Before the blockade began, Hitler rallied 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 guns of the main caliber 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 formed the Luga River, finding themselves in the operational space right in front of the city.
Evacuation - the first wave
Some people from Leningrad managed to be evacuated even before the start of the blockade. By the end of June, a special evacuation commission was launched in the city. Many refused to leave, encouraged 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 agitate them to leave in order to survive and return later.
On June 26, we were evacuated along Ladoga in the hold of a ship. Three steamships with small children sank, blown up by mines. But we were lucky. (Gridyushko (Sakharova) Edil Nikolaevna).
There was no plan on how to evacuate the city, since the possibility that it could be captured was considered almost unrealistic. From June 29, 1941 to August 27, about 480 thousand people were taken out, about forty percent of them were children. About 170 thousand of them were taken to points Leningrad region, from where they again had to be returned to Leningrad.
Evacuated along Kirovskaya railway. But this path was blocked when German troops captured it at the end of August. The exit from the city along the White Sea-Baltic Canal near Lake Onega was also cut off. 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 long then. Hardly anyone imagined that the blockade would drag on for almost nine hundred days. Hitler, the commander of the German troops, for his part, expected 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 a few weeks, he was disappointed.
Transport in the city did not work. There was no lighting on the streets, water, electricity and steam heating were not supplied to the houses, and the sewage system did not work. (Bukuev Vladimir Ivanovich).
The Soviet command also did not assume such a scenario. The leadership of the units that defended Leningrad did not report the closing of the ring by the Nazi troops in the first days of the blockade: there was hope that it would be quickly broken. This did not happen.
The confrontation, which dragged on for more than two and a half years, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The blockade and the troops that did not let the German troops into the city understood what all this was for. After all, Leningrad opened the way to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, where the ships of the allies of the USSR were unloaded. It was also clear to everyone that, having surrendered, Leningrad would have signed a sentence for itself - this beautiful city simply would not exist.
The defense of Leningrad made it possible to block the way for the invaders to the Northern Sea Route and 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 the German troops had closed the ring spread throughout the city, its inhabitants began to prepare. All the groceries were bought up in the stores, and all the money was withdrawn from the savings banks from 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 the large food warehouses of Badaev, and the three million population of the city was doomed to starvation. (Bukuev Vladimir Ivanovich).
These days, from one of the shells, the Badaev warehouses, where a strategic supply of food was stored, caught fire. This is what is called the cause of the famine that the inhabitants who remained in it had to endure. But the recently declassified documents say there were no large stocks.
It was problematic to save food that would be enough for a city of three million during the war. In Leningrad, no one 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 revision of the food that was in the city ended: the food, depending on their type, was only enough for a month or two. How to deliver food was decided at the very "top". By December 25, 1941, the norms for issuing bread were increased.
The entry of ration cards was made immediately - during the first days. Food norms were calculated based on the minimum that would not allow a person to simply die. Shops stopped just selling products, although the "black" market flourished. Huge queues lined up for food rations. People were afraid that they would not have enough bread.
Not prepared
The issue of providing food became the most relevant during the blockade. One of the reasons for such a terrible famine, specialists in military history call the delay in the decision to import products, which was taken too late.
one tile of joiner's glue cost ten rubles, then a tolerable monthly salary was around 200 rubles. Jelly was cooked from glue, pepper was left in the house, Bay leaf, and this was all added to the glue. (Brilliantova Olga Nikolaevna).
This happened because of the habit of hushing up and distorting the facts so as not to "sow decadent moods" among the inhabitants and the military. If all the details about the rapid advance of Germany were known to the high command earlier, perhaps we would have suffered much less casualties.
Already in the first days of the blockade, military censorship was clearly working in the city. It was not allowed to complain in letters to relatives and friends about difficulties - such messages simply did not reach the addressees. But some of these letters have survived. Like the diaries kept by some Leningraders, where they wrote down everything that happened in the city during the blockade months. It was they who became the source of information about what was happening in the city before the start of the blockade, as well as in the first days after the Nazi troops encircled the city.
Could hunger have been avoided?
The question of whether it was possible to prevent a terrible famine during the blockade in Leningrad is still being asked by historians and the blockade survivors 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 was in the city with food, as elsewhere in the country: cards were introduced, but the norms were quite large, for some people this was even too much.
The food industry worked 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 stating that no reserves were made. For some reason, the Soviet authorities did not follow the example of London, where food was actively stocked. In fact, the USSR was preparing in advance for the fact that the city would be surrendered to fascist troops. The export of products was stopped only at the end of August, after the German units blocked the railway communication.
Not far away, on the Obvodny Canal, there was a flea market, and my mother sent me there to change 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 in August themselves began to stock up on food, anticipating hunger. Lines lined up at the shops. But few managed to stock up: those miserable crumbs that they managed to acquire and hide were very quickly eaten later, in the blockade autumn and winter.
How they lived in besieged Leningrad
As soon as the norms for the issuance of bread were reduced, the queues at the bakeries turned into huge "tails". People stood for hours. In early September, German artillery bombardments began.
Schools continued to operate, but fewer children came. Learned by candlelight. The constant bombardments made it difficult to practice. Gradually, studies stopped altogether.
I went to the blockade Kindergarten on Stone Island. My mother also worked there. ... Once 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 said to her mother: “Don’t bring anyone else here ... there’s no food left at all. There is only water in the pot." Many children in our kindergarten died of starvation - out of 35 of us, only 11 remained. (Alexandrova Margarita Borisovna).
On the streets one could see people who could hardly move their legs: there was simply no strength, everyone walked slowly. According to the survivors of the blockade, these two and a half years merged into one endless dark night, the only thought in which was to eat!
Autumn days 1941
The autumn of 1941 was only the beginning of trials for Leningrad. From September 8, the city was bombed by fascist artillery. On this day, the Badaevsky food warehouses caught fire from an incendiary projectile. The fire was huge, the glow from it was visible from different parts of the city. There were 137 warehouses in total, twenty-seven of them burned out. This is about 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 burned there, and vegetable oil was lost in the amount of 286 tons, another fire destroyed ten and a half tons 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 not much food in the city: a few days - and there would be none. The military council of the front was entrusted with managing the available stocks. Card rules were introduced.
One day, our flatmate offered my mother meatballs, but my mother sent her out and slammed the door. I was in indescribable horror - how could one refuse cutlets with such hunger. But my mother explained to me that they are made of human meat, because there is nowhere else to get minced meat in such a hungry time. (Boldyreva Alexandra Vasilievna).
After the first bombings, ruins and shell craters appeared in the city, the windows of many houses were broken, chaos reigned in the streets. Slingshots were placed around the affected places so that people would not go there, because an unexploded shell could get stuck in the ground. In places where the likelihood of being hit by shelling, signs were hung.
Rescuers were still working in the fall, the city was being cleared of rubble, even houses that had been destroyed were being restored. But later nobody cared about it.
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 hung out. Street radio horns also became places of attraction.
Trams ran to the final station in Srednyaya Rogatka. After the eighth of September, tram traffic decreased. The bombings were the culprit. But later the trams stopped running.
Details of life in besieged Leningrad became known only after decades. Ideological reasons did not allow to speak openly about what was really happening in this city.
Ration of a Leningrader
Bread has become the main value. They stood for rations for several hours.
Bread was not baked from flour alone. There was too little of her. Specialists in the food industry were tasked with coming up with what can be added to the dough so that the energy value of the food is preserved. Cotton cake was added, which was found in the port of Leningrad. The flour was also mixed with flour dust, which was overgrown with the walls of the mills, and the dust shaken out of the bags where the flour used to be. Barley and rye bran also went into bakery. 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 has become a raw material for jelly, with a very unpleasant odor.
I remember one man who walked in the dining room and licked the plates after everyone. I looked at him and thought he was going to die soon. I don’t know, maybe he lost the cards, maybe he just didn’t have enough, but he has already reached this point. (Batenina (Larina) Oktyabrina Konstantinovna).
On September 2, 1941, hot shop workers received 800 grams of so-called bread, engineering and technical specialists and other workers - 600. Employees, dependents and children - 300-400 grams.
