During the Great Patriotic War(1941-1945) German troops blockaded the city from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. For almost 900 days, communication with Leningrad was maintained only by Ladoga Lake and by air. The enemy conducted continuous bombing and artillery attacks on the city, and made numerous attempts to capture it. During the blockade of Leningrad, over 641,000 residents died from starvation and shelling (according to other sources, at least one million people). In the conditions of the blockade, Leningraders worked at defense enterprises, fought in the divisions of the people's militia.
Soviet troops repeatedly tried to break through the blockade ring, but they achieved this only in January 1943 during the strategic offensive operation of the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga military flotilla. The offensive was carried out on the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge (between the city of Mga and Lake Ladoga), which the enemy turned into a powerful field fortified area (up to five fully equipped divisions and four divisions in the operational reserve). For its breakthrough, the Soviet command created two powerful strike groups, which with counter strikes broke through the enemy's defenses and formed a corridor 8-11 kilometers wide along the shores of Lake Ladoga, restoring Leningrad's land connection with the country. The further offensive of the Soviet troops to the south did not develop, but the breakthrough of the blockade was a turning point in the battle for Leningrad.
Soldiers of the Volkhov Front on the offensive during the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad
The final defeat of the Nazi troops near Leningrad and the complete lifting of the blockade of the city took place during the Leningrad-Novgorod operation carried out on January 14 - March 1, 1944 by the troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts together with the Baltic Fleet.
During the offensive on January 20, Novgorod was liberated, by the end of January - the cities of Pushkin, Krasnogvardeysk, Tosno, Oktyabrskaya was cleared of the enemy Railway linking Moscow with Leningrad.
The meeting of the fighters of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts near the Workers' settlement No. 5 during the operation to break the blockade of Leningrad (Operation Iskra)
On January 27, 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was completely eliminated. On this day, an artillery salute and fireworks were given in Leningrad (the only exception was during the Great Patriotic War, other salutes were made in Moscow). In the evening of January 27, the text of the order was transmitted to the troops of the Leningrad Front with a message on the complete lifting of the blockade on the Leningrad radio. Tens of thousands of city residents took to the streets, squares, embankments of the Neva River. The fireworks began at 20 o'clock: 24 artillery volleys were fired, accompanied by fireworks and illumination by anti-aircraft searchlights.
During the Leningrad-Novgorod operation, the enemy army group "North" was thrown back 220-280 kilometers, three of its divisions were destroyed and 23 were defeated.
The heroic defense of Leningrad became a symbol of the courage of the Soviet people. At the cost of incredible hardships, heroism and self-sacrifice, the soldiers and residents of Leningrad defended the city. Hundreds of thousands of those who fought were awarded government awards, 486 received the title of Hero Soviet Union, of which 8 people twice. In December 1942, the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" was established, which was awarded to about 1.5 million people. Since May 1, 1945, Leningrad has been a hero city, and on May 8, 1965, the city was awarded the medal " Golden Star».
Leningraders read the issue of the Pravda newspaper with a message about the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad
Various festive and memorable events are held in St. Petersburg today dedicated to the 74th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad, honoring the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and all residents of the city who survived these terrible days.
In the morning, flowers were laid at the memorial plaque, at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of Leningraders and defenders of the city were buried during the siege, a solemn mourning ceremony of laying wreaths and flowers took place. Also, the ceremony of laying wreaths and flowers took place at the Serafimovskoye, Smolenskoye and Bogoslovskoye cemeteries, the Nevsky military cemetery "Cranes", at the Monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square, at Arc de Triomphe Victory on the Square of Military Glory in Krasnoe Selo, at the Krasnaya Sloboda memorial.
In memory of the days of siege, from 10.00 to 13.00 and from 19.00 to 22.00 torches are lit on the Rostral columns on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island, a concert will be held in the large concert hall "Oktyabrsky".
In the evening, St. Petersburg students will launch 900 white and 900 black balloons into the sky, symbolizing 900 days and nights of the siege, and will honor the heroes' feat with a minute of silence.
