When did the siege of Leningrad begin and how long did it last? The true story of the siege of Leningrad - a tribute to its victims

Leningrad became a front city in September. Shells exploded at the thresholds of homes, houses collapsed. But despite this horror of war, the townspeople remained faithful to each other, showed camaraderie and mutual assistance and care to those who, deprived of strength, could not serve themselves.

On one of the quiet streets of the Volodarsky district in the evening, a heavily built man entered a bakery. He looked at all the people in the store and two female sellers, he suddenly jumped up behind the counter and began throwing bread from the shelves into the store hall, shouting: “Take it, they want to starve us, don’t give in to persuasion, demand bread!” Noticing that no one was taking the loaves and there was no support for his words, the unknown person pushed the saleswoman and started running to the door. But he failed to leave. The men and women who were in the store detained the provocateur and handed him over to the authorities.

The history of besieged Leningrad overturns the arguments of those authors who claim that under the influence of a terrible feeling of hunger, people lose their moral principles. If this were so, then in Leningrad, where 2.5 million people starved for a long time, there would be complete arbitrariness, not order. I will give examples to confirm what has been said; they tell more powerfully than words the actions of the townspeople and their way of thinking during the days of acute famine.

Winter. The driver of the truck, driving around the snowdrifts, was in a hurry to deliver freshly baked bread before the opening of the stores. At the corner of Rastannaya and Ligovka, a shell exploded near a truck. The front part of the body was cut off like a scythe, loaves of bread scattered on the pavement, the driver was killed by a shrapnel. The conditions for theft are favorable, there is no one and no one to ask. Passers-by, noticing that the bread was not guarded by anyone, raised the alarm, surrounded the scene of the disaster and did not leave until another car with a bakery forwarder arrived. The loaves were collected and delivered to stores. The hungry people guarding the car with bread felt an irresistible need for food, however, no one allowed themselves to take even a piece of bread. Who knows, maybe soon many of them died of hunger.

Despite all the suffering, Leningraders did not lose either honor or courage. I quote the story of Tatyana Nikolaevna Bushalova:
- “In January, I began to weaken from hunger, I spent a lot of time in bed. My husband Mikhail Kuzmich worked
accountant at a construction trust. He was also bad, but still went to work every day. On the way, he went to the store, received bread on his and my cards, and returned home late in the evening. I divided the bread into 3 parts and at a certain time we ate a piece, washed down with tea. The water was heated on a stove. They took turns burning chairs, a wardrobe, and books. I looked forward to the evening hour when my husband came home from work. Misha quietly told us who of our friends had died, who was sick, and whether it was possible to exchange things for bread.

Unnoticed, I slipped him a larger piece of bread; if he noticed, he became very angry and refused to eat at all, believing that I was infringing on myself. We resisted the approaching death as best we could. But everything comes to an end. And it came. On November 11, Misha did not return home from work. Not finding a place for myself, I waited all night for him, and at dawn I asked my apartment neighbor Ekaterina Yakovlevna Malinina to help me find my husband. Katya responded to help. We took the children's sled and followed my husband's route. We stopped, rested, and with each passing hour our strength left us. After a long search, we found Mikhail Kuzmich dead on the sidewalk. He had a watch on his hand and 200 rubles in his pocket. No cards found."

Of course, in such a big city there are some freaks. If the absolute majority of people steadfastly endured
deprivations, while continuing to work honestly, there were those that could not but cause disgust. Hunger revealed the true essence of every person.

The store manager of the Smolninsk District Grain Office Akkonen and her assistant Sredneva weighed people when they sold bread, and exchanged the stolen bread for antiques. According to the court verdict, both criminals were shot.
The Germans captured the last railway connecting Leningrad with the country. There were very few delivery vehicles across the lake, and the ships were subject to constant raids by enemy aircraft.

And at this time, on the approaches to the city, in factories and factories, on the streets and squares - everywhere there was intense work of many thousands of people, they turned the city into a fortress. Townspeople and collective farmers of suburban areas in a short time created a defensive belt of anti-tank ditches 626 km long, built 15,000 pillboxes and bunkers, and 35 km of barricades.

Many construction sites were in close proximity to the enemy and were subject to artillery fire. People worked 12 - 14 hours a day, often in the rain, in soaking wet clothes. This required great physical endurance. What force raised people to such dangerous and exhausting work? Faith in the rightness of our struggle, understanding of our role in the unfolding events. Mortal danger loomed over the entire country. The thunder of cannon fire was approaching every day, but it did not frighten the city’s defenders, but rather hurried them to finish the job they had started.

On October 21, 1941, the youth newspaper "Smena" published the order of the Leningrad regional committee and the city committee of the Komsomol "To the pioneers and schoolchildren of Leningrad" with a call to be active participants in the defense of Leningrad.

Young Leningraders responded to this call with deeds. They, together with adults, dug trenches, checked the blackout in residential buildings, went around apartments and collected non-ferrous scrap metal necessary for the manufacture of cartridges and shells. Leningrad factories received tons of non-ferrous and ferrous metal collected by schoolchildren. Leningrad scientists came up with a flammable mixture to set fire to enemy tanks. To make grenades with this mixture, bottles were required. Schoolchildren collected more than a million bottles in just one week.

Cold weather was approaching. Leningrad residents began collecting warm clothes for the soldiers of the Soviet Army. The boys also helped them. Older girls knitted mittens, socks and sweaters for front-line soldiers. The fighters received hundreds of heartfelt letters and parcels from schoolchildren with warm clothes, soap, handkerchiefs, pencils, and notepads.

Many schools were converted into hospitals. Students from these schools went around nearby houses and collected tableware and books for the hospitals. They were on duty in hospitals, read newspapers and books to the wounded, wrote them letters home, helped doctors and nurses, washed floors and cleaned wards. To lift the spirits of the wounded soldiers, they performed concerts in front of them.

