January 27, the day of lifting the blockade of Leningrad, is special in the history of our country. Today, on this date, the Day of Military Glory is celebrated annually. The city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) itself received the title of Hero City on May 1, 1945. On May 8, 1965, the northern capital was awarded the "Gold Star" medal and the Medal for Leningrad was also received by 1.496 million inhabitants of this city.

"Leningrad under siege" - a project dedicated to the events of that time

The country has preserved the memory of these heroic events to this day. January 27 (the day the blockade of Leningrad was lifted) in 2014 is already the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of the city. The Archival Committee of St. Petersburg presented a project called "Leningrad under siege". On the Internet portal "Archives of St. Petersburg" a virtual exhibition of various archival documents relating to the history of this city during the blockade was created. About 300 historical originals of the time were published. These documents are grouped into ten different sections, each of which is accompanied by expert comments. All of them reflect various aspects of life in Leningrad during the blockade.

Reconstruction of the wartime situation

Today it is not easy for young Petersburgers to imagine that the magnificent city-museum in which they live was sentenced to complete destruction by the Germans in 1941. However, he did not capitulate when he was surrounded by Finnish and German divisions, and managed to win, although he was seemingly doomed to death. In order for the current generation of city residents to have an idea of ​​​​what their great-grandfathers and grandfathers had to endure in those years (which the surviving residents of besieged Leningrad remember as the most terrible time), one of the modern streets of the city, Italian, as well as Manezhnaya the area was "returned" to the 70th anniversary in the winter of 1941-1944. This project was called "Street of Life".

In the aforementioned places in St. Petersburg there are various cultural institutions, as well as theaters, which did not stop their activities even in those difficult blockade years. Here the windows of the houses were sealed with crosses, as was done in Leningrad at that time in order to protect against air raids, barricades from sandbags on the pavements were reconstructed, anti-aircraft guns and military trucks were brought to complete the reproduction of the situation of that time. So the seventieth anniversary of the siege of Leningrad was marked. According to estimates, approximately 3,000 buildings were destroyed by shells during the events of those years, and more than 7,000 were significantly damaged. Residents of besieged Leningrad erected various defensive structures to protect themselves from shelling. They built about 4 thousand bunkers and pillboxes, equipped about 22 thousand different firing points in buildings, and also erected 35 kilometers on the city streets. anti-tank obstacles and barricades.

Siege of Leningrad: main events and figures

The defense of the city, which began on September 8, 1941, lasted about 900 days and ended in 1944. January 27 - All these years, the only way by which the besieged city was delivered necessary products, as well as the seriously wounded and children were taken out, was held in winter on the ice of Lake Ladoga. It was the Road of Life of besieged Leningrad. We will talk about it in more detail in our article.

The blockade was broken on January 18, 1943, and Leningrad was completely cleared on January 27. And it happened only the next year - in 1944. Thus, the residents had to wait a long time before the blockade of the city of Leningrad was finally lifted. Died during this period, according to various sources, from 400 thousand to 1.5 million inhabitants. Appeared at the Nuremberg Trials next number- 632 thousand dead. Only 3% of them - from shelling and bombing. The rest of the inhabitants died of starvation.

Beginning of events

Today, military historians believe that not a single city on earth in the entire history of warfare gave as many lives for the Victory as Leningrad did at that time. On the day (1941, June 22), in this city, as well as throughout the region, martial law was immediately introduced. On the night of June 22-23, fascist German aviation tried to make a raid on Leningrad for the first time. This attempt ended unsuccessfully. None of the enemy aircraft was allowed to enter the city.

The next day, June 24, the Leningrad Military District was transformed into the Northern Front. Kronstadt covered the city from the sea. It was one of the bases located at that time in the Baltic Sea. With the advance of the enemy troops on the territory of the region, a heroic defense began on July 10, which the history of Leningrad can be proud of. On September 6, the first Nazi bombs were dropped on the city, after which it began to be systematically subjected to air raids. In just three months, from September to November 1941, 251 air raid alerts were issued.