In honor of the significant date at 21.00, a festive artillery fireworks will be given from four points: the beach Peter and Paul Fortress, Victory Park, Park of the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg and Piskarevsky Park.
January 27 at Russian Federation the Day of Military Glory of Russia is celebrated - the Day of lifting the blockade of the city of Leningrad. The date is marked on the basis of the federal law "On the days of military glory and memorable dates in Russia" dated March 13, 1995.
The offensive of the fascist troops on Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), the capture of which the German command attached great strategic and political importance, began on July 10, 1941.
In August, heavy fighting was already on the outskirts of the city. On August 30, German troops cut the railways connecting Leningrad with the country. On September 8, the Nazis managed to blockade the city from land. According to Hitler's plan, Leningrad was to be wiped off the face of the earth. Having failed in their attempts to break through the defenses of the Soviet troops inside the blockade ring, the Germans decided to starve out the city. According to all calculations of the German command, the population of Leningrad should have died of hunger and cold.
On September 8, the day the blockade began, the first massive bombardment of Leningrad took place. About 200 fires broke out, one of them destroyed the Badayevsky food warehouses.
In September-October, enemy aircraft carried out several raids a day. The enemy's goal was not only to interfere with the activities of important enterprises, but also to create panic among the population. Particularly intensive shelling was carried out at the beginning and end of the working day. Many died during shelling and bombing, and many buildings were destroyed.
The conviction that the enemy would not be able to capture Leningrad held back the pace of the evacuation of people. More than two and a half million inhabitants, including 400 thousand children, turned out to be in the blocked city. Food supplies were scarce and food surrogates had to be used. Since the beginning of the introduction of the rationing system, the norms for the distribution of food to the population of Leningrad have been repeatedly reduced.
Autumn-winter 1941-1942 - the most terrible time of the blockade. Early winter brought with her cold - heating, hot water was not, and Leningraders began to burn furniture, books, dismantled for firewood wooden buildings... The transport was standing. Thousands of people died from dystrophy and cold. But Leningraders continued to work - administrative offices, printing houses, clinics, kindergartens, theaters, a public library continued to work, scientists continued to work. There were 13-14-year-old teenagers who replaced their fathers who had gone to the front.
In autumn on Ladoga due to storms, the movement of ships was complicated, but tugboats with barges made their way around the ice fields until December 1941, a certain amount of food was delivered by air. Hard ice on Ladoga was not installed for a long time, the norms for the distribution of bread were again reduced.
On November 22, cars began to move along the ice road. This transport highway was named "The Road of Life". In January 1942, the traffic on the winter road was already constant. The Germans bombed and fired at the road, but they failed to stop the movement.
By January 27, 1944, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts broke the defenses of the 18th German army, defeated its main forces and advanced 60 km in depth. Seeing the real threat of encirclement, the Germans retreated. Krasnoe Selo, Pushkin, Pavlovsk were liberated from the enemy. January 27 became the day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the blockade. On this day, a festive fireworks were given in Leningrad.
The blockade of Leningrad lasted 900 days and became the bloodiest blockade in the history of mankind. The historical significance of the defense of Leningrad is enormous. Having stopped the enemy hordes near Leningrad, Soviet soldiers turned it into a powerful bastion of the entire Soviet-German front in the northwest. Pinning down significant forces of the fascist troops for 900 days, Leningrad thereby provided significant assistance to the development of operations in all other sectors of the vast front. In the victories at Moscow and Stalingrad, at Kursk and on the Dnieper - a significant share of the defenders of Leningrad.
The Motherland highly appreciated the feat of the defenders of the city. Over 350 thousand soldiers, officers and generals of the Leningrad Front were awarded orders and medals, 226 of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" was awarded to about 1.5 million people.
For courage, perseverance and unprecedented heroism in the days of a difficult struggle against the German fascist invaders, the city of Leningrad was awarded the Order of Lenin on January 20, 1945, and on May 8, 1965 received honorary title"Hero City".
