the 8th army (at 11:30), the offensive developed with great difficulty. Aviation and artillery were unable to suppress the main enemy firing points, and the swamps were impassable even in winter. The most fierce battles took place at the points of Lipka, Workers' Village No. 8 and Gontovaya Lipka; these strong points were located on the flanks of the breaking through forces and even when completely surrounded they continued the battle. On the right flank and in the center - the 128th, 372nd and 256th rifle divisions were able to break through the defenses of the 227th Infantry Division by the end of the day and advance 2-3 km. The strongholds of Lipka and Workers' Village No. 8 could not be taken that day. On the left flank, only the 327th Infantry Division, which occupied most of the fortification in the Kruglaya grove, was able to achieve some success in the offensive. The attacks of the 376th Division and the forces of the 8th Army were unsuccessful.

The German command, already on the first day of the battle, was forced to bring operational reserves into battle: formations of the 96th Infantry Division and the 5th Mountain Division were sent to the aid of the 170th Division, two regiments of the 61st Infantry Division (“Major General Hüner’s group ") were introduced into the center of the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge.

Leningrad in the struggle (USSR, 1942):

Leningrad Front- commander: lieutenant general (since January 15, 1943 - colonel general) L.A. Govorov

Volkhov Front- Commander: General of the Army K.A. Meretskov.

Fights January 13 - 17

On the morning of January 13, the offensive continued. The Soviet command, in order to finally turn the situation in its favor, began to introduce the second echelon of the advancing armies into battle. However, the Germans, relying on strongholds and a developed defense system, offered stubborn resistance, and the battles became protracted and fierce.

In the offensive zone of the 67th Army on the left flank, the 86th Infantry Division and a battalion of armored vehicles, supported from the north by the 34th Ski Brigade and the 55th Infantry Brigade (on the ice of the lake), stormed the approaches to Shlisselburg for several days. By the evening of the 15th, the Red Army soldiers reached the outskirts of the city, the German troops in Shlisselburg found themselves in a critical situation, but continued to fight stubbornly.

In the center, the 136th Infantry Division and the 61st Tank Brigade developed an offensive in the direction of Workers' Village No. 5. To secure the left flank of the division, the 123rd Infantry Brigade was brought into the battle; it was supposed to advance in the direction of Workers' Village No. 3. Then, to secure the right flank, the 123rd Infantry Division and a tank brigade were brought into battle; they advanced in the direction of Rabochy Settlement No. 6, Sinyavino. After several days of fighting, the 123rd Infantry Brigade captured Workers' Village No. 3 and reached the outskirts of villages No. 1 and No. 2. The 136th Division made its way to Workers' Village No. 5, but could not immediately take it.

On the right wing of the 67th Army, attacks by the 45th Guards and 268th Rifle Divisions were still unsuccessful. The Air Force and artillery were unable to eliminate the firing points in the 1st, 2nd Gorodoki and 8th State District Power Plant. In addition, German troops received reinforcements - formations of the 96th Infantry and 5th Mountain Rifle Divisions. The Germans even launched fierce counterattacks, using the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion, which was armed with Tiger I heavy tanks. Soviet troops, despite the introduction of second echelon troops into battle - the 13th Infantry Division, 102nd and 142nd Infantry Brigades, were unable to turn the situation in this sector in their favor.

In the zone of the 2nd Shock Army, the offensive continued to develop more slowly than that of the 67th Army. German troops, relying on strongholds - Workers' settlements No. 7 and No. 8, Lipke, continued to offer stubborn resistance. On January 13, despite the introduction of part of the second echelon forces into the battle, the troops of the 2nd Shock Army did not achieve serious success in any direction. In the following days, the army command tried to expand the breakthrough in the southern sector from the Kruglaya grove to Gaitolovo, but without significant results. The 256th Infantry Division was able to achieve the greatest success in this direction; on January 14, it occupied Workers' Village No. 7, Podgornaya station and reached the approaches to Sinyavino. On the right wing, the 12th Ski Brigade was sent to help the 128th Division; it was supposed to go across the ice of Lake Ladoga to the rear of the Lipka stronghold.

On January 15, in the center of the offensive zone, the 372nd Infantry Division was finally able to take Workers' Villages No. 8 and No. 4, and on the 17th they reached village No. 1. By this day, the 18th Infantry Division and the 98th Tank Brigade of the 2nd UA had already been there for several days fought a stubborn battle on the outskirts of Workers' Village No. 5. It was attacked from the west by units of the 67th Army. The moment of unification of the two armies was close...

As a result of the January battles of 1943, it was possible to clear the southern coast of Lake Ladoga from the enemy. Between Lake Ladoga and the front line a formation was formed corridor 8-11 km wide, through which within 17 days a railway and a road were built.

The blockade was completely lifted January 27, 1944 as a result of the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation.

The siege of Leningrad lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. During this time, 107 thousand air bombs were dropped on the northern capital, and about 150 thousand shells were fired. According to various sources, during the years of the blockade, from 400 thousand to 1 million people died. In particular, on Nuremberg trials the figure was 632 thousand people. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling, the remaining 97% died from starvation.

The light cruiser "Kirov" salutes in honor of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad!

Leningrad. Firework. Breaking the siege of Leningrad (January 27, 1944):

Lifting the blockade of Leningrad (1944)

The Battle of Leningrad, which lasted from July 10, 1941 to August 9, 1944, was the longest during the Great Patriotic War. It was crowned with a brilliant victory for Soviet weapons, demonstrated the high moral spirit of the Soviet people, and became a symbol of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people and their Armed Forces.

General course of the battle for Leningrad

The military-political leadership of Nazi Germany attached paramount importance to the capture of Leningrad. The fall of the city on the Neva would lead to the isolation of the northern regions of the USSR; the Soviet state would lose one of the most important political and economic centers. The German command intended to launch the forces released after the capture of Leningrad into an attack on Moscow.

In their desire to take control of this city at any cost, the Nazi leadership did not hesitate to use the most inhumane methods of struggle. Hitler repeatedly demanded to raze Leningrad to the ground, exterminate its entire population, strangle it with hunger, and suppress the resistance of the defenders with massive air and artillery strikes.

The Battle of Leningrad, which lasted 900 days and nights, included defensive and offensive operations. They were carried out in order to defend the city and defeat the Nazi troops of Army Group North and Finnish troops between Lakes Onega and Lake Ladoga, as well as on the Karelian Isthmus. The battle for Leningrad at various times involved troops of the Northern, Northwestern, Leningrad, Volkhov, Karelian and 2nd Baltic fronts, formations of long-range aviation and the country's Air Defense Forces, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, Peipus, Ladoga and Onega military flotillas, partisan formations .

In the battle for Leningrad, the efforts of the front troops and the working people of the city and region united. On the approaches to the city, they created centers of resistance and built defensive lines. A defense system consisting of several belts was created around Leningrad. Fortified areas were built on the closest approaches to the city, and the internal defense of Leningrad was created.

According to its military-strategic scope, the forces and means involved, tension, results and military-political consequences, the battle for Leningrad can be divided into the following stages.

1st stage (July 10 - September 30, 1941) - defense on the distant and near approaches to Leningrad. Leningrad strategic defensive operation.
Having overcome the resistance of Soviet troops in the Baltic states, fascist German troops launched an offensive on the southwestern approaches to Leningrad on July 10. Finnish troops went on the offensive from the north.

Hot battles broke out these days on the left flank of the North-Western Front. The enemy stubbornly made its way to Staraya Russa and Kholm. On July 17, the enemy broke through to the headquarters of the 22nd Rifle Corps in the area of ​​Dno station. 20 soldiers, led by the deputy political instructor of the radio company A.K., boldly entered into battle with him. Mary. For several hours they repelled enemy attacks and prevented him from capturing the headquarters. A.K. Meri was wounded several times, but did not leave the battlefield. For his heroism he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

On August 8-10, defensive battles began on the near approaches to Leningrad. Despite the heroic resistance of the Soviet troops, the enemy broke through on the left flank of the Luga defense line and occupied Novgorod on August 19, Chudovo on August 20, and cut the Moscow-Leningrad highway and railway. By the end of September, in the Olonets and Petrozavodsk directions, Soviet troops, with the support of ships of the Ladoga military flotilla, stopped the enemy at the turn of the Svir River. On July 31, the enemy launched an offensive on the Karelian Isthmus. At the end of August, Finnish troops reached the line of the old state border. Created real threat encirclement of Leningrad.
At the end of August, the enemy resumed the offensive along the Moscow-Leningrad highway, on August 30 he reached the Neva and cut the railways connecting Leningrad with the country. Having captured Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost) on September 8, German troops cut off Leningrad from land. An almost 900-day blockade of the city began, communication with which was now maintained only by Lake Ladoga and by air. The next day, September 9, the enemy launched a new attack on Leningrad from the area west of Krasnogvardeysk, but as a result of stubborn resistance by the troops of the Leningrad Front, the enemy’s offensive, which suffered heavy losses, gradually weakened, and by the end of September the front on the nearest approaches to the city stabilized. The enemy’s plan to capture Leningrad immediately failed, and this entailed the disruption of the enemy’s intentions to turn the main forces of Army Group North to attack Moscow.

An important role in the defense of Leningrad from the sea was played by the heroic defense of the Moonsund Islands, the Hanko Peninsula and the Tallinn naval base, the Oranienbaum bridgehead and Kronstadt. Their defenders showed exceptional courage and heroism. So, for example, in the battles near the Kharku farm, the Nazis captured a seriously wounded reconnaissance sailor from the ship "Minsk" E.A. Nikonova. The Nazis wanted to get information from him about the number of our troops, but the courageous sailor refused to answer. The fascist executioners gouged out his eyes, tied him to a tree and burned him alive. E.A. Nikonov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. He is forever listed on the ship's list.

2nd stage (October 1941 - January 12, 1943) - defensive fighting Soviet troops. Siege of the city of Leningrad.

Soviet troops made repeated attempts to lift the blockade of the city. In 1941, they carried out the Tikhvin defensive and offensive operations, and in 1942, the Lyuban and Sinyavin operations.

Hitler's command, having failed to realize their plans to capture Leningrad from the south, launched an attack on Tikhvin in mid-October 1941 with the goal of reaching the river. Svir, unite with Finnish troops and carry out a complete blockade of Leningrad. The enemy captured Tikhvin on November 8, cutting off the last railway along which cargo transported to Lake Ladoga was delivered by water to a besieged city. In mid-November, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive and on December 9 captured Tikhvin, driving the enemy beyond the river. Volkhov.

The current situation forced the German command to reconsider the tactics of the fight for Leningrad. Having failed to take the city by storm, it decided to achieve its goal with a long blockade, accompanied by artillery shelling and air bombing. Back on September 21, 1941, a report “On the Siege of Leningrad” was prepared at Hitler’s headquarters. It spoke of the need to raze Leningrad to the ground during the blockade, leave the city without food for the winter, and wait for capitulation. And those who will remain alive by spring will be driven out of the city, and the city itself will be destroyed.

The city defense committee, party and Soviet bodies did everything possible to save the population from hunger. Assistance to Leningrad was carried out along the transport route across Lake Ladoga, called the Road of Life. It made it possible to increase food supplies in the city, slightly increase food supply standards for the population, and bring in ammunition.

Transportation during navigation periods was carried out by the Ladoga Flotilla and the North-Western River Shipping Company.

To supply petroleum products to the city, from May 5 to June 16, 1942, a pipeline was laid along the bottom of Lake Ladoga, and in the fall of 1942, an energy cable was laid.
Leningrad was covered from the sea by the Baltic Fleet. It actively participated in the defensive and offensive operations of the troops of the Leningrad Front using its aviation, naval and coastal artillery, and marines, and also provided military transportation in the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. In the enemy-occupied territory of the Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions, they deployed active struggle partisans.

In January - April 1942, strike groups of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, advancing towards each other, fought stubborn battles in the Lyuban, and in August - October in the Sinyavinsk directions in order to break the blockade of the city. However, due to a lack of forces and means, the operations were not successful, but still the enemy suffered serious damage in manpower and military equipment. His strength was constrained.

3rd stage (1943) - military operations of Soviet troops, breaking the blockade of Leningrad.

In January 1943, in order to break the blockade of the city near Leningrad, the strategic offensive operation Iskra was carried out. On January 12, 1943, formations of the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front (commanded by Colonel General L.A. Govorov), the 2nd shock and part of the forces of the 8th Army of the Volkhov Front (commanded by Army General K.A. Meretskov) with the support of 13- The 1st and 14th Air Armies, long-range aviation, artillery and aviation of the Baltic Fleet launched counter strikes on a narrow ledge between Shlisselburg and Sinyavin. On January 18, they united in the areas of workers’ settlements No. 5 and No. 1. A corridor 8-11 km wide was formed south of Lake Ladoga. A 36-kilometer-long railway was built along the southern shore of Ladoga in 18 days. Trains went along it to Leningrad.

Breaking the blockade became a turning point in the battle for the city on the Neva. And although it still remained a front-line city, the plan to capture it by the Nazis was completely thwarted. Its food supply and the strategic situation near Leningrad improved significantly.

Soviet soldiers performed many heroic, immortal feats in these battles. Thus, signalman of the 270th regiment of the 136th rifle division D.S. Molodtsov, advancing along with the riflemen, volunteered to crawl to the enemy bunker, which covered the approaches to the enemy battery. In carrying out this task, at the cost of his own life, he enabled the regiment to capture a heavy enemy battery. Molodtsov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The mortarmen, the Shumov brothers Alexander, Vasily, Luka, Ivan, Avksentiy, fought courageously. All of them were awarded orders.

The heroic feat was accomplished by the pilot, senior lieutenant I.S. Panteleev. His plane, which was assisting ground troops in suppressing targets, was shot down and caught fire. The selfless pilot directed his burning car at an enemy battery, bombed it, and then threw the plane engulfed in flames onto a German convoy.

In the summer and autumn battles of 1943, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts active actions thwarted the enemy's attempts to restore the complete blockade of Leningrad, carrying out many private operations. They contributed to improving the positions of the Soviet troops. At the same time, the combat activity of our troops pinned down about 30 enemy divisions. This did not allow the enemy to transfer at least one of them to the south, where, in particular near Kursk, the Nazis were defeated.

4th stage (January - February 1944) - the offensive of Soviet troops in the northwestern direction, the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad.

During this stage, Soviet troops carried out the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation, within the framework of which the troops of the Leningrad Front carried out the Krasnoselsko-Ropshinskaya, and the Volkhov Front - the Novgorod-Luga offensive operations.

On January 14, 1944, Soviet troops went on the offensive from the Oranienbaum bridgehead to Ropsha, and on January 15 - from Leningrad to Krasnoye Selo. On January 20, the advancing troops united in the Ropsha area and eliminated the encircled enemy group. At the same time, on January 14, Soviet troops went on the offensive in the Novgorod area, on January 16 - in the Lyuban direction, and on January 20 they liberated Novgorod. By the end of January, the cities of Pushkin, Krasnogvardeysk, Tosno, Lyuban, and Chudovo were liberated.

January 27, 1944 will forever remain in the memory of Leningraders, of all our people. The siege of Leningrad was completely eliminated.

The date January 27 is immortalized in the Russian Federation as the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the Day of Lifting the Siege of the City of Leningrad (1944).

By February 15, as a result of fierce fighting, the enemy defenses in the Luga area were overcome. After this, the Volkhov Front was disbanded, and the troops of the Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts, continuing to pursue the enemy, reached the border of the Latvian SSR by the end of March 1. As a result of the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, Army Group North was severely defeated, almost the entire Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region were liberated, Soviet troops entered the Estonian SSR, and favorable conditions were created for the defeat of the enemy in the Baltic states.

In the summer of 1944, troops of the Leningrad and Karelian fronts, with the participation of the Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega military flotillas, defeated the enemy group on the northern wing of the Soviet-German front, which predetermined Finland’s exit from the war, the security of Leningrad was completely ensured and most of the Karelo-Finnish SSR was liberated.

The historical significance of the victory in the Battle of Leningrad

The Great Patriotic War saw many outstanding battles and battles on the way to the world-historical Victory over German fascism and its allies. Special place among them and in general in world military history belongs to the persistent and heroic 900-day defense of Leningrad.

What is the historical significance of the Battle of Leningrad?

Firstly, the defense of besieged Leningrad became a symbol of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people. The defenders and residents of the city, being under blockade, selflessly repelled the superior forces of the Nazi troops. Despite unprecedented difficulties and hardships, countless sacrifices and losses, they did not doubt victory for a minute, stood and won, showing examples of perseverance, endurance and patriotism. The history of wars does not know such a feat.

Leningrad, its residents and defenders had to endure unprecedented difficulties and suffering during the blockade winter of 1941-1942. The city was deprived of food and fuel supplies. Electricity supply to residential buildings was cut off. The water supply system failed and 78 km of the sewer network was destroyed. Trams stopped and public utilities stopped working. In the fall of 1941, food standards were reduced five times. From November 20, workers received 250 grams of bread per day, all others - 125 grams. The bread was raw and consisted of 2/5 impurities. Scurvy and dystrophy began.

Hitler's command carried out barbaric bombings and artillery shelling of Leningrad. During the blockade, about 150 thousand shells were fired at the city and over 102 thousand incendiary and about 5 thousand high-explosive bombs were dropped. During September - November 1941, an air raid warning was announced in the city 251 times. The average daily duration of artillery shelling in November 1941 reached 9 hours.

The city's residents paid a high price. During the harsh days of the blockade, 641,803 people died from artillery shelling and bombing, hunger and cold. Many of them are buried in mass graves at the Piskarevskoye cemetery.

Hundreds of thousands Soviet soldiers laid down their heads in the battle for Leningrad. Irreversible losses amounted to 979,254 people, sanitary losses - 1,947,770 people.

Secondly, the battle for Leningrad was of great military and strategic importance. It influenced the course of hostilities in other directions of the Soviet-German front. Large forces of Nazi troops and the entire Finnish army were drawn into battles in the North-West. If in June 1942 there were 34 divisions in Army Group North, then in October there were already 44. Hitler’s command, due to the activity of Soviet troops, could not transfer large forces from Leningrad to other sectors of the front (near Moscow, Stalingrad, Northern Caucasus, Kursk), when large-scale hostilities took place there. With the end of the battle for Leningrad, a significant number of troops from the Leningrad and Karelian fronts were released, which the Supreme High Command Headquarters used in other strategic directions.

Thirdly, during the battle for Leningrad, Soviet military art received further development. For the first time in the history of modern wars, the enemy, who had been blockading the largest city for a long time, was defeated here by an attack from the outside combined with a powerful blow from the besieged city. The offensive carried out according to this plan was fully prepared and successfully completed.

The victory was achieved through the efforts of all types and branches of the military with the active assistance of the partisans. The Supreme High Command headquarters directed and coordinated the actions of the fronts, fleet, air defense army, flotillas and air force. The skillful selection of the main directions of action of the troops, the timely assignment of combat missions to them, the strengthening of fronts in accordance with these tasks, and the prompt redirection of troops during operations were of great importance for the successful outcome of the battle.