Since October 1, the ration has been 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 did not manage to get them for some reason simply died.
On November 13, there was even less food. Workers received 300 grams of bread a day, others - only 150. A week later, the norms fell again: 250 and 125.
At this time, confirmation came that it was possible to transport food by car on the ice of Lake Ladoga. But the thaw disrupted the plans. From late November to mid-December, food did not enter the city until strong ice was established on Ladoga. From the twenty-fifth of December, the norms began to rise. Those who worked began to receive 250 grams, the rest - 200. Further rations 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.
AT modern historiography the title "princes of Kyiv" is used to designate a number of rulers of the Kyiv principality and the Old Russian state. classical period their reign began in 912 with the reign of Igor Rurikovich, who was the first to bear the title of "Grand Duke ...
Blockade of Leningrad - a military blockade by German, Finnish and Spanish (Blue Division) troops with the participation of volunteers from North Africa, Europe and the naval forces of Italy during the Great Patriotic War of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). It lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 (the blockade ring was broken on January 18, 1943) - 872 days.
By the beginning of the blockade, the city did not have enough food and fuel supplies. The only way to communicate with Leningrad was Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the artillery and aircraft of the besiegers; the enemy’s united naval flotilla also operated on the lake. The capacity of this transport artery did not meet the needs of the city. As a result, the massive famine that began in Leningrad, aggravated by the especially harsh first blockade winter, problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents.
After the blockade was broken, the siege of Leningrad by enemy troops and fleet 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 aviation of the Baltic Fleet, they carried out the Vyborg and Svir-Petrozavodsk operations, on June 20 they liberated Vyborg, and on June 28 - Petrozavodsk. 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, in accordance with the Decree of the Presidium Supreme Council 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 the Soviet troops of the city of Leningrad from the blockade of its Nazi troops (1944).
German attack on the USSR
The capture of Leningrad was integral part developed by Nazi Germany plan of war against the USSR - the plan "Barbarossa". It provided that the Soviet Union should be completely defeated within 3-4 months of the summer and autumn of 1941, that is, during a blitzkrieg war. By November 1941, German troops were to capture the entire European part of the USSR. According to the “Ost” (“East”) plan, it was supposed to exterminate a significant part of the population of the Soviet Union within a few years, 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 on the creation of an additional line of defense in the Pskov direction in the Luga region.
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, the naval and air forces of Germany acted from the territory of Finland against the USSR. On June 25, 1941, in the morning, on the orders of the Headquarters of the Air Force of the Northern Front, together with the aviation of the Baltic Fleet, they launched a massive attack on nineteen (according to other sources - 18) airfields in Finland and Northern Norway. Aircraft of the Finnish Air Force and the German 5th Air Army were based there. On the same day, the Finnish parliament voted for war with the USSR.
On June 29, 1941, Finnish troops, having crossed the state border, began a ground operation against the USSR.
Exit of enemy troops to Leningrad
In the first 18 days of the offensive, the 4th Panzer Group of the enemy fought over 600 kilometers (at a rate of 30-35 km per day), crossed the Western Dvina and Velikaya rivers.
On July 4, units of the Wehrmacht 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 Kievskoe Highway 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 were built with a length of 175 kilometers and a total depth of 10-15 kilometers. Defensive structures were built by the hands of Leningraders, mostly women and teenagers (men went into the army and the militia).
Near the Luga fortified area, there was a delay in the German offensive. Reports of the commanders of the German troops to the headquarters:
Gepner's tank group, whose vanguards were exhausted and tired, made only slight progress in the direction of Leningrad.
Gepner's offensive has been halted... 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. In 1941 alone, more than 700 tanks were built and remained in the city. During the same time, 480 armored vehicles and 58 armored trains were produced, often armed with powerful ship guns. At the Rzhev artillery range, a combat-ready ship gun with a caliber of 406 mm was found. It was intended for the lead battleship "Soviet Union", which was already on the slipway. This gun was used in the shelling of German positions. The German offensive was suspended for several weeks. The enemy troops failed to capture the city on the move. This delay caused a sharp discontent of Hitler, who made a special trip to Army Group North in order to prepare 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 give not only a military gain (control over all the Baltic coasts and the destruction of the Baltic Fleet), but 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 region and use them in other sectors of the front. He expected to destroy the troops defending the city.
In long exhausting battles, overcoming crises in different places, German troops for a month were preparing to storm the city. 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, which, in its combat effectiveness, is superior to guns of the same caliber of coastal artillery, also numbering 207 barrels near Leningrad. The sky of the city was protected by the 2nd Air Defense Corps. The highest density of anti-aircraft artillery in the defense of Moscow, Leningrad and Baku was 8-10 times greater than in the defense of Berlin and London.
On August 14-15, the Germans managed to break through the wetlands, bypassing the Luga SD from the west and, having crossed the Luga River near Bolshoy Sabsk, reached the operational space in front of Leningrad.
On June 29, having crossed the border, the Finnish army began hostilities 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 turn of the Karelian fortified area. Communication between Leningrad and 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 Staff of the German Armed Forces, was sent to Mannerheim's headquarters in Mikkeli. But he was refused the participation of the Finns in the attack on Leningrad. Instead, Mannerheim led a successful offensive in the north of Ladoga, cutting off the Kirov railway and the White Sea-Baltic Canal in the area of Lake Onega, thereby blocking the route for the supply of goods 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, a small group of officers, on instructions from the command, was driving a lorry along Lesnoy Prospekt from the Levashovo airfield. A little ahead of us was a crowded tram. He brakes before the stop, where there is a large group of people waiting. A shell burst is heard, and many at the bus stop fall, covered in blood. The second gap, the third ... The tram is smashed to pieces. Piles of the dead. The wounded and maimed, mostly women and children, are scattered along the cobblestone pavement, moaning and crying. A blond-haired boy of seven or eight years old, who miraculously survived at a bus stop, covering his face with both hands, sobs over his murdered mother and repeats: “Mom, what have they done…”
On September 6, 1941, Hitler, by his order (Weisung No. 35), stops the advance of the North group of troops on Leningrad, which has already reached the suburbs of the city, and orders Field Marshal Leeb to give up all Hoepner tanks and a significant number of troops in order to start "as soon as possible" attack on Moscow. Subsequently, the Germans, having given their tanks to the central sector of the front, continued to encircle the city with a blockade ring, no more than 15 km from the city center, and switched to a long blockade. In this situation, Hitler, who realistically imagined the huge losses that he would suffer if he entered into urban battles, by his decision doomed his population to starvation.
On September 8, the soldiers of the "North" group captured the city of Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost). From that day began the blockade of the city that 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 Street - Strelna). At the same time, information about the closing of the encirclement was not reported to the Soviet high command, hoping for a breakthrough. And on September 13, Leningradskaya Pravda wrote:
The assertion of the Germans that they managed to cut off all the railways connecting Leningrad with the Soviet Union is an exaggeration common for the German command.
This silence cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens, since the decision to bring food was taken too late.
Throughout the 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" passed through 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, who took command of the front on September 14, when, contrary to popular belief, replicated by numerous feature films, the German offensive had already been stopped, the front had been stabilized, and the enemy had canceled his decision to storm.
Problems of evacuation of residents
The situation at the beginning of the blockade
The evacuation of the inhabitants of the city began already on 06/29/1941 (the first trains) and was of an organized nature. At the end of June, the City Evacuation Commission was established. Explanatory work began among the population about the need to leave Leningrad, as 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 evacuations
The very first stage of the evacuation lasted from June 29 to August 27, when the Wehrmacht seized the railway linking Leningrad with the regions lying to the east of it. This period was characterized by two features:
- The reluctance of residents to leave the city;
- Many children from Leningrad were evacuated to the regions of the Leningrad region. Subsequently, this led to the fact that 175,000 children were 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 later 175,000 were returned back) and 164,320 workers and employees who were evacuated along with enterprises.
Second wave of evacuations
In the second period, evacuation was carried out in three ways:
- evacuation through Lake Ladoga by water transport to Novaya Ladoga, and then to st. Volkhovstroy motor transport;
- evacuation by aircraft;
- evacuation along the ice road across Lake Ladoga.