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
January 27 is a special date in the history of our country. On January 27, 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was lifted, which lasted 900 long days and nights. The defense of the city on the Neva has become a symbol of the unparalleled courage and fortitude of the Soviet people.
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According to the decree of the President of Russia on the days of military glory, the Day of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad is celebrated on January 27. It was on this day Soviet troops finally recaptured the city from the fascist invaders.
2:1813One of the saddest pages in the history of the USSR and World War II began with Hitler's plan lead an offensive against the Land of the Soviets in the northwestern direction. As a result, fighting, deployed near the city's borders, completely blocked the most important road arteries. The city was surrounded by a dense ring of invaders, and the threat of a humanitarian catastrophe loomed.
2:691By September 8, 1941, it was necessary to ascertain the fact that the city fell into a tight ring. In conditions of complete isolation, the city held out for more than two years ...
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Hitler's plan
3:1514The destruction of the civilian population of Leningrad by blockade was originally planned by the Nazis. Already on July 8, 1941, on the seventeenth day of the war, a very characteristic entry appeared in the diary of the chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder:“... The Fuehrer's decision is unshakable to raze Moscow and Leningrad to the ground in order to completely get rid of the population of these cities, which otherwise we will then be forced to feed during the winter. The task of destroying these cities must be carried out by aviation. You should not use tanks for this. It will be "a national disaster that will deprive the centers of not only Bolshevism, but also Muscovites (Russians) in general."
3:1214 3:1219Hitler's plans were soon embodied in the official directives of the German command. On August 28, 1941, General Halder signed an order from the High Command of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces to Army Group North on the blockade of Leningrad:
3:1669“... based on the directives supreme command I order:
3:1301. Block the city of Leningrad with a ring as close as possible to the city itself in order to save our forces. Do not put forward demands for surrender.
3:3902. In order for the city, as the last center of the red resistance in the Baltic, to be destroyed as quickly as possible without great casualties on our part, it is forbidden to storm the city by infantry forces. After the defeat of the enemy's air defense and fighter aircraft, his defensive and vital abilities should be broken by destroying water stations, warehouses, power supplies and power plants. Military installations and the enemy's defensive capability must be suppressed by fires and artillery fire. Every attempt by the population to get out through the encirclement should be prevented, if necessary - with the use of weapons ... "
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On September 29, 1941, these plans were recorded in the directive of the chief of staff of the German naval forces:
4:714“The Fuhrer decided to wipe out the city of St. Petersburg from the face of the earth. After defeat Soviet Russia, the further existence of this largest settlement does not represent any interest .... 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, to level it to the ground. If, as a result of the situation 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, waged for the right to exist, we are not interested in preserving at least part of the population. "
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As you can see, according to the directives of the German command, the blockade was directed precisely against the civilian population of Leningrad. Neither the city nor its inhabitants were needed by the Nazis. The Nazis' fury towards Leningrad was appalling.
4:443“The poisonous nest Petersburg, from which poison is still bubbling into the Baltic Sea, must disappear from the face of the earth,” Hitler said in a September 16, 1941 conversation with the German ambassador in Paris. - The city is already blocked; now all that remains is to bombard it with artillery and bomb until the water supply system, energy centers and everything that is necessary for the life of the population are destroyed. "
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5:4
THE FIRST BREAKTHROUGH OF THE BLOCKADE OF LENINGRAD
5:74Only by 18 January 1943 was it possible to take the first step towards breaking the blockade..Enemy troops were driven out from the southern coast of Lake Ladoga, through the created corridor besieged Leningrad got a connection with the country - food and medicine began to flow into the city, and evacuation began women, children and old people
5:638 5:643COMPLETE REMOVAL OF THE LENINGRAD BLOCKADE
5:713The day of lifting the blockade of Leningrad came on January 27, 1944, when it was possible to completely break the resistance of the fascists and break the ring. The Germans went into a deep and powerful defense, using the tactics of mining during the retreat, as well as building concrete protective structures.