At the defensive stage of the battle, the area where Soviet troops were blockaded from land (with Leningrad in the center) was unified system positions and lines, which expanded the possibilities of maneuvering forces and means to concentrate them in threatened areas. On the Leningrad Front in September 1941, one of the first in the war carried out effective artillery counter-preparation against the enemy, who was preparing to storm the city.

Breaking the blockade was carried out by counter-attacks by groups of two fronts. During offensive operations, Soviet military art was enriched by the experience of overcoming heavily fortified enemy defenses in wooded and swampy areas. The tactics of offensive actions of small rifle and tank units have received significant development. Their actions were distinguished by independence in battles for individual points, crossings and across water obstacles. The effective counter-battery fight, in which the front and naval air forces took part, was an example of skillful counteraction to enemy siege artillery under blockade conditions.

Fourthly, the battle for Leningrad was a major military-political event and its significance went far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. She was highly appreciated by our allies. US President F. Roosevelt, in a letter sent to Leningrad, wrote: “On behalf of the people of the United States of America, I present this letter to the city of Leningrad in memory of its valiant soldiers and its faithful men, women and children who, isolated by the invader from the rest of their people and despite constant bombing and untold suffering from cold, hunger and disease, successfully defended their beloved city during the critical period from September 8, 1941 to January 18, 1943 and symbolized by this the undaunted spirit of the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and all the peoples of the world resisting the forces of aggression.”

Fifthly, the battle for Leningrad demonstrated the great strength of the moral and political unity of Soviet society and the friendship of the peoples of our Motherland. Representatives of all nationalities of the Soviet Union fought near Leningrad, showing unparalleled courage and mass heroism. It was near Leningrad that the mass sniper movement began. In February 1942 10 the best snipers Leningrad Front was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and 130 were awarded orders and medals.

The defense of Leningrad had a national character, expressed in the close cohesion of troops and population under the leadership of the city defense committee, which headed the political, military and economic life of the city during the blockade. On the initiative of party organizations, in July-September 1941, 10 divisions of the people's militia were formed in the city, 7 of which became personnel.

The Motherland highly appreciated the feat of the defenders of Leningrad. Many units and formations were converted into guards, awarded orders, and received honorary titles of Leningrad. For courage, bravery and heroism, over 350 thousand soldiers of the Leningrad Front were awarded orders and medals, 226 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. About 1.5 million people were awarded the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad”. On January 26, 1945, Leningrad was awarded the Order of Lenin, and on May 8, 1965, the hero city of Leningrad was awarded the Gold Star medal.

Sixth, victory in the battle for Leningrad was achieved thanks to the heroic feat of home front workers. The military highway, laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga and called the Road of Life, had no analogues in world history. In the first blockade winter of 1941 - 1942 alone, more than 360 thousand tons of cargo were delivered along it, including about 32 thousand tons of ammunition and explosives, about 35 thousand tons of fuel and lubricants. About 550 thousand people, about 3.7 thousand wagons of equipment, cultural values ​​and other property were taken out of the city. Over the entire period of operation, 1,615 thousand tons of cargo were transported along the Road of Life, about 1,376 thousand people were evacuated.

Despite the most difficult conditions, the industry of Leningrad did not stop its work. In the difficult conditions of the blockade, the working people of the city provided the front with weapons, equipment, uniforms, and ammunition. During the blockade, 2 thousand tanks, 1.5 thousand aircraft, thousands of guns, many warships were repaired and built, 225 thousand machine guns, 12 thousand mortars, about 10 million shells and mines were manufactured.

The important role of cultural and educational work during the blockade, in which cultural and artistic figures actively participated, should be especially emphasized. It raised the morale of the blockade survivors, fostered courage, developed a burning hatred of the fascist invaders, inspired them to persistently overcome difficulties and dangers, and instilled confidence in victory.

At present, attempts are still being made to distort and misrepresent the heroic defense of Leningrad. It is argued, for example, that its defense allegedly had no military significance. Therefore, the death of many thousands of people was in vain. It was necessary to simply surrender the city to the Nazis. And he, they say, would have remained intact, like Paris, Brussels, The Hague and other capitals of many European countries. This shameless lie is dictated by political circumstances and the deliberate falsification of military history. It is aimed at removing blame from the Nazis for the deaths of people.

Almost 66 years have passed since the significant victory in the battle for Leningrad. But to this day, the feat of the Leningraders, the soldiers of the army and navy who defended our northern capital, personifies the military glory of Russia. He serves as an example for current generations of fidelity to patriotic and military duty, courage and bravery in defending the freedom and independence of the Fatherland.

Before studying this topic and during it, it is advisable to visit the museum of the military unit and invite veterans of the Great Patriotic War, home front workers, and Leningrad siege survivors to speak.

In the introductory speech, it is advisable to emphasize that the Battle of Leningrad is a worthy contribution to the treasury of Russia’s military glory, and it will forever be preserved in the military history of our people as a symbol of courage, perseverance and selfless defense of our Fatherland.

When covering the first question, it is necessary, using a map, to show the location and balance of forces of the opposing sides at different stages of the battle, talk in detail about the exploits, and give examples of the courage and heroism of Soviet soldiers.

When considering the second question, it is necessary to objectively show the place and role of the Battle of Leningrad in Russian historiography, and provide statistical data indicating the cost of victory.

The consideration of issues will be much more interesting if the story is accompanied by showing fragments of documentaries and feature films about the Battle of Leningrad, listening to fragments of the famous Seventh Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich, reading excerpts from the works of poets Olga Bergolts and Anna Akhmatova.

At the end of the lesson, it is necessary to draw brief conclusions and answer questions from students.

1. The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union 1941-1945: A Brief History. - M., 1984.

2. Military encyclopedia. In 8 volumes. T. 1. - M., 1997.

3. Petrov B. Immortal feat of the defenders of Leningrad. // Reference point. - 2004. - No. 1.

4. Strelnikov V. Milestones of the Great Victory (to the 65th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad). // Reference point. - 2008. - No. 12.

Lieutenant colonel
Dmitry SAMOSVAT.
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Lieutenant Colonel
Alexey KURSHEV

Before the blockade began, Hitler had been massing troops around the city for a month. The Soviet Union, in turn, also took action: ships of the Baltic Fleet were stationed near the city. 153 main caliber guns were supposed to protect Leningrad from the German invasion. The sky above the city was guarded by an anti-aircraft corps.

However, the German units went through the swamps, and by the fifteenth of August they formed the Luga River, finding themselves in the operational space directly in front of the city.

Evacuation - first wave

Some people were evacuated from Leningrad even before the blockade began. By the end of June, a special evacuation commission was launched in the city. Many refused to leave, inspired by optimistic statements in the press about the speedy victory of the USSR. The commission staff had to convince people of the need to leave their homes, practically agitating them to leave in order to survive and return later.

On June 26, we were evacuated across Ladoga in the hold of a ship. Three ships carrying small children sank when they were hit by mines. But we were lucky. (Gridyushko (Sakharova) Edil Nikolaevna).

There was no plan on how to evacuate the city, since the likelihood that it could be captured was considered almost impossible. From June 29, 1941 to August 27, about 480 thousand people were deported, approximately forty percent of them were children. About 170 thousand of them were taken to points in the Leningrad region, from where they again had to be returned to Leningrad.

They were evacuated along the Kirov Railway. But this route was blocked when German troops captured it at the end of August. Exit from the city along the White Sea-Baltic Canal near Lake Onega was also cut. On September 4, the first German artillery shells fell on Leningrad. The shelling was carried out from the city of Tosno.

First days

It all started on September 8, when the fascist army captured Shlisselburg, closing the ring around Leningrad. The distance from the location of the German units to the city center did not exceed 15 km. Motorcyclists in German uniforms appeared in the suburbs.

It didn't seem like it for long then. It’s unlikely that anyone expected that the blockade would drag on for almost nine hundred days. Hitler, the commander of the German troops, for his part, hoped that the resistance of the hungry city, cut off from the rest of the country, would be broken very quickly. And when this did not happen even after several weeks, I was disappointed.

Transport in the city did not work. There was no lighting on the streets, no water, electricity or steam heating was supplied to the houses, and the sewage system did not work. (Bukuev Vladimir Ivanovich).

The Soviet command also did not foresee such a development of events. In the first days of the blockade, the leadership of the units that defended Leningrad did not report that Hitler’s troops were closing the ring: there was hope that it would be quickly broken. This did not happen.

The confrontation, which lasted more than two and a half years, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The blockade runners and the troops who did not allow German troops into the city understood what all this was for. After all, Leningrad opened the road to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, where the ships of the USSR allies were unloaded. It was also clear to everyone that, having surrendered, Leningrad would have signed its own death sentence - this beautiful city It just wouldn't happen.

The defense of Leningrad made it possible to block the path for the invaders to the Northern Sea Route and to divert significant enemy forces from other fronts. Ultimately, the blockade made a serious contribution to the victory of the Soviet army in this war.

As soon as the news that German troops had closed the ring spread throughout the city, its residents began to prepare. All the products were bought up in the stores, and all the money in the savings banks was withdrawn from the savings books.

Not everyone was able to leave early. When the German artillery began to conduct constant shelling, which happened already in the first days of the blockade, it became almost impossible to leave the city.

On September 8, 1941, the Germans bombed large Badayev food warehouses, and the three million population of the city was doomed to starvation. (Bukuev Vladimir Ivanovich).

These days, one of the shells set fire to the Badayevsky warehouses, where the strategic food supply was stored. This is what is called the cause of the famine that the remaining residents had to endure. But the documents, whose secrecy status was recently lifted, say that there were no large reserves.

Preserving enough food for a city of three million was problematic during the war. No one in Leningrad prepared for such a turn of events, so food was brought into the city from outside. No one set the task of creating a “safety cushion”.

This became clear by September 12, when the audit of the food that was in the city was completed: the food, depending on its type, was only enough for a month or two. How to deliver food was decided at the very top. By December 25, 1941, bread distribution standards were increased.

The entry of food cards was done immediately - within the first days. The food standards were calculated based on the minimum that would not allow a person to simply die. Stores no longer simply sold groceries, although the black market flourished. Huge queues formed for food rations. People were afraid that they would not have enough bread.

Not prepared

The issue of providing food became the most pressing during the blockade. One of the reasons for such a terrible famine, experts in military history call the delay in the decision to import food, which was made too late.

one tile of wood glue cost ten rubles, then a tolerable monthly salary was around 200 rubles. They made jelly from glue, there was pepper left in the house, Bay leaf, and all this was added to the glue. (Brilliantova Olga Nikolaevna).

This happened due to the habit of hushing up and distorting facts so as not to “sow decadent sentiments” among residents and the military. If all the details about Germany's rapid advance had been known to the high command earlier, perhaps our casualties would have been much smaller.

Already in the first days of the blockade, military censorship was clearly operating in the city. Complaining about difficulties in letters to family and friends was not allowed - such messages simply did not reach the recipients. But some of these letters have survived. Just like the diaries that some Leningraders kept, where they wrote down everything that happened in the city during the siege months. It was they who became the source of information about what happened in the city before the blockade began, as well as in the first days after Hitler’s troops encircled the city.

Could the famine have been avoided?

The question of whether it was possible to prevent a horrific famine during the siege in Leningrad is still asked by historians and the survivors of the siege themselves.

There is a version that the country's leadership could not even imagine such a long siege. By the beginning of the autumn of 1941, everything in the city with food was the same as everywhere else in the country: cards were introduced, but the norms were quite large, for some people it was even too much.

The food industry operated in the city, and its products were exported to other regions, including flour and grain. But there were no significant food supplies in Leningrad itself. In the memoirs of the future academician Dmitry Likhachev, one can find lines that no reserves were made. For some reason, the Soviet authorities did not follow the example of London, where they actively stocked up on food. In fact, the USSR was preparing in advance for the fact that the city would be surrendered to fascist troops. The export of food stopped only at the end of August, after German units blocked the railway connection.

Not far away, on the Obvodny Canal, there was a flea market, and my mother sent me there to exchange a pack of Belomor for bread. I remember how a woman went there and asked for a loaf of bread for a diamond necklace. (Aizin Margarita Vladimirovna).

Residents of the city began to stock up on food themselves in August, anticipating hunger. There were queues outside the shops. But few managed to stock up: those pitiful crumbs that they managed to acquire and hide were very quickly eaten later, during the blockade autumn and winter.

How they lived in besieged Leningrad

As soon as the standards for issuing bread were reduced, the queues at bakeries turned into huge “tails”. People stood for hours. At the beginning of September, German artillery bombing began.

Schools continued to operate, but fewer and fewer children came. We studied by candlelight. Constant bombing made it difficult to study. Gradually, schooling stopped altogether.

During the blockade, I went to kindergarten on Kamenny Island. My mother worked there too. ...One day one of the guys told a friend his cherished dream - a barrel of soup. Mom heard and took him to the kitchen, asking the cook to come up with something. The cook burst into tears and told her mother: “Don’t bring anyone else here... there’s no food left at all. There is only water in the pan." Many children in our garden died of hunger - out of 35 of us, only 11 remained. (Alexandrova Margarita Borisovna).

On the streets you could see people who could barely move their feet: they simply didn’t have the strength, everyone walked slowly. According to the recollections of those who survived the siege, these two and a half years merged into one endless dark night, in which the only thought was to eat!

Autumn days of 1941

The autumn of 1941 was only the beginning of trials for Leningrad. Since September 8, the city was bombed by fascist artillery. On this day, the Badayevsky food warehouses caught fire from an incendiary shell. The fire was huge, the glow from it could be seen from different parts of the city. There were 137 warehouses in total, twenty-seven of them burned out. This is approximately five tons of sugar, three hundred and sixty tons of bran, eighteen and a half tons of rye, forty-five and a half tons of peas were burned there, and 286 tons of vegetable oil were lost, and the fire also destroyed ten and a half tons of butter and two tons of flour . This, experts say, would be enough for the city for only two or three days. That is, this fire was not the cause of the subsequent famine.

By September 8, it became clear that there was little food in the city: in a few days there would be no food. The Military Council of the Front was entrusted with managing the available reserves. Card regulations were introduced.

One day, our flatmate offered my mother meat cutlets, but my mother sent her away and slammed the door. I was in indescribable horror - how could I refuse cutlets with such hunger. But my mother explained to me that they were made from human meat, because there was nowhere else to get minced meat in such a hungry time. (Boldyreva Alexandra Vasilievna).

After the first bombing, ruins and shell craters appeared in the city, the windows of many houses were broken, and chaos reigned on the streets. Slingshots were placed around the affected areas to prevent people from going there, because an unexploded shell could get stuck in the ground. Signs were hung in places where there was a likelihood of being hit by shelling.

In the fall, rescuers were still working, the city was being cleared of rubble, and even houses that had been destroyed were being restored. But later no one was interested in this anymore.

By the end of autumn, new posters appeared - with advice on preparing for winter. The streets became deserted, only occasionally people passed by, gathering at the boards where advertisements and newspapers were posted. Street radio horns also became places of attraction.

Trams went to the final station in Srednyaya Rogatka. After September 8, tram traffic decreased. The bombings were to blame. But later the trams stopped running.

Details of life in besieged Leningrad became known only decades later. Ideological reasons did not allow us to speak openly about what was really happening in this city.

Leningrader's ration

Bread became the main value. They stood for rations for several hours.

They baked bread from more than one flour. There was too little of it. Food industry specialists were tasked with coming up with something that could be added to the dough so that the energy value of the food would be preserved. Cotton cake was added, which was found in the Leningrad port. The flour was also mixed with flour dust that had grown over the walls of the mills, and dust shaken out of the bags where the flour used to be. Barley and rye bran were also used for baking. They also used sprouted grain found on barges that were sunk in Lake Ladoga.

The yeast that was in the city became the basis for yeast soups: they were also included in the ration. The flesh of the skins of young calves became the raw material for jelly, with a very unpleasant aroma.

I remember one man who walked around the dining room and licked everyone’s plates. I looked at him and thought that he would die soon. I don’t know, maybe he lost the cards, maybe he just didn’t have enough, but he’s already gotten to this point. (Batenina (Larina) Oktyabrina Konstantinovna).

On September 2, 1941, workers in hot shops received 800 grams of so-called bread, engineering and technical specialists and other workers - 600. Employees, dependents and children - 300-400 grams.

From October 1, rations were halved. Those who worked in factories were given 400 grams of “bread.” Children, employees and dependents received 200 each. Not everyone had cards: those who failed to get them for some reason simply died.

On November 13, food became even scarcer. Workers received 300 grams of bread per day, others only 150. A week later, the norms dropped again: 250 and 125.

At this time, confirmation came that food could be transported by car on the ice of Lake Ladoga. But the thaw disrupted the plans. From the end of November to mid-December, food did not arrive in the city until strong ice was established on Ladoga. From December twenty-fifth, standards began to rise. Those who worked began to receive 250 grams, the rest - 200. Then the ration increased, but hundreds of thousands of Leningraders had already died. This famine is now considered one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the twentieth century.

In modern historiography, the title “Kyiv princes” is customary to designate a number of rulers of the Kyiv principality and Old Russian state. The classical period of their reign began in 912 with the reign of Igor Rurikovich, the first to bear the title of “Grand Duke...

The Siege of Leningrad was a military blockade by German, Finnish and Spanish (Blue Division) troops involving volunteers from North Africa, Europe and the Italian Navy during the Great Patriotic War of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). 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 sufficient supplies of food and fuel. The only route of communication with Leningrad remained Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the artillery and aviation of the besiegers; a united enemy naval flotilla was also operating on the lake. The capacity of this transport artery did not meet the needs of the city. As a result, a massive famine that began in Leningrad, aggravated by the particularly harsh first blockade winter, problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents.

After breaking the blockade, the siege of Leningrad by enemy troops and navy continued until September 1944. To force the enemy to lift the siege of the city, in June - August 1944, Soviet troops, with the support of ships and aircraft of the Baltic Fleet, carried out the Vyborg and Svir-Petrozavodsk operations, liberated Vyborg on June 20, and Petrozavodsk on June 28. In September 1944, the island of Gogland was liberated.

For mass heroism and courage in defending the Motherland in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, shown by the defenders of besieged Leningrad, according to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 8, 1965, the city was awarded the highest degree of distinction - the title of Hero City.

January 27 is the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the Day of the complete liberation by Soviet troops of the city of Leningrad from the blockade of its fascist German troops (1944).

German attack on the USSR

The capture of Leningrad was integral part Nazi Germany's war plan against the USSR - Plan Barbarossa. It stipulated 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 supposed to capture the entire European part of the USSR. According to the Ost (East) plan, it was planned to exterminate within a few years a significant part of the population of the Soviet Union, primarily Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, as well as all Jews and Gypsies - at least 30 million people in total. None of the peoples inhabiting the USSR should have had the right to their own statehood or even autonomy.

Already on June 23, the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Lieutenant General M. M. Popov, ordered the start of work to create an additional line of defense in the Pskov direction in the Luga area.

On July 4, this decision was confirmed by the Directive of the Headquarters of the High Command signed by G.K. Zhukov.