Loudspeakers and famous metronome

However, the stronger the threat faced the hero city, the more united the inhabitants of Leningrad opposed the enemy. About 1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets to warn Leningraders about air raids that were taking place in the first months. The population was notified by radio network about the air raid alert. The famous metronome, which went down in history as cultural monument time of resistance, was broadcast through this network. Its fast rhythm meant that a military alarm had been announced, and its slow rhythm meant a retreat. Mikhail Melaned, the announcer, announced the alarm. There was not a single area in the city to which an enemy projectile could not reach. Therefore, the streets and areas in which the risk of being hit was the greatest were calculated. Here, people hung out signs or wrote with paint that this place was the most dangerous during shelling.

According to the plan of Adolf Hitler, the city was to be completely destroyed, and the troops defending it were to be destroyed. The Germans, having failed in a number of attempts to break through the defenses of Leningrad, decided to starve him out.

The first shelling of the city

Every inhabitant, including the elderly and children, became the defender of Leningrad. Was created special army in which thousands of people rallied into partisan detachments and fought the enemy on the fronts, participated in the construction of defensive lines. The evacuation of the population from the city began, as well as cultural property various museums and industrial equipment already in the first months of hostilities. On August 20, enemy troops occupied the city of Chudovo, blocking the railway in the Leningrad-Moscow direction.

However, the divisions of the army under the name "North" failed to break into Leningrad on the move, although the front came close to the city. Systematic shelling began on 4 September. Four days later, the enemy captured the city of Shlisselburg, as a result of which land communication with the Great Land of Leningrad was stopped.

This event was the beginning of the blockade of the city. It turned out to be over 2.5 million inhabitants, including 400 thousand children. By the beginning of the blockade, the city did not have the necessary food supplies. As of September 12, they were calculated for only 30-35 days (bread), 45 days (cereals) and 60 days (meat). Even with the strictest economy, coal could last only until November, and liquid fuel - only until the end of the current one. Food rations, which were introduced under the rationing system, began to gradually decline.

Hunger and cold

The situation was aggravated by the fact that the winter of 1941 was early in Russia, and in Leningrad it was very fierce. Often the thermometer dropped to -32 degrees. Thousands of people died of hunger and cold. The peak of mortality was the time from November 20 to December 25 of this difficult 1941. During this period, the norms for issuing bread to fighters were significantly reduced - up to 500 grams per day. For those who worked in the hot shops, they amounted to only 375 grams, and for the rest of the workers and engineers - 250. For other segments of the population (children, dependents and employees) - only 125 grams. There were practically no other products. More than 4,000 people died of starvation every day. This figure was 100 times higher than the pre-war mortality rate. At the same time, male mortality significantly prevailed over female. By the end of the war, representatives of the weaker sex made up the bulk of the inhabitants of Leningrad.

The Role of the Road of Life in Victory

Communication with the country was carried out, as already mentioned, by the Road of Life of besieged Leningrad, passing through Ladoga. It was the only highway that was available between September 1941 and March 1943. It was along this road that industrial equipment and the population were evacuated from Leningrad, food was supplied to the city, as well as weapons, ammunition, reinforcements and fuel. In total, over 1,615,000 tons of cargo was delivered to Leningrad along this route, and about 1.37 million people were evacuated. At the same time, in the first winter, about 360 thousand tons of cargo were received, and 539.4 thousand residents were evacuated. A pipeline was laid along the bottom of the lake in order to supply oil products.

Protecting the Road of Life

The Hitlerite troops constantly bombed and fired at the Road of Life in order to paralyze this only saving path. To protect it from air strikes, as well as to ensure uninterrupted operation, the means and forces of the country's air defense were involved. In various memorial ensembles and monuments today, the heroism of the people who made it possible for uninterrupted movement along it is immortalized. The main place among them is occupied by the "Broken Ring" - a composition on Lake Ladoga, as well as an ensemble called "Rumbolovskaya Mountain", located in Vsevolzhsk; in the village of Kovalevo), which is dedicated to the children who lived in Leningrad in those years, and also installed in a village called Chernaya Rechka memorial Complex, where the soldiers who died on the Ladoga road rested in a mass grave.