5:1204The Soviet army threw down all the power of its troops, and used partisans and even long-range aviation when attacking enemy positions. It was necessary, as it should, to clear the flanks and defeat the fascist troops in the area of the Luga River and the city of Kingisep. A summary of those years tells in detail about all subsequent victories of the Soviet army in westward... Region by region, city by city, region by region went over to the side of the Red Army.
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The simultaneous offensive on all fronts gave positive results... Veliky Novgorod was liberated on January 20, Having defeated the 18th Army, and then the 16th German army, Soviet troops liberated Leningrad and the Leningrad region. and on January 27 in Leningrad, for the first time during the blockade, a festive fireworks thundered, marking the Day of lifting the blockade of Leningrad!
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The blockade, in the iron ring of which Leningrad was suffocating for long 900 days and nights, came to an end. That day became one of the happiest in the life of hundreds of thousands of Leningraders; one of the happiest - and, at the same time, one of the most mournful - because everyone who lived before holiday during the blockade, he lost either relatives or friends.
7:646More than 600 thousand people died a terrible death by starvation in a city surrounded by German troops, several hundred thousand in a Nazi-occupied region
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This monstrous tragedy should never be erased from memory. Subsequent generations must remember and know the details of what happened so that this never happens again.
8:1778 8:6It is to this idea that Sergei Larenkov, a St. Petersburg resident, dedicated his series of collages. In each picture, the frames of the same place are combined as accurately as possible, but taken in different time: during the siege of Leningrad - and now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
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24:1536
Our house stands without radio, without light,
Warmed only by human breath ...
And in our six-room apartment
There are three tenants left - me and you
Yes the wind blowing from the darkness ...
No, however, I am mistaken - there are four of them.
The fourth, brought out to the balcony,
The funeral is expected for a week.
Who hasn't been to the Volkovo cemetery?
If you do not have enough strength at all -
Hire others, beg someone else
For tobacco, for three hundred grams of bread,
But don't leave the corpse in the snow,
Don't let the enemy rejoice.
After all, this is also strength and victory
On days like these, bury your neighbor!
Meters deep frozen ground
Does not lend itself to scrap and shovel.
Let the wind knock down, let it catch
In the forty-degree cold of February,
Let the skin freeze to the iron,
I do not want to be silent, I cannot,
Through slingshots I shout to the enemy:
"Damn, you're numb there too!
Remember this well,
You can order your children and your grandchildren
Look here, beyond our borders ...
Yes, you tortured us with pestilence and fire,
Yes, you bombed and bombed our house
But are we homeless from this?
You sent a shell for a shell,
And this is twenty months in a row,
But did you teach us to be afraid?
No, we're calmer than a year ago
Remember, this city is Leningrad,
Remember, these people are Leningraders! "
Yes, Leningrad has grown cold and depopulated,
And empty floors rise
But we know how to live, we want and we will,
We have defended this right to live.
There are no cowards here
There shouldn't be shy ones here
And this city is so invincible
What are we for lentil stew
We will not sell our dignity.
There is a respite - we will take a break,
There is no respite - we will fight again.
For a city devoured by fire
For the sweet world, for everything that was in it.
For our city, tested by fire,
For the right to be called a Leningrader!
Stay, as it stood, our stately city,
Over the fresh and bright Neva,
As a symbol of courage, as the embodiment of glory,
How triumph of reason and will!
The hero city, which for more than two years was in a military blockade of the German, Finnish and Italian armies, today recalls the first day of the blockade of Leningrad. On September 8, 1941, Leningrad was cut off from the rest of the country, and city residents bravely defended their homes from invaders.
872 days of the siege of Leningrad went down in the history of the Second World War as the most tragic events that are worthy of memory and respect. The courage and courage of the defenders of Leningrad, the suffering and patience of the inhabitants of the city - all this is on long years will remain an example and a lesson for new generations.
10 interesting, and at the same time terrifying facts about life besieged Leningrad read in the editorial material.