Finland's entry into the war

On June 17, 1941, a decree was issued in Finland on the mobilization of the entire field army, and on June 20, the mobilized army concentrated on the Soviet-Finnish border. On June 21-25, German naval and air forces operated from the territory of Finland against the USSR. On the morning of June 25, 1941, by order of the Headquarters, the Air Force of the Northern Front, together with the aviation of the Baltic Fleet, launched a massive attack on nineteen (according to other sources - 18) airfields in Finland and Northern Norway. Aircraft from the Finnish Air Force and the German 5th Air Force were based there. On the same day, the Finnish parliament voted for war with the USSR.

On June 29, 1941, Finnish troops crossed the state border and began a ground operation against the USSR.

Entry of enemy troops to Leningrad

In the first 18 days of the offensive, the enemy's 4th tank group fought more than 600 kilometers (at a rate of 30-35 km per day), crossed the Western Dvina and Velikaya rivers.

On July 4, Wehrmacht units entered the Leningrad region, crossing the Velikaya River and overcoming the fortifications of the “Stalin Line” in the direction of Ostrov.

On July 5-6, enemy troops occupied the city, and on July 9 - Pskov, located 280 kilometers from Leningrad. From Pskov, the shortest route to Leningrad is along the Kyiv Highway, passing through Luga.

On July 19, by the time the advanced German units left, the Luga defensive line was well prepared in engineering terms: defensive structures with a length of 175 kilometers and a total depth of 10-15 kilometers were built. Defensive structures were built by the hands of Leningraders, mostly women and teenagers (men went into the army and militia).

The German offensive was delayed at the Luga fortified area. Reports from German commanders to headquarters:

Gepner's tank group, whose vanguards were exhausted and tired, advanced only slightly in the direction of Leningrad.

Gepner's offensive has been stopped... People are fighting, as before, with great ferocity.

The command of the Leningrad Front took advantage of the delay of Gepner, who was waiting for reinforcements, and prepared to meet the enemy, using, among other things, the latest heavy tanks KV-1 and KV-2, just released by the Kirov plant. More than 700 tanks were built in 1941 alone and remain in the city. During the same time, 480 armored vehicles and 58 armored trains, often armed with powerful naval guns, were produced. At the Rzhev artillery range, a 406 mm caliber naval gun was found operational. It was intended for the lead battleship Sovetsky Soyuz, which was already on the slipway. This weapon was used when shelling German positions. The German offensive was suspended for several weeks. Enemy troops failed to capture the city on the move. This delay caused sharp dissatisfaction with Hitler, who made a special trip to Army Group North with the aim of preparing a plan for the capture of Leningrad no later than September 1941. In conversations with military leaders, the Fuhrer, in addition to purely military arguments, brought up many political arguments. He believed that the capture of Leningrad would not only provide a military gain (control over all the Baltic coasts and the destruction of the Baltic Fleet), but would also bring huge political dividends. The Soviet Union will lose the city, which, being the cradle October revolution, has a special symbolic meaning for the Soviet state. In addition, Hitler considered it very important not to give the Soviet command the opportunity to withdraw troops from the Leningrad area and use them in other sectors of the front. He hoped to destroy the troops defending the city.

In long exhausting battles, overcoming crises in different places, German troops had been preparing for the assault on the city for a month. The Baltic Fleet approached the city with its 153 guns of the main caliber of naval artillery, as the experience of the defense of Tallinn showed, in its combat effectiveness superior to guns of the same caliber of coastal artillery, which also numbered 207 guns near Leningrad. The city's sky was protected by the 2nd Air Defense Corps. Highest Density anti-aircraft artillery during the defense of Moscow, Leningrad and Baku was 8-10 times more than during the defense of Berlin and London.

On August 14-15, the Germans managed to break through the swampy area, bypassing the Luga fortified area from the west and, having crossed the Luga River at Bolshoy Sabsk, entering the operational space in front of Leningrad.

On June 29, having crossed the border, the Finnish army began military operations on the Karelian Isthmus. On July 31, a major Finnish offensive began in the direction of Leningrad. By the beginning of September, the Finns crossed the old Soviet-Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus, which existed before the signing of the 1940 peace treaty, to a depth of 20 km, and stopped at the border of the Karelian fortified area. Leningrad's connection with the rest of the country through the territories occupied by Finland was restored in the summer of 1944.

On September 4, 1941, the Chief of the Main Staff of the German Armed Forces, General Jodl, was sent to Mannerheim's headquarters in Mikkeli. But he was refused participation of the Finns in the attack on Leningrad. Instead, Mannerheim led a successful offensive in the north of Ladoga, cutting the Kirov Railway and the White Sea-Baltic Canal in the area of ​​Lake Onega, thereby blocking the route for supplies to Leningrad.

It was on September 4, 1941 that the city was subjected to the first artillery shelling from the city of Tosno occupied by German troops:

“In September 1941 there was no large group officers, on instructions from the command, was driving a semi-truck along Lesnoy Prospekt from the Levashovo airfield. A little ahead of us was a tram crowded with people. He slows down to a stop where there is a large group of people waiting. A shell explodes, and many at a stop fall, bleeding profusely. The second gap, the third... The tram is smashed to pieces. Heaps of dead. The wounded and maimed, mostly women and children, are scattered on the cobblestone streets, moaning and crying. A blond boy of about seven or eight years old, who miraculously survived at the bus stop, covering his face with both hands, sobs over his murdered mother and repeats: “Mommy, what have they done…”

On September 6, 1941, Hitler, with his order (Weisung No. 35), stops the advance of the North group of troops on Leningrad, which had already reached the suburbs of the city, and gives the order to Field Marshal Leeb to hand over all Gepner tanks and a significant number of troops in order to begin “as quickly as possible.” attack on Moscow. Subsequently, the Germans, having transferred their tanks to the central section of the front, continued to surround the city with a blockade ring, no more than 15 km from the city center, and moved on to a long blockade. In this situation, Hitler, realistically imagining the enormous losses that he would suffer if he entered into urban battles, doomed his population to starvation by his decision.

On September 8, soldiers of the North group captured the city of Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost). From this day the blockade of the city began, which lasted 872 days.

On the same day, German troops unexpectedly quickly 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). At the same time, information about the closure of the encirclement was not reported to the Soviet high command, hoping for a breakthrough. And on September 13, Leningradskaya Pravda wrote:

The Germans claim that they managed to cut all the railways connecting Leningrad with Soviet Union, is a common exaggeration for the German command

This silence cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens, since the decision to supply food was made too late.

All summer, day and night, about half a million people created defense lines in the city. One of them, the most fortified, called the “Stalin Line” ran along the Obvodny Canal. Many houses on the defensive lines were turned into long-term strongholds of resistance.

On September 13, Zhukov arrived in the city, and took command of the front on September 14, when, contrary to popular belief, disseminated in numerous feature films, the German offensive had already been stopped, the front was stabilized, and the enemy canceled his decision to attack.

Problems of evacuation of residents

The situation at the beginning of the blockade

The evacuation of city residents began already on June 29, 1941 (the first trains) and was of an organized nature. At the end of June, the City Evacuation Commission was created. Explanatory work began among the population about the need to leave Leningrad, since many residents did not want to leave their homes. Before the German attack on the USSR, there were no pre-developed plans for the evacuation of the population of Leningrad. The possibility of the Germans reaching the city was considered minimal.

First wave of evacuation

The very first stage of the evacuation lasted from June 29 to August 27, when Wehrmacht units captured the railway connecting Leningrad with the regions lying to the east of it. This period was characterized by two features:

• Reluctance of residents to leave the city;
• Many children from Leningrad were evacuated to areas of the Leningrad region. This subsequently led to 175,000 children being returned back to Leningrad.

During this period, 488,703 people were taken out of the city, of which 219,691 were children (395,091 were taken out, but subsequently 175,000 were returned) and 164,320 workers and employees were evacuated along with enterprises.

Second wave of evacuation

In the second period, evacuation was carried out in three ways:

• evacuation across Lake Ladoga by water transport to Novaya Ladoga, and then to the station. Volkhovstroy motor transport;
• evacuation by air;
• evacuation along the ice road across Lake Ladoga.

During this period, 33,479 people were transported by water transport (of which 14,854 people were not from the Leningrad population), by aviation - 35,114 (of which 16,956 were from non-Leningrad population), by march through Lake Ladoga and by unorganized motor transport from the end of December 1941 to January 22, 1942 - 36,118 people (population not from Leningrad), from January 22 to April 15, 1942 along the “Road of Life” - 554,186 people.

In total, during the second evacuation period - from September 1941 to April 1942 - about 659 thousand people were taken out of the city, mainly along the “Road of Life” across Lake Ladoga.

Third wave of evacuation

From May to October 1942, 403 thousand people were taken out. In total, 1.5 million people were evacuated from the city during the blockade. By October 1942, the evacuation was completed.

Consequences

Consequences for evacuees

Some of the exhausted people taken from the city could not be saved. Several thousand people died from the consequences of hunger after they were transported to the “Mainland”. Doctors did not immediately learn how to care for starving people. There were cases when they died after receiving a large amount of high-quality food, which turned out to be essentially poison for the exhausted body. At the same time, there could have been much more casualties if the local authorities of the regions where the evacuees were accommodated had not made extraordinary efforts to provide Leningraders with food and qualified medical care.

Implications for city leadership

The blockade became a brutal test for all city services and departments that ensured the functioning of the huge city. Leningrad provided a unique experience in organizing life in conditions of famine. The following fact is noteworthy: during the blockade, unlike many other cases of mass famine, no major epidemics occurred, despite the fact that hygiene in the city was, of course, much lower than normal due to the almost complete absence of running water, sewerage and heating. Of course, the harsh winter of 1941-1942 helped prevent epidemics. At the same time, researchers also point to effective preventive measures taken by the authorities and medical services.

“The most difficult thing during the blockade was hunger, as a result of which the residents developed dystrophy. At the end of March 1942, a cholera epidemic broke out. typhoid fever, typhus, but due to the professionalism and high qualifications of doctors, the outbreak was kept to a minimum.”

Autumn 1941

Blitzkrieg attempt failed

At the end of August 1941, the German offensive resumed. German units broke through the Luga defensive line and rushed towards Leningrad. On September 8, the enemy reached Lake Ladoga, captured Shlisselburg, taking control of the source of the Neva, and blocked Leningrad from land. This day is considered the day the blockade began. All railway, river and road communications were severed. Communication with Leningrad was now maintained only by air and Lake Ladoga. From the north, the city was blocked by Finnish troops, who were stopped by the 23rd Army at the Karelian Ur. Only the only railway connection to the coast of Lake Ladoga from the Finlyandsky Station has been preserved - the “Road of Life”.

This partly confirms that the Finns stopped on the orders of Mannerheim (according to his memoirs, he agreed to take the post of supreme commander of the Finnish forces on the condition that he would not launch an offensive against the city), at the turn of the state border of 1939, that is, the border that existed between The USSR and Finland on the eve of the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939-1940, on the other hand, is disputed by Isaev and N.I. Baryshnikov:

The legend that the Finnish army had only the task of returning what was taken by the Soviet Union in 1940 was later invented retroactively. If on the Karelian Isthmus the crossing of the 1939 border was episodic in nature and was caused by tactical tasks, then between Lakes Ladoga and Onega the old border was crossed along its entire length and to great depth.

— Isaev A.V. Boilers of the 41st. The history of the Second World War that we did not know. — P. 54.

Back on September 11, 1941, Finnish President Risto Ryti told the German envoy in Helsinki:

If St. Petersburg no longer exists as a large city, then the Neva would be the best border on the Karelian Isthmus... Leningrad must be liquidated as a large city.

- from a statement by Risto Ryti to the German ambassador on September 11, 1941 (words by Baryshnikov, the reliability of the source has not been verified).

The total area of ​​Leningrad and its suburbs encircled was about 5,000 km².

The situation at the front from June 22 to December 5, 1941

According to G.K. Zhukov, “Stalin at that moment assessed the situation that had developed near Leningrad as catastrophic. He even used the word "hopeless" once. He said that, apparently, a few more days would pass, and Leningrad would have to be considered lost.” After the end of the Elninsky operation, by order of September 11, G. K. Zhukov was appointed commander of the Leningrad Front, and began his duties on September 14.

On September 4, 1941, the Germans began regular artillery shelling of Leningrad, although their decision to storm the city remained in force until September 12, when Hitler ordered its cancellation, that is, Zhukov arrived two days after the order to storm was canceled (September 14). The local leadership prepared the main factories for the explosion. All ships of the Baltic Fleet were to be scuttled. Trying to stop the enemy offensive, Zhukov did not stop at the most brutal measures. At the end of the month he signed ciphergram No. 4976 with the following text:

“Explain to all personnel that all families of those who surrendered to the enemy will be shot, and upon returning from captivity they will also all be shot.”

He, in particular, issued an order that for unauthorized retreat and abandonment of the defense line around the city, all commanders and soldiers were subject to immediate execution. The retreat stopped.

The soldiers defending Leningrad these days fought to the death. Leeb continued successful operations on the nearest approaches to the city. Its goal was to strengthen the blockade ring and divert the forces of the Leningrad Front from helping the 54th Army, which had begun to relieve the blockade of the city. In the end, the enemy stopped 4-7 km from the city, actually in the suburbs. The front line, that is, the trenches where the soldiers were sitting, was only 4 km from the Kirov Plant and 16 km from the Winter Palace. Despite the proximity of the front, the Kirov plant did not stop working throughout the entire period of the blockade. There was even a tram running from the factory to the front line. It was a regular tram line from the city center to the suburbs, but now it was used to transport soldiers and ammunition.

The beginning of the food crisis

Ideology of the German side

Hitler's Directive No. 1601 of September 22, 1941, “The Future of the City of St. Petersburg” (German: Weisung Nr. Ia 1601/41 vom 22. September 1941 “Die Zukunft der Stadt Petersburg”) stated with certainty:

"2. The Fuhrer decided to wipe the city of Leningrad off the face of the earth. After the defeat of Soviet Russia, the continued existence of this largest populated area is of no interest...

4. It is planned to surround the city with a tight ring and, through shelling from artillery of all calibers and continuous bombing from the air, raze it to the ground. If, as a result of the situation created in the city, requests for surrender are made, they will be rejected, since the problems associated with the stay of the population in the city and its food supply cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war being waged for the right to exist, we are not interested in preserving even part of the population.”

According to Jodl's testimony during the Nuremberg trials,

“During the siege of Leningrad, Field Marshal von Leeb, commander of Army Group North, reported to the OKW that streams of civilian refugees from Leningrad were seeking refuge in the German trenches and that he had no means of feeding or caring for them. The Fuhrer immediately gave the order (dated October 7, 1941 No. S.123) not to accept refugees and push them back into enemy territory.”

It should be noted that in the same order No. S.123 there was the following clarification:

“... not a single German soldier should enter these cities and Leningrad. Whoever leaves the city against our lines must be driven back by fire.

Small unguarded passages that make it possible for the population to leave individually for evacuation to the interior of Russia should only be welcomed. The population must be forced to flee the city through artillery fire and aerial bombardment. The larger the population of cities fleeing deep into Russia, the greater the chaos the enemy will experience and the easier it will be for us to manage and use the occupied areas. All senior officers must be aware of this desire of the Fuhrer."

German military leaders protested against the order to shoot at civilians and said that the troops would not carry out such an order, but Hitler was adamant.

Changing war tactics

The fighting near Leningrad did not stop, but its character changed. German troops began to destroy the city with massive artillery shelling and bombing. Bombing and artillery attacks were especially severe in October - November 1941. The Germans dropped several thousand incendiary bombs on Leningrad in order to cause massive fires. They paid special attention to the destruction of food warehouses, and they succeeded in this task. So, in particular, on September 10 they managed to bomb the famous Badayevsky warehouses, where there were significant food supplies. The fire was enormous, thousands of tons of food were burned, melted sugar flowed through the city and was absorbed into the ground. However, contrary to popular belief, this bombing could not be the main cause of the ensuing food crisis, since Leningrad, like any other metropolis, is supplied “on wheels”, and the food reserves destroyed along with the warehouses would only last the city for a few days .

Taught by this bitter lesson, city authorities began to pay special attention to the disguise of food supplies, which were now stored only in small quantities. So, hunger became the most important factor, which determined the fate of the population of Leningrad. The blockade imposed by the German army was deliberately aimed at the extinction of the urban population.

The fate of citizens: demographic factors

According to data on January 1, 1941, just under three million people lived in Leningrad. The city was characterized by a higher than usual percentage of the disabled population, including children and the elderly. It was also distinguished by an unfavorable military-strategic position due to its proximity to the border and isolation from raw materials and fuel bases. At the same time, the city medical and sanitary service of Leningrad was one of the best in the country.

Theoretically, the Soviet side could have the option of withdrawing troops and surrendering Leningrad to the enemy without a fight (using the terminology of that time, declare Leningrad " open city", as happened, for example, with Paris). However, if we take into account Hitler’s plans for the future of Leningrad (or, more precisely, the lack of any future for it at all), there is no reason to argue that the fate of the city’s population in the event of capitulation would be better than the fate in the actual conditions of the siege.

The actual start of the blockade

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

The catastrophic food situation of the city became clear on September 12, when the inspection and accounting of all food supplies were completed. Food cards were introduced in Leningrad on July 17, that is, even before the blockade, but this was done only to restore order in supplies. The city entered the war with the usual supply of food. Food rationing standards were high, and there was no food shortage before the blockade began. The reduction in food distribution standards occurred for the first time on September 15. In addition, on September 1, the free sale of food was prohibited (this measure was in effect until mid-1944). While the “black market” persisted, the official sale of products in so-called commercial stores at market prices ceased.

In October, city residents felt a clear shortage of food, and in November real famine began in Leningrad. First, the first cases of loss of consciousness from hunger on the streets and at work, the first cases of death from exhaustion, and then the first cases of cannibalism were noted. In February 1942, more than 600 people were convicted of cannibalism, in March - more than a thousand. It was extremely difficult to replenish food supplies: it was impossible to supply such a large city by air, and shipping on Lake Ladoga temporarily stopped due to the onset of cold weather. At the same time, the ice on the lake was still too weak for cars to drive on. All these transport communications were under constant enemy fire.

Despite the lowest standards for the distribution of bread, death from hunger has not yet become a mass phenomenon, and the bulk of the dead so far have been victims of bombing and artillery shelling.

Winter 1941-1942

Leningrader's ration

On the collective and state farms of the blockade ring, everything that could be useful for food was collected from fields and gardens. However, all these measures could not save from hunger. On November 20 - for the fifth time, the population and the third time the troops - had to reduce the norms for the distribution of bread. Warriors on the front line began to receive 500 grams per day; workers - 250 grams; employees, dependents and soldiers not on the front line - 125 grams. And besides bread, almost nothing. Famine began in blockaded Leningrad.

