Leningrad blockade - the military blockade of the city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) by German, Finnish and Spanish troops with the participation of volunteers from North Africa, Europe and the Italian naval forces during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945).
The siege of Leningrad is one of the most tragic and, at the same time, heroic pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War. It lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 (the blockade ring was broken on January 18, 1943) - 872 days.
On the eve of the blockade, the city did not have enough food and fuel for a long siege. This led to total hunger and, as a result, to hundreds of thousands of deaths among residents.
The blockade of Leningrad was carried out not with the aim of surrendering the city, but in order to make it easier to destroy all the population surrounded by it.
Leningrad blockade
When Nazi Germany attacked the USSR in 1941, it became clear to the Soviet leadership that Leningrad would sooner or later become one of the key figures in the German-Soviet confrontation.
In this regard, the authorities ordered the evacuation of the city, for which it was required to take out all its inhabitants, enterprises, military equipment and art objects. However, no one counted on the blockade of Leningrad.
Adolf Hitler, according to the testimony of his entourage, had a special approach to the occupation of Leningrad. He didn’t so much want to capture it as simply to wipe it off the face of the earth. Thus, he planned to break the morale of all Soviet citizens for whom the city was a real pride.
On the eve of the blockade
According to the Barbarossa plan, German troops were to occupy Leningrad no later than July. Seeing the rapid advance of the enemy, the Soviet army hastily built defensive structures and prepared to evacuate the city.
Leningraders willingly helped the Red Army to build fortifications, and also actively enlisted in the ranks of the people's militia. All people in one impulse rallied together in the fight against the invaders. As a result, the Leningrad district was replenished with approximately 80,000 more soldiers.
Joseph Stalin gave the order to defend Leningrad to the last drop of blood. In this regard, in addition to ground fortifications, air defense was also carried out. For this, anti-aircraft guns, aviation, searchlights and radar installations were involved.
An interesting fact is that the hastily organized air defense has had great success. Literally on the 2nd day of the war, not a single German fighter was able to break into the city's airspace.
In that first summer, 17 raids were carried out, in which the Nazis used over 1,500 aircraft. Only 28 aircraft broke through to Leningrad, and 232 of them were shot down by Soviet soldiers. Nevertheless, on July 10, 1941, Hitler's army was already 200 km from the city on the Neva.
First stage of evacuation
A week after the start of the war, on June 29, 1941, about 15,000 children were evacuated from Leningrad. However, this was only the first stage, since the government planned to take out of the city up to 390,000 children.
Most of the children were evacuated to the south of the Leningrad region. But it was there that the fascists began their offensive. For this reason, about 170,000 girls and boys had to be sent back to Leningrad.
It is worth noting that hundreds of thousands of adults had to leave the city, in parallel with enterprises. Residents were reluctant to leave their homes, doubting that the war could drag on for a long time. However, employees of specially formed committees made sure that people and equipment were taken out as quickly as possible, by means of highways and railways.
According to the commission's data, before the blockade of Leningrad, 488,000 people were evacuated from the city, as well as 147,500 refugees who arrived there. On August 27, 1941, railway communication between Leningrad and the rest of the USSR was interrupted, and on September 8, overland communication was also terminated. It was this date that became the official starting point of the blockade of the city.
The first days of the blockade of Leningrad
By order of Hitler, his troops were to take Leningrad in a ring and regularly subject it to shelling from heavy weapons. The Germans planned to gradually tighten the ring and thereby deprive the city of any supply.
The Fuhrer thought that Leningrad could not withstand a long siege and would quickly surrender. He could not even think that all his planned plans would fail.
The news of the blockade of Leningrad disappointed the Germans, who did not want to be in the cold trenches. To somehow cheer up the soldiers, Hitler explained his actions by reluctance to waste Germany's human and technical resources. He added that soon famine would begin in the city, and the inhabitants would simply die out.
It is fair to say that to some extent the Germans were unprofitable to surrender, since they would have to provide the prisoners with food, albeit in the very minimum quantity. Hitler, on the contrary, encouraged the soldiers to mercilessly bomb the city, destroying the civilian population and all its infrastructure.
Over time, questions inevitably arose as to whether it was possible to avoid the catastrophic consequences that the blockade of Leningrad brought.
Today, with documents and eyewitness accounts, there is no doubt that the Leningraders had no chance to survive if they agreed to voluntarily surrender the city. The Nazis simply did not need prisoners.