1. "Blue Division"
The German, Italian and Finnish military took part in the blockade of Leningrad. But there was another group, which was referred to as the "Blue Division". It was generally accepted that this division consisted of Spanish volunteers, since Spain did not officially declare war on the USSR.
However, in fact, the "Blue Division", which became part of a large crime against the Leningradians, consisted of the regular soldiers of the Spanish army. During the battles for Leningrad, the "Blue Division" for the Soviet military was considered the weak link of the aggressors. Because of the rudeness of their own officers and poor food, the soldiers of the "Blue Division" often went over to the side of the Soviet army, historians note.
2. "Road of Life" and "Lane of Death"
Residents of besieged Leningrad managed to escape from starvation in the first winter thanks to the Road of Life. V winter period 1941-1942, when the water on Lake Ladoga froze, communication with the "Big Land" was established, through which food was brought into the city and the population was evacuated. 550 thousand Leningraders were evacuated through the Road of Life.
January 1943 Soviet soldiers for the first time they broke through the blockade of the invaders, and a railway was built on the vacated site, which was named "Victory Road". In one section, the "Victory Road" came close to enemy territories, and the trains did not always reach their destination. The military called this segment "The Lane of Death".
3. Severe winter
The first winter of besieged Leningrad was the most severe that the inhabitants saw. From December to May inclusive in Leningrad she kept average temperature air 18 degrees below zero, the minimum mark was fixed at 31 degrees. Snow in the city sometimes reached 52 cm.
In such harsh conditions, the inhabitants of the city were warmed by any means. Houses were heated by stoves, stoves, everything that burned was used as fuel: books, paintings, furniture. Central heating in the city did not work, the sewerage and water supply were turned off, work at factories stopped.
4. Cats-heroes
In modern St. Petersburg, there is a small cat monument, few people know, but this monument is dedicated to the heroes who twice saved the inhabitants of Leningrad from starvation. The first rescue fell on the first year of the blockade. The hungry residents ate all domestic animals, including cats, which saved them from starvation.
But in the future, the absence of cats in the city led to a general invasion of rodents. The food reserves of the city were under threat. After breaking the blockade in January 1943, one of the first trains had four carriages with smoky cats. It is this breed that catches pests best. The stocks of the exhausted city dwellers were saved.
5.150 thousand shells
During the years of the blockade, Leningrad was subjected to an uncountable number of airstrikes and shelling, which were carried out several times a day. In total, during the blockade, 150 thousand shells were fired on Leningrad and more than 107 thousand incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped.
To alert citizens of enemy air strikes, 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets of the city. The signal for air strikes was the sound of a metronome: its fast rhythm meant the beginning of an air attack, slow - a retreat, and on the streets they wrote "Citizens! This side of the street is most dangerous during shelling."
The sound of the metronome and the inscription warning about the shelling, preserved on one of the houses, became symbols of the blockade and resilience of the inhabitants of Leningrad, which was not subdued by the Nazis.
6. Three waves of evacuation
During the war years, the Soviet military managed to carry out three waves of evacuation of the local population from the besieged and hungry city. For all the time, it was possible to withdraw 1.5 million people, which at that time amounted to almost half of the entire city.
The first evacuation began in the early days of the war - June 29, 1941. The first wave of evacuation was notable for the reluctance of residents to leave the city, just over 400 thousand people were taken out. The second wave of evacuation - September 1941-April 1942. The main way of evacuating the already besieged city was the "Road of Life", in just the second wave more than 600 thousand people were evacuated. And the third wave of evacuation - May-October 1942, a little less than 400 thousand people were evacuated.
7. Minimum ration
Hunger has become the main problem besieged Leningrad. The beginning of the food crisis is considered to be September 10, 1941, when Hitler's aviation destroyed the Badayevsky food warehouses.
The peak of the famine in Leningrad fell on November 20-December 25, 1941. The norms for the distribution of bread for soldiers on the front line of defense were reduced to 500 grams per day, for workers in hot shops - to 375 grams, for workers of other industries and engineers - to 250 grams, for employees, dependents and children - to 125 grams.