Based on the actual consumption, the availability of basic food products as of September 12 was (the figures are given according to accounting data carried out by the trade department of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, the front commissariat and the KBF):

Bread grain and flour for 35 days

Cereals and pasta for 30 days

Meat and meat products for 33 days

Fats for 45 days

Sugar and confectionery for 60 days

The norms for the supply of goods on food cards, introduced in the city back in July, decreased due to the blockade of the city, and turned out to be minimal from November 20 to December 25, 1941. The food ration size was:

Workers - 250 grams of bread per day,

Employees, dependents and children under 12 years old - 125 grams each,

Personnel of the paramilitary guards, fire brigades, fighter squads, vocational schools and schools of the FZO, who were on boiler allowance - 300 grams,

First line troops - 500 grams.

Moreover, up to 50% of the bread consisted of practically inedible impurities added instead of flour. All other products almost ceased to be issued: already on September 23, beer production ceased, and all stocks of malt, barley, soybeans and bran were transferred to bakeries in order to reduce flour consumption. As of September 24, 40% of bread consisted of malt, oats and husks, and later cellulose (at various times from 20 to 50%). On December 25, 1941, the standards for the distribution of bread were increased - the population of Leningrad began to receive 350 g of bread on a work card and 200 g on an employee, child and dependent card. On February 11, new supply standards were introduced: 500 grams of bread for workers, 400 for employees, 300 for children and non-workers. The impurities have almost disappeared from the bread. But the main thing is that supplies have become regular, food rationing has begun to be issued on time and almost completely. On February 16, quality meat was even issued for the first time - frozen beef and lamb. There has been a turning point in the food situation in the city.

Resident notification system

Metronome

In the first months of the blockade, 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets of Leningrad. The radio network carried information to the population about raids and air raid warnings. The famous metronome, which went down in the history of the siege of Leningrad as cultural monument resistance of the population, was broadcast during the raids through this network. A fast rhythm meant air raid warning, a slow rhythm meant lights out. Announcer Mikhail Melaned also announced the alarm.

Worsening situation in the city

In November 1941, the situation for the townspeople worsened sharply. Deaths from hunger became widespread. Special funeral services daily picked up about a hundred corpses from the streets alone.

There are countless stories of people collapsing and dying - at home or at work, in shops or on the streets. A resident of the besieged city, Elena Skryabina, wrote in her diary:

“Now they die so simply: first they stop being interested in anything, then they go to bed and never get up again.

“Death rules the city. People die and die. Today, when I walked down the street, a man walked in front of me. He could barely move his legs. Overtaking him, I involuntarily drew attention to the eerie blue face. I thought to myself: he will probably die soon. Here one could really say that the stamp of death lay on the man’s face. After a few steps, I turned around, stopped, and watched him. He sank onto the cabinet, his eyes rolled back, then he slowly began to slide to the ground. When I approached him, he was already dead. People are so weak from hunger that they cannot resist death. They die as if they were falling asleep. And the half-dead people around them do not pay any attention to them. Death has become a phenomenon observed at every step. They got used to it, complete indifference appeared: after all, not today - tomorrow such a fate awaits everyone. When you leave the house in the morning, you come across corpses lying in the gateway on the street. The corpses lie there for a long time because there is no one to clean them up.

D. V. Pavlov, the State Defense Committee’s authorized representative for food supply for Leningrad and the Leningrad Front, writes:

“The period from mid-November 1941 to the end of January 1942 was the most difficult during the blockade. By this time, internal resources were completely exhausted, and imports through Lake Ladoga were carried out in insignificant quantities. People pinned all their hopes and aspirations on the winter road.”

Despite the low temperatures in the city, part of the water supply network worked, so dozens of water pumps were opened, from which residents of surrounding houses could take water. Most of the Vodokanal workers were transferred to a barracks position, but residents also had to take water from damaged pipes and ice holes.

The number of famine victims grew rapidly - more than 4,000 people died every day in Leningrad, which was a hundred times higher than the mortality rate in peacetime. There were days when 6-7 thousand people died. In December alone, 52,881 people died, while losses in January-February were 199,187 people. Male mortality significantly exceeded female mortality - for every 100 deaths there were an average of 63 men and 37 women. By the end of the war, women made up the bulk of the urban population.

Exposure to cold

Another important factor in the increase in mortality was the cold. With the onset of winter, the city almost ran out of fuel reserves: electricity generation was only 15% of the pre-war level. Centralized heating of houses stopped, water supply and sewage systems froze or were turned off. Work has stopped at almost all factories and plants (except for defense ones). Often, citizens who came to the workplace could not do their work due to the lack of water, heat and energy.

The winter of 1941-1942 turned out to be much colder and longer than usual. By an evil irony of fate, the winter of 1941-1942, according to cumulative indicators, is the coldest for the entire period of systematic instrumental observations of the weather in St. Petersburg - Leningrad. The average daily temperature steadily dropped below 0 °C already on October 11, and became steadily positive after April 7, 1942 - the climatic winter lasted 178 days, that is, half of the year. During this period, there were 14 days with an average daily t > 0 °C, mostly in October, that is, there were practically no thaws usual for Leningrad winter weather. Even in May 1942, there were 4 days with a negative average daily temperature; on May 7, the maximum daytime temperature rose only to +0.9 °C. There was also a lot of snow in winter: the depth of the snow cover by the end of winter was more than half a meter. In terms of maximum snow cover height (53 cm), April 1942 is the record holder for the entire observation period, up to 2010 inclusive.

The average monthly temperature in October was +1.4 °C (the average value for the period 1743–2010 is +4.9 °C), which is 3.5 °C below normal. In the middle of the month, frosts reached −6 °C. By the end of the month, snow cover had established itself.

The average temperature in November 1941 was −4.2 °C (the long-term average was −0.8 °C), the temperature ranged from +1.6 to −13.8 °C.

In December, the average monthly temperature dropped to −12.5 °C (with a long-term average of −5.6 °C). The temperature ranged from +1.6 to −25.3 °C.

The first month of 1942 was the coldest this winter. The average temperature of the month was −18.7 °C (the average temperature for the period 1743–2010 was −8.3 °C). The frost reached −32.1 °C, the maximum temperature was +0.7 °C. The average snow depth reached 41 cm (the average depth for 1890-1941 was 23 cm).

The February average monthly temperature was −12.4 °C (the long-term average was −7.9 °C), the temperature ranged from −0.6 to −25.2 °C.

March was slightly warmer than February - average t = −11.6 °C (with long-term average t = −4 °C). The temperature varied from +3.6 to −29.1 °C in the middle of the month. March 1942 was the coldest in the history of weather observations until 2010.

The average monthly temperature in April was close to average values ​​(+2.8 °C) and amounted to +1.8 °C, while the minimum temperature was −14.4 °C.

In the book “Memoirs” by Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, it is said about the years of the blockade:

“The cold was somehow internal. It permeated everything through and through. The body produced too little heat.

The human mind was the last thing to die. If your arms and legs have already refused to serve you, if your fingers can no longer button the buttons of your coat, if a person no longer has any strength to cover your mouth with a scarf, if the skin around the mouth has become dark, if the face has become like a dead man’s skull with bared front teeth - the brain continued working. People wrote diaries and believed that they would be able to live another day. »

Heating and transport system

The main heating means for most inhabited apartments were special mini-stoves, potbelly stoves. They burned everything that could burn, including furniture and books. Wooden houses were dismantled for firewood. Fuel production has become an important part of the life of Leningraders. Due to a lack of electricity and massive destruction of the contact network, the movement of urban electric transport, primarily trams, ceased. This event was an important factor contributing to the increase in mortality.

According to D.S. Likhachev,

“... when the tram stop added another two to three hours of walking from the place of residence to the place of work and back to the usual daily workload, this led to additional expenditure of calories. Very often people died from sudden cardiac arrest, loss of consciousness and freezing on the way.”

“The candle burned at both ends” - these words expressively characterized the situation of a city resident who lived under conditions of starvation rations and enormous physical and mental stress. In most cases, families did not die out immediately, but one by one, gradually. As long as someone could walk, he brought food using ration cards. The streets were covered with snow, which had not been cleared all winter, so movement along them was very difficult.

Organization of hospitals and canteens for enhanced nutrition.

By decision of the bureau of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Leningrad City Executive Committee, additional medical nutrition was organized at increased standards in special hospitals created at plants and factories, as well as in 105 city canteens. The hospitals operated from January 1 to May 1, 1942 and served 60 thousand people. From the end of April 1942, by decision of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, the network of canteens for enhanced nutrition was expanded. Instead of hospitals, 89 of them were created on the territory of factories, factories and institutions. 64 canteens were organized outside the enterprises. Food in these canteens was provided according to specially approved standards. From April 25 to July 1, 1942, 234 thousand people used them, of which 69% were workers, 18.5% were employees and 12.5% ​​were dependents.

In January 1942, a hospital for scientists and creative workers began operating at the Astoria Hotel. In the dining room of the House of Scientists, from 200 to 300 people ate during the winter months. On December 26, 1941, the Leningrad City Executive Committee ordered the Gastronom office to organize a one-time sale with home delivery at state prices without food cards to academicians and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences: animal butter - 0.5 kg, wheat flour - 3 kg, canned meat or fish - 2 boxes, sugar 0.5 kg, eggs - 3 dozen, chocolate - 0.3 kg, cookies - 0.5 kg, and grape wine - 2 bottles.

By decision of the city executive committee, new orphanages were opened in the city in January 1942. Over the course of 5 months, 85 orphanages were organized in Leningrad, accepting 30 thousand children left without parents. The command of the Leningrad Front and the city leadership sought to provide orphanages necessary nutrition. The resolution of the Front Military Council dated February 7, 1942 approved the following monthly supply standards for orphanages per child: meat - 1.5 kg, fats - 1 kg, eggs - 15 pieces, sugar - 1.5 kg, tea - 10 g, coffee - 30 g , cereals and pasta - 2.2 kg, wheat bread - 9 kg, wheat flour - 0.5 kg, dried fruits - 0.2 kg, potato flour -0.15 kg.

Universities open their own hospitals, where scientists and other university employees could rest for 7-14 days and receive enhanced nutrition, which consisted of 20 g of coffee, 60 g of fat, 40 g of sugar or confectionery, 100 g of meat, 200 g of cereal , 0.5 eggs, 350 g of bread, 50 g of wine per day, and the products were issued by cutting coupons from food cards.

In the first half of 1942, hospitals and then canteens with enhanced nutrition played a huge role in the fight against hunger, restoring the strength and health of a significant number of patients, which saved thousands of Leningraders from death. This is evidenced by numerous reviews from the blockade survivors themselves and data from clinics.

In the second half of 1942, to overcome the consequences of the famine, 12,699 patients were hospitalized in October and 14,738 in November, patients in need of enhanced nutrition. As of January 1, 1943, 270 thousand Leningraders received increased food supply compared to all-Union standards, another 153 thousand people visited canteens with three meals a day, which became possible thanks to the navigation of 1942, which was more successful than in 1941.

Use of food substitutes

A major role in overcoming the food supply problem was played by the use of food substitutes, the repurposing of old enterprises for their production and the creation of new ones. A certificate from the secretary of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Ya.F. Kapustin, addressed to A.A. Zhdanov reports the use of substitutes in the bread, meat, confectionery, dairy, canning industries, catering. For the first time in the USSR, food cellulose, produced at 6 enterprises, was used in the baking industry, which made it possible to increase bread baking by 2,230 tons. Soy flour, intestines, technical albumin obtained from egg white, animal blood plasma, whey. As a result, an additional 1,360 tons of meat products were produced, including table sausage - 380 tons, jelly 730 tons, albumin sausage - 170 tons and vegetable-blood bread - 80 tons. The dairy industry processed 320 tons of soybeans and 25 tons of cotton cake, which produced an additional 2,617 tons of products, including: soy milk 1,360 tons, soy milk products (yogurt, cottage cheese, cheesecakes, etc.) - 942 tons. A group of scientists from the Forestry Academy under the leadership of V.I. Kalyuzhny developed a technology for producing nutritional yeast from wood The technology of preparing vitamin C in the form of an infusion of pine needles was widely used. Until December alone, more than 2 million doses of this vitamin were produced. In public catering, jelly was widely used, which was prepared from plant milk, juices, glycerin and gelatin. Oatmeal waste and cranberry pulp were also used to produce jelly. Food industry the city produced glucose, oxalic acid, carotene, and tannin.

Attempts to break the blockade. "The road of life"

Breakthrough attempt. Bridgehead "Nevsky Piglet"

In the fall of 1941, immediately after the blockade was established, Soviet troops launched two operations to restore Leningrad's land communications with the rest of the country. The offensive was carried out in the area of ​​the so-called “Sinyavinsk-Shlisselburg salient”, the width of which along the southern coast of Lake Ladoga was only 12 km. However, German troops were able to create powerful fortifications. Soviet army suffered heavy losses, but was never able to move forward. The soldiers who broke through the blockade ring from Leningrad were severely exhausted.

The main battles were fought on the so-called “Neva patch” - a narrow strip of land 500-800 meters wide and about 2.5-3.0 km long (this is according to the memoirs of I. G. Svyatov) on the left bank of the Neva, held by the troops of the Leningrad Front . The entire area was under fire from the enemy, and Soviet troops, constantly trying to expand this bridgehead, suffered heavy losses. However, under no circumstances was it possible to surrender the patch - otherwise the full-flowing Neva would have to be crossed again, and the task of breaking the blockade would become much more complicated. In total, about 50,000 Soviet soldiers died on the Nevsky Piglet between 1941 and 1943.

At the beginning of 1942, the high Soviet command, inspired by the success of the Tikhvin offensive operation and clearly underestimating the enemy, decided to attempt the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade with the help of the Volkhov Front, with the support of the Leningrad Front. However, the Lyuban operation, which initially had strategic objectives, developed with great difficulty, and ultimately ended in a severe defeat for the Red Army. In August - September 1942, Soviet troops made another attempt to break the blockade. Although the Sinyavinsk operation did not achieve its goals, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts managed to thwart the German command’s plan to capture Leningrad under the code name “Northern Lights” (German: Nordlicht).

Thus, during 1941-1942, several attempts were made to break the blockade, but all of them were unsuccessful. The area between Lake Ladoga and the village of Mga, in which the distance between the lines of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts was only 12-16 kilometers (the so-called “Sinyavin-Shlisselburg ledge”), continued to be firmly held by units of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht.

“The Road of Life” is the name of the ice road through Ladoga in the winters of 1941-42 and 1942-43, after the ice reached a thickness that allowed the transportation of cargo of any weight. The Road of Life was in fact the only means of communication between Leningrad and the mainland.

“In the spring of 1942, I was 16 years old at the time, I had just graduated from driver’s school, and went to Leningrad to work on a lorry. My first flight was via Ladoga. The cars broke down one after another and food for the city was loaded into the cars not just “to capacity,” but much more. It seemed like the car was about to fall apart! I drove exactly halfway and only had time to hear the cracking of ice before my “one and a half” ended up under water. I was saved. I don’t remember how, but I woke up already on the ice about fifty meters from the hole where the car fell through. I quickly began to freeze. They took me back in a passing car. Someone threw either an overcoat or something similar over me, but it didn’t help. My clothes began to freeze and I could no longer feel my fingertips. As I drove by, I saw two more drowned cars and people trying to save the cargo.

I stayed in the blockade area for another six months. The worst thing I saw was when the corpses of people and horses surfaced during the ice drift. The water seemed black and red..."

Spring-summer 1942

The first breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad

On March 29, 1942, a partisan convoy with food for the city residents arrived in Leningrad from the Pskov and Novgorod regions. The event had enormous propaganda significance and demonstrated the enemy’s inability to control the rear of his troops, and the possibility of releasing the city by the regular Red Army, since the partisans managed to do this.

Organization of subsidiary farms

On March 19, 1942, the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council adopted a regulation “On personal consumer gardens of workers and their associations,” providing for the development of personal consumer gardening both in the city itself and in the suburbs. In addition to individual gardening itself, subsidiary farms were created at enterprises. For this purpose, vacant plots of land adjacent to enterprises were cleared, and employees of enterprises, according to lists approved by the heads of enterprises, were provided with plots of 2-3 acres for personal gardens. Subsidiary farms were guarded around the clock by enterprise personnel. Vegetable garden owners were provided with assistance in purchasing seedlings and using them economically. Thus, when planting potatoes, only small parts of the fruit with a sprouted “eye” were used.

In addition, the Leningrad City Executive Committee obliged some enterprises to provide residents with the necessary equipment, as well as to issue manuals on agriculture (“Agricultural rules for individual vegetable growing”, articles in Leningradskaya Pravda, etc.).

In total, in the spring of 1942, 633 subsidiary farms and 1,468 associations of gardeners were created, the total gross harvest from state farms, individual gardening and subsidiary plots amounted to 77 thousand tons.

Reducing street deaths

In the spring of 1942, due to warming temperatures and improved nutrition, the number of sudden deaths on the city streets decreased significantly. So, if in February about 7,000 corpses were picked up on the streets of the city, then in April - approximately 600, and in May - 50 corpses. In March 1942, the entire working population came out to clear the city of garbage. In April-May 1942, there was a further improvement in the living conditions of the population: the restoration of public utilities began. Many businesses have resumed operations.

Restoring urban public transport

On December 8, 1941, Lenenergo stopped supplying electricity and partial redemption of traction substations occurred. The next day, by decision of the city executive committee, eight tram routes were abolished. Subsequently, individual carriages still moved along the Leningrad streets, finally stopping on January 3, 1942 after the power supply completely stopped. 52 trains stood still on the snow-covered streets. Snow-covered trolleybuses stood on the streets all winter. More than 60 cars were crashed, burned or seriously damaged. In the spring of 1942, city authorities ordered the removal of cars from highways. The trolleybuses could not move under their own power; they had to organize towing. On March 8, power was supplied to the network for the first time. The restoration of the city's tram service began, and a freight tram was launched. On April 15, 1942, power was given to the central substations and a regular passenger tram was launched. To reopen freight and passenger traffic, it was necessary to restore approximately 150 km of the contact network - about half of the entire network in operation at that time. The launch of the trolleybus in the spring of 1942 was considered inappropriate by the city authorities.

Official statistics

Incomplete figures from official statistics: with a pre-war mortality rate of 3,000 people, in January-February 1942, approximately 130,000 people died monthly in the city, in March 100,000 people died, in May - 50,000 people, in July - 25,000 people, in September - 7000 people. The radical decrease in mortality occurred because the weakest had already died: the elderly, children, and the sick. Now the main civilian casualties of the war were mostly those who died not from starvation, but from bombings and artillery shelling. In total, according to the latest research, approximately 780,000 Leningraders died during the first, most difficult year of the siege.

1942-1943

1942 Intensification of shelling. Counter-battery combat

In April - May, the German command, during Operation Aisshtoss, unsuccessfully tried to destroy the ships of the Baltic Fleet stationed on the Neva.

By the summer, the leadership of Nazi Germany decided to intensify military operations on the Leningrad Front, and first of all, to intensify artillery shelling and bombing of the city.

New artillery batteries were deployed around Leningrad. In particular, super-heavy guns were deployed on railway platforms. They fired shells at distances of 13, 22 and even 28 km. The weight of the shells reached 800-900 kg. The Germans drew up a map of the city and identified several thousand of the most important targets, which were fired upon daily.