Lifting the blockade of Leningrad

The blockade of Leningrad was broken for the first time, as we have already said, in 1943, on January 18th. This was carried out by the forces of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts together with the Baltic Fleet. The Germans were pushed back. Operation Iskra took place during the general offensive of the Soviet Army, which was widely deployed in the winter of 1942-1943 after the enemy troops were surrounded near Stalingrad. Army "North" acted against the Soviet troops. On January 12, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts went on the offensive, and six days later they united. On January 18, the city of Shlisselburg was liberated, and the southern coast of the strategically important Lake Ladoga was also cleared of the enemy. A corridor was formed between it and the front line, the width of which was 8-11 km. Through it within 17 days (just think about this period!) Automobile and railway routes were laid. After that, the supply of the city improved dramatically. The blockade was completely lifted on 27 January. The day of lifting the siege of Leningrad was marked by fireworks that lit up the sky of this city.

The siege of Leningrad was the most brutal in the history of mankind. Most of the residents who died at that time are buried today at the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery. The defense lasted, to be precise, 872 days. Leningrad of the pre-war time after that was no more. The city has changed a lot, many buildings had to be restored, some were rebuilt.

Diary of Tanya Savicheva

From the terrible events of those years, there are many testimonies. One of them is Tanya's diary. Leningradka began to conduct it at the age of 12. It was not published, because it consists of only nine terrible records about how members of the family of this girl died in succession in Leningrad at that time. Tanya herself also failed to survive. This notebook was presented at the Nuremberg trials as an argument accusing fascism.

This document is located today in the museum of the history of the hero city, and a copy is kept in the showcase of the memorial of the aforementioned Piskarevsky cemetery, where 570 thousand Leningraders were buried during the blockade of those who died of starvation or bombing in the period from 1941 to 1943, as well as in Moscow on Poklonnaya Hill .

The hand, which was losing strength due to hunger, wrote sparingly, unevenly. Struck by suffering, the child's soul was no longer capable of living emotions. The girl only recorded the terrible events of her life - "death visits" to her family's house. Tanya wrote that all the Savichevs were dead. However, she never found out that not everyone died, their race continued. Sister Nina was rescued and taken out of the city. She returned in 1945 to Leningrad, to her native home, and found Tanya's notebook among the plaster, fragments and bare walls. Brother Misha also recovered from a severe wound received at the front. The girl herself was discovered by employees of the sanitary teams who went around the houses of the city. She fainted from hunger. She, barely alive, was evacuated to the village of Shatki. Here, many orphans got stronger, but Tanya never recovered. For two years, doctors fought for her life, but the girl still died. She died in 1944, July 1st.

Instruction

After the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the enemy troops immediately moved to Leningrad. By the end of the summer-beginning of the autumn of 1941, all transport routes of communication with the rest of the Soviet Union were cut off. On September 4, daily shelling of the city began. On September 8, the "North" group took the source of the Neva. This day is considered to be the beginning of the blockade. Thanks to the "iron will of Zhukov" (according to the historian G. Salisbury), the enemy troops were stopped 4-7 kilometers from the city.

Hitler was convinced that Leningrad must be wiped off the face of the earth. He gave the order to surround the city with a dense ring and constantly shell and bomb. At the same time, none German soldier was not supposed to enter the territory of the besieged Leningrad. In October-November 1941, several thousand incendiary bombs were dropped on the city. Most of them are for food warehouses. Thousands of tons of food were burned.

In January 1941 there were almost 3 million inhabitants in Leningrad. At the beginning of the war, at least 300 thousand refugees from other republics and regions of the USSR arrived in the city. On September 15, the norms for issuing products on food cards were significantly reduced. In November 1941 famine. People began to lose consciousness at work and on the streets of the city, dying from physical exhaustion. Several hundred people were convicted of cannibalism in March 1942 alone.