During the blockade, bread was prepared from a mixture of rye and oat flour, cake and unfiltered malt. It had a completely black color and a bitter taste.
8. The case of scientists
During the first two years of the blockade of Leningrad, from 200 to 300 employees of the Leningrad higher authorities were convicted in the city. educational institutions and their family members. Leningrad Directorate of the NKVD in 1941-1942 arrested scientists for "anti-Soviet, counter-revolutionary, treasonable activities."
As a result, 32 highly qualified specialists were sentenced to death. Four scientists were shot, the rest death penalty replaced for various periods of forced labor camps, many died in prisons and camps. In 1954-55, the convicts were rehabilitated, and a criminal case was initiated against the employees of the NKVD.
9. Duration of the blockade
The siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War lasted 872 days (September 8, 1941 - January 27, 1944). But the first breakthrough of the blockade was carried out in 1943. On January 17, during Operation Iskra, the Soviet troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts managed to liberate Shlisselburg, creating a narrow land corridor between the besieged city and the rest of the country.
After the blockade was lifted, Leningrad was under siege for another six months. The German and Finnish military remained in Vyborg and Petrozavodsk. After the offensive operation of the Soviet troops in July-August 1944, the Nazis were driven back from Leningrad.
10. Victims
On Nuremberg trials the Soviet side announced 630 thousand deaths during the blockade of Leningrad, however, this figure is still questioned by historians. The real death toll may be up to one and a half million people.
In addition to the number of deaths, the cause of death also causes horror - only 3% of all those killed in besieged Leningrad accounted for shelling and air strikes by the fascist military. 97% of deaths in Leningrad from September 1941 to January 1944 were due to hunger. Dead bodies lying on the streets of the city were perceived by passers-by as an everyday occurrence.
TASS-DOSSIER. On January 27, the Russian Federation annually celebrates the Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade (1944). It was originally established by the federal law "On the days of military glory (victory days) of Russia" dated March 13, 1995 and was called the Day of lifting the blockade of the city of Leningrad (1944). On November 2, 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law, according to which the date became known as the Day of the complete liberation of the city of Leningrad by Soviet troops from the blockade by Nazi troops (1944). The new name of the holiday caused discontent among the townspeople, especially the veterans and the blockade, as, in their opinion, did not reflect the role and contribution of the civilian population in the defense of the city. On December 1, 2014, Putin signed the law "On Amendments to Art. 1 federal law"On the days of military glory and memorable dates in Russia", which established the current name of the date on January 27.
Leningrad blockade
Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) - the only one in world history Big City that was able to withstand nearly 900 days of surroundings.
The capture of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 was one of the most important strategic and political tasks of the German command. During the Battle of Leningrad (July - August 1941), German troops broke through the Mga station, occupied Shlisselburg on September 8 and cut off Leningrad from the rest of the USSR from land. Subsequently, the Germans occupied the Leningrad suburbs - Krasnoe Selo (September 12), Pushkin (September 17), Strelna (September 21), Peterhof (September 23); Soviet troops managed to hold Kronstadt and the Oranienbaum bridgehead. The Finnish allies of the Germans, advancing on the Karelian Isthmus and in the Northern Ladoga area, blocked a number of routes (the Kirov railway, the White Sea-Baltic Canal, the Volga-Baltic waterway) for the delivery of goods to Leningrad and stopped approximately on the line of the Soviet-Finnish border of 1918-1940 ...
On September 8, 1941, the blockade of Leningrad began, which lasted 872 days. The directive of the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht Adolf Hitler "The future of the city of St. Petersburg" of September 22, 1941 stated: "... The Fuehrer decided to wipe St. Petersburg from the face of the earth. (...) interested in preserving at least part of the population ... ". On September 10, Luftwaffe pilots managed to bomb the Badayev warehouses, as a result of the fire of which the city lost significant food supplies. Gradually, the city ran out of supplies of fuel and water, the supply of electricity and heat was cut off. In the fall of 1941, famine began. A rationing system for the supply of food to the townspeople was introduced. By November 20, 1941, the norms for the issuance of grain for workers dropped to 250 g per day, for the rest of the population - to 125 g.