At this time, Leningrad turned into a powerful fortified area. 110 large defense centers were created, many thousands of kilometers of trenches, communication passages and other engineering structures were equipped. This created the opportunity to secretly regroup troops, withdraw soldiers from the front line, and bring up reserves. As a result, the number of losses of our troops from shell fragments and enemy snipers has sharply decreased. Reconnaissance and camouflage of positions were established. A counter-battery fight against enemy siege artillery is organized. As a result, the intensity of shelling of Leningrad by enemy artillery decreased significantly. For these purposes, the naval artillery of the Baltic Fleet was skillfully used. The positions of the heavy artillery of the Leningrad Front were moved forward, part of it was transferred across the Gulf of Finland to the Oranienbaum bridgehead, which made it possible to increase the firing range, both to the flank and rear of enemy artillery groups. Thanks to these measures, in 1943 the number of artillery shells that fell on the city decreased by approximately 7 times.

1943 Breaking the blockade

On January 12, after artillery preparation, which began at 9:30 a.m. and lasted 2:10 a.m., at 11 a.m. the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front and the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front went on the offensive and by the end of the day had advanced three kilometers towards each other. friend from the east and west. Despite the stubborn resistance of the enemy, by the end of January 13, the distance between the armies was reduced to 5-6 kilometers, and on January 14 - to two kilometers. The enemy command, trying to hold Workers' Villages No. 1 and 5 and strongholds on the flanks of the breakthrough at any cost, hastily transferred its reserves, as well as units and subunits from other sectors of the front. The enemy group, located to the north of the villages, unsuccessfully tried several times to break through the narrow neck to the south to its main forces.

On January 18, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts united in the area of ​​Workers' settlements No. 1 and 5. On the same day, Shlisselburg was liberated and the entire southern coast of Lake Ladoga was cleared of the enemy. A corridor 8-11 kilometers wide, cut along the coast, restored the land connection between Leningrad and the country. In seventeen days, a road and a railway (the so-called “Victory Road”) were built along the coast. Subsequently, the troops of the 67th and 2nd Shock armies tried to continue the offensive in a southern direction, but to no avail. The enemy continuously transferred fresh forces to the Sinyavino area: from January 19 to 30, five divisions and a large amount of artillery were brought up. To exclude the possibility of the enemy reaching Lake Ladoga again, the troops of the 67th and 2nd Shock Armies went on the defensive. By the time the blockade was broken, about 800 thousand civilians remained in the city. Many of these people were evacuated to the rear during 1943.

Food factories began to gradually switch to peacetime products. It is known, for example, that already in 1943, the Confectionery Factory named after N.K. Krupskaya produced three tons of sweets of the well-known Leningrad brand “Mishka in the North”.

After breaking through the blockade ring in the Shlisselburg area, the enemy, nevertheless, seriously strengthened the lines on the southern approaches to the city. The depth of the German defense lines in the area of ​​the Oranienbaum bridgehead reached 20 km.

1944 Complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade

On January 14, troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts began the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation. Already by January 20, Soviet troops achieved significant successes: formations of the Leningrad Front defeated the enemy’s Krasnoselsko-Ropshin group, and units of the Volkhov Front liberated Novgorod. This allowed L. A. Govorov and A. A. Zhdanov to appeal to J. V. Stalin on January 21:

In connection with the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade and from enemy artillery shelling, we ask for permission:

2. In honor of the victory, fire a salute with twenty-four artillery salvoes from three hundred and twenty-four guns in Leningrad on January 27 this year at 20.00.

J.V. Stalin granted the request of the command of the Leningrad Front and on January 27, a fireworks display was fired in Leningrad to commemorate the final liberation of the city from the siege, which lasted 872 days. The order to the victorious troops of the Leningrad Front, contrary to the established order, was signed by L. A. Govorov, and not Stalin. Not a single front commander was awarded such a privilege during the Great Patriotic War.

The Siege of Leningrad was a military blockade of the city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) by German, Finnish and Spanish (Blue Division) troops with volunteers from North Africa, Europe and the Italian Navy during the Great Patriotic War. 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 sufficient supplies of food and fuel. The only route of communication with Leningrad remained Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the artillery and aviation of the besiegers; a united enemy naval flotilla was also operating on the lake. The capacity of this transport artery did not meet the needs of the city. As a result, a massive famine that began in Leningrad, aggravated by the particularly harsh first blockade winter, problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents.

After breaking the blockade, the siege of Leningrad by enemy troops and navy continued until September 1944. To force the enemy to lift the siege of the city, in June - August 1944, Soviet troops, with the support of ships and aircraft of the Baltic Fleet, carried out the Vyborg and Svirsk-Petrozavodsk operations, liberated Vyborg on June 20, and Petrozavodsk on June 28. In September 1944, the island of Gogland was liberated.

For massive heroism and courage in defending the Motherland in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, shown by the defenders of besieged Leningrad, according to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on May 8, 1965, the city was awarded the highest degree of distinction - the title of Hero City.

January 27 is the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the Day of the complete lifting of the blockade of the city of Leningrad (1944).

Residents of besieged Leningrad collect water that appeared after artillery shelling in holes in the asphalt on Nevsky Prospekt, photo by B. P. Kudoyarov, December 1941

German attack on the USSR

On December 18, 1940, Hitler signed Directive No. 21, known as Plan Barbarossa. This plan provided for an attack on the USSR by three army groups in three main directions: GA “North” on Leningrad, GA “Center” on Moscow and GA “South” on Kyiv. The capture of Moscow was supposed to take place only after the capture of Leningrad and Kronstadt. Already in Directive No. 32 of June 11, 1941, Hitler defined the end of the “victorious campaign in the East” as the end of autumn.

Leningrad was the second most important city in the USSR with a population of about 3.2 million people. It provided the country with almost a quarter of all heavy engineering products and a third of the electrical industry products; it was home to 333 large industrial enterprises, as well as a large number of factories of local industry and artels. They employed 565 thousand people. Approximately 75% of output was from defense complex, which was characterized by a high professional level of engineers and technicians. The scientific and technical potential of Leningrad was very high, where there were 130 research institutes and design bureaus, 60 higher educational institutions and 106 technical schools.

With the capture of Leningrad, the German command could resolve a number of important tasks, namely:

to take possession of the powerful economic base of the Soviet Union, which before the war provided about 12% of the all-Union industrial output;

capture or destroy the Baltic navy, as well as the huge merchant fleet;

secure the left flank of the GA “Center”, which is leading the attack on Moscow, and release large forces of the GA “North”;

consolidate its dominance in the Baltic Sea and secure the supply of ore from Norwegian ports for German industry;

Finland's entry into the war

On June 17, 1941, a decree was issued in Finland on the mobilization of the entire field army, and on June 20, the mobilized army concentrated on the Soviet-Finnish border. Starting from June 21, 1941, Finland began to conduct military operations against the USSR. Also, on June 21-25, German naval and air forces operated from the territory of Finland against the USSR. On the morning of June 25, 1941, by order of the Headquarters, the Air Force of the Northern Front, together with the aviation of the Baltic Fleet, launched a massive attack on nineteen (according to other sources - 18) airfields in Finland and Northern Norway. Aircraft from the Finnish Air Force and the German 5th Air Force were based there. On the same day, the Finnish parliament voted for war with the USSR.

On June 29, 1941, Finnish troops crossed the state border and began a ground operation against the USSR.

Entry of enemy troops to Leningrad

On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the USSR. In the first 18 days of the offensive, the main strike force of the troops aimed at Leningrad, the 4th Tank Group, fought more than 600 kilometers (at a rate of 30-35 km per day), crossed the Western Dvina and Velikaya rivers. On July 5, Wehrmacht units occupied the city of Ostrov in the Leningrad region. On July 9, Pskov, located 280 kilometers from Leningrad, was occupied. From Pskov, the shortest route to Leningrad is along the Kyiv Highway, passing through Luga.

Already on June 23, the commander of the Leningrad Military District, Lieutenant General M. M. Popov, ordered the start of work to create an additional line of defense in the Pskov direction in the Luga area. On June 25, the Military Council of the Northern Front approved the defense scheme for the southern approaches to Leningrad and ordered construction to begin. Three defensive lines were built: one along the Luga River then to Shimsk; the second - Peterhof - Krasnogvardeysk - Kolpino; the third - from Avtovo to Rybatskoye. On July 4, this decision was confirmed by the Directive of the Headquarters of the High Command signed by G.K. Zhukov.

The Luga defensive line was well prepared in engineering terms: defensive structures were built with a length of 175 kilometers and a total depth of 10-15 kilometers, 570 pillboxes and bunkers, 160 km of scarps, 94 km of anti-tank ditches. Defensive structures were built by the hands of Leningraders, mostly women and teenagers (men went into the army and militia).

On July 12, advanced German units reached the Luga fortified area, where the German offensive was delayed. Reports from German commanders to headquarters:

Gepner's tank group, whose vanguards were exhausted and tired, advanced only slightly in the direction of Leningrad.

The command of the Leningrad Front took advantage of the delay of Gepner, who was waiting for reinforcements, and prepared to meet the enemy, using, among other things, the latest heavy tanks KV-1 and KV-2, just released by the Kirov plant. The German offensive was suspended for several weeks. Enemy troops failed to capture the city on the move. This delay caused sharp dissatisfaction with Hitler, who made a special trip to Army Group North with the aim of preparing a plan for the capture of Leningrad no later than September 1941. In conversations with military leaders, the Fuhrer, in addition to purely military arguments, brought up many political arguments. He believed that the capture of Leningrad would not only provide a military gain (control over all the Baltic coasts and the destruction of the Baltic Fleet), but would also bring huge political dividends. The Soviet Union will lose the city, which, being the cradle of the October Revolution, has a special symbolic meaning for the Soviet state. In addition, Hitler considered it very important not to give the Soviet command the opportunity to withdraw troops from the Leningrad area and use them in other sectors of the front. He hoped to destroy the troops defending the city.

The Nazis regrouped their troops and on August 8, from a previously captured bridgehead near Bolshoy Sabsk, they began an offensive in the direction of Krasnogvardeysk. A few days later, the defense of the Luga fortified area was broken through at Shimsk; on August 15, the enemy took Novgorod, and on August 20, Chudovo. On August 30, German troops captured Mga, cutting the last railway connecting Leningrad with the country.

On June 29, having crossed the border, the Finnish army began military operations against the USSR. On the Karelian Isthmus, the Finns initially showed little activity. A major Finnish offensive towards Leningrad in this sector began on July 31. By the beginning of September, the Finns crossed the old Soviet-Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus that existed before the signing of the 1940 peace treaty to a depth of 20 km and stopped at the border of the Karelian fortified area. Leningrad's connection with the rest of the country through the territories occupied by Finland was restored in the summer of 1944.

On September 4, 1941, General Jodl, Chief of the Main Staff of the German Armed Forces, was sent to Mannerheim's headquarters in Mikkeli. But he was refused participation of the Finns in the attack on Leningrad. Instead, Mannerheim led a successful offensive in the north of Ladoga, cutting the Kirov railway, the White Sea-Baltic Canal in the area of ​​Lake Onega and the Volga-Baltic route in the area of ​​the Svir River, thereby blocking a number of routes for the supply of goods to Leningrad.

In his memoirs, Mannerheim explains the stop of the Finns on the Karelian Isthmus approximately on the line of the Soviet-Finnish border of 1918-1940 by his own reluctance to attack Leningrad, in particular claiming that he agreed to take the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish troops on the condition that he would not conduct an offensive against cities. On the other hand, this position is disputed by Isaev and N.I. Baryshnikov:

The legend that the Finnish army had only the task of returning what was taken by the Soviet Union in 1940 was later invented retroactively. If on the Karelian Isthmus the crossing of the 1939 border was episodic in nature and was caused by tactical tasks, then between Lakes Ladoga and Onega the old border was crossed along its entire length and to great depth.

Back on September 11, 1941, Finnish President Risto Ryti told the German envoy in Helsinki:

“If St. Petersburg no longer exists as a large city, then the Neva would be the best border on the Karelian Isthmus... Leningrad must be liquidated as a large city.”

At the end of August, the Baltic Fleet approached the city from Tallinn with its 153 main-caliber naval artillery guns, and 207 coastal artillery barrels were also defending the city. The city's sky was protected by the 2nd Air Defense Corps. The highest density of anti-aircraft artillery during the defense of Moscow, Leningrad and Baku was 8-10 times greater than during the defense of Berlin and London.

On September 4, 1941, the city was subjected to the first artillery shelling from the city of Tosno occupied by German troops:

“In September 1941, a small group of officers, on instructions from the command, was driving a semi-truck along Lesnoy Prospekt from the Levashovo airfield. A little ahead of us was a tram crowded with people. He slows down to a stop where there is a large group of people waiting. A shell explodes, and many people fall at a stop, bleeding profusely. The second gap, the third... The tram is smashed to pieces. Heaps of dead. The wounded and maimed, mostly women and children, are scattered on the cobblestone streets, moaning and crying. A blond boy of about seven or eight years old, who miraculously survived at the bus stop, covering his face with both hands, sobs over his murdered mother and repeats: “Mommy, what have they done…”

Autumn 1941

Blitzkrieg attempt failed

On September 6, Hitler signed a directive on preparations for the attack on Moscow, according to which Army Group North, together with Finnish troops on the Karelian Isthmus, should encircle Soviet troops in the Leningrad area and no later than September 15 transfer to Army Group Center part of its mechanized troops and aviation connections.

On September 8, soldiers of the North group captured the city of Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost), taking control of the source of the Neva and blockading Leningrad from land. From this day the blockade of the city began, which lasted 872 days. All railway, river and road communications were severed. Communication with Leningrad was now maintained only by air and Lake Ladoga. From the north, the city was blocked by Finnish troops, who were stopped by the 23rd Army at the Karelian Ur. Only the only railway connection to the coast of Lake Ladoga from the Finlyandsky Station has been preserved - the “Road of Life”. On the same day, German troops unexpectedly quickly 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). The total area of ​​Leningrad and its suburbs encircled was about 5,000 km².

The establishment of the city's defense was led by the commander of the Baltic Fleet V.F. Tributs, K.E. Voroshilov and A.A. Zhdanov. On September 13, Zhukov arrived in the city, and assumed command of the front on September 14. The exact date of Zhukov's arrival in Leningrad remains a subject of debate to this day and varies between September 9-13. According to G.K. Zhukov,

“Stalin at that moment assessed the situation that had developed near Leningrad as catastrophic. Once he even used the word “hopeless.” He said that, apparently, a few more days would pass, and Leningrad would have to be considered lost.”

On September 4, 1941, the Germans began regular artillery shelling of Leningrad. The local leadership prepared the main factories for the explosion. All ships of the Baltic Fleet were to be scuttled. Trying to stop the unauthorized retreat, Zhukov did not stop at the most brutal measures. He, in particular, issued an order that for unauthorized retreat and abandonment of the defense line around the city, all commanders and soldiers were subject to immediate execution.

“If the Germans were stopped, they achieved this by bleeding them. No one will ever count how many of them were killed in those September days... Zhukov’s iron will stopped the Germans. He was terrible in these days of September.”

Von Leeb continued successful operations on the nearest approaches to the city. Its goal was to strengthen the blockade ring and divert the forces of the Leningrad Front from helping the 54th Army, which had begun to relieve the blockade of the city. In the end, the enemy stopped 4-7 km from the city, actually in the suburbs. The front line, that is, the trenches where the soldiers were sitting, was only 4 km from the Kirov Plant and 16 km from the Winter Palace. Despite the proximity of the front, the Kirov plant did not stop working throughout the entire period of the blockade. There was even a tram running from the factory to the front line. It was a regular tram line from the city center to the suburbs, but now it was used to transport soldiers and ammunition.

On September 21-23, in order to destroy the Baltic Fleet located at the base, the German air force carried out massive bombing of ships and facilities at the Kronstadt naval base. Several ships were sunk and damaged, in particular the battleship Marat was seriously damaged, on which more than 300 people died.

The Chief of the German General Staff, Halder, in relation to the battles for Leningrad, wrote the following in his diary on September 18:

“It is doubtful that our troops will be able to advance far if we withdraw the 1st Tank and 36th Motorized Divisions from this area. Considering the need for troops on the Leningrad sector of the front, where the enemy has concentrated large human and material forces and means, the situation here will be tense until our ally, hunger, makes itself felt.”

The beginning of the food crisis

Ideology of the German side

In the directive of the Chief of Staff of the German Navy No. 1601 of September 22, 1941, “The Future of the City of St. Petersburg” (German. Weisung Nr. Ia 1601/41 vom 22. September 1941 “Die Zukunft der Stadt Petersburg”) said:

"2. The Fuhrer decided to wipe the city of Leningrad off the face of the earth. After the defeat of Soviet Russia, the continued existence of this largest populated area is of no interest...

4. It is planned to surround the city with a tight ring and, through shelling from artillery of all calibers and continuous bombing from the air, raze it to the ground. If, as a result of the situation created in the city, requests for surrender are made, they will be rejected, since the problems associated with the stay of the population in the city and its food supply cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war being waged for the right to exist, we are not interested in preserving even part of the population.”

According to Jodl's testimony during the Nuremberg trials,

“During the siege of Leningrad, Field Marshal von Leeb, commander of Army Group North, reported to the OKW that streams of civilian refugees from Leningrad were seeking refuge in the German trenches and that he had no means of feeding or caring for them. The Fuhrer immediately gave the order (dated October 7, 1941 No. S.123) not to accept refugees and push them back into enemy territory.”

It should be noted that in the same order No. S.123 there was the following clarification:

“...not a single German soldier should enter these cities [Moscow and Leningrad]. Whoever leaves the city against our lines must be driven back by fire.

Small unguarded passages that make it possible for the population to leave individually for evacuation to the interior of Russia should only be welcomed. The population must be forced to flee the city through artillery fire and aerial bombardment. The larger the population of cities fleeing deep into Russia, the greater the chaos the enemy will experience and the easier it will be for us to manage and use the occupied areas. All senior officers must be aware of this desire of the Fuhrer."

German military leaders protested against the order to shoot at civilians and said that the troops would not carry out such an order, but Hitler was adamant.

Changing war tactics

The fighting near Leningrad did not stop, but its character changed. German troops began to destroy the city with massive artillery shelling and bombing. Bombing and artillery attacks were especially strong in October - November 1941. The Germans dropped several thousand incendiary bombs on Leningrad in order to cause massive fires. They paid special attention to the destruction of food warehouses, and they succeeded in this task. So, in particular, on September 10 they managed to bomb the famous Badayevsky warehouses, where there were significant food supplies. The fire was enormous, thousands of tons of food were burned, melted sugar flowed through the city and was absorbed into the ground. However, contrary to popular belief, this bombing could not be the main cause of the ensuing food crisis, since Leningrad, like any other metropolis, is supplied “on wheels”, and the food reserves destroyed along with the warehouses would only last the city for a few days .

Taught by this bitter lesson, city authorities began to pay special attention to the disguise of food supplies, which were now stored only in small quantities. So, famine became the most important factor determining the fate of the population of Leningrad.