Along with adults, schoolchildren, on duty in the attics and roofs of houses, extinguished incendiary bombs and fires. They were called "sentinels of Leningrad roofs."

It is impossible to overestimate the labor prowess of the Leningrad working class. People did not sleep enough, were malnourished, but enthusiastically completed the tasks assigned to them. The Kirov plant found itself dangerously close to the location of German troops. Defending their hometown and factory, thousands of workers erected fortifications day and night. Trenches were dug, hollows were placed, firing sectors were cleared for guns and machine guns, and approaches were mined.

At the plant, work was going on around the clock to produce tanks that showed their superiority over the German ones in battles. Workers, skilled and without any professional experience, men and women, and even teenagers stood at the machines, persistent and efficient. Shells exploded in the workshops, the plant was bombed, fires broke out, but no one left the workplace. KV tanks came out of the factory gates every day and headed straight to the front. In those incomprehensibly difficult conditions, military equipment was manufactured at Leningrad enterprises at an increasing pace. In November - December, during the difficult days of the blockade, the production of shells and mines exceeded a million pieces per month.

On the pages of the factory newspaper, the former secretary of the party committee, later director of the plant named after A. Kozitsky, hero of socialist labor N.N. Liventsov.

“There weren’t many of us left at the plant in Leningrad at that time, but the people were strong, fearless, seasoned, the majority were communists.

...The plant began producing radio stations. Fortunately, we had specialists who could resolve the issues
organization of this important matter: engineers, mechanics, turners, traffic controllers. From this point of view, everything seems to be fine, but with the machine tools and power supply, things were bad at first.

The skillful hands of the plant's chief power engineer N.A. Kozlov, his deputy A.P. Gordeev, and head of the transport department N.A. Fedorov built a small block station driven by a car engine with an alternating current generator of 25 kilovolt-amps.

We were very lucky that there were machines left for the production of wall clocks; they were not sent to the rear and we
used to make radios. "Sever" was produced in small quantities. Cars drove up to the plant and took away to the front only radio stations that had come off the assembly line.

What excitement there was at the plant, what excitement, what faith in victory! Where did people get their strength from?

There is no way to list all the heroes of the "North" issue. I remember especially well those with whom I came into contact on a daily basis. This is, first of all, the developer of the Sever radio station - Boris Andreevich Mikhalin, the chief engineer of the plant G.E. Appelesov, the highly qualified radio operator N.A. Yakovlev and many many others.
“North” was made by people who were not only skilled, but also caring, constantly thinking about those whose weapon the little radio station would become.

Each radio station was supplied with a tiny soldering iron and a jar of dry alcohol, a piece of tin and rosin, as well as especially important parts for replacing those that could fail faster than others."

The soldiers and the population made efforts to prevent the enemy from entering Leningrad. Just in case
It would have been possible to break into the city; a plan for the destruction of enemy troops was developed in detail.

Barricades and anti-tank obstacles with a total length of 25 km were erected on streets and intersections, 4,100 pillboxes and bunkers were built, and more than 20 thousand firing points were equipped in buildings. Factories, bridges, public buildings were mined and, at a signal, would fly into the air - piles of stones and iron would fall on the heads of enemy soldiers, rubble would block the path of their tanks. The civilian population was ready for street fighting.

The population of the besieged city eagerly awaited news of the 54th Army advancing from the east. There were legends about this army: it was about to cut a corridor in the blockade ring from the Mga side, and then Leningrad would breathe deeply. Time passed, but everything remained the same, hopes began to fade. On January 13, 1942, the offensive of the troops of the Volokhov Front began.

At the same time, the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front under the command of Major General I. I. Fedyuninsky also went on the offensive in the direction of Pogost. The offensive of the troops developed slowly. The enemy himself attacked our positions and the army was forced to conduct defensive battles instead of attacking. By the end of January 14, the strike forces of the 54th Army crossed the Volkhov River and captured a number of settlements on the opposite bank.

To help our security officers, special Komsomol-pioneer groups of intelligence officers and signalmen were created. During air raids, they tracked down enemy agents who used rockets to show German pilots targets to bomb. Such an agent was discovered on Dzerzhinsky Street by 6th grade students Petya Semenov and Alyosha Vinogradov.

Thanks to the guys, the security officers detained him. Soviet women also did a lot to defeat the fascist invaders. They, along with men, worked heroically in the rear, selflessly fulfilled their military duty at the front, and fought against the hated enemy in territories temporarily occupied by Hitler’s hordes.

It must be said that the Leningrad partisans fought in difficult conditions. Throughout the entire period of fascist occupation, the region was front-line or front-line. In September 1941, the Leningrad headquarters of the partisan movement was created. The secretaries of the district Komsomol committee, Valentina Utina, Nadezhda Fedotova, and Maria Petrova, went to defend their homeland with arms in hand. Many girls were among the Komsomol activists who joined the ranks of the people's avengers.

There were many women among the Leningrad partisans at that harsh time. In July 1941, the Leningrad Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks sent responsible workers to the districts to organize partisan detachments and underground groups. The head of the district party committee was I.D. Dmitriev.

For several years, Leningrad was surrounded by a blockade of fascist invaders. People were left in the city without food, heat, electricity or running water. The days of the blockade are the most difficult test that the residents of our city withstood with courage and dignity..

The blockade lasted 872 days

On September 8, 1941, Leningrad was besieged. It was broken through on January 18, 1943. By the beginning of the blockade, Leningrad did not have sufficient supplies of food and fuel. The only way of communication with the city was Lake Ladoga. It was through Ladoga that the Road of Life ran - the highway along which food supplies were delivered to besieged Leningrad. It was difficult to transport the amount of food needed for the entire population of the city across the lake. During the first winter of the siege, hunger began in Gol, and problems with heating and transport appeared. In the winter of 1941, hundreds of thousands of Leningraders died. On January 27, 1944, 872 days after the start of the siege, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazis.