During this period, 33,479 people were taken out by water transport (of which 14,854 people were not the Leningrad population), by aviation - 35,114 (of which 16,956 were not the Leningrad population), by marching order across Lake Ladoga and by unorganized vehicles 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 period of evacuation - 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, during the blockade period, 1.5 million people were evacuated from the city. By October 1942, the evacuation was completed.
Effects
Consequences for evacuees
Part of the exhausted people taken out of the city could not be saved. Several thousand people died from the consequences of starvation after they were transported to the "mainland". Doctors did not immediately learn how to care for starving people. There were cases when they died, having received a large amount of high-quality food, which for an exhausted organism turned out to be essentially poison. At the same time, there could have been much more victims if the local authorities of the regions where the evacuees were placed had not made extraordinary efforts to provide Leningraders with food and qualified medical care.
Implications for City Leadership
The blockade became a cruel test for all city services and departments that ensured the vital activity of the huge city. Leningrad gave a unique experience of organizing life in conditions of famine. The following fact attracts attention: during the blockade, unlike many other cases of mass starvation, no major epidemics occurred, despite the fact that hygiene in the city was, of course, much lower than the normal level due to the almost complete absence of running water, sewerage and heating. Of course, the severe winter of 1941-1942 helped to prevent epidemics. At the same time, researchers also point to effective preventive measures taken by the authorities and the medical service.
“The most severe during the blockade was hunger, as a result of which dystrophy developed among the inhabitants. 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 minimized.
Autumn 1941
Failed blitzkrieg attempt
At the end of August 1941, the German offensive resumed. The German units broke through the Luga defensive line and rushed to 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 rail, river and road communications were cut off. Communication with Leningrad was now supported only by air and Lake Ladoga. From the north, the city was blocked by Finnish troops, who were stopped by the 23rd Army near the Karelian UR. Only the only railway connection with the coast of Lake Ladoga from the Finlyandsky railway station has survived - 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 supreme commander troops of Finland, provided that they do not conduct 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 set 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 and was caused by tactical tasks, then between the Ladoga and Onega lakes the old border was crossed along its entire length and to a great depth.
- Isaev A.V. Boilers of the 41st. The history of the Second World War, which we did not know. - S. 54.
As early as September 11, 1941, Finnish President Risto Ryti told the German envoy in Helsinki:
If 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 the statement of Risto Ryti to the German ambassador on September 11, 1941 (the words of Baryshnikov, the authenticity of the source has not been verified).
The total area taken in the ring of Leningrad and suburbs was about 5000 km².
The situation at the front from June 22 to December 5, 1941
According to G.K. Zhukov, “Stalin assessed the situation that had developed near Leningrad at that moment 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. After the end of the Elninsk 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 shelling of Leningrad, although their decision to storm the city remained in effect until September 12, when Hitler's order to cancel it followed, that is, Zhukov arrived two days after the cancellation of the assault order (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 cruel measures. At the end of the month, he signed code number 4976 with the following text:
"Explain to all personnel that all the families of those who surrendered to the enemy will be shot, and upon returning from captivity, they will also all be shot."
In particular, he issued an order that for unauthorized retreat and leaving the defense line around the city, all commanders and soldiers were subject to immediate execution. The retreat has stopped.
The soldiers who defended Leningrad these days fought to the death. Leeb continued successful operations on the nearest approaches to the city. Its purpose was to strengthen the blockade ring and divert the forces of the Leningrad Front from the help of the 54th Army, which had begun operations to unblock the city. In the end, the enemy stopped 4-7 km from the city, in fact, 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 Winter Palace. Despite the proximity of the front, the Kirov Plant did not stop working throughout the entire period of the blockade. A tram even ran from the factory to the front line. It was an ordinary 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
The ideology of the German side
Hitler's Directive No. 1601 of September 22, 1941 "The Future of the City of Petersburg" (German Weisung Nr. Ia 1601/41 vom 22. September 1941 "Die Zukunft der Stadt Petersburg") clearly stated:
"2. The Fuhrer decided to wipe the city of Leningrad off the face of the earth. After defeat Soviet Russia the continued existence of this largest settlement is of no interest ...
4. It is supposed to surround the city with a tight ring and, by shelling from artillery of all calibers and continuous bombing from the air, raze it to the ground. If, due to the situation that has developed 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 saving at least 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, informed the OKW that the streams of civilian refugees from Leningrad were seeking refuge in the German trenches and that he did not have the opportunity to feed and care for them. The Führer immediately gave the order (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 one by one for evacuation to the interior of Russia should only be welcomed. The population must be forced to flee the city by artillery and aerial bombardment. The more numerous the population of cities, fleeing deep into Russia, the more chaos the enemy will have and the easier it will be for us to manage and use the occupied regions. All senior officers must be aware of this desire of the Fuhrer.
German military leaders protested against the order to shoot civilians and said that the troops would not comply with such an order, but Hitler was adamant.
Change in war tactics
The battles near Leningrad did not stop, but their character changed. German troops began to destroy the city with massive artillery shelling and bombing. The 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 depots, and they succeeded in this task. So, in particular, on September 10, they managed to bomb the famous Badaev warehouses, where there were significant food supplies. The fire was grandiose, thousands of tons of food burned, molten sugar flowed through the city, soaked into the ground. Nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, this bombardment could not be the main cause of the ensuing food crisis, since Leningrad, like any other metropolis, is supplied “on wheels”, and the food stocks destroyed along with warehouses would be enough for the city only for a few days. .
Taught by this bitter lesson, the city authorities began to pay Special attention masking food stocks, which were now stored only in small batches. So hunger became the most an important factor that 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 the townspeople: demographic factors
As of January 1, 1941, a little less than 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 associated with its proximity to the border and isolation from raw material 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 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 absence of any future for him at all), there is no reason to assert that the fate of the population of the city in the event of capitulation would be better than the fate of the real conditions of the blockade.
The actual beginning of the blockade
September 8, 1941 is considered the beginning of the blockade, when the land connection between Leningrad and the whole country was interrupted. However, the inhabitants of the city lost the opportunity to leave Leningrad two weeks earlier: the railway connection was interrupted on August 27, and tens of thousands of people gathered at the stations and in the suburbs, waiting for the possibility of a breakthrough to the east. The situation was further complicated by the fact that with the outbreak of the war, Leningrad was flooded with at least 300,000 refugees from the Baltic republics and neighboring Russian regions.
The catastrophic food situation of the city became clear on September 12, when the check and accounting of all edible stocks were completed. Food cards were introduced in Leningrad on July 17, that is, even before the blockade, but this was done only in order to restore order in the supply. The city entered the war with the usual supply of food. The rationing rates for food rationing were high, and there was no food shortage before the blockade began. The reduction in the norms for issuing products for the first time occurred on September 15. In addition, on September 1, the free sale of food was banned (this measure was in effect until mid-1944). While the "black market" was preserved, the official sale of products in the so-called commercial stores at market prices ceased.
In October, the inhabitants of the city felt a clear shortage of food, and in November a 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: by air, to ensure the supply of such big city was impossible, and navigation on Lake Ladoga temporarily stopped due to the onset of cold weather. At the same time, the ice on the lake was still very weak, so that cars could drive over it. All these transport communications were under constant enemy fire.
Despite the lowest norms for issuing bread, death from starvation 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
In the collective farms and state farms of the blockade ring, everything that could be useful for food was collected from the 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 for the troops, they had to reduce the norms for issuing bread. Warriors on the front line began to receive 500 grams per day; workers - 250 grams; employees, dependents and soldiers who are not on the front line - 125 grams. And besides bread, almost nothing. Famine began in besieged Leningrad.
Based on the actual consumption, the availability of basic food products on September 12 was (the figures are given according to the accounting data made by the trade department of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, the commissariat of the front 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
The norms for the release 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 size of the food ration was:
Workers - 250 grams of bread per day,
Employees, dependents and children under 12 years old - 125 grams each,
The personnel of the paramilitary guards, fire brigades, extermination squads, vocational schools and schools of the FZO, who were on boiler allowance - 300 grams,
The troops of the first line - 500 grams.