The fate of citizens: demographic factors

According to data on January 1, 1941, just under three million people lived in Leningrad. The city was characterized by a higher than usual percentage of the disabled population, including children and the elderly. It was also distinguished by an unfavorable military-strategic position due to its proximity to the border and isolation from raw materials and fuel bases. At the same time, the city medical and sanitary service of Leningrad was one of the best in the country.

Theoretically, the Soviet side could have had the option of withdrawing troops and surrendering Leningrad to the enemy without a fight (using the terminology of that time, declaring Leningrad an “open city,” as happened, for example, with Paris). However, if we take into account Hitler’s plans for the future of Leningrad (or, more precisely, the lack of any future for it at all), there is no reason to argue that the fate of the city’s population in the event of capitulation would be better than the fate in the actual conditions of the siege.

The actual start of the blockade

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

The catastrophic food situation of the city became clear on September 12, when the inspection and accounting of all food supplies were completed. Food cards were introduced in Leningrad on July 17, that is, even before the blockade, but this was done only to restore order in supplies. The city entered the war with the usual supply of food. Food rationing standards were high, and there was no food shortage before the blockade began. The reduction in food distribution standards occurred for the first time on September 15. In addition, on September 1, the free sale of food was prohibited (this measure was in effect until mid-1944). While the “black market” persisted, the official sale of products in so-called commercial stores at market prices ceased.

In October, city residents felt a clear shortage of food, and in November real famine began in Leningrad. First, the first cases of loss of consciousness from hunger on the streets and at work, the first cases of death from exhaustion, and then the first cases of cannibalism were noted. Food supplies were delivered to the city both by air and by water through Lake Ladoga until ice set in. While the ice was thick enough for vehicles to move, there was virtually no traffic through Ladoga. All these transport communications were under constant enemy fire.

Despite the lowest standards for the distribution of bread, death from hunger has not yet become a mass phenomenon, and the bulk of the dead so far have been victims of bombing and artillery shelling.

Winter 1941-1942

Rations for blockade survivors

On the collective and state farms of the blockade ring, everything that could be useful for food was collected from fields and gardens. However, all these measures could not save from hunger. On November 20 - for the fifth time the population and the third time the troops - the norms for the distribution of bread had to be reduced. Warriors on the front line began to receive 500 grams per day; workers - 250 grams; employees, dependents and soldiers not on the front line - 125 grams. And besides bread, almost nothing. Famine began in blockaded Leningrad.

Based on the actual consumption, the availability of basic food products as of September 12 was (the figures are given according to accounting data carried out by the trade department of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, the front commissariat and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet):

Bread grain and flour for 35 days

Cereals and pasta for 30 days

Meat and meat products for 33 days

Fats for 45 days

Sugar and confectionery for 60 days

Nutrition standards among the troops defending the city were reduced several times. Thus, from October 2, the daily norm of bread per person in front line units was reduced to 800 grams, for other military and paramilitary units to 600 grams; On November 7, the norm was reduced to 600 and 400 grams, respectively, and on November 20 to 500 and 300 grams, respectively. The norms for other food products from the daily allowance were also cut. For the civilian population, the norms for the supply of goods on food cards, introduced in the city back in July, also decreased due to the blockade of the city, and turned out to be minimal from November 20 to December 25, 1941. The food ration size was:

Workers - 250 grams of bread per day,

Employees, dependents and children under 12 years old - 125 grams each,

Personnel of the paramilitary guards, fire brigades, fighter squads, vocational schools and FZO schools who were on boiler allowance - 300 grams.

Recipes for blockade bread changed depending on what ingredients were available. The need for a special bread recipe arose after a fire at the Badaevsky warehouses, when it turned out that there were only 35 days of raw materials for bread left. In September 1941, bread was prepared from a mixture of rye, oat, barley, soy and malt flour, then flaxseed cake and bran, cotton cake, wallpaper dust, flour broom, and shakes from bags of corn and rye flour were added to this mixture at different times. To enrich bread with vitamins and useful microelements they added flour from pine bast, birch branches and seeds of wild herbs. At the beginning of 1942, hydrocellulose was added to the recipe, which was used to add volume. According to the American historian D. Glantz, practically inedible impurities added instead of flour accounted for up to 50% of the bread. All other products almost ceased to be issued: already on September 23, beer production ceased, and all stocks of malt, barley, soybeans and bran were transferred to bakeries in order to reduce flour consumption. As of September 24, 40% of bread consisted of malt, oats and husks, and later cellulose (at various times from 20 to 50%). On December 25, 1941, the standards for issuing bread were increased - the population of Leningrad began to receive 350 g of bread on a work card and 200 g on an employee, child and dependent card; the troops began to issue 600 g of bread per day for field rations, and 400 g for rear rations. From February 10, the norm at the front line increased to 800 g, in other parts - to 600 g. From February 11, new supply standards were introduced for the civilian population: 500 grams of bread for workers, 400 for employees, 300 for children and non-workers. The impurities have almost disappeared from the bread. But the main thing is that supplies have become regular, food rationing has begun to be issued on time and almost completely. On February 16, quality meat was even issued for the first time - frozen beef and lamb. There has been a turning point in the food situation in the city.

Resident notification system. Metronome

In the first months of the blockade, 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets of Leningrad. The radio network carried information to the population about raids and air raid warnings. The famous metronome, which went down in the history of the siege of Leningrad as a cultural monument of the population’s resistance, was broadcast during the raids through this network. A fast rhythm meant air raid warning, a slow rhythm meant lights out. Announcer Mikhail Melaned also announced the alarm.

Worsening situation in the city

In November 1941, the situation for the townspeople worsened sharply. Deaths from hunger became widespread. Special funeral services daily picked up about a hundred corpses from the streets alone.

There are countless stories of people collapsing and dying - at home or at work, in shops or on the streets. A resident of the besieged city, Elena Skryabina, wrote in her diary:

“Now they die so simply: first they stop being interested in anything, then they go to bed and never get up again.

“Death rules the city. People die and die. Today, when I walked down the street, a man walked in front of me. He could barely move his legs. Overtaking him, I involuntarily drew attention to the eerie blue face. I thought to myself: he will probably die soon. Here one could really say that the stamp of death lay on the man’s face. After a few steps, I turned around, stopped, and watched him. He sank onto the cabinet, his eyes rolled back, then he slowly began to slide to the ground. When I approached him, he was already dead. People are so weak from hunger that they cannot resist death. They die as if they were falling asleep. And the half-dead people around them do not pay any attention to them. Death has become a phenomenon observed at every step. They got used to it, complete indifference appeared: after all, not today - tomorrow such a fate awaits everyone. When you leave the house in the morning, you come across corpses lying in the gateway on the street. The corpses lie there for a long time because there is no one to clean them up.

D. V. Pavlov, the State Defense Committee’s authorized representative for food supply for Leningrad and the Leningrad Front, writes:

“The period from mid-November 1941 to the end of January 1942 was the most difficult during the blockade. By this time, internal resources were completely exhausted, and imports through Lake Ladoga were carried out in insignificant quantities. People pinned all their hopes and aspirations on the winter road.”

Despite the low temperatures in the city, part of the water supply network worked, so dozens of water pumps were opened, from which residents of surrounding houses could take water. Most of the Vodokanal workers were transferred to a barracks position, but residents also had to take water from damaged pipes and ice holes.

The number of famine victims grew rapidly - more than 4,000 people died every day in Leningrad, which was a hundred times higher than the mortality rate in peacetime. There were days when 6-7 thousand people died. In December alone, 52,881 people died, while losses in January-February were 199,187 people. Male mortality significantly exceeded female mortality - for every 100 deaths there were an average of 63 men and 37 women. By the end of the war, women made up the bulk of the urban population.

Exposure to cold

Another important factor in the increase in mortality was the cold. With the onset of winter, the city almost ran out of fuel reserves: electricity generation was only 15% of the pre-war level. Centralized heating of houses stopped, water supply and sewage systems froze or were turned off. Work has stopped at almost all factories and plants (except for defense ones). Often, citizens who came to the workplace could not do their work due to the lack of water, heat and energy.

The winter of 1941-1942 turned out to be much colder and longer than usual. The winter of 1941-1942, according to aggregate indicators, is one of the coldest for the entire period of systematic instrumental weather observations in St. Petersburg - Leningrad. The average daily temperature steadily dropped below 0 °C already on October 11, and became steadily positive after April 7, 1942 - the climatic winter amounted to 178 days, that is, half of the year. During this period, there were 14 days with an average daily t > 0 °C, mostly in October, that is, there were practically no thaws usual for Leningrad winter weather. Even in May 1942, there were 4 days with a negative average daily temperature; on May 7, the maximum daytime temperature rose only to +0.9 °C. There was also a lot of snow in winter: the depth of the snow cover by the end of winter was more than half a meter. In terms of maximum snow cover height (53 cm), April 1942 is the record holder for the entire observation period, up to 2013 inclusive.

The average monthly temperature in October was +1.4 °C (the average value for the period 1753-1940 is +4.6 °C), which is 3.1 °C below normal. In the middle of the month, frosts reached −6 °C. By the end of the month, snow cover had established itself.

The average temperature in November 1941 was −4.2 °C (the long-term average was −1.1 °C), the temperature ranged from +1.6 to −13.8 °C.

In December, the average monthly temperature dropped to −12.5 °C (with a long-term average for 1753-1940 of −6.2 °C). The temperature ranged from +1.6 to −25.3 °C.

The first month of 1942 was the coldest this winter. The average temperature of the month was −18.7 °C (the average temperature for the period 1753-1940 was −8.8 °C). The frost reached −32.1 °C, the maximum temperature was +0.7 °C. The average snow depth reached 41 cm (the average depth for 1890-1941 was 23 cm).

The February average monthly temperature was −12.4 °C (the long-term average was −8.3 °C), the temperature ranged from −0.6 to −25.2 °C.

March was slightly warmer than February - average t = −11.6 °C (with an average for 1753-1940 t = −4.5 °C). The temperature varied from +3.6 to −29.1 °C in the middle of the month. March 1942 was the coldest in the history of weather observations until 2013.

The average monthly temperature in April was close to average values ​​(+2.4 °C) and amounted to +1.8 °C, while the minimum temperature was −14.4 °C.

In the book “Memoirs” by Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, it is said about the years of the blockade:

“The cold was somehow internal. It permeated everything through and through. The body produced too little heat.

The human mind was the last thing to die. If your arms and legs have already refused to serve you, if your fingers can no longer button the buttons of your coat, if a person no longer has any strength to cover your mouth with a scarf, if the skin around the mouth has become dark, if the face has become like a dead man’s skull with bared front teeth - the brain continued working. People wrote diaries and believed that they would be able to live another day.”

Housing and communal services and transport

In winter, the sewage system did not work in residential buildings; in January 1942, water supply operated in only 85 houses. The main heating means for most inhabited apartments were special small stoves, potbelly stoves. They burned everything that could burn, including furniture and books. Wooden houses were dismantled for firewood. Fuel production has become an important part of the life of Leningraders. Due to a lack of electricity and massive destruction of the contact network, the movement of urban electric transport, primarily trams, ceased. This event was an important factor contributing to the increase in mortality.

According to D.S. Likhachev,

“... when the tram stop added another two to three hours of walking from the place of residence to the place of work and back to the usual daily workload, this led to additional expenditure of calories. Very often people died from sudden cardiac arrest, loss of consciousness and freezing on the way.”

“The candle burned at both ends” - these words expressively characterized the situation of a city resident who lived under conditions of starvation rations and enormous physical and mental stress. In most cases, families did not die out immediately, but one by one, gradually. As long as someone could walk, he brought food using ration cards. The streets were covered with snow, which had not been cleared all winter, so movement along them was very difficult.

Organization of hospitals and canteens for enhanced nutrition.

By decision of the bureau of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Leningrad City Executive Committee, additional medical nutrition was organized at increased standards in special hospitals created at plants and factories, as well as in 105 city canteens. The hospitals operated from January 1 to May 1, 1942 and served 60 thousand people. From the end of April 1942, by decision of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, the network of canteens for enhanced nutrition was expanded. Instead of hospitals, 89 of them were created on the territory of factories, factories and institutions. 64 canteens were organized outside the enterprises. Food in these canteens was provided according to specially approved standards. From April 25 to July 1, 1942, 234 thousand people used them, of which 69% were workers, 18.5% were employees and 12.5% ​​were dependents.

In January 1942, a hospital for scientists and creative workers began operating at the Astoria Hotel. In the dining room of the House of Scientists, from 200 to 300 people ate in the winter months. On December 26, 1941, the Leningrad City Executive Committee ordered the Gastronom office to organize a one-time sale with home delivery at state prices without food cards to academicians and corresponding members of the USSR Academy of Sciences: animal butter - 0.5 kg, wheat flour - 3 kg, canned meat or fish - 2 boxes, sugar 0.5 kg, eggs - 3 dozen, chocolate - 0.3 kg, cookies - 0.5 kg, and grape wine - 2 bottles.

By decision of the city executive committee, new orphanages were opened in the city in January 1942. Over the course of 5 months, 85 orphanages were organized in Leningrad, accepting 30 thousand children left without parents. The command of the Leningrad Front and the city leadership sought to provide orphanages with the necessary food. The resolution of the Front Military Council dated February 7, 1942 approved the following monthly supply standards for orphanages per child: meat - 1.5 kg, fats - 1 kg, eggs - 15 pieces, sugar - 1.5 kg, tea - 10 g, coffee - 30 g , cereals and pasta - 2.2 kg, wheat bread - 9 kg, wheat flour - 0.5 kg, dried fruits - 0.2 kg, potato flour -0.15 kg.

Universities open their own hospitals, where scientists and other university employees could rest for 7-14 days and receive enhanced nutrition, which consisted of 20 g of coffee, 60 g of fat, 40 g of sugar or confectionery, 100 g of meat, 200 g of cereal , 0.5 eggs, 350 g of bread, 50 g of wine per day, and food was issued by cutting out coupons from food cards.

Additional supplies were also organized for the leadership of the city and region. According to surviving evidence, the leadership of Leningrad did not experience difficulties in feeding and heating living quarters. The diaries of party workers of that time preserved the following facts: any food was available in the Smolny canteen: fruits, vegetables, caviar, buns, cakes. Milk and eggs were delivered from a subsidiary farm in the Vsevolozhsk region. In a special rest house, high-quality food and entertainment were available to vacationing representatives of the nomenklatura.

Nikolai Ribkovsky, an instructor in the personnel department of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, was sent to rest in a party sanatorium, where he described his life in his diary:

“For three days now I have been in the hospital of the city party committee. In my opinion, this is simply a seven-day rest house and it is located in one of the pavilions of the now closed rest house of the party activists of the Leningrad organization in Melnichny Ruchey. The situation and the whole order in the hospital are very reminiscent of a closed sanatorium in the city of Pushkin... From the cold, somewhat tired, you stumble into a house with warm cozy rooms, blissfully stretch your legs... Every day meat - lamb, ham, chicken, goose, turkey, sausage; fish - bream, herring, smelt, and fried, both boiled and aspic. Caviar, balyk, cheese, pies, cocoa, coffee, tea, 300 grams of white and the same amount of black bread per day... and to all this, 50 grams of grape wine, good port wine for lunch and dinner. You order food the day before to your liking. Comrades say that the district hospitals are in no way inferior to the City Committee hospital, and at some enterprises there are such hospitals that our hospital pales in comparison.

Ribkovsky wrote: “What’s even better? We eat, drink, walk, sleep, or just laze around listening to the gramophone, exchanging jokes, playing dominoes or playing cards... In a word, we relax!... And in total we pay only 50 rubles for the vouchers.”

In the first half of 1942, hospitals and then canteens with enhanced nutrition played a huge role in the fight against hunger, restoring the strength and health of a significant number of patients, which saved thousands of Leningraders from death. This is evidenced by numerous reviews from the blockade survivors themselves and data from clinics.

In the second half of 1942, to overcome the consequences of the famine, the following were hospitalized: in October - 12,699, in November 14,738 patients in need of enhanced nutrition. As of January 1, 1943, 270 thousand Leningraders received increased food supply compared to all-Union standards, another 153 thousand people attended canteens with three meals a day, which became possible thanks to the navigation of 1942, which was more successful than in 1941.

Use of food substitutes

A major role in overcoming the food supply problem was played by the use of food substitutes, the repurposing of old enterprises for their production and the creation of new ones. A certificate from the secretary of the city committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Ya.F. Kapustin, addressed to A.A. Zhdanov reports on the use of substitutes in the bread, meat, confectionery, dairy, canning industries, and in public catering. For the first time in the USSR, food cellulose, produced at 6 enterprises, was used in the baking industry, which made it possible to increase bread baking by 2,230 tons. Soy flour, intestines, technical albumin obtained from egg white, animal blood plasma, and whey were used as additives in the manufacture of meat products. As a result, an additional 1,360 tons of meat products were produced, including table sausage - 380 tons, jelly 730 tons, albumin sausage - 170 tons and vegetable-blood bread - 80 tons. The dairy industry processed 320 tons of soybeans and 25 tons of cotton cake, which produced an additional 2,617 tons of products, including: soy milk 1,360 tons, soy milk products (yogurt, cottage cheese, cheesecakes, etc.) - 942 tons. A group of scientists from the Forestry Academy under the leadership of V. I. Kalyuzhny developed a technology for producing nutritional yeast made of wood. The technology of preparing vitamin C in the form of an infusion of pine needles was widely used. Until December alone, more than 2 million doses of this vitamin were produced. In public catering, jelly was widely used, which was prepared from plant milk, juices, glycerin and gelatin. Oatmeal waste and cranberry pulp were also used to produce jelly. The city's food industry produced glucose, oxalic acid, carotene, and tannin.

A steam locomotive carries flour along tram rails in besieged Leningrad, 1942

Attempts to break the blockade.

Breakthrough attempt. Bridgehead "Nevsky Piglet"

In the fall of 1941, immediately after the blockade was established, Soviet troops launched two operations to restore Leningrad's land communications with the rest of the country. The offensive was carried out in the area of ​​the so-called “Sinyavinsk-Shlisselburg salient”, the width of which along the southern coast of Lake Ladoga was only 12 km. However, German troops were able to create powerful fortifications. The Soviet army suffered heavy losses, but was never able to move forward. The soldiers who broke through the blockade ring from Leningrad were severely exhausted.

The main battles were fought on the so-called “Neva patch” - a narrow strip of land 500-800 meters wide and about 2.5-3.0 km long (this is according to the memoirs of I. G. Svyatov) on the left bank of the Neva, held by the troops of the Leningrad Front . The entire area was under fire from the enemy, and Soviet troops, constantly trying to expand this bridgehead, suffered heavy losses. However, surrendering the patch would mean crossing the full-flowing Neva again, and the task of breaking the blockade would become much more difficult. In total, about 50,000 Soviet soldiers died on the Nevsky Piglet between 1941 and 1943.