On January 27, St. Petersburg will congratulate Leningrad on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the city from the fascist blockade. Photo: www.russianlook.com

630 thousand Leningraders died

During the blockade, over 630 thousand Leningraders died from hunger and deprivation. This figure was announced at the Nuremberg trials. According to other statistics, the figure could reach 1.5 million people. Only 3% of deaths occurred due to fascist shelling and bombing, the remaining 97% died from starvation. Dead bodies lying on the streets of the city were perceived by passers-by as an everyday occurrence. Most of those who died during the siege are buried at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery.

During the years of the siege in Leningrad, hundreds of thousands of people died. Photo from 1942. Archive photo

Minimum ration - 125 grams of bread

The main problem of besieged Leningrad was hunger. Employees, dependents and children received only 125 grams of bread per day between November 20 and December 25. Workers were entitled to 250 grams of bread, and personnel of fire brigades, paramilitary guards and vocational schools - 300 grams. During the blockade, bread was prepared from a mixture of rye and oat flour, cake and unfiltered malt. The bread turned out to be almost black in color and bitter in taste.

The children of besieged Leningrad were dying of hunger. Photo from 1942. Archive photo

1.5 million evacuees

During three waves of the evacuation of Leningrad, a total of 1.5 million people were removed from the city - almost half of the city's total population. The evacuation began a week after the start of the war. Explanatory work was carried out among the population: many did not want to leave their homes. By October 1942, the evacuation was completed. In the first wave, about 400 thousand children were taken to the Leningrad region. 175 thousand were soon returned back to Leningrad. Starting from the second wave, evacuation was carried out along the Road of Life across Lake Ladoga.

Almost half of the population was evacuated from Leningrad. Photo from 1941. Archive photo

1500 loudspeakers

To alert Leningraders about enemy attacks on the city streets, 1,500 loudspeakers were installed. In addition, messages were broadcast through the city radio network. The alarm signal was the sound of a metronome: its fast rhythm meant the beginning of an air attack, and its slow rhythm meant a release. Radio broadcasting in besieged Leningrad was around the clock. The city had an ordinance prohibiting turning off radios in homes. Radio announcers talked about the situation in the city. When the radio broadcasts stopped, the sound of the metronome continued to be broadcast on the air. Its knock was called the living heartbeat of Leningrad.

More than 1.5 thousand loudspeakers appeared on the streets of the city. Photo from 1941. Archive photo

- 32.1 °C

The first winter in besieged Leningrad was harsh. The thermometer dropped to -32.1 °C. The average temperature of the month was 18.7 °C. The city did not even record the usual winter thaws. In April 1942, the snow cover in the city reached 52 cm. The negative air temperature remained in Leningrad for more than six months, lasting until May inclusive. Heating was not supplied to the houses, sewerage and water supply were turned off. Work in factories and factories stopped. The main source of heat in houses was the potbelly stove. Everything that burned was burned in it, including books and furniture.

The winter in besieged Leningrad was very harsh. Archive photo

6 months siege

Even after the blockade was lifted, German and Finnish troops besieged Leningrad for six months. The Vyborg and Svirsko-Petrozavodsk offensive operations of Soviet troops with the support of the Baltic Fleet made it possible to liberate Vyborg and Petrozavodsk, finally pushing the enemy back from Leningrad. As a result of the operations, Soviet troops advanced 110-250 km in a western and southwestern direction, and the Leningrad region was liberated from enemy occupation.

The siege continued for another six months after the blockade was broken, but German troops did not penetrate into the city center. Photo: www.russianlook.com

150 thousand shells

During the siege, Leningrad was constantly subjected to artillery shelling, which was especially numerous in September and October 1941. Aviation carried out several raids a day - at the beginning and at the end of the working day. In total, during the siege, 150 thousand shells were fired at Leningrad and more than 107 thousand incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped. The shells destroyed 3 thousand buildings and damaged more than 7 thousand. About a thousand enterprises were put out of action. To protect against artillery shelling, Leningraders erected defensive structures. Residents of the city built more than 4 thousand pillboxes and bunkers, equipped 22 thousand firing points in buildings, and erected 35 kilometers of barricades and anti-tank obstacles on the streets.

The trains transporting people were constantly attacked by German aircraft. Photo from 1942. Archive photo

4 cars of cats

Domestic animals were brought to Leningrad from Yaroslavl in January 1943 to fight hordes of rodents that threatened to destroy food supplies. Four carriages of smoky cats arrived in the newly liberated city - it was smoky cats that were considered the best rat catchers. A long line immediately formed for the cats that were brought. The city was saved: the rats disappeared. Already in modern St. Petersburg, as a sign of gratitude to animal deliverers, monuments to the cat Elisha and the cat Vasilisa appeared on the eaves of houses on Malaya Sadovaya Street.

On Malaya Sadovaya there are monuments to cats who saved the city from rats. Photo: AiF / Yana Khvatova

300 declassified documents

The Archival Committee of St. Petersburg is preparing an electronic project “Leningrad under siege.” It involves posting on the “Archives of St. Petersburg” portal a virtual exhibition of archival documents on the history of Leningrad during the years of the siege. On January 31, 2014, 300 high-quality scanned historical papers about the blockade will be published. The documents will be combined into ten sections, showing different aspects of life in besieged Leningrad. Each section will be accompanied by comments from experts.