At the same time, up to 50% of the bread was made up of practically inedible impurities, which were 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. On September 24, 40% of bread consisted of malt, oats and husks, and later cellulose (at different times from 20 to 50%). On December 25, 1941, the norms 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. From February 11, new supply norms were introduced: 500 grams of bread for workers, 400 for employees, 300 for children and the unemployed. Impurities have almost disappeared from the bread. But the main thing is that the supply has become regular, products on the cards have begun to be issued in a timely manner and almost completely. On February 16, even high-quality meat was 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 for the population about raids and air raids. The famous metronome, which went down in the history of the blockade of Leningrad as a cultural monument of the resistance of the population, was broadcast during the raids through this network. A fast rhythm meant an air alert, a slow rhythm meant a hang up. Announcer Mikhail Melaned also announced the alarm.
Deterioration of the situation in the city
In November 1941, the situation of the townspeople deteriorated sharply. Death from starvation has become massive. Special funeral services daily picked up about a hundred corpses alone on the streets.
Countless stories have been preserved of people falling from weakness and dying - at home or at work, in stores or on the streets. Elena Skryabina, a resident of the besieged city, wrote in her diary:
“Now they die so simply: first they cease to be interested in anything, then they go to bed and don’t get up anymore.
“Death rules the city. People die and die. Today, when I was walking down the street, a man was walking in front of me. He could barely move his legs. Overtaking him, I involuntarily drew attention to the terrible blue face. I thought to myself, I'm probably going to die soon. Here one could really say that the seal of death lay on the face of a person. After a few steps, I turned around, stopped, followed him. He sat down on the pedestal, 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 do not resist death. They die like they fall asleep. And the surrounding half-dead people do not pay any attention to them. Death has become a phenomenon observed at every step. They got used to it, there was complete indifference: after all, not today - tomorrow such a fate awaits everyone. When you leave the house in the morning, you stumble upon corpses lying in the gateway on the street. The corpses lie for a long time, as there is no one to clean them up.
D. V. Pavlov, authorized by the GKO to provide food 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 delivery through Lake Ladoga was carried out on a small scale. People pinned all their hopes and aspirations on the winter road.
In spite of low temperatures in the city, part of the water supply network worked, so dozens of standpipes were opened, from which residents of neighboring houses could take water. Most of the Vodokanal workers were transferred to the barracks, but the residents also had to take water from damaged pipes and holes.
The number of famine victims grew rapidly - more than 4,000 people died in Leningrad every day, 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 the losses for January-February were 199,187 people. Male mortality significantly exceeded female - 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.
Cold exposure
Another important factor in the increase in mortality was cold. With the onset of winter, the city practically ran out of fuel supplies: electricity generation was only 15% of the pre-war level. The centralized heating of houses stopped, the water supply and sewerage froze or were turned off. Work has stopped at almost all factories and plants (except defense ones). Often, city dwellers who came to the workplace could not do their work due to the lack of water supply, 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, in terms of 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 was 178 days, that is, half a year. During this period, there were 14 days with an average daily t > 0 °C, mainly in October, that is, there were practically no thaws, which are 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 height of the snow cover by the end of winter was more than half a meter. In terms of the maximum height of snow cover (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 the norm. In the middle of the month frosts reached -6 °С. By the end of the month, snow cover had set in.
The average temperature in November 1941 was −4.2 °С (the long-term average was −0.8 °С), the range of temperatures was from +1.6 to −13.8 °С.
In December, the average monthly temperature dropped to −12.5°С (against the long-term average of −5.6°С). The temperature ranged from +1.6 to -25.3 °C.
The first month of 1942 was the coldest of that winter. The average temperature of the month was −18.7°С (the average t for the period 1743–2010 was −8.3°С). The frost reached -32.1 °С, the maximum temperature was +0.7 °С. 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 is -7.9 °C), the temperature ranged from -0.6 to -25.2 °C.
March was a little warmer than February - the average t = -11.6 °С (with the long-term average t = -4 °С). 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 meteorological observations up to 2010.
The average monthly temperature in April was close to the average values (+2.8 °С) and amounted to +1.8 °С, while the minimum temperature was −14.4 °С.
In the book "Memoirs" by Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, it is said about the years of the blockade:
“The cold was somehow internal. He permeated everything. The body was generating too little heat.
The human mind was the last to die. If your arms and legs had already refused to serve you, if your fingers could no longer fasten the buttons of your coat, if a person no longer had any strength to close his mouth with a scarf, if the skin around the mouth became dark, if the face became like a dead man’s skull with bared front teeth - the brain continued to work. People wrote diaries and believed that they would be able to live one more 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 dismantled for firewood. Fuel extraction has become an important part of the life of Leningraders. Due to the lack of electricity and the massive destruction of the contact network, the movement of urban electric transport, primarily trams, stopped. This event was an important factor contributing to the increase in mortality.
According to D.S. Likhachev,
“... when the stop of the tram traffic added another two or 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 from two ends” - these words expressively characterized the situation of a city resident who lived in conditions of starvation rations and enormous physical and mental stress. In most cases, families did not die out immediately, but one at a time, gradually. While someone could walk, he brought food on the cards. The streets were covered with snow, which was not removed all winter, so it was very difficult to move along them.
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 rates in special hospitals created at plants and factories, as well as in 105 city canteens. The hospitals functioned 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, plants and institutions. 64 canteens were organized outside the enterprises. Food in these canteens was produced according to specially approved standards. From April 25 to July 1, 1942, 234 thousand people took advantage of 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 to operate at the Astoria Hotel. In the dining room of the House of Scientists during the winter months, 200 to 300 people ate. On December 26, 1941, the Leningrad City Executive Committee ordered the Gastronom office to organize a one-time sale 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, from January 1942, new orphanages were opened in the city. For 5 months, 85 orphanages were organized in Leningrad, which accepted 30 thousand children left without parents. The command of the Leningrad Front and the leadership of the city sought to provide orphanages with the necessary food. By a resolution of the Military Council of the Front of February 7, 1942, the following monthly norms for supplying orphanages per child were approved: 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.
Higher education institutions are opening 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 cereals, 0.5 eggs, 350 g of bread, 50 g of wine per day, and the products were issued with cutting coupons from food cards.
In the first half of 1942, hospitals, and then canteens for 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 the numerous reviews of the blockade survivors themselves and the data of polyclinics.
In the second half of 1942, in order to overcome the consequences of the famine, 12,699 were hospitalized in October and 14,738 in November in need of enhanced nutrition. As of January 1, 1943, 270,000 Leningraders received increased food security compared to the all-Union norms, another 153,000 people attended canteens with three meals a day, which became possible due to a more successful navigation than in 1941 in 1942.
Use of food substitutes
An important role in overcoming the problem of food supply was played by the use of food substitutes, the conversion of old enterprises to their production and the creation of new ones. The certificate of the secretary of the city committee of the CPSU (b) Ya.F Kapustin addressed to A. A. Zhdanov reports on the use of substitutes in the bread, meat, confectionery, dairy, canning industries, in 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. As additives in the manufacture of meat products, soy flour, intestines, technical albumin obtained from egg white, animal blood plasma, and whey were used. As a result, an additional 1,360 tons of meat products were produced, including 380 tons of table sausage, 730 tons of jelly, 170 tons of albumin sausage, and 80 tons of vegetable-blood bread. produced an additional 2,617 tons of products, including: soy milk 1,360 tons, soy milk products (yogurt, cottage cheese, cheesecakes, etc.) - 942 tons. 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 vegetable milk, juices, glycerin and gelatin. For the production of jelly, oat grinding waste and cranberry cake were also used. The food industry of the city produced glucose, oxalic acid, carotene, tannin.
Attempts to break the blockade. "The road of life"
Breakthrough attempt. Bridgehead "Nevsky Piglet"
In the autumn of 1941, immediately after the blockade was established, the Soviet troops undertook two operations in order to restore land communications between Leningrad and the rest of the country. The offensive was carried out in the area of the so-called "Sinyavino-Slisselburg ledge", 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 did not manage 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 "Nevsky 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 patch was shot through by the enemy, and the Soviet troops, constantly trying to expand this bridgehead, suffered heavy losses. However, it was by no means impossible to surrender a 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 in 1941-1943.