At the beginning of 1942, the high Soviet command, inspired by the success of the Tikhvin offensive operation, decided to attempt the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade with the help of the Volkhov Front, with the support of the Leningrad Front. However, the Lyuban operation, which initially had strategic objectives, developed with great difficulty, and ultimately ended in the encirclement and defeat of the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front. In August - September 1942, Soviet troops made another attempt to break the blockade. Although the Sinyavinsk operation did not achieve its goals, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts managed to thwart the German command’s plan to capture Leningrad under the code name “Northern Lights” (German: Nordlicht).

Thus, during 1941-1942, several attempts were made to break the blockade, but all of them were unsuccessful. The area between Lake Ladoga and the village of Mga, in which the distance between the lines of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts was only 12-16 kilometers (the so-called “Sinyavin-Shlisselburg ledge”), continued to be firmly held by units of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht.

Spring-summer 1942

Partisan convoy for besieged Leningrad

On March 29, 1942, a partisan convoy with food for the city residents arrived in Leningrad from the Pskov and Novgorod regions. The event was of great inspiring significance and demonstrated the inability of the enemy to control the rear of his troops, and the possibility of releasing the city by the regular Red Army, since the partisans managed to do this.

Organization of subsidiary farms

On March 19, 1942, the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council adopted a regulation “On personal consumer gardens of workers and their associations,” providing for the development of personal consumer gardening both in the city itself and in the suburbs. In addition to individual gardening itself, subsidiary farms were created at enterprises. For this purpose, vacant plots of land adjacent to enterprises were cleared, and employees of enterprises, according to lists approved by the heads of enterprises, were provided with plots of 2-3 acres for personal gardens. Subsidiary farms were guarded around the clock by enterprise personnel. Vegetable garden owners were provided with assistance in purchasing seedlings and using them economically. Thus, when planting potatoes, only small parts of the fruit with a sprouted “eye” were used.

In addition, the Leningrad City Executive Committee obliged some enterprises to provide residents with the necessary equipment, as well as to issue manuals on agriculture (“Agricultural rules for individual vegetable growing”, articles in Leningradskaya Pravda, etc.).

In total, in the spring of 1942, 633 subsidiary farms and 1,468 associations of gardeners were created; the total gross harvest from state farms, individual gardening and subsidiary plots for 1942 amounted to 77 thousand tons.

Decrease in mortality

In the spring of 1942, due to warming temperatures and improved nutrition, the number of sudden deaths on the city streets decreased significantly. So, if in February about 7,000 corpses were picked up on the streets of the city, then in April - approximately 600, and in May - 50 corpses. With a pre-war mortality rate of 3,000 people, in January-February 1942, approximately 130,000 people died monthly in the city, in March 100,000 people died, in May - 50,000 people, in July - 25,000 people, in September - 7,000 people. In total, according to the latest research, approximately 780,000 Leningraders died during the first, most difficult year of the siege.

In March 1942, the entire working population came out to clear the city of garbage. In April-May 1942, there was a further improvement in the living conditions of the population: the restoration of public utilities began. Many businesses have resumed operations.

Restoring urban public transport

On December 8, 1941, Lenenergo stopped supplying electricity and partial redemption of traction substations occurred. The next day, by decision of the city executive committee, eight tram routes were abolished. Subsequently, individual carriages still moved along the Leningrad streets, finally stopping on January 3, 1942 after the power supply completely stopped. 52 trains stood still on the snow-covered streets. Snow-covered trolleybuses stood on the streets all winter. More than 60 cars were crashed, burned or seriously damaged. In the spring of 1942, city authorities ordered the removal of cars from highways. The trolleybuses could not move under their own power; they had to organize towing.

On March 8, power was supplied to the network for the first time. The restoration of the city's tram service began, and a freight tram was launched. On April 15, 1942, power was given to the central substations and a regular passenger tram was launched. To reopen freight and passenger traffic, it was necessary to restore approximately 150 km of the contact network - about half of the entire network in operation at that time. The launch of the trolleybus in the spring of 1942 was considered inappropriate by the city authorities.

Official statistics

1942-1943

1942 Intensification of shelling. Counter-battery combat

In April - May, the German command, during Operation Aisstoss, unsuccessfully tried to destroy the ships of the Baltic Fleet stationed on the Neva.

By the summer, the leadership of Nazi Germany decided to intensify military operations on the Leningrad Front, and first of all, to intensify artillery shelling and bombing of the city.

New artillery batteries were deployed around Leningrad. In particular, super-heavy guns were deployed on railway platforms. They fired shells at distances of 13, 22 and even 28 km. The weight of the shells reached 800-900 kg. The Germans drew up a map of the city and identified several thousand of the most important targets, which were fired upon daily.

At this time, Leningrad turned into a powerful fortified area. 110 large defense centers were created, many thousands of kilometers of trenches, communication passages and other engineering structures were equipped. This created the opportunity to secretly regroup troops, withdraw soldiers from the front line, and bring up reserves. As a result, the number of losses of our troops from shell fragments and enemy snipers has sharply decreased. Reconnaissance and camouflage of positions were established. A counter-battery fight against enemy siege artillery is organized. As a result, the intensity of shelling of Leningrad by enemy artillery decreased significantly. For these purposes, the naval artillery of the Baltic Fleet was skillfully used. The positions of the heavy artillery of the Leningrad Front were moved forward, part of it was transferred across the Gulf of Finland to the Oranienbaum bridgehead, which made it possible to increase the firing range, both to the flank and rear of enemy artillery groups. Special spotter aircraft and observation balloons were allocated. Thanks to these measures, in 1943 the number of artillery shells that fell on the city decreased by approximately 7 times.

1943 Breaking the blockade

On January 12, after artillery preparation, which began at 9:30 a.m. and lasted 2:10 a.m., at 11 a.m. the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front and the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front went on the offensive and by the end of the day had advanced three kilometers towards each other. friend from the east and west. Despite the stubborn resistance of the enemy, by the end of January 13, the distance between the armies was reduced to 5-6 kilometers, and on January 14 - to two kilometers. The enemy command, trying to hold Workers' Villages No. 1 and 5 and strongholds on the flanks of the breakthrough at any cost, hastily transferred its reserves, as well as units and subunits from other sectors of the front. The enemy group, located to the north of the villages, unsuccessfully tried several times to break through the narrow neck to the south to its main forces.

On January 18, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts united in the area of ​​Workers' settlements No. 1 and 5. On the same day, Shlisselburg was liberated and the entire southern coast of Lake Ladoga was cleared of the enemy. A corridor 8-11 kilometers wide, cut along the coast, restored the land connection between Leningrad and the country. In seventeen days, a road and a railway (the so-called “Victory Road”) were built along the coast. Subsequently, the troops of the 67th and 2nd Shock armies tried to continue the offensive in a southern direction, but to no avail. The enemy continuously transferred fresh forces to the Sinyavino area: from January 19 to 30, five divisions and a large amount of artillery were brought up. To exclude the possibility of the enemy reaching Lake Ladoga again, the troops of the 67th and 2nd Shock Armies went on the defensive. By the time the blockade was broken, about 800 thousand civilians remained in the city. Many of these people were evacuated to the rear during 1943.

Food factories began to gradually switch to peacetime products. It is known, for example, that already in 1943, the Confectionery Factory named after N.K. Krupskaya produced three tons of sweets of the well-known Leningrad brand “Mishka in the North”.

After breaking through the blockade ring in the Shlisselburg area, the enemy, nevertheless, seriously strengthened the lines on the southern approaches to the city. The depth of the German defense lines in the area of ​​the Oranienbaum bridgehead reached 20 km.

Jubilant Leningrad. The blockade is lifted, 1944

1944 Complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade

Main articles: Operation "January Thunder", Novgorod-Luga offensive operation

On January 14, troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts began the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation. Already by January 20, Soviet troops achieved significant successes: formations of the Leningrad Front defeated the enemy’s Krasnoselsko-Ropshin group, and units of the Volkhov Front liberated Novgorod. This allowed L. A. Govorov and A. A. Zhdanov to appeal to J. V. Stalin on January 21:

In connection with the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade and from enemy artillery shelling, we ask for permission:

2. In honor of the victory, fire a salute with twenty-four artillery salvoes from three hundred and twenty-four guns in Leningrad on January 27 this year at 20.00.

J.V. Stalin granted the request of the command of the Leningrad Front and on January 27, a fireworks display was fired in Leningrad to commemorate the final liberation of the city from the siege, which lasted 872 days. The order to the victorious troops of the Leningrad Front, contrary to the established order, was signed by L. A. Govorov, and not Stalin. Not a single front commander was awarded such a privilege during the Great Patriotic War.

Evacuation of residents

The situation at the beginning of the blockade

The evacuation of city residents began already on June 29, 1941 (the first trains) and was of an organized nature. At the end of June, the City Evacuation Commission was created. Explanatory work began among the population about the need to leave Leningrad, since many residents did not want to leave their homes. Before the German attack on the USSR, there were no pre-developed plans for the evacuation of the population of Leningrad. The possibility of the Germans reaching the city was considered minimal.

First wave of evacuation

The very first stage of the evacuation lasted from June 29 to August 27, when Wehrmacht units captured the railway connecting Leningrad with the regions lying to the east of it. This period was characterized by two features:

Reluctance of residents to leave the city;

Many children from Leningrad were evacuated to areas of the Leningrad region. This subsequently led to 175,000 children being returned back to Leningrad.

During this period, 488,703 people were taken out of the city, of which 219,691 were children (395,091 were taken out, but subsequently 175,000 were returned) and 164,320 workers and employees were evacuated along with enterprises.

Second wave of evacuation

In the second period, evacuation was carried out in three ways:

evacuation across Lake Ladoga by water transport to Novaya Ladoga, and then to Volkhovstroy station by road transport;

evacuation by air;

evacuation along the ice road across Lake Ladoga.

During this period, 33,479 people were transported by water transport (of which 14,854 were not from the Leningrad population), by aviation - 35,114 (of which 16,956 were from non-Leningrad population), by march through Lake Ladoga and by unorganized motor transport from the end of December 1941 until January 22, 1942 - 36,118 people (population not from Leningrad), from January 22 to April 15, 1942 along the “Road of Life” - 554,186 people.

In total, during the second evacuation period - from September 1941 to April 1942 - about 659 thousand people were taken out of the city, mainly along the “Road of Life” across Lake Ladoga.

Third wave of evacuation

From May to October 1942, 403 thousand people were taken out. In total, 1.5 million people were evacuated from the city during the blockade. By October 1942, the evacuation was completed.

Consequences

Consequences for evacuees

Some of the exhausted people taken from the city could not be saved. Several thousand people died from the consequences of hunger after they were transported to the “Mainland”. Doctors did not immediately learn how to care for starving people. There were cases when they died after receiving a large amount of high-quality food, which turned out to be essentially poison for the exhausted body. At the same time, there could have been much more casualties if the local authorities of the regions where the evacuees were accommodated had not made extraordinary efforts to provide Leningraders with food and qualified medical care.

Many evacuees were unable to return home to Leningrad after the war. They settled permanently on the “Mainland”. The city was closed for a long time. To return, a “call” from relatives was needed. Most of the survivors had no relatives. Those who returned after the “opening” of Leningrad were unable to get into their apartments; other people arbitrarily occupied the housing of the siege survivors.

Implications for city leadership

The blockade became a brutal test for all city services and departments that ensured the functioning of the huge city. Leningrad provided a unique experience in organizing life in conditions of famine. The following fact is noteworthy: during the blockade, unlike many other cases of mass famine, no major epidemics occurred, despite the fact that hygiene in the city was, of course, much lower than normal due to the almost complete absence of running water, sewerage and heating. Of course, the harsh winter of 1941-1942 helped prevent epidemics. At the same time, researchers also point to effective preventive measures taken by the authorities and medical services.

“The most difficult thing during the blockade was hunger, as a result of which the residents developed dystrophy. At the end of March 1942, an epidemic of cholera, typhoid fever, and typhus broke out, but due to the professionalism and high qualifications of doctors, the outbreak was kept to a minimum.”

City supply

After Leningrad was cut off from all land supply lines with the rest of the country, the delivery of goods to the city was organized along Lake Ladoga - to its western coast, controlled by the besieged troops of the Leningrad Front. From there, cargo was delivered directly to Leningrad via the Irinovskaya Railway. During the period of clean water, supply was carried out by water transport; during the period of freeze-up, a horse-drawn road operated across the lake. Since February 1943, the railway built through the coast of Ladoga, liberated during the breaking of the blockade, began to be used to supply Leningrad.

Cargo delivery was also carried out by air. Before the full operation of the ice route began, air supply to the city accounted for a significant part of the total cargo flow. The leadership of the Leningrad Front and the city leadership took organizational measures to establish mass air transportation to the besieged city from the beginning of September. To establish air communications between the city and the country, on September 13, 1941, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front adopted a resolution “On the organization of air transport communications between Moscow and Leningrad.” On September 20, 1941, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution “On the organization of air transport communications between Moscow and Leningrad,” according to which it was planned to deliver 100 tons of cargo to the city daily and evacuate 1000 people. The Special Northern Air Group of the Civil Fleet, based in Leningrad, and the Special Baltic Aviation Detachment included in it, began to be used for transportation. Also standing out were three squadrons of the Moscow Special Purpose Air Group (MAGON) consisting of 30 Li-2 aircraft, which made their first flight to Leningrad on September 16. Later, the number of units involved in air supply was increased, and heavy bombers were also used for transportation. The settlement of Khvoinaya in the east of the Leningrad region was chosen as the main rear base, where cargo was delivered by rail and from where it was distributed to the nearest airfields for shipment to Leningrad. The Komendantsky airfield and the Smolnoye airfield under construction were chosen to receive aircraft in Leningrad. Air transport cover was provided by three fighter regiments. Initially, the bulk of cargo consisted of industrial and military products, and from November food products became the basis of transportation to Leningrad. On November 9, the State Defense Committee issued a decree on the allocation of aviation for the delivery of goods to Leningrad. It ordered the allocation of 24 more aircraft of this model to the 26 PS-84 aircraft operating on the line and 10 TB-3 for a period of 5 days. For a five-day period, the cargo delivery rate was set at 200 tons per day, including: 135 tons of millet porridge and pea soup concentrates, 20 tons of smoked meats, 20 tons of fats and 10 tons of powdered milk and egg powder. On November 21, the maximum weight of cargo was delivered to the city - 214 tons. From September to December, more than 5 thousand tons of food were delivered to Leningrad by air and 50 thousand people were taken out, of which more than 13 thousand were military personnel of units transferred to Tikhvin.

Results of the blockade

Population losses

As the American political philosopher Michael Walzer notes, “more civilians died in the siege of Leningrad than in the inferno of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.”

During the years of the blockade, according to various sources, from 600 thousand to 1.5 million people died. So, at the Nuremberg trials the number of 632 thousand people appeared. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling; the remaining 97% died of starvation.

Due to the famine, there were cases of murders for the purpose of cannibalism in the city. So in December 1941, 26 people were brought to criminal responsibility for such crimes, in January 1942 - 336 people, and in two weeks of February 494 people.

Most of the Leningrad residents who died during the siege are buried at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, located in the Kalininsky district. The area of ​​the cemetery is 26 hectares, the length of the walls is 150 m with a height of 4.5 m. The lines of the writer Olga Berggolts, who survived the siege, are carved on the stones. In a long row of graves lie the victims of the siege, the number of whom in this cemetery alone is approximately 500 thousand people.

Also, the bodies of many dead Leningraders were cremated in the ovens of a brick factory located on the territory of what is now Moscow Victory Park. A chapel was built on the territory of the park and the “Trolley” monument was erected - one of the most terrible monuments in St. Petersburg. On such trolleys, the ashes of the dead were transported to nearby quarries after burning in the factory furnaces.

Serafimovskoye Cemetery was also the site of mass burials of Leningraders who died and died during the siege of Leningrad. In 1941-1944, more than 100 thousand people were buried here. The dead were buried in almost all cemeteries in the city (Volkovsky, Krasnenkoy and others). During the battle for Leningrad, more people died than England and the United States lost during the entire war.

Title of Hero City

By order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of May 1, 1945, Leningrad, along with Stalingrad, Sevastopol and Odessa, was named a hero city for the heroism and courage shown by the city's residents during the siege. On May 8, 1965, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Hero City Leningrad was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.

Sailors of the Baltic Fleet with the little girl Lyusya, whose parents died during the blockade. Leningrad, May 1, 1943.

Damage to cultural monuments

Enormous damage was caused to historical buildings and monuments of Leningrad. It could have been even larger if very effective measures had not been taken to disguise them. The most valuable monuments, for example, the monument to Peter I and the monument to Lenin at the Finlyandsky Station, were hidden under sandbags and plywood shields.

But the greatest, irreparable damage was caused to historical buildings and monuments located both in the German-occupied suburbs of Leningrad and in the immediate vicinity of the front. Thanks to the dedicated work of the staff, a significant amount of storage items were saved. However, buildings and green spaces that were not subject to evacuation, directly on the territory of which the fighting took place, were extremely damaged. The Pavlovsk Palace was destroyed and burned down, in the park of which about 70,000 trees were cut down. The famous Amber Room, given to Peter I by the King of Prussia, was completely taken away by the Germans.

The now restored Fedorovsky Sovereign Cathedral has been turned into ruins, in which there was a hole in the wall facing the city across the entire height of the building. Also, during the retreat of the Germans, the Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, in which the Germans had built an infirmary, burned down.

The almost complete destruction of the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Primorsky Hermitage, considered one of the most beautiful in Europe, where many St. Petersburg residents were buried, whose names went down in the history of the state, turned out to be irreplaceable for the historical memory of the people.

Social aspects of life during the siege

Institute of Plant Science Foundation

In Leningrad there was the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing, which had and still has a gigantic seed fund. Of the entire selection fund of the Leningrad Institute, which contained several tons of unique grain crops, not a single grain was touched. 28 employees of the institute died of hunger, but preserved materials that could help the post-war restoration of agriculture.

Tanya Savicheva

Tanya Savicheva lived with a Leningrad family. The war began, then the blockade. Before Tanya’s eyes, her grandmother, two uncles, mother, brother and sister died. When the evacuation of children began, the girl was taken along the “Road of Life” to the “Mainland”. Doctors fought for her life, but health care came too late. Tanya Savicheva died from exhaustion and illness.

Easter in a besieged city

During the blockade, services were held in 10 churches, the largest of which were the St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, which belonged to the Patriarchal Church, and the renovationist Transfiguration Cathedral. In 1942, Easter was very early (March 22, old style). The entire day of April 4, 1942, the city was shelled, intermittently. On Easter night from April 4 to 5, the city was subjected to a brutal bombing, in which 132 aircraft took part.

“At about seven o’clock in the evening, frantic anti-aircraft fire erupted, merging into one continuous chaos. The Germans were flying low, surrounded by dense ridges of black and white explosions... At night, from approximately two to four, there was another raid, many planes, frantic anti-aircraft fire. The land mines, they say, were dropped both in the evening and at night, where exactly - no one knows for sure (it seems, the Marti plant). Many today are in terrible panic from the raids, as if they should not have happened at all.

Easter matins were held in churches amid the roar of exploding shells and breaking glass.