Samples of food cards. 1942 TsGAIPD St. Petersburg. F. 4000. Op. 20. D. 53. Original Photo: TsGAIPD St. Petersburg

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“In order not to be eaten up by your conscience, you need to act as honor dictates...”
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

It seems to us that we know almost everything about the Great Patriotic War, because thousands of books have been written about it, hundreds of documentaries and feature films have been created, many paintings and poems have been written. But in reality, we only know what has long been emasculated and put on public display. There may also be some part of the truth, but not all of it.

We will now make sure that we know very little even about the most important, as we were told, events of that War. I would like to draw your attention to the article Alexey Kungurov from Chelyabinsk under the name, which at one time was undeservedly ignored by all the world media. In this short article he gave several facts, which shatter into smithereens the existing legend about the siege of Leningrad. No, he does not deny that there were protracted and heavy battles there, and there were a huge number of civilian casualties.

But he claims that siege of Leningrad(complete city surroundings) did not have, and provides convincing evidence for this assertion. He draws his conclusions by analyzing publicly available, widely known information using logic and arithmetic. You can watch and listen in more detail about this in the recording of his Internet Conference “Managing History as a Knowledge System”... In Leningrad at that time there were many oddities and incomprehensibility, which we will now voice, using many fragments from the above-mentioned article by Alexei Kungurov.

Unfortunately, reasonable and justified explanations what was happening at that time in Leningrad, not found yet. Therefore, we have to hope that correctly formulated questions will help you and me find or calculate the correct answers. In our additions to Alexey Kungurov’s materials, we will also use only publicly available and widely known information, repeatedly voiced and confirmed by photographic materials, maps and other documents. So, let's go in order.

Riddle one

Where did this term come from?

These maps clearly show the surrounded area in which Leningrad was located:

Riddle two

Why were there so few shells?

A. Kungurov’s article begins with an analysis of what fell on the city during the blockade 148,478 rounds. Historians describe these events as follows: “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 m, on September 17 - 18 hours 33 m. In total, during the blockade of Leningrad, about 150 thousand shells were fired ... "

Alexey Kungurov, through simple arithmetic calculations, shows that this figure is taken from the air and may differ from reality by several orders of magnitude! One artillery battalion of 18 large caliber guns as mentioned 430 hours capable of firing 232,000 shots! But the blockade, according to established data, lasted much longer than three weeks, and the enemy had several hundred times more guns. Therefore, the number of fallen shells, which newspapers of that time wrote about, and then copied by everyone who wrote to us about the blockade, should have been several orders of magnitude greater if the blockade had taken place in the form to which we were all taught.

On the other hand, many photographs of besieged Leningrad show that destruction in the central part of the city were minimal! This is only possible if the enemy was not allowed to attack the city with artillery and aircraft. However, judging by the maps linked above, the enemy was only a few kilometers from the city, and a reasonable question is why the city and military factories were not completely turned into ruins in a couple of weeks, remains open.

Riddle three

Why was there no order?

The Germans there was no order occupy Leningrad. Kungurov writes very clearly about this as follows: “Von Leib, commander of Army North, was a competent and experienced commander. He had under his command up to 40 divisions(including tank ones). The front 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 this situation, only historians who do not understand anything about military affairs can say that under these conditions he could not take the city. We have repeatedly seen in feature films about the defense of Leningrad how German tankers drive into the suburbs, crush and shoot a tram. The front was broken, and there was no one in front of them. In their memoirs, Von Leib and many other German army commanders stated that they were forbidden to take the city, gave the order to retreat from advantageous positions..."

Isn’t it true that the German troops behaved very strangely: instead of easily capturing the city and advancing further (we understand that the militias that were shown to us in the movies were in principle incapable of providing serious resistance to regular troops), the invaders almost 3 years worth near Leningrad, allegedly blocking all land approaches to it. And taking into account the fact that, most likely, there were no counterattacks from the defenders or there were very few, then for the advancing German troops it was not a war, but a real sanatorium! It would be interesting to know the true reaction of the German command to this legend of the blockade.

Riddle four

Why did the Kirov plant work?

"It is known that The Kirov plant worked throughout the blockade. The 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 am simply silent about artillery guns of larger caliber). From the area of ​​the Kirov plant, but the plant continued to work under the very nose of the German command, and it was never destroyed (although, with this task could cope with one artillery lieutenant with a battery of not the largest caliber, with a correctly posed task and a sufficient amount of ammunition) ... "

Do you understand what is written here? It is written here that the fierce enemy, who continuously fired cannons and bombed the surrounded city of Leningrad for 3 years, did not bother to destroy the Kirov plant, which produced military equipment, during this time, although this could have been done for one day! How can this be explained? Either because the Germans did not know how to shoot at all, or because they did not have an order to destroy the enemy’s plant, which is no less fantastic than the first assumption; or the German troops that stood near Leningrad carried out another function, unknown to us yet...

To understand what a city truly treated by artillery and aviation looks like, you can look at one that was shelled not for 3 years, but for much less time...

Riddle five

How was the Kirov plant supplied?

“The Kirov plant produced various products: by 1943 they mastered the production of IS-1 and tanks. From the photographs posted on the Internet, we can imagine (this is a large-scale and mass production). In addition to the Kirov plant, other factories in Leningrad also worked, producing shells and other military products. Since the spring of 1942, Leningrad has resumed... This is only a small piece of reality, very different from the historical myths written by professional historians..."

In order for a large machine-building enterprise, such as the Kirov Plant, to operate and produce products, it is necessary very serious, constant supply. And this should be not only electricity in the necessary and very large volumes, but also raw materials (thousands of tons of metal of the required grades), components of thousands of items, tools of thousands of items, food and water for workers and a lot of other things.