Life of besieged Leningrad
The Soviet government deliberately did not disclose to the blockaders the real picture of the state of affairs in order not to undermine their spirit and hope for salvation. Information about the course of the war was presented as briefly as possible.
Soon there was a large shortage of food in the city, as a result of which there was a large-scale famine. Soon electricity went out in Leningrad, and then the water supply and sewerage system went out of order.
The city was endlessly subjected to active shelling. People were in a difficult physical and mental condition. Everyone looked for food as best he could, watching how dozens or hundreds of people die from malnutrition every day. At the very beginning, the Nazis were able to bomb the Badayevsky warehouses, where sugar, flour and butter were burnt in the fire.
Leningraders certainly understood what they had lost. At that time, about 3 million people lived in Leningrad. The city's supply depended entirely on imported products, which were later delivered along the famous Road of Life.
People received bread and other products by rationing, standing in huge queues. Nevertheless, Leningraders continued to work in factories, and children went to school. Later, eyewitnesses who survived the blockade admit that mainly those who were doing something were able to survive. And those people who wanted to save energy by staying at home usually died in their homes.
The road of life
The only road connection between Leningrad and the rest of the world was Lake Ladoga. Directly along the coast of the lake, the delivered products were hastily unloaded, since the Road of Life was constantly fired upon by the Germans.
Soviet soldiers managed to bring only an insignificant part of the food, but if not for this, the death rate of the townspeople would have been many times greater.
In winter, when ships could not bring goods, trucks delivered food directly across the ice. An interesting fact is that trucks were carrying food to the city, and people were being taken back. At the same time, many cars fell through the ice and went to the bottom.
Children's contribution to the liberation of Leningrad
The children responded with great enthusiasm to the call for help from the local authorities. They collected scrap metal for the manufacture of military equipment and shells, containers for combustible mixtures, warm clothes for the Red Army, and also helped the doctors in hospitals.
The guys were on duty on the roofs of buildings, ready to put out the falling incendiary bombs at any moment and thereby save the buildings from fire. "The sentries of the Leningrad roofs" - such a nickname they received among the people.
When, during the bombing, everyone ran away to cover, the "sentries", on the contrary, climbed onto the roofs to extinguish the falling shells. In addition, exhausted and exhausted children began to make ammunition on lathes, dug trenches and built various fortifications.
During the years of the siege of Leningrad, a huge number of children died, who, with their actions, inspired adults and soldiers.
Preparing for decisive action
In the summer of 1942, Leonid Govorov was appointed commander of all the forces of the Leningrad Front. He studied various schemes for a long time and built calculations to improve defense.
Govorov changed the location of the artillery, which increased the firing range at enemy positions.
Also, the Nazis had to use significantly more ammunition to fight the Soviet artillery. As a result, shells began to fall on Leningrad about 7 times less often.
The commander very scrupulously worked out a plan to break through the blockade of Leningrad, gradually withdrawing individual units from the front line for training fighters.
The fact is that the Germans settled on a 6-meter bank, which was completely flooded with water. As a result, the slopes became like ice hills, which were very difficult to climb.
At the same time, the Russian soldiers had to overcome about 800 m along the frozen river to the designated place.
Since the soldiers were exhausted from the prolonged blockade, during the offensive Govorov ordered to refrain from shouting "Hurray !!!" so as not to save strength. Instead, the assault on the Red Army took place to the music of the orchestra.
Breakthrough and lifting of the blockade of Leningrad
The local command decided to start breaking through the blockade ring on January 12, 1943. This operation was called "Iskra". The attack of the Russian army began with a prolonged shelling of the German fortifications. After that, the Nazis were subjected to total bombardment.
The trainings, which took place over several months, were not in vain. Human losses in the ranks of the Soviet troops were minimal. Having reached the designated place, our soldiers with the help of "crampons", hooks and long ladders, quickly climbed up the ice wall, engaging in combat with the enemy.
On the morning of January 18, 1943, a meeting of Soviet units took place in the northern region of Leningrad. Together they liberated Shlisselburg and lifted the blockade from the shores of Lake Ladoga. The complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad took place on January 27, 1944.
Blockade results
According to the political philosopher Michael Walzer, "More civilians died in the siege of Leningrad than in the hells of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined."
During the years of the blockade of Leningrad, according to various sources, from 600,000 to 1.5 million people died. An interesting fact is that only 3% of them died from shelling, while the remaining 97% died of hunger.
Due to the terrible famine in the city, repeated cases of cannibalism were recorded, both natural deaths of people and as a result of murders.
Photo of the siege of Leningrad