At the beginning of 1942, inspired by the success in the Tikhvin offensive operation and clearly underestimating the enemy, the Soviet high command decided to attempt the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade by the forces of the Volkhov Front with the support of the Leningrad Front. However, the Luban 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 through the blockade. Although the Sinyavino operation did not achieve its goals, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts managed to thwart the plan of the German command to capture Leningrad under the code name "Northern Lights" (German: Nordlicht).
Thus, during the years 1941-1942, several attempts were made to break through 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 "Sinyavino-Shlisselburg ledge"), continued to firmly hold the units of the 18th Wehrmacht Army.
"Road of Life" - the name of the ice road through Ladoga in the winters of 1941-42 and 1942-43, after reaching the thickness of the ice, allowing the transportation of goods of any weight. The road of life was actually the only means of communication between Leningrad and the mainland.
“In the spring of 1942, when I was 16 years old, I just graduated from the school of drivers, and went to Leningrad to work on a lorry. Just my first flight lay through Ladoga. Cars broke down one after another and food for the city was loaded into cars not just "to the eyeballs", but much more. It looked like the car was about to fall apart! I drove exactly half the way and I just had time to hear the cracking of ice, as my "lorry" was under water. They saved me. 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 on me either an overcoat or something similar, but it did not help. My clothes began to freeze and I could no longer feel my fingertips. Passing by, I saw two more drowned cars and people trying to save the cargo.
I was 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 looked black and red…”
Spring-summer 1942
The first breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad
On March 29, 1942, a partisan convoy with food for the inhabitants of the city arrived in Leningrad from the Pskov and Novgorod regions. The event was of great propaganda value 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 plots
On March 19, 1942, the executive committee of the Lensoviet adopted the regulation "On personal consumer gardens of workers and their associations", which provides for the development of personal consumer gardening both in the city itself and in the suburbs. In addition to the actual individual gardening, subsidiary farms were also created at enterprises. To do this, 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. Ancillary farms were guarded around the clock by the personnel of enterprises. Garden owners were assisted in purchasing seedlings and their economical use. So, 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 issue benefits for agriculture(“Agro-rules for individual vegetable growing”, articles in Leningradskaya Pravda, etc.).
In total, in the spring of 1942, 633 subsidiary farms and 1468 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 and improved nutrition, the number of sudden deaths on the streets of the city was significantly reduced. So, if in February about 7,000 corpses were picked up on the streets of the city, then in April - about 600, and in May - 50 corpses. In March 1942, the entire able-bodied population came out to clean up the city from garbage. In April-May 1942, there was a further improvement in the living conditions of the population: the restoration of communal services began. Many businesses have reopened.
Restoration of urban public transport
On December 8, 1941, Lenenergo cut off electricity supply and partial redemption of traction substations took place. The next day, by decision of the city executive committee, eight tram routes were abolished. Subsequently, individual cars were still moving along the streets of Leningrad, finally stopping on January 3, 1942 after the power supply was completely cut off. 52 trains remained frozen in the snow-covered streets. Snow-covered trolleybuses stood on the streets all winter. More than 60 cars were smashed, burned down or seriously damaged. In the spring of 1942, the city authorities ordered the removal of cars from highways. The trolleybuses could not go on their own, so we had to organize towing. On March 8, for the first time, voltage was given to the network. The restoration of the city's tram economy began, a freight tram was put into operation. On April 15, 1942, voltage was given to the central substations and a regular passenger tram was launched. In order to reopen freight and passenger traffic, it was necessary to restore approximately 150 km of the contact network - about half of the entire network operated at that time. The launch of a trolleybus in the spring of 1942 was considered inexpedient by the city authorities.
official statistics
Incomplete figures of official statistics: with a pre-war death rate of 3,000 people, in January-February 1942, about 130,000 people died in the city every month, 100,000 people died in March, 50,000 people died in May, 25,000 people died in July, September - 7000 people. The radical decrease in mortality occurred due to the fact that the weakest have already died: the elderly, children, the sick. Now the main victims of the war among the civilian population were mostly those who died not from starvation, but from bombing and artillery attacks. In total, according to recent studies, approximately 780,000 Leningraders died during the first, most difficult year of the blockade.
1942-1943
1942 Activation of the shelling. Counter-battery fight
In April-May, the German command, during Operation Aisstoss, unsuccessfully tried to destroy the ships of the Baltic Fleet standing on the Neva.
By the summer, the leadership of Nazi Germany decided to intensify hostilities on the Leningrad front, and, first of all, to intensify artillery shelling and bombardment of the city.
New artillery batteries were deployed around Leningrad. In particular, super-heavy guns were deployed on railway platforms. They fired shells at a distance 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 outlined several thousand of the most important targets, which were shelled daily.
At this time, Leningrad turns into a powerful fortified area. 110 large defense centers were created, many thousands of kilometers of trenches, communication lines and other engineering structures were equipped. This created the opportunity to carry out covert regrouping of troops, the withdrawal of soldiers from the front line, and the pulling up of reserves. As a result, the number of losses of our troops from shell fragments and enemy snipers has sharply decreased. Reconnaissance and camouflage positions were established. Counter-battery combat with enemy siege artillery is being organized. As a result, the intensity of shelling of Leningrad by enemy artillery significantly decreased. For these purposes, the naval artillery of the Baltic Fleet was skillfully used. The positions of the heavy artillery of the Leningrad Front were pushed forward, part of it was transferred across the Gulf of Finland to the Oranienbaum bridgehead, which made it possible to increase the firing range, moreover, to the flank and rear of the enemy artillery groups. Thanks to these measures, in 1943 the number of artillery shells that fell on the city decreased by about 7 times.
1943 Breaking the blockade
On January 12, after artillery preparation, which began at 9:30 and lasted 2:10, at 11:00 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 advanced three kilometers towards each other. friend from 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, striving to keep Workers' Settlements 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 grouping, located to the north of the settlements, several times unsuccessfully tried to break through the narrow neck to the south to their main forces.
On January 18, the 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. For seventeen days, automobile and railway (the so-called "Victory Road") roads were laid along the coast. Subsequently, the troops of the 67th and 2nd Shock armies tried to continue the offensive in a southerly 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 rule out the possibility of the enemy's re-entry to Lake Ladoga, 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 plants 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, however, seriously fortified 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 enemy blockade
On January 14, the troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts began the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation. By January 20, Soviet troops had achieved significant success: the units of the Leningrad Front defeated the Krasnoselsko-Ropshinsky enemy grouping, and parts of the Volkhov Front liberated Novgorod. This allowed L. A. Govorov and A. A. Zhdanov to turn to I. V. Stalin on January 21:
In connection with full release Leningrad from enemy blockade and from enemy artillery shelling, please allow:
2. In honor of the victory won, fireworks in Leningrad on January 27 this year at 20.00 hours with twenty-four artillery salvos from three hundred and twenty-four guns.
JV Stalin granted the request of the command of the Leningrad Front and on January 27 a salute was fired in Leningrad to mark the final liberation of the city from the blockade, 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 by Stalin. None of the commanders of the fronts during the Great Patriotic War was awarded such a privilege.
Before citing the seditious article by Alexei Kungurov on the Siege of Leningrad, we offer a few facts:
During the blockade, private cameras were confiscated from Leningraders, and it was forbidden to take any pictures of the besieged city. People who tried to take photos for themselves were arrested, accused of espionage, and shot (or given time).
The commander of Group North, von Leeb, openly accused Hitler of colluding with the Soviet command. This is a well-known fact, since Ritter (Knight without transfer of title) Von Leeb was a famous person.
The Finnish army could destroy Peter's conditional cover from the North in a day. This army stood on the borders of the territory, which reached the city bus routes of the city of Leningrad.
On mathematics and historical reality
Walking through St. Petersburg, you notice that every house and every monument reminds of the great historical past of this city. The great and heroic past is not disputed by anyone, but terms, in which ordinary people had to make superhuman efforts, starve and die, upon closer examination, it turns out artificially created.