Besides this, it was necessary to put it somewhere finished products! These are not fountain pens! These are large products that could only be transported under their own power, by sea or by rail. And the fact that the products were manufactured is confirmed by written evidence:

“Due to the shutdown of almost all power plants, some machines had to be moved manually, which caused longer work hours. Often some of the workers stayed overnight in the workshop, saving time to complete urgent front-line orders. As a result of such dedicated labor activity, during the second half of 1941, the active 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 workers of Leningrad also helped other sections of the Soviet-German front. In the fall of 1941, during 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. In the difficult conditions of 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 Leningrad industry remained significant. IN September In 1941, city enterprises produced more than a thousand 76 mm guns, over two thousand mortars, hundreds anti-tank guns and machine guns..."

It's a strange blockade: On August 30, 1941, railway communication with the “mainland” was interrupted, and in the fall of 1941, “ over a thousand artillery pieces and mortars, as well as a significant number of other types of weapons...“How was it possible to transport such a colossal amount of weapons from “siege” Leningrad to the Western Front if there was no longer any railway communication? On rafts and boats across Lake Ladoga under continuous fire from German artillery and aircraft that dominated the air at that time? Theoretically this is possible, but practically it is very unlikely...

How many days did the siege of Leningrad last? Some sources indicate a period of 871 days, but they also speak of a period of 900 days. It may be clarified here that the 900 day period is simply for general purposes.

And in numerous literary works on the topic of the great feat of the Soviet people, it was more convenient to use this particular figure.

Map of the siege of Leningrad.

The siege of the city of Leningrad has been called the longest and most terrible siege in Russian history. More than 2 years of suffering were an example of great dedication and courage.

They believe that they could have been avoided if Leningrad had not been so attractive to Hitler. After all, the Baltic Fleet and the road to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk were located there (during the war, aid from the Allies came from there). If the city had surrendered, it would have been destroyed, literally wiped off the face of the earth.

But even to this day, historians and simply people who have an interest in that period are trying to understand whether it was possible to avoid that horror by preparing for the blockade in a timely manner. This issue is certainly controversial and requires careful consideration.

How the blockade began

The blockade ring closed around the city on September 8, 1941, when, at the instigation of Hitler, massive military operations were launched near Leningrad.

At first, few people believed the seriousness of the situation. But some residents of the city began to thoroughly prepare for the siege: savings were urgently withdrawn from savings banks, food supplies were purchased, and stores were literally empty. At first it was possible to leave, but after a few days constant shelling and bombing began, and the possibility of leaving was cut off.

From the first day of the siege, the city began to suffer from a lack of food supplies. A fire broke out in the warehouses where strategic reserves were supposed to be stored.

But even if this had not happened, the food stored at that time would not have been enough to somehow normalize the nutrition situation. More than two and a half million people lived in the city at that time.

As soon as the blockade began, ration cards were immediately introduced. Schools were closed, and postal messages were censored: attachments to letters were prohibited, messages with decadent thoughts were confiscated.

Memories of the days of the siege

Letters and diaries of people who managed to survive the blockade reveal a little more of the picture of that period. The terrible city that fell on people devalued not only money and jewelry, but also much more.

From the autumn of 1941, the evacuation continued, but it became possible to evacuate people in large quantities only in January 1942. Mostly women and children were taken out along a route called the Road of Life. And still there were huge queues in the bakeries, where people were given food rations every day.

In addition to the lack of food, other disasters also befell the people. In winter there were terrible frosts, and the thermometer sometimes dropped to -40°C.

The fuel ran out and the water pipes froze. People were left not only without light and heat, but also without food and even water. We had to go to the river to get water. The stoves were heated with books and furniture.

To top it all off, rats appeared on the streets. They spread all kinds of infections and destroyed already poor food supplies.

People could not stand the inhuman conditions, many died of hunger during the day right on the streets, corpses lay everywhere. Cases of cannibalism have been recorded. Robbery flourished - exhausted people tried to take away food rations from equally exhausted comrades in misfortune, adults did not disdain to steal from children.

Life in Leningrad during the siege

The siege of the city that lasted for so long claimed many lives every day. But people resisted with all their might and tried not to let the city perish.

Even in such difficult conditions, the factories continued to operate - a lot of military products were required. Theaters and museums tried not to stop their activities. They did this in order to constantly prove to the enemy and themselves that the city was not dead, but continued to live.

From the first days of the blockade, the Road of Life remained practically the only opportunity to get to the “mainland”. In summer the movement was on water, in winter on ice.

Each of the flights was akin to a feat - enemy aircraft constantly carried out raids. But the barges continued to work until the ice appeared, in conditions where this became almost impossible.

As soon as the ice gained sufficient thickness, horse-drawn carts came out onto it. The trucks were able to pass along the Road of Life a little later. Despite all precautions, several pieces of equipment sank when trying to cross it.

But even realizing the risk, the drivers continued to go on trips: each of them could become a lifesaver for several Leningraders. Each flight, upon successful completion, made it possible to take a certain number of people to the “mainland” and increase food rations for those remaining.

The Ladoga road saved many lives. A museum was built on the shore of Lake Ladoga, which is called “The Road of Life”.

In 1943, a turning point in the war came. Soviet troops were preparing to liberate Leningrad. We started planning this before the New Year. At the beginning of 1944, on January 14, Soviet troops began the final liberation operation.

During the general offensive, the soldiers had to complete the following task: deliver a crushing blow to the enemy at a predetermined point in order to restore the land roads that connected Leningrad with the country.

By January 27, with the help of Kronstadt artillery, the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts were able to break through the blockade. Hitler's troops began to retreat. Soon the blockade was completely lifted. Thus ended one of the most terrible parts of Russian history, which claimed more than a million human lives.