During the blockade, more than 107 thousand incendiary and high-explosive aerial bombs and over 150 thousand artillery shells were dropped on Leningrad, about 10 thousand houses and buildings were destroyed.
Despite the siege, over 200 enterprises continued to operate in the city, including seven shipyards that produced 13 submarines. The industry of besieged Leningrad produced 150 samples of military products. In total, during the years of the blockade, Leningrad enterprises produced about 10 million shells and mines, 12 thousand mortars, 1.5 thousand aircraft, and 2 thousand tanks were manufactured and repaired. Despite the bombing, even in the winter of 1941-1942 there were performances and musical performances in the city. In March 1942, trams began to run around the city again, and on May 6, the first football match took place at the Dynamo stadium on Krestovsky Island.
"The road of life"
From September 1941 to March 1943, the supply of the besieged city was carried out along the only military-strategic transport route passing through Lake Ladoga. During the navigation periods, transportation was carried out along the water route, during the freeze-up period - along the ice road by motor transport. The ice track, called by the Leningraders "Dear Life", came into operation on November 22, 1941. It brought ammunition, weapons, food, fuel, evacuated the sick, wounded and children, as well as the equipment of factories and plants. In total, during the operation of the highway, about 1 million 376 thousand people were evacuated along it, 1 million 615 thousand tons of cargo were transported.
Lifting the blockade
On January 12, 1943, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts launched an operation codenamed "Iskra", the purpose of which was to defeat the group of German troops south of Lake Ladoga and restore communication between Leningrad and the mainland.
On January 18, 1943, the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, with the support of the Baltic Fleet in the area of the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge, broke the blockade ring and restored the land connection of the city with the mainland. On the same day, the fortress city of Shlisselburg was liberated and the entire southern coast of Lake Ladoga was cleared of the enemy. Within 17 days, a railway and a road were laid through the formed corridor, and already on February 7, the first train arrived in Leningrad.
On January 14, 1944, the troops of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts began the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation... By January 20, Soviet troops defeated the Krasnoselsko-Ropsha enemy grouping. On January 27, 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated. In honor of the victory in the city, fireworks thundered in 24 artillery volleys from 324 guns. This was the only fireworks (1st degree) in all the years of the Great Patriotic War, held not in Moscow.
By the end of the blockade, no more than 800 thousand residents out of 3 million who lived in Leningrad and the suburbs before the blockade began, remained in the city. According to various sources, from 641 thousand to 1 million Leningraders died of hunger, bombing and shelling. Almost 34 thousand people were injured, 716 thousand inhabitants were left homeless. In 1941-1942, 1.7 million people were evacuated along the "Road of Life" and by air.
Perpetuation of memory
In December 1942, the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" was instituted. It was awarded to 1.5 million people, including residents of the city and participants in the battles for its liberation. Over 350 thousand soldiers and officers of the Leningrad Front were awarded orders and medals, 226 of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In total, in the north-western direction (Leningrad, Volkhov and Karelian fronts), 486 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (eight of them - twice).
May 1, 1945 in the order Supreme Commander-in-Chief Joseph Stalin, Leningrad was named among the first hero cities.
On April 20, 1944, the exhibition "The Heroic Defense of Leningrad" was opened in the premises of the former Leningrad Handicraft Museum. On January 27, 1946, it was transformed into a museum (now the State Memorial Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad).
On May 8, 1965, Leningrad was officially awarded the title of "Hero City", it was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
In 1989, by the decision of the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council, the sign "Resident of besieged Leningrad" was established.
Every year on January 27, Russia celebrates the Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade.
According to the information of the St. Petersburg administration, as of January 2017, 102.4 thousand residents and defenders of the besieged city lived in the city (8.8 thousand people awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" and 93.6 thousand people awarded sign "Resident of besieged Leningrad"). About 30 thousand more blockades lived in other cities and countries.