“The priest “blessed the Easter cakes.” It was touching. Women walked with slices of black bread and candles, and the priest sprinkled them with holy water.

Metropolitan Alexy (Simansky) emphasized in his Easter message that April 5, 1942 marked the 700th anniversary of the Battle of the Ice, in which Alexander Nevsky defeated the German army.

"The Dangerous Side of the Street"

During the siege in Leningrad there was no area that an enemy shell could not reach. Areas and streets were identified where the risk of becoming a victim of enemy artillery was greatest. Special warning signs were placed there with, for example, the text: “Citizens! During shelling, this side of the street is the most dangerous.” Several inscriptions have been recreated in the city to commemorate the siege.

From a letter from KGIOP

According to the information available to the KGIOP, no authentic wartime warning signs have been preserved in St. Petersburg. The existing memorial inscriptions were recreated in the 1960-1970s. as a tribute to the heroism of Leningraders.

Cultural life of besieged Leningrad

In the city, despite the blockade, cultural and intellectual life continued. In the summer of 1942, some educational institutions, theaters and cinemas were opened; There were even several jazz concerts. During the first winter of the blockade, several theaters and libraries continued to operate - in particular, throughout the entire period of the blockade, the State Public library and the library of the Academy of Sciences. Leningrad Radio did not interrupt its work. In August 1942, the city Philharmonic was reopened, where classical music began to be performed regularly. During the first concert on August 9 at the Philharmonic, the orchestra of the Leningrad Radio Committee under the direction of Carl Eliasberg performed for the first time the famous Leningrad Heroic Symphony of Dmitry Shostakovich, which became the musical symbol of the siege. Throughout the blockade, existing churches remained in operation in Leningrad.

Genocide of Jews in Pushkin and other cities of the Leningrad region

The Nazi policy of extermination of Jews also affected the occupied suburbs of besieged Leningrad. Thus, almost the entire Jewish population of the city of Pushkin was destroyed. One of the punitive centers was located in Gatchina:

Gatchina was captured by German troops a few days before Pushkin. Special Sonder Detachments and Einsatzgruppe A were stationed there, and from then on it became the center of punitive agencies operating in the immediate vicinity. The central concentration camp was located in Gatchina itself, and several other camps - in Rozhdestveno, Vyritsa, Torfyan - were mainly transit points. The camp in Gatchina was intended for prisoners of war, Jews, Bolsheviks and suspicious persons detained by the German police

Holocaust in Pushkin.

The Scientists' Case

In 1941-42, during the blockade, the Leningrad NKVD department arrested from 200 to 300 employees of Leningrad higher educational institutions and members of their families on charges of carrying out “anti-Soviet, counter-revolutionary, treasonous activities.” As a result of several trials, the Military Tribunal of the troops of the Leningrad Front and the NKVD troops of the Leningrad District sentenced 32 highly qualified specialists to death (four were shot, the rest were sentenced to various terms of forced labor camps), many of the arrested scientists died during the investigation prison and camps. In 1954-55, the convicts were rehabilitated, and a criminal case was opened against the NKVD officers.

Soviet Navy (RKKF) in the defense of Leningrad

A special role in the defense of the city, breaking the Siege of Leningrad and ensuring the existence of the city under blockade conditions was played by the Red Banner Baltic Fleet (KBF; commander - Admiral V.F. Tributs), the Ladoga Military Flotilla (formed on June 25, 1941, disbanded on November 4, 1944; commanders : Baranovsky V.P., Zemlyanichenko S.V., Trainin P.A., Bogolepov V.P., Khoroshkhin B.V. - in June - October 1941, Cherokov V.S. - from October 13, 1941) , cadets of naval schools (separate cadet brigade of the Leningrad Military Medical School, commander Rear Admiral Ramishvili). Also, at various stages of the battle for Leningrad, the Peipus and Ilmen military flotillas were created.

At the very beginning of the war it was created Naval defense Leningrad and the lake region (MOLiOR). On August 30, 1941, the Military Council of the North-Western Direction determined:

“The main task of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet is to actively defend the approaches to Leningrad from the sea and prevent the naval enemy from bypassing the flanks of the Red Army on the southern and northern shores of the Gulf of Finland.”

On October 1, 1941, MOLiOR was reorganized into the Leningrad Naval Base (Admiral Yu. A. Panteleev).

The actions of the fleet turned out to be useful during the retreat in 1941, defense and attempts to break the Blockade in 1941-1943, breaking through and lifting the Blockade in 1943-1944.

Ground support operations

Areas of fleet activity that had important at all stages of the Battle of Leningrad:

Marines

Personnel brigades (1st, 2nd brigades) of the Marine Corps and units of sailors (3, 4, 5, 6th brigades formed the Training Detachment, Main Base, Crew) from ships laid up in Kronstadt and Leningrad took part in the battles on land . In a number of cases, key areas - especially on the coast - were heroically defended by unprepared and small naval garrisons (defense of the Oreshek fortress). Marine units and infantry units formed from sailors proved themselves in breaking through and lifting the Blockade. In total, from the Red Banner Baltic Fleet in 1941, 68,644 people were transferred to the Red Army for operations on land fronts, in 1942 - 34,575, in 1943 - 6,786, not counting parts of the marine corps that were part of the fleet or temporarily transferred to the subordination of military commands.

180 mm gun on a railway transporter

Naval and coastal artillery

Naval and coastal artillery (345 guns with a caliber of 100-406 mm, more than 400 guns were deployed when necessary) effectively suppressed enemy batteries, helped repel ground attacks, and supported the offensive of the troops. The naval artillery provided extremely important artillery support in breaking the Blockade, destroying 11 fortification units, the enemy's railway train, as well as suppressing a significant number of its batteries and partially destroying a tank column. From September 1941 to January 1943, naval artillery opened fire 26,614 times, expending 371,080 shells of 100-406 mm caliber, with up to 60% of the shells spent on counter-battery warfare.

Fleet Aviation

The fleet's bomber and fighter aviation operated successfully. In addition, in August 1941, a separate air group (126 aircraft) was formed from units of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Air Force, operationally subordinate to the front. During the breakthrough of the Blockade, more than 30% of the aircraft used belonged to the navy. During the defense of the city, more than 100 thousand sorties were flown, of which about 40 thousand were to support ground forces.

Operations in the Baltic Sea and Lake Ladoga

In addition to the role of the fleet in battles on land, it is worth noting its direct activities in the Baltic Sea and Lake Ladoga, which also influenced the course of battles in the land theater of operations:

"The road of life"

The fleet ensured the functioning of the “Road of Life” and water communication with the Ladoga military flotilla. During the autumn navigation of 1941, 60 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to Leningrad, including 45 thousand tons of food; More than 30 thousand people were evacuated from the city; 20 thousand Red Army soldiers, Red Navy men and commanders were transported from Osinovets to the eastern shore of the lake. During the navigation of 1942 (May 20, 1942 - January 8, 1943), 790 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to the city (almost half of the cargo was food), 540 thousand people and 310 thousand tons of cargo were taken out of Leningrad. During the navigation of 1943, 208 thousand tons of cargo and 93 thousand people were transported to Leningrad.

Naval mine blockade

From 1942 to 1944, the Baltic Fleet was locked within the Neva Bay. Its military operations were hampered by a minefield, where even before the declaration of war the Germans had secretly placed 1,060 anchor contact mines and 160 bottom non-contact mines, including to the northwest of the island of Naissaar, and a month later there were 10 times more of them (about 10,000 mines) , both our own and German. The operation of submarines was also hampered by mined anti-submarine nets. After they lost several boats, their operations were also discontinued. As a result, the fleet carried out operations on the enemy’s sea and lake communications mainly with the help of submarines, torpedo boats, and aircraft.

After the blockade was completely lifted, minesweeping became possible, where, under the terms of the truce, Finnish minesweepers also participated. Since January 1944, a course was set to clean up the Bolshoy Korabelny fairway, then the main outlet to the Baltic Sea.

On June 5, 1946, the Hydrographic Department of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet issued Notice No. 286 to seafarers, which announced the opening of navigation during daylight hours along the Great Ship Fairway from Kronstadt to the Tallinn-Helsinki fairway, which by that time had already been cleared of mines and had access to Baltic Sea. By decree of the government of St. Petersburg, since 2005, this day is considered an official city holiday and is known as the Day of Breaking the Naval Mine Blockade of Leningrad. Combat trawling did not end there and continued until 1957, and all Estonian waters became open for navigation and fishing only in 1963.

Evacuation

The fleet evacuated bases and isolated groups of Soviet troops. In particular - evacuation from Tallinn to Kronstadt on August 28-30, from Hanko to Kronstadt and Leningrad on October 26 - December 2, from the north-west region. coast of Lake Ladoga to Shlisselburg and Osinovets July 15-27, from the island. Valaam to Osinovets on September 17-20, from Primorsk to Kronstadt on September 1-2, 1941, from the islands of the Bjork archipelago to Kronstadt on November 1, from the islands of Gogland, Bolshoi Tyuters, etc. October 29 - November 6, 1941. This made it possible to preserve personnel - up to 170 thousand people - and part of the military equipment, partially remove the civilian population, and strengthen the troops defending Leningrad. Due to the unpreparedness of the evacuation plan, errors in determining convoy routes, lack of air cover and preliminary trawling, due to the action of enemy aircraft and the loss of ships in friendly and German minefields, there were heavy losses.

Landing operations

During the battle for the city, landing operations were carried out, some of which ended tragically, for example, the Peterhof landing, the Strelna landing. In 1941, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Flotilla landed 15 troops, in 1942 - 2, in 1944 - 15. Of the attempts to prevent enemy landing operations, the most famous are the destruction of the German-Finnish flotilla and the repulsion of the landing during the battle for the island. Dry in Lake Ladoga on October 22, 1942.

Memory

For their services during the defense of Leningrad and the Great Patriotic War, a total of 66 formations, ships and units of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Flotilla were awarded government awards and distinctions during the war. At the same time, the irretrievable losses of Red Banner Baltic Fleet personnel during the war amounted to 55,890 people, the bulk of which occurred during the defense of Leningrad.

On August 1-2, 1969, Komsomol members of the Smolninsky Republic Committee of the Komsomol installed a memorial plaque with text from the notes of the defense commander to the artillery sailors who defended the “Road of Life” on Sukho Island.

“... 4 hours of strong hand-to-hand combat. The battery is being bombed by planes. Out of 70 of us, 13 remained, 32 were wounded, the rest fell. 3 guns, fired 120 shots each. Of the 30 pennants, 16 barges were sunk and 1 was captured. They killed a lot of fascists...

For minesweepers

Losses of minesweepers during the Second World War:

were blown up by mines - 35

torpedoed by submarines - 5

from air bombs - 4

from artillery fire -

In total - 53 minesweepers. To perpetuate the memory of the dead ships, the sailors of the Baltic Fleet trawling brigade made memorial plaques and installed them in the Mine Harbor of Tallinn on the pedestal of the monument. Before the ships left Mine Harbor in 1994, the boards were removed and transported to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

May 9, 1990 at the Central Park of Culture and Culture named after. S. M. Kirov, a memorial stele was unveiled, installed at the site where the 8th division of boat minesweepers of the Baltic Fleet was based during the blockade. In this place, every May 9 (since 2006, every June 5) veteran minesweepers meet and from a boat lower a wreath of memory to the fallen into the waters of the Middle Nevka.

In 1942-1944, the 8th division of minesweepers of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet was based at this place in 1942-1944, courageously defending the city of Lenin

Inscription on the stele.

On June 2, 2006, a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the breaking of the naval mine blockade was held at the St. Petersburg Naval Institute - Peter the Great Naval Corps. The meeting was attended by cadets, officers, teachers of the institute and veterans of combat minesweeping of 1941-1957.

On June 5, 2006, in the Gulf of Finland, the meridian of the lighthouse of the island of Moshchny (formerly Lavensaari), by order of the commander of the Baltic Fleet, was declared a memorial place of “glorious victories and deaths of ships of the Baltic Fleet.” When crossing this meridian, Russian warships, in accordance with the Ship's Regulations, render military honors “in memory of the minesweepers of the Baltic Fleet and their crews who died while sweeping minefields in 1941-1957.”

In November 2006, a marble plaque “GLORY TO THE MINERS OF THE RUSSIAN FLEET” was installed in the courtyard of the Peter the Great Naval Corps.

June 5, 2008 at the pier on the Middle Nevka in the Central Park of Culture and Culture named after. S. M. Kirov, a memorial plaque was unveiled on the stele “To the Sailors of Minesweepers”.

June 5 is a memorable date, the Day of breaking the naval mine blockade of Leningrad. On this day in 1946, boats 8 DKTSH, together with other minesweepers of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, completed clearing mines from the Great Ship Fairway, opening a direct route from the Baltic to Leningrad.

Inscription on a memorial plaque installed on the stele.

Memory

Dates

Blockade awards and memorial signs

Main articles: Medal “For the Defense of Leningrad”, Badge “To a Resident of Besieged Leningrad”

The obverse of the medal depicts the outline of the Admiralty and a group of soldiers with rifles at the ready. Along the perimeter is the inscription “For the Defense of Leningrad.” On back side medals depict a hammer and sickle. Below them is the text in capital letters: “For our Soviet Motherland.” As of 1985, the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad” was awarded to about 1,470,000 people. Among those awarded are 15 thousand children and teenagers.

The memorial sign “Resident of besieged Leningrad” was established by the decision of the Leningrad City Executive Committee “On the establishment of the sign “Resident of besieged Leningrad” No. 5 dated January 23, 1989. On the front side there is an image of a torn ring against the background of the Main Admiralty, a tongue of flame, a laurel branch and the inscription “900 days - 900 nights"; on the reverse there is a hammer and sickle and the inscription "To a resident of besieged Leningrad." As of 2006, there were 217 thousand people living in Russia who were awarded the badge "To a resident of besieged Leningrad." It should be noted that the memorial sign and the status of a resident of besieged Leningrad Not all those born during the siege were received, since the mentioned decision limits the period of stay in the besieged city required to receive them to four months.

By Decree of the Government of St. Petersburg No. 799 of October 16, 2013 “On the award of St. Petersburg - the memorial sign “In honor of the 70th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade”, a memorial sign of the same name was issued. As in the case of the sign “Resident of besieged Leningrad,” it, as well as payments, were not received by citizens who lived in the siege for less than four months.

Monuments to the defense of Leningrad

Obelisk to the Hero City

on the square Uprisings

Eternal flame

Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery

Obelisk “Hero City Leningrad” on Vosstaniya Square

Monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square

Memorial route "Rzhevsky Corridor"

Memorial "Cranes"

Monument “Broken Ring”

Monument to the traffic controller. On the Road of Life.

Monument to the children of the siege (opened on September 8, 2010 in St. Petersburg, in the park on Nalichnaya Street, 55; authors: Galina Dodonova and Vladimir Reppo. The monument is a figure of a girl in a shawl and a stele symbolizing the windows of besieged Leningrad).

Stele. The heroic defense of the Oranienbaum bridgehead (1961; 32nd km of the Peterhof highway).

Stele. Heroic defense of the city in the area of ​​the Peterhof highway (1944; 16th km of the Peterhof highway, Sosnovaya Polyana).

Sculpture “Grieving Mother”. In memory of the liberators of Krasnoye Selo (1980; Krasnoye Selo, Lenin Ave., 81, square).

Monument-cannon 76 mm (1960s; Krasnoe Selo, Lenin Ave., 112, park).

Pylons. Heroic defense of the city in the Kievskoe highway zone (1944; 21st km, Kyiv highway).

Monument. To the heroes of the 76th and 77th fighter battalions (1969; Pushkin, Alexandrovsky Park).

Obelisk. Heroic defense of the city in the Moscow Highway zone (1957).

Kirovsky district

Monument to Marshal Govorov (Strachek Square).

Bas-relief in honor of the fallen Kirov residents - residents of besieged Leningrad (Marshal Govorova St., 29).

The front line of the defense of Leningrad (pr. People's Militia- at the Ligovo railway station).

Military burial place “Red Cemetery” (Stachek Ave., 100).

Military burial ground “Southern” (Krasnoputilovskaya St., 44).

Military burial ground “Dachnoe” (Narodnogo Opolcheniya Ave., 143-145).

Memorial “Siege Tram” (corner of Stachek Ave. and Avtomobilnaya Street next to the bunker and the KV-85 tank).

Monument to the “Dead Gunboats” (Kanonersky Island, 19).

Monument to the Heroes - Baltic sailors (Mezhevoy Canal, no. 5).

Obelisk to the defenders of Leningrad (corner of Stachek Ave. and Marshal Zhukov Ave.).

Caption: Citizens! During artillery shelling, this side of the street is the most dangerous at house No. 6, building 2 on Kalinin Street.

Monument "Tank-winner" in Avtov.

Monument on Elagin Island at the site where the minesweeper division was based during the war

Museum of the Siege

The State Memorial Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad was, in fact, repressed in 1952 during the Leningrad affair. Renewed in 1989.

Residents of the besieged city

Citizens! During shelling, this side of the street is the most dangerous

Monument to the loudspeaker on the corner of Nevsky and Malaya Sadovaya.

Traces from German artillery shells

Church in memory of the days of the siege

Memorial plaque on house 6 on Nepokorennykh Ave., where there was a well from which residents of the besieged city drew water

The Museum of Electric Transport of St. Petersburg has large collection blockade passenger and freight trams.

Blockade substation on Fontanka. On the building there is a memorial plaque “The feat of the trammen of besieged Leningrad.” After the harsh winter of 1941-1942, this traction substation supplied energy to the network and ensured the movement of the revived tram." The building is being prepared for demolition.

Monument to the siege stickleback St. Petersburg, Kronstadt district

Sign “Blockade Polynya” embankment of the Fontanka River, 21

Events

In January 2009, the “Leningrad Victory Ribbon” event was held in St. Petersburg, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the final lifting of the siege of Leningrad.

On January 27, 2009, the “Candle of Memory” event was held in St. Petersburg to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the complete lifting of the Siege of Leningrad. At 19:00, citizens were asked to turn off the lights in their apartments and light a candle in the window in memory of all residents and defenders of besieged Leningrad. City services lit torches on the Rostral columns of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, which from a distance looked like giant candles. In addition, at 19:00, all FM radio stations in St. Petersburg broadcast a metronome signal, and 60 metronome beats were also heard over the city warning system of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and over the radio broadcast network.

Tram commemorative runs are held regularly on April 15 (in honor of the launch of the passenger tram on April 15, 1942), as well as on other dates associated with the blockade. The last time blockade trams ran was on March 8, 2011, in honor of the launch of a freight tram in the besieged city.

Historiography

Some modern German historians consider the blockade a war crime by the Wehrmacht and its allied armies. Others see the siege as a “usual and undeniable method of warfare,” others view these events as a symbol of the failure of the blitzkrieg, the conflict between the Wehrmacht and the National Socialists, etc.

Soviet historiography was dominated by the idea of ​​the solidarity of society in the besieged city and the glorification of the feat. What did not correspond to this picture (cannibalism, crime, special conditions of the party nomenklatura, NKVD repressions) was purposefully hushed up.