Leningrad blockade
	Leningrad, USSR
	Victory of the Red Army, final lifting of the siege of Leningrad
	Third Reich
	Finland
	Blue Division
Commanders
K. E. Voroshilov	W. von Leeb
G. K. Zhukov	G. von Küchler
I. I. Fedyuninsky	K. G. Mannerheim
M. S. Khozin	A. Muñoz Grandes
L. A. Govorov
V. F. Tributs
Strengths of the parties
Unknown	Unknown
Military casualties 332,059 killed 24,324 non-combat casualties 111,142 missing Civilian casualties 16,747 killed by shelling and bombing 632,253 starved to death	Unknown

Leningrad blockade- military blockade by German, Finnish and Spanish (Blue Division) troops with the participation of volunteers from North Africa, Europe and the Italian navy during the Great Patriotic War of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 (the blockade ring was broken on January 18, 1943) - 872 days.

By the beginning of the blockade, the city did not have sufficient supplies of food and fuel. The only route of communication with Leningrad remained Lake Ladoga, which was within the reach of the artillery and aviation of the besiegers; a united enemy naval flotilla was also operating on the lake. The capacity of this transport artery did not meet the needs of the city. As a result, a massive famine that began in Leningrad, aggravated by the particularly harsh first blockade winter, problems with heating and transport, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents.

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

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

German attack on the USSR

The capture of Leningrad was an integral part of the war plan developed by Nazi Germany against the USSR - the Barbarossa plan. It stipulated that the Soviet Union should be completely defeated within 3-4 months of the summer and autumn of 1941, that is, during a lightning war (“blitzkrieg”). By November 1941, German troops were supposed to capture the entire European part of the USSR. According to the Ost (East) plan, it was planned to exterminate within a few years a significant part of the population of the Soviet Union, primarily Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, as well as all Jews and Gypsies - at least 30 million people in total. None of the peoples inhabiting the USSR should have had the right to their own statehood or even autonomy.

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

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

Finland's entry into the war

On June 17, 1941, a decree was issued in Finland on the mobilization of the entire field army, and on June 20, the mobilized army concentrated on the Soviet-Finnish border. On June 21-25, German naval and air forces operated from the territory of Finland against the USSR. On the morning of June 25, 1941, by order of the Air Force Headquarters 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 from the Finnish Air Force and the German 5th Air Force were based there. On the same day, the Finnish parliament voted for war with the USSR.

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

Entry of enemy troops to Leningrad

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

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

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

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

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

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

In long, exhausting battles, overcoming crises in different places, German troops spent a month 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, in its combat effectiveness superior to guns of the same caliber of coastal artillery, which also numbered 207 guns near Leningrad. The city's sky was protected by the 2nd Air Defense Corps. The highest density of anti-aircraft artillery during the defense of Moscow, Leningrad and Baku was 8-10 times greater than during the defense of Berlin and London.

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

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

On September 4, 1941, the Chief of the Main Staff of the German Armed Forces, General Jodl, was sent to Mannerheim's headquarters in Mikkeli. But he was refused participation of the Finns in the attack on Leningrad. Instead, Mannerheim led a successful offensive in the north of Ladoga, cutting the Kirov Railway and the White Sea-Baltic Canal in the area of ​​Lake Onega, thereby blocking the route for 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 tram crowded with people. He slows down to a stop where there is a large group of people waiting. A shell explodes, and many at a stop fall, bleeding profusely. The second gap, the third... The tram is smashed to pieces. Heaps of dead. The wounded and maimed, mostly women and children, are scattered on the cobblestone streets, moaning and crying. A blond boy of about seven or eight years old, who miraculously survived at the bus stop, covering his face with both hands, sobs over his murdered mother and repeats: “Mommy, what have they done...

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

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

On the same day, German troops unexpectedly quickly found themselves in the suburbs of the city. German motorcyclists even stopped the tram on the southern outskirts of the city (route No. 28 Stremyannaya St. - Strelna). At the same time, information about the closure of the encirclement was not reported to the Soviet high command, hoping for a breakthrough. And on September 13, Leningradskaya Pravda wrote:

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

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

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

Problems of evacuation of residents

The situation at the beginning of the blockade

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

First wave of evacuation

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

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

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

Second wave of evacuation

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

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

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

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

Third wave of evacuation

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

Consequences

Consequences for evacuees

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

Implications for city leadership

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

Autumn 1941

Blitzkrieg attempt failed

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

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

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

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

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

The establishment of the city's defense was led by the commander of the Baltic Fleet V.F. Tributs, K.E. Voroshilov and A.A. Zhdanov.

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

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

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

The beginning of the food crisis

Ideology of the German side

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

2. The Fuhrer decided to wipe out the city of Leningrad from the face of the earth. After the defeat of Soviet Russia, the continued existence of this largest populated area is of no interest... 4. It is planned to surround the city with a tight ring and, through shelling from artillery of all calibers and continuous bombing from the air, raze it to the ground. If, as a result of the situation created in the city, requests for surrender are made, they will be rejected, since the problems associated with the stay of the population in the city and its food supply cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war being waged for the right to exist, we are not interested in preserving even part of the population.

According to Jodl's testimony during the Nuremberg trials,

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

...not a single German soldier should enter these cities [Moscow and Leningrad]. Whoever leaves the city against our lines must be driven back by fire. Small unguarded passages that make it possible for the population to leave individually for evacuation to the interior of Russia should only be welcomed. The population must be forced to flee the city through artillery fire and aerial bombardment. The larger the population of cities fleeing deep into Russia, the greater the chaos the enemy will experience and the easier it will be for us to manage and use the occupied areas. All senior officers must be aware of this wish of the Fuhrer

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

Changing war tactics

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

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

The fate of citizens: demographic factors

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

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

The actual start of the blockade

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

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

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

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

Winter 1941-1942

Leningrader's ration

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

• Bread grain and flour for 35 days
• Cereals and pasta for 30 days
• Meat and meat products for 33 days
• Fats for 45 days
• Sugar and confectionery for 60 days

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

• Workers - 250 grams of bread per day,
• Employees, dependents and children under 12 years old - 125 grams each,
• Personnel of the paramilitary guards, fire brigades, fighter squads, vocational schools and schools of the FZO, who were on boiler allowance - 300 grams,
• First line troops - 500 grams.