Food was delivered to the city by air and across Lake Ladoga. However, for several months of the year, the second route was blocked: in the autumn, so that the ice was strong enough to support cars, and in the spring, until the ice melted. Lake Ladoga was constantly shot through by German troops.

In 1941, the front line soldiers received 500 grams of bread per day, the able-bodied population working for the benefit of Leningrad - 250 grams, soldiers (not from the front line), children, the elderly and employees - 125 grams each. In addition to bread, they were given practically nothing.

Only part of the water supply network worked in the city and mainly due to street columns. It was especially difficult for people in the winter of 1941-1942. In December, more than 52 thousand people died, in January-February - almost 200 thousand. People died not only from hunger, but also from the cold. Plumbing, heating and sewerage were turned off. Since October 1941, the average daily temperature has been 0 degrees. In May 1942 the temperature fell below zero several times. Climatic winter lasted 178 days, that is, almost 6 months.

At the beginning of the war, 85 orphanages were opened in Leningrad. 15 eggs, 1 kilogram of fat, 1.5 kilograms of meat and the same amount of sugar, 2.2 kilograms of cereals, 9 kilograms of bread, half a kilogram of flour, 200 grams of dried fruits, 10 grams of tea and 30 grams of coffee were allocated per month for each of 30 thousand children. . The leadership of the city did not suffer from hunger. In the dining room of Smolny, officials could take caviar, cakes, vegetables and fruits. In party sanatoriums every day they gave ham, lamb, cheese, salmon, pies.

The turning point in the food situation came only at the end of 1942. In the bread, meat and dairy industries, food substitutes began to be used: cellulose for bread, soy flour, albumin, animal blood plasma for meat. Nutritional yeast began to be made from wood, and vitamin C was obtained from the infusion of pine needles.

October 1, 1950 at 2 am, in Leningrad by the verdict of the Military Collegium Supreme Court, in the courtyard of the House of Officers, which is on Liteiny Prospekt at number 20, were shot:

- Secretary of the Central Committee A.A. Kuznetsov,

- First Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee P.S. Popkov,

- Chairman of the State Planning Committee N.A. Voznesensky,

- Second Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee Ya.F. Kapustin,

- Chairman of the Leningrad City Executive Committee P.G. Lazutin,

- Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR M.I. Rodionov.

The convicts were taken one by one to the courtyard and shot in the back of the head with revolvers with a silencer so that passers-by along Liteiny Prospekt would not hear the sounds of shots.

The first secretary of the Yaroslavl Regional Committee, I.M. Turko, manager of the Leningrad Regional Committee F.E. Mikheev and the head of the department of the Leningrad Regional Committee T.E. Zakrzhevskaya was sentenced to camp terms, but she was never released.

After the execution in the courtyard of the House of Officers, party workers across the country, one way or another connected in their past with Leningrad, were arrested and shot.

The family of N.A. was repressed. Voznesensky: his brother A.A. Voznesensky - the rector of Leningrad University was shot; son - 15-year-old Valery (future academician V.A. Mironenko) spent several months in prison; shot sister - secretary of the Kuibyshev district committee M.A. Voznesenskaya.

Abolished back in 1947, six months before the start of the process on January 12, 1950, the death penalty was restored in relation to traitors to the motherland, spies and subversive bombers.

On September 29, the process begins and after 3 days the execution of those arrested; by July 12, 1951, less than a year later, the arrests and executions of all nine investigators involved in the case began, including Minister of State Security V.S. Abakumov - the direct curator of the case.

From the restoration of the death penalty to the liquidation of all participants - less than two years. During this rather short period, they were shot 200 man and about 2000 repressed.

What is striking in this whole affair is, first of all, some kind of purposeful cruelty, haste, arousing suspicion in the desire to do something as soon as possible. hide Wash away with spilled blood. There has never been anything like it in the history of Soviet terror. The sharply sharpened ax of the Soviet repressive machine, which fell on the heads of the highest party functionaries, should have convinced that the guilt of the “Leningraders” was so great that it was necessary to shoot them in the interests of the state.