From the story blockade of Leningrad we know that during the war years the city was subjected to intense bombardment and . On the walls of houses in St. Petersburg, there are still old signs saying that this side is safe during shelling, and on the facades of houses there are marks from the shells that hit them.
Under these conditions, the inhabitants of Leningrad performed feats every day, worked and slowly died of hunger. To raise morale, at one time in the political administration of Leningrad, an idea arose to sing the immortal feat of the inhabitants of the city, and in one of its newspapers an article appeared about the heroic work of Leningraders in conditions of constant shelling. It contains information that on the territory of Leningrad fell 148 thousand 478 shells. This figure became the standard for all the years of the blockade, sunk into the minds of historians, and they could no longer get rid of it.
This is how historians these events:
Leningraders lived in constant nervous tension, shelling followed one after another. From September 4 to November 30, 1941, the city was shelled 272 times for a total duration of 430 hours. Sometimes the population remained in bomb shelters for almost a day. On September 15, 1941, the shelling lasted 18 hours 32, on September 17 - 18 hours 33. In total, about 150 thousand shells were fired in Leningrad during the blockade. The firepower of the German artillery, which tried to break the resistance of the defenders of the besieged city with shelling, was very significant. The German artillery grouping in the Uritsk area, where the front line was closest to Leningrad, at the beginning of the blockade consisted of 4 artillery regiments armed with 105- and 150-mm guns. Later, heavy guns (203- and 210-mm caliber) were transferred here, the firing range of which reached 30-32 km.
Please note: on September 15, the shelling lasted 18 hours, and not one gun was fired, but the entire artillery of the front. At St. Isaac's Cathedral, on this occasion, they even hung (in honor of perpetuating the fact of a shell hitting St. Isaac's Cathedral). But an elementary check of this figure shows that it is taken from the ceiling and does not reflect real events in any way (at the time the siege of Leningrad ended).
This can be proven right on the fingers! Let's take a large-caliber long-range gun (155, 203 or 210 mm). This tool makes 1 shot for 2 (two minutes. In an hour this tool does 30 shots. For a working day 240 shots (an 8-hour working day, we remember that German soldiers fought on schedule, these are not robots, they must eat and rest), for 18 hours of continuous shelling, the gun makes 540 shots, for 430 hours - 12 900 shots. Accordingly, the artillery battery during the same time makes 77 400 shots, and the artillery battalion - 232 200 shots. For 900 days of siege 1 such tool does "everything" 216 thousand shots.
The standard artillery battery of our and the German army included 6 guns, the artillery battalion - 18 guns, and there were a sufficient number of such divisions at the front in the German army, all cities after the war were ruins.
Thus, from the verification of the information given by historians in , we can conclude that there were much more fallen shells, which is confirmed by the destruction of Leningrad. The constant repetition of this fact by historians speaks of their inability or unwillingness to move away from the established myth.
Second fact, which is very alarming in the description of the Siege of Leningrad, is a complete non-observance of the Law of conservation of matter and energy.
Third fact- a constant game of giveaway by the German troops.
Let's start with giveaways. Von Leib, commander of the Army of the North, was a competent and experienced commander. He had under his control 40 divisions(including tanks). in front of Leningrad was 70 km long. The density of troops reached the level of 2-5 km per division in the direction of the main attack. In such a situation, only historians who do not understand anything in military affairs can say that in these conditions he could not take the city.
We have repeatedly seen in feature films about the defense of Leningrad how German tankers enter the suburbs, crush and shoot a tram. The front has been broken and there was no one in front of them. In their memoirs, Von Leib and many other commanders of the German Army stated that they were forbidden to take the city, gave the order to withdraw from advantageous positions.
The next interesting point
It is known that Kirov Plant worked throughout the lockdown. The second fact is also known - he was in 3 (three!!!) kilometers from the front line. For people who did not serve in the army, I will say that a bullet from a Mosin rifle can fly at such a distance if you shoot in the right direction (I just keep quiet about large-caliber artillery pieces).
From the area of the Kirov factory , but the plant continued to work under the very noses of the German command, and it was never destroyed (although, with this task could deal one artillery lieutenant with a battery of not the largest caliber, with the right task and enough ammunition).
About historical myths and reality
The Kirov Plant produced various products: , , by 1943 mastered the production of tanks IS-1 and . Based on the photos posted on the Internet, we can imagine (this is a large and serial production). In addition to the Kirov Plant, other Leningrad plants also worked, producing shells and other military products.
Since the spring of 1942 in Leningrad resumed …
This is just a small part of reality, very different from historical myths written by professional historians.
Now a little about physics
One of the questions that no "historian" can answer is the question: where did they get electrical energy in the right amount?
For the main of the laws of physics says that energy does not come from anywhere and does not go anywhere, but translated into everyday language, it sounds like this: how much energy produced, so much and spent(and no more). There are standards in man-hours and units of energy spent to produce a unit of output, be it a projectile or a tank, and these standards are rather big.
A bit of economics
Based on the standards of that time, a certain amount of resources and materials was distributed between industries without frills, in accordance with plans and tasks. Based on this distribution, minimum stocks of raw materials, materials, tools and finished products were created at enterprises, which ensured the uninterrupted operation of factories (usually for two weeks, less often for a month) with a constant supply of the necessary (as it was extracted or produced) and dispatch of finished products.
Under the conditions of the blockade of a single city, there are no such strategic reserves of fuel, raw materials, material resources and energy that can meet the needs of the city (or at least industry) for more than three months. In times of austerity in energy and food, stocks can be stretched, but to save electricity, it is necessary to stop production - the main consumer of energy, and this did not happen. Factories in Leningrad did not stop for a day.
One can agree with the assumption that part of the coal for energy production was taken from the fleet, but the main base of the fleet was Tallinn, and it was captured. Thermal power plants consume many times more coal than any ship. Let's see what they write about this :
With particular ferocity, German pilots aimed at plants and factories in Leningrad, such as Kirovsky, Izhorsky, Elektrosila, Bolshevik. In addition, the production lacked raw materials, tools, materials. It was unbearably cold in the workshops, and hands cramped from touching the metal. Many production workers did their work while sitting, since it was impossible to stand for 10-12 hours. Due to the shutdown of almost all power plants, some machines had to be set in motion manually, which increased the working day. Often, some of the workers stayed overnight in the workshop, saving time on urgent front-line orders. As a result of such selfless labor activity for the second half of 1941, the army received from Leningrad 3 million. shells and mines, more 3 thousand. regimental and anti-tank guns, 713 tanks, 480 armored vehicles, 58 armored trains and armored platforms.
2. The working people of Leningrad and other sectors of the Soviet-German front helped. In the autumn of 1941, during the fierce battles for Moscow, the city on the Neva sent troops of the Western Front over a thousand artillery pieces and mortars, as well as a significant number of other types of weapons.
AT In the autumn of 1941, the main task of the workers of the besieged city was to supply the front with weapons, ammunition, equipment and uniforms. Despite the evacuation of a number of enterprises, the power of the Leningrad industry remained significant. AT September 1941, the enterprises of the city produced over a thousand 76 mm guns over two thousand mortars, hundreds anti-tank guns and machine guns.
The fact remains: the number of manufactured products has been calculated and announced, you can’t argue with the fact. Now let's think a little about what historians actually wrote.
First question- according to the method of delivery from the besieged city of the active army and mostly near Moscow 713 tanks, 3000 guns, million shells and main – 58 armored trains – all this can only be taken out by rail, and at least 100 echelons are required. For tanks and armored trains, all the more so, are not carried on boats (such boats (ferries) did not exist yet).
Second question- this is voiced by mass production (and this is under siege). Fairy tales about the fact that you can release something without having raw materials, materials, and, moreover, a tool, can only be told to illiterate people! An example of adaptation to production in conditions of scarcity of materials is this , and this is a piece goods for the needs of the defense of Leningrad in addition to the 713 tanks produced in addition, since it is mounted on a tank hull with an engine, tracks and armor.
All this points to constant supply necessary materials and raw materials. Indeed, in the blockaded city of Leningrad there were no coal mines, iron ore and other deposits to provide industry with coal, steel, coke, fluxes and other materials!