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

Date of establishment of the norm	Hot shop workers	Workers and engineers	Employees	Dependents	Children under 12 years old

Resident notification system. Metronome

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

Worsening situation in the city

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exposure to cold

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

The winter of 1941-1942 turned out to be much colder and longer than usual. The average daily temperature steadily dropped below 0 °C already on October 11, and became steadily positive after April 7, 1942 - the climatic winter amounted to 178 days, that is, half of the year. During this period, there were 14 days with an average daily t > 0 °C, mostly in October. Even in May 1942, there were 4 days with a negative average daily temperature; on May 7, the maximum daytime temperature rose only to +0.9 °C. There was also a lot of snow in winter: the depth of the snow cover by the end of winter was more than half a meter. In terms of maximum snow cover height (53 cm), April 1942 is the record holder for the entire observation period, up to 2010 inclusive.

• The average monthly temperature in October was +1.4 °C (the average value for the period 1743-2010 is +4.9 °C), which is 3.5 °C below normal. In the middle of the month, frosts reached −6 °C. By the end of the month, snow cover had established itself.
• The average temperature in November 1941 was −4.2 °C (the long-term average was −0.8 °C), the temperature ranged from +1.6 to −13.8 °C.
• In December, the average monthly temperature dropped to −12.5 °C (with a long-term average of −5.6 °C). The temperature ranged from +1.6 to −25.3 °C.
• The first month of 1942 was the coldest this winter. The average temperature of the month was −18.7 °C (the average temperature for the period 1743-2010 was −8.3 °C). The frost reached −32.1 °C, the maximum temperature was +0.7 °C. The average snow depth reached 41 cm (the average depth for 1890-1941 was 23 cm).
• The February average monthly temperature was −12.4 °C (long-term average - −7.9 °C), the temperature ranged from −0.6 to −25.2 °C.
• March was slightly warmer than February - average t = −11.6 °C (with long-term average t = −4 °C). The temperature varied from +3.6 to −29.1 °C in the middle of the month. March 1942 was the coldest in the history of weather observations until 2010.
• The average monthly temperature in April was close to average values ​​(+2.8 °C) and amounted to +1.8 °C, while the minimum temperature was −14.4 °C.

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

Heating and transport system

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

According to D.S. Likhachev,

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

Organization of hospitals and canteens for enhanced nutrition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At the same time, Ribkovsky argues that “such a vacation, in conditions of the front, a long blockade of the city, is possible only with the Bolsheviks, only under Soviet power.”

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

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

Use of food substitutes

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

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

Breakthrough attempt. Bridgehead "Nevsky Piglet"

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

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

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

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

"The road of life"

Main article:The road of life

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

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

Spring-summer 1942

The first breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad

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

Organization of subsidiary farms

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

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

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

Reducing street deaths

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

Restoring urban public transport

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

Official statistics

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

1942-1943

1942 Intensification of shelling. Counter-battery warfare

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

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

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

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

1943 Breaking the blockade

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

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

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

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

1944 Complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade

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

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

Results of the blockade

Population losses

During the years of the blockade, according to various sources, from 300 thousand to 1.5 million people died. Thus, at the Nuremberg trials the number of 632 thousand people appeared. Only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling; the remaining 97% died of starvation.

Most of the Leningrad residents who died during the siege are buried at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, located in the Kalininsky district. The area of ​​the cemetery is 26 hectares, the length of the walls is 150 m with a height of 4.5 m. The lines of the writer Olga Berggolts, who survived the siege, are carved on the stones. In a long row of graves lie the victims of the siege, numbering in this cemetery alone 640,000 people who died of starvation and more than 17,000 people who were victims of air raids and artillery shelling. The total number of civilian casualties in the city during the entire war exceeds 1.2 million people.

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

Serafimovskoye Cemetery was also the site of mass burials of Leningraders who died and died during the siege of Leningrad. In 1941-1944, more than 100 thousand people were buried here.

The dead were buried in almost all cemeteries in the city (Volkovsky, Krasnenkoy and others). During the battle for Leningrad, more people died than England and the United States lost during the entire war.

Title of Hero City

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

Damage to cultural monuments

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

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

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

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

For many years (until the 90s), the Oranienbaum palace complex fell into disrepair.

Social aspects of life during the siege

Institute of Plant Science Foundation

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

Tanya Savicheva

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

Easter in a besieged city

During the blockade, three churches were opened in the city: Prince Vladimir Cathedral, Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral and St. Nicholas Cathedral. In 1942, Easter was very early (March 22, old style). The entire day of April 4, 1942, the city was shelled, intermittently. On Easter night from April 4 to 5, the city was subjected to a brutal bombing, in which 132 aircraft took part.

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

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

"The Dangerous Side of the Street"

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

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

Cultural life of besieged Leningrad

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

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

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

Soviet Navy (RKKF) in the defense of Leningrad

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

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

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

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

Ground support operations

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

Marines

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

Naval and coastal artillery

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

Artillery guns of the fort "Krasnaya Gorka"

Fleet Aviation

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

Operations in the Baltic Sea and Lake Ladoga

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

"The road of life"

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

Naval mine blockade

From 1942 to 1944, the Baltic Fleet was locked within the Neva Bay. His military operations were hampered by a minefield, where even before the declaration of war the Germans secretly placed 1060 anchor contact mines and 160 bottom non-contact mines, including to the northwest of the island of Naissaar, and a month later their number increased 10 times (about 10,000 mines) , both our own and German. The operation of submarines was also hampered by mined anti-submarine nets. After they lost several boats, their operations were also discontinued. As a result, the fleet carried out operations on the enemy’s sea and lake communications mainly with the help of submarines, torpedo boats, and aircraft.