What was their fault?

Perhaps the answer lies in the reasons why the death penalty was restored six months before the start of the trial? But none of those involved in this case were neither traitors to the motherland, nor spies, nor, moreover, subversive saboteurs. What was said in the verdict is so unconvincing, indistinct and ambiguous that it gives the impression of the existence of something extraordinary and tragic even by the standards of Soviet repressive justice, and this could not be voiced within the walls of a closed court.

The intention to move the capital of the RSFSR to Leningrad, to create a Russian party in opposition to the All-Union Communist Party - all this sounds as absurd as the accusations of espionage in favor of England. All this has already happened in the history of the Soviet Union, and some conclusions must have been drawn.

Election rigging at the Leningrad Party Conference is unconvincing; holding an all-Union wholesale fair in Leningrad without the consent of Moscow, but in fact it was agreed upon. The creation of the Leningrad mafia - but the time has not come yet!

Doors to understanding this case tightly closed to this day, but in the “structure” dilapidated over the years, gaps inevitably appear through which fresh air of understanding and comprehension naturally penetrates.

The decision to liquidate the Leningrad party and state elite was formed by I. Stalin no later than 1947. According to A. Mikoyan in the summer of 1947, while on vacation on Lake Ritsa, I. Stalin confidentially informed his comrades-in-arms, among whom were L. Beria and G. Malenkov, who were walking with him, that he, Stalin, was growing old, his strength was not the same and offered consider appointing a successor.

“He (I. Stalin) considers N. Voznesensky the most suitable candidate for the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and A. Kuznetsov for the post of General Secretary. How do you mind, comrades?

The “comrades”, knowing full well that the leader was checking them “for lice”, prudently did not object, but drew the appropriate conclusions. I. Stalin gives the command: "Face!"

On August 31, 1948, he unexpectedly dies, removed shortly before his death from the post of chairman of the Cominform, A. Zhdanov. He died not at home, not in the Kremlin office, but in the Sosny sanatorium in Valdai, where he was sent by decision of the Politburo for rest and treatment.

A. Zhdanov is a fairly significant figure in our story, and therefore it makes sense to dwell in more detail on some of the circumstances of his life and death.

In the pre-war, post-Kirov period, this party official was the number two figure in the party hierarchy and was even considered as a possible successor to I. Stalin. All 871 days of the siege of Leningrad, starting from September 8, 1941 and until January 27, 1944, the first secretary of the regional committee A. Zhdanov, spent in Smolny, where the headquarters was located, which led the defense of the city and controlled the actions of the two fronts of Leningrad and Volkhov.

At the end of the forties, after the blockade was broken, we Smolnin boys loved to fish on the Neva bend, near the Okhtinsky bridge. There was a small wooden jetty, from which it was good to take steep-backed glasses the size of a boy's palm. Immediately behind the pier, on a steep bank slope, there was a wooden shield covering something.

Much later, I realized that this was the entrance to the tunnel that led to the Smolny building. This was how food was delivered to the staff of the headquarters and the possibility of evacuation, in case of a critical situation, was provided: from the pier, on a speedboat, to the right under the Okhtinsky bridge and further up the river to Lake Ladoga. No evacuation was needed.

Immediately after the blockade was broken, on January 17, 1945, A. Zhdanov was transferred to Moscow. Quite a lot has been written about the Moscow period of his life, especially about his famous speech in Leningrad in 1946, in which he called the great A. Akhmatova "harlot", and M. Zoshchenko - "scum of literature". Such was this party official, who was in charge of Soviet ideology, and differed from others only in that he knew how to “strum” on the piano.

But it is much more interesting for us to dwell not on the post-war life of this "pianist", but on the circumstances of his death. By 1947, the relationship between I. Stalin and A. Zhdanov had deteriorated sharply and unconditionally. As I. Stalin's daughter Svetlana recalled, once at the dacha, I. Stalin sharply attacked A. Zhdanov: “Why are you sitting like Christ? Why are you keeping silent?"