Historians claim that machines rotated by hand- this is just a speculation of people who are illiterate in technology: try a machine with a 3-10 kW drive (namely, industrial drilling and turning machines have such drives) to turn by hand and turn a metal workpiece. You will immediately realize that this is the most common artifice, hands are not something to provide the desired rotation speed, it is simply impossible to turn such a machine!
"Historians" also argue that the main reason for the increase in working hours was not the heroic impulse to give everything for the common victory, but the lack of electricity. "historians"
In the autumn and winter of 1941/42, Soviet artillery fought this fight under extremely difficult conditions: there was not enough ammunition, artillery instrumental reconnaissance, there was no spotting aircraft, the firing range of Soviet guns was inferior to German ones at first, therefore, until the spring of 1942, the opposition of enemy artillery wore defensive in nature, although the retaliatory strikes of Soviet artillery weakened the enemy's combat power.
Still, it is interesting - they themselves did not have enough shells or they transported 3 million shells of the army! Why? Did they have any problems in the blockade? And how did they increase the firing range of the guns? Probably rolled the guns closer?! This is another example of not just an illiterate presentation and misunderstanding of information, but complete falsification!
The firing range of the gun itself does not increase or decrease, and is initially set by the design parameters! Historians had to indicate that they were designed, manufactured, tested and put into service new guns with increased firing range. It seems that historians wrote this way, hoping that no one would read or analyze it ...
Now let's deal with the production of electricity
On the territory of Leningrad five TPP, they were part of the Energy System of the Leningrad Region. Power engineers about this time So:
Energy blockade
After the blockade closed around Leningrad on September 8, 1941, the city was cut off from all suburban power plants that supplied it with energy. Many substations and power lines were destroyed. Only five thermal power plants operated in Leningrad itself. However, even on them-due to a lack of fuel, energy production was sharply reduced, which was enough only for hospitals, bakeries and government buildings related to the front. The transmission of electricity from the Volkhovskaya hydroelectric power station was interrupted, the main equipment of which was dismantled in October 1941 and taken to the Urals and Central Asia. Two auxiliary hydraulic units of 1000 kW remained in operation at the station, which worked for the Volkhovstroy railway junction and military units. The work of defense factories was paralyzed, trams and trolleybuses stopped, the water supply system stopped working. Many power engineers went to the front, and the rest continued to work in the harsh conditions of hunger and cold, ensuring the generation of the possible amount of electricity. The energy blockade of Leningrad began. January 25, 1942 was the hardest day for the power industry in Leningrad. In the entire energy system, only one station worked, carrying a load of only 3000 kW ...
Let's comment a little on the article: since September 1941, electricity production has been reduced due to the emergency economy regime. By January 1942, the city ran out of coal, the thermal power plants practically stopped, and only 3,000 kW were produced. At the same time, the Volkhovskaya HPP generated 2000 kW (2 MW), and this was only enough for the railway. node and military units (that is, pay attention to the figure - 2 megawatts is very little on a city scale).
During the Great Patriotic War, when most of the power plants of besieged Leningrad could not work due to lack of fuel. In the winter of 1941-1942, boiler No. 3 of the Krasny Oktyabr power plant was converted to burn milled peat, which was available at the peat enterprises of the Vsevolozhsk region. The launch of this unit made it possible to increase the load of the power plant to 21-22 thousand kW out of 23-24 thousand kW generated by the system.(Wikipedia)
That is, the final figure was announced: the entire system (more precisely, one thermal power plant on peat plus the Volga Hydroelectric Power Plant) produced 24 thousand kilowatts until the end of the war. The figure only seems big, but, for example, I will cite that this energy is not enough for one city (for example, Grodno 338 thousand people) to boil at the same time electric kettles.
In Leningrad, since the spring of 1942, 6 tram routes. To ensure this energy consumption, 3.6 thousand kW of electricity (3.6 MW) are required. So that 20 trams with a total number of 120 (in total) run on each route with an estimated engine power of 30 (!) kW (for example, modern trams have a power of up to 200 kW).
Now a little about materials and production
You can discuss a lot in history, but the fact remains - shells, mortars, guns and tanks are made of iron or special types become. It is known to be a hard material, processed mainly by pressure (whether with a hammer or a cutter) and requires a lot of effort (mainly mechanical), especially in mass production. Welding the armor of tanks requires a huge amount of electricity (this is not a car body made of tin to weld), industrial welding machines have a power of up to 40 kW.
It remains to balance the electricity
The electricity remaining from the movement of trams (20 MW) needs to be supplied to the production of factories, and these are:
Tens of thousands of machine tools of 3-10 kW each (millions of projectiles, bolts, bushings, dowels, shafts, etc. have been manufactured), - 30-100 MW (this is if there are 10 thousand machine tools at all factories);
dozens of machine tools for the production of gun barrels (large screw-cutting lathes),
Rolling mills (without this armor plates do not exist),
many industrial welding units (after all, 713 tanks were produced in six months, 5 tanks a day), the tank is scalded for more than one day. If we assume that the tank is scalded with one welding unit for three days, then 15 welding units with a total power of 600 kW are required.
And as a result of elementary calculations we get that we are severely short of the remaining energy (20 MW), but we still need to provide light to the regional committee and city committee of the party, the regional council and the city council, the NKVD department, hospitals, etc.
It remains to bring the balance of food
The need for food in the city was (2 million 544 thousand residents of the city - excluding military groups, fleet and residents of the region inside the siege), 1.5 kg of food per day (500 grams of crackers and 1 kg of vegetables and cereals - this is a combined arms ration) - 3800 tons of food daily (63 modern wagons) - let me remind you, this is without taking into account the number of troops and fleets and residents of the region.
On September 10 and 11, a secondary accounting of food products showed that in order to provide troops and the population in Leningrad, there were stocks of grain, flour and crackers 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 (by November everything should have ended, and this is taking into account the reduction in consumption by half) .
To alleviate the food situation in Leningrad, transport aircraft were allocated for the transfer of goods. The delivery of food, together with the Special Air Group, created at the end of June 1941 to serve the Northern Front, was carried out by the Moscow Special Purpose Aviation Group, formed from 30 Moscow civil aviation crews. From September to December 1941, with heroic efforts Soviet pilots over 6 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to the besieged city, including 4325 tons of high-calorie foodstuffs and 1660 tons of ammunition and weapons(for 3 months brought food for 2 days. It is not clear why they carried ammunition, if in Leningrad they themselves released them and transported them to the mainland).
In total, until the end of navigation in 1941, 60 thousand tons of various cargoes were delivered to the besieged city by water, including 45 thousand tons of food() (for another 20 days of food).
In total, during the first blockade winter, the ice road worked until April 24 (152 days). During this time, 361,109 tons of various cargoes were transported, including 262,419 tons of food () (that is, less than 2000 tons of food was transported per day - this is less than the daily requirement of the city).
The need for food was resolved after almost a million deaths from starvation and the evacuation of another million 300 thousand refugees over the entire period of action roads of life.
conclusions
By November, not only coal, but also all stocks of raw materials and supplies, food should have ended (which happened). Through austerity, these stocks were stretched until January. Delivery along the road of life in vehicles with a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons provided only food needs (and even then not completely). It was not disclosed by the "historians" what 100,000 tons of other cargoes brought in the first winter were, but this did not cover the need of industry (these are thousands and thousands of tons). The industry had to stop.
But factories kept working and working(it is a fact). Where the additional energy came from is unknown (probably the Germans supplied it). Where the resources came from, and how the finished products were sent, is also unclear.
At the same time, in order to completely paralyze all the activities of the city, the German command only needed to destroy only 5 power plants (at the initial stage of the war and one after January 1942), which were clearly visible to spotters of artillery fire from the smoke from the chimneys. Is this another random oversight?
It's completely unclear why 713 KV tanks did not solve the issue of lifting the blockade of Leningrad, because at the time of the outbreak of the war we had only , and these tanks were not penetrated by German guns. The simultaneous and massive use of these tanks was supposed to push through any defense with the support 3000 fired guns (and at the beginning of the war we had only 1928 guns) and in the absence of savings on ammunition. This number of tanks and artillery should have been enough to push the Germans even to the border.