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

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

Evacuation

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

Landing operations

Landing operations were carried out that distracted enemy forces at the beginning of the war (a number of them ended tragically, for example the Peterhof landing, the Strelninsky landing) and allowed for a successful offensive in 1944. In 1941, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Flotilla landed 15 troops, in 1942 - 2, in 1944 - 15. Of the attempts to prevent enemy landing operations, the most famous are the destruction of the German-Finnish flotilla and the repulsion of the landing during the battle for the island. Dry in Lake Ladoga on October 22, 1942.

Memory

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

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

To sailors and minesweepers

Losses of minesweepers during the Second World War:

• were blown up by mines - 35
• torpedoed by submarines - 5
• from air bombs - 4
• from artillery fire - 9

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memory

Dates

• September 8, 1941 - The day the Siege began
• January 18, 1943 - Day of the Breaking of the Blockade
• January 27, 1944 - Day of complete lifting of the Siege
• June 5, 1946 - Day of breaking through the naval mine blockade of Leningrad

Blockade rewards

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

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

Monuments to the defense of Leningrad

• Eternal flame
• Obelisk “Hero City Leningrad” on Vosstaniya Square
• Monument to the heroic defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square
• Memorial route "Rzhevsky Corridor"
• Memorial "Cranes"
• Monument “Broken Ring”
• Monument to the traffic controller. On the Road of Life.
• Monument to the children of the siege (opened on September 8, 2010 in St. Petersburg, in the park on Nalichnaya Street, 55; authors: Galina Dodonova and Vladimir Reppo. The monument is a figure of a girl in a shawl and a stele symbolizing the windows of besieged Leningrad).
• Stele. The heroic defense of the Oranienbaum bridgehead (1961; 32nd km of the Peterhof highway).
• Stele. Heroic defense of the city in the area of ​​the Peterhof highway (1944; 16th km of the Peterhof highway, Sosnovaya Polyana).
• Sculpture “Grieving Mother”. In memory of the liberators of Krasnoye Selo (1980; Krasnoye Selo, Lenin Ave., 81, square).
• Monument-cannon 76 mm (1960s; Krasnoe Selo, Lenin Ave., 112, park).
• Pylons. Heroic defense of the city in the Kievskoe highway zone (1944; 21st km, Kyiv highway).
• Monument. To the heroes of the 76th and 77th fighter battalions (1969; Pushkin, Alexandrovsky Park).
• Obelisk. Heroic defense of the city in the Moscow Highway zone (1957).

Kirovsky district

• Monument to Marshal Govorov (Strachek Square).
• Bas-relief in honor of the fallen Kirov residents - residents of besieged Leningrad (Marshal Govorova St., 29).
• The front line of the defense of Leningrad (Narodnogo Opolcheniya Ave. - near the Ligovo railway station).
• Military burial place “Red Cemetery” (Stachek Ave., 100).
• Military burial ground “Southern” (Krasnoputilovskaya St., 44).
• Military burial ground “Dachnoe” (Narodnogo Opolcheniya Ave., 143-145).
• Memorial “Siege Tram” (corner of Stachek Ave. and Avtomobilnaya Street next to the bunker and the KV-85 tank).
• Monument to the “Dead Gunboats” (Kanonersky Island, 19).
• Monument to the Heroes - Baltic sailors (Mezhevoy Canal, no. 5).
• Obelisk to the defenders of Leningrad (corner of Stachek Ave. and Marshal Zhukov Ave.).
• Caption: Citizens! During artillery shelling, this side of the street is the most dangerous at house No. 6, building 2 on Kalinin Street.

Museum of the Siege

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

To the Defenders of Leningrad

• Green Belt of Glory
• Cross-monument to signalman Nikolai Tuzhik

Residents of the besieged city

• Citizens! During shelling, this side of the street is the most dangerous
• Monument to the loudspeaker on the corner of Nevsky and Malaya Sadovaya.
• Traces from German artillery shells
• Church in memory of the days of the siege
• Memorial plaque on house 6 on Nepokorennykh Ave., where there was a well from which residents of the besieged city drew water
• The Museum of Electric Transport of St. Petersburg has a large collection of blockade passenger and freight trams. The collection is currently under threat of reduction.
• Blockade substation on Fontanka. There is a memorial plaque on the building " The feat of the trammen of besieged Leningrad. After the harsh winter of 1941-1942, this traction substation supplied energy to the network and ensured the movement of the revived tram“. The building is being prepared for demolition.

Events

• In January 2009, the “Leningrad Victory Ribbon” event was held in St. Petersburg, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the final lifting of the siege of Leningrad.
• On January 27, 2009, the “Candle of Memory” event was held in St. Petersburg to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the complete lifting of the Siege of Leningrad. At 19:00, citizens were asked to turn off the lights in their apartments and light a candle in the window in memory of all residents and defenders of besieged Leningrad. City services lit torches on the Rostral columns of the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, which from a distance looked like giant candles. In addition, at 19:00, all FM radio stations in St. Petersburg broadcast a metronome signal, and 60 metronome beats were sounded over the city warning system of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and over the radio broadcast network.
• Tram commemorative runs are held regularly on April 15 (in honor of the launch of the passenger tram on April 15, 1942), as well as on other dates associated with the blockade. The last time blockade trams ran was on March 8, 2011, in honor of the launch of a freight tram in the besieged city.