The above example shows the absence of any logic in our enemy, our command and a complete violation of the law of conservation of matter and energy in historical reality.
with history Great Patriotic War we still have to figure it out and figure it out. There are many incomprehensible moments in it.
It is not clear with what type of weapon the German troops destroyed by the winter of 1941 about 20,000 (twenty thousand) of our tanks, while they themselves had only .
It is not clear how we lost even more of those issued during the war , while most of the tanks were repaired and returned to battle more than once. These losses are recorded in real history only once - during the six-day Arab-Israeli war, when Israeli troops destroyed almost two thousand tanks (but then there were ATGMs and a different level of jet aircraft).
If there were factories in Leningrad because of the lack of raw materials and materials, everything would be clear - after all, the blockade, and most importantly - to bring food, we will think about production later. But in conditions when people were dying of hunger on the move and freezing to death with their whole families, it is not clear where the raw materials, materials, tools and units for factories came from (tank guns were made at the Motovilikhinsky plant in Perm, and until February 1942 it was the only factory, which produced tank and ship guns), and electricity to ensure production, and the manufactured products were transported to the mainland - this cannot be explained by any fairy tales and myths.
The inhabitants of Leningrad, like the inhabitants of the whole country, accomplished an unthinkable feat. Many of them gave their lives in the battles for their Motherland, many died of starvation in Leningrad, bringing the hour of victory closer. The feat of Pavel Korchagin fades against the background of the efforts that the heroic defenders, the heroic inhabitants of the besieged city, made every day.
Along with this, elementary calculations show that a lot of information from us is simply is hidden, and because of that, the rest is impossible to explain. It gives the impression global betrayal that this whole blockade was specially organized in such a way as to kill as many people as possible.
The time will come when the true culprits will be exposed and convicted, even if they are in absentia.
Alexey Kungurov
1. The blockade of Leningrad lasted for a long 872 days (from September 8, 1941, when the Nazis captured Shlisselburg and until January 27, 1944, when Soviet troops liberated the city during the Leningrad-Novgorod operation of Krasnoe Selo, Ropsha, Krasnogvardeisk, Pushkin and Slutsk).
2. The only way food and fuel was supplied was called the "Road of Life". The path was laid through Lake Ladoga. When the question arose of how to supply fuel in the spring, it was decided to lay a steel pipeline along the bottom of the lake to pump oil products. The pipeline was laid in just 43 days under the eternal shelling of the Nazis and in difficult climatic conditions.
3. The Kirov plant was only 3 km from the front line and did not stop working throughout the blockade.
4. In besieged Leningrad, as well as at the front, there was not enough tobacco. Then the Leningrad schoolchildren were sent to the collection maple leaves(leaves of maple, aspen, birch and oak were used as an admixture to tobacco dust). The guys collected 80 tons of maple leaves, which was enough for the entire front.
5. Everyone knows the terrible fact that cats and pigeons were eaten during the siege. There are many rats in the city. After the end of the blockade, smoky cats were discharged from the Yaroslavl region. It was believed that they are the best rat-catchers. Huge queues lined up for the cats. Eyewitness L. Panteleev wrote in his blockade diary in January 1944: "A kitten in Leningrad costs 500 rubles" (a kilogram of bread was then sold by hand for 50 rubles. The watchman's salary was 120 rubles). Unfortunately, the cats did not cope with their mission and then it was approved to supply cats and cats from Siberia.
6. Historians claim that up to 1.5 million people died during the blockade. Of these, only 3% died from shelling by the Germans, while the rest died of starvation.
7. During the evacuation, almost half of the inhabitants (about 1.5 million people) were evacuated.
8. The first winter in besieged Leningrad was very severe. The thermometer reached -32.1 °C.
9. 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets to warn residents about shelling. Some of them are still hanging on houses, reminding of the terrible war and blockade.
10. During the blockade days, theaters, cinemas and educational institutions did not stop working. Actors in a semi-conscious state gave performances. The State Public Library and the Library of the Academy of Sciences did not stop their work.
Preview:
"Leningrad blockade"
On January 27, 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted. 71 years have passed. Now this day is declared the Day of Military Glory of Russia.
On June 22, 1941, the Nazis crossed the border of the Soviet Union without declaring war. In 1941, our country was called the USSR and occupied a large territory.
The Nazi command developed a plan to capture the Soviet territory under the name "Barbarossa". In 3-4 months, they wanted to capture the entire European part of the USSR up to the Ural Mountains. Destroy a significant part of the population, primarily Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Gypsies and Jews.
The Nazis said that Moscow is the heart of Russia, and Leningrad is its soul. Just as a person cannot live without a soul, so the country will lose its fighting spirit when it loses Leningrad. Therefore, they sent one of the main blows to this city in order to wipe it off the face of the earth.
But the inhabitants courageously defended their city. Men and yesterday's tenth graders became soldiers, the first to create an army militia. And the women were digging trenches around the city.
Soldiers set up anti-tank fortifications. The evacuation of civilians began.
But, despite the heroic resistance of our troops, the Nazis reached the Neva, cutting off the railway that connected Leningrad with the country.
The Nazis came so close that they could view our city through binoculars. They occupied the Pulkovo Heights.
The Nazis shelled and bombed the city several times daily.
To warn residents about shelling or a raid by enemy aircraft, an “Air Raid” was announced in the city, a siren sounded and people, taking with them the most necessary things, hid in a bomb shelter.
Bombing and shelling were not the only danger to the inhabitants. The worst experience was hunger.
Products began to be issued on cards. Everything went into food: sawdust, cake, casein glue.
It was quite difficult to supply the city. They were brought by rail to the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, and then delivered to Leningrad. It was a thin stream that only to a small extent satisfied the needs of the Leningraders. With the advent of winter, the track, called the Road of Life, began to pass through the ice.
The horse carts with bread were the first to go along it.
And when the ice became thicker, the products were taken on trucks. On the way back, weak, exhausted Leningraders were taken out of the city.
Many difficulties lay in wait for the drivers. Day and night, enemy bombers attacked columns with cargo, enemy artillery fired aimed fire.
Often the ice cracked and cars sank.
Here is a piece of bread people received in the most terrible hungry days, only 125 g!
Now we sometimes do not eat bread at all. We have a lot of other food. But then... There was nothing to eat except bread.
Many residents did not survive this winter. They died right on the streets, before reaching the house, they died in frozen houses, they fell exhausted at the machines.
Firewood was also very scarce. Bombed houses, furniture were dismantled for fuel ...
For water, they had to go to the Neva or to the columns, which were specially installed on the streets of the city.
Teenagers worked in factories and factories, standing behind the machines for the brothers and fathers who had gone to the front. There were cases when children did not reach the machine and a bench was placed under their feet. They knew that they were helping the front with their work.
The girls were also not far behind the boys. Together with their mothers and older sisters, they collected parcels for the fighters. Knitted mittens, socks.
Helped in hospitals.
Parse letters in the mail.
Many boys and girls were awarded medals.
To break the blockade, the troops of the Leningrad Front were preparing for a long time and secretly. And finally, the day of the assault came. The fighting continued for several days.
On January 18, 1943, in the morning, the soldiers of the Leningrad Front joined up with the soldiers of the Volkhov Front.
And the whole world knew that the blockade had been broken! And let a narrow, but still constant corridor connected Leningrad with the mainland.
And a year later, on January 27, 1944, the enemies were driven back from the city by 300 km and Leningrad was forever liberated from the enemy siege!
Leningrad paid a heavy price for its liberation. 650 thousand Leningraders died of starvation. More than 500 thousand soldiers died near Leningrad, defending the city and participating in breaking the blockade.
Piskaryovskoye cemetery in Leningrad is a huge memorial monument. In eternal silence, the figure of a grieving woman rose high, high here. Around the flowers. And like an oath, like pain, words on granite: "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten"
In the city of Leningrad, there is also a place where you can come and honor the memory of those who died during the Great Patriotic War. This is the Eternal Flame - a symbol of memory and sorrow.
For outstanding services to the Motherland, mass heroism, courage and steadfastness shown in the fight against the Nazi invaders, the city Leningrad awarded the honorary title THE CITY IS A HERO!