The use of the biblical image by I. Stalin can be explained both by the seminary past of the leader and by the religious education of A. Zhdanov himself, whose father was a well-known religious figure. But if I. Stalin called A. Zhdanov "Christ", then in this case he probably considered himself Pontius Pilate, that is, a judge. What did he accuse A. Zhdanov of?

According to Svetlana, A. Zhdanov sat pale, breathing heavily and did not even have the strength to wipe sweat from his forehead. He probably already foresaw his "mournful" path. Two years later, by decision of the Politburo, he was sent "for treatment" to Valdai, to the Sosny sanatorium, where he died.

On August 29, 1948, the cardiologist L. Timashuk, who specially came to the sanatorium from Moscow, analyzing A. Zhdanov’s electrocardiogram, diagnosed the patient with a heart attack “in the region of the left ventricle and intergastric septum” and expressed a sharp protest against the fact that those treating A. Zhdanov doctors do not prescribe him bed rest.

Interpretation of the result of an electrocardiogram requires professionalism, experience and assessment of the current state of the patient, and L. Timashuk certainly had all this. Any doctor has the right to his own opinion, has the right to make mistakes. All doctors who treated A. Zhdanov, including cardiologist S. Karpay, who had access to the last cardiogram, denied the patient had a heart attack. The well-known cardiologist Professor F. Lyass, already in our time, analyzed that very cardiogram using modern techniques and resolutely stated that it does not show a heart attack in patient A. Zhdanov.

Thus, such a categorical letter from L. Timashuk should be considered not from the position of assessing the medical situation, but from the point of view of the person to whom this letter was addressed. And it was addressed to N. Vlasik, the head of personal security of I. Stalin, and concurrently to the head of the security service of the Ministry of State Security, and passed from hand to hand to the head of security of A. Zhdanov, Major A. Belov. In this case, the letter is nothing more than a political denunciation.

After two days A. Zhdanov died, and on August 7, L. Timashuk wrote a second letter, addressing it to the same N. Vlasik, and a copy to the Secretary of the Central Committee A. Kuznetsov, categorically stating that “the treatment of A.A. Zhdanov was carried out absolutely incorrectly, or rather, maliciously.

Upon learning of the death of A. Zhdanov, A. Kuznetsov and N. Voznesensky flew to Valdai. It should be noted that both former Leningraders, who spent all 871 days with A. Zhdanov in the besieged city, never visited him in the sanatorium-hospital, abandoned all their affairs and urgently arrived at the sanatorium in order to attend the autopsy, which was not carried out in the dissecting room district hospital, but in the poorly lit bathroom of the sanatorium. They looked extremely worried.

What was it that bothered them so much?

Only one thing is the cause of death, or rather the possibility of a different, in contrast to a heart attack, cause. But this reason was not found in the poorly lit bathroom of the sanatorium, and two former Leningraders, knowing full well that the life of A. Zhdanov is an indicator of their own lives, calmed down and went back to Moscow, not knowing that they had a little more than one year left to live.

Let's sum up some results.

Doctor-cardiologist L. Timashuk was a secret officer of the MGB (curator - Major A. Belov). The categorical letter-report, written on August 29, passed not only through the special channels of the MGB (A. Belov - N. Vlasik - V. Abakumov), but was also “opened” to the Central Committee through a copy of the report addressed to A. Kuznetsov.

Thus, the categorical nature of the accusations in L. Timashuk's report means only one thing: A. Zhdanov must die in the very near future, otherwise the indicated categoricalness loses all meaning. L. Timashuk's letters-reports found a second life four years later, when the "doctors' case" began. But that, as they say, is a completely different story.

What was the reason such a "criminal" attitude of I. Stalin to the Leningrad party elite? What prompted them to shoot the arrested almost immediately after the announcement of the verdict in the courtyard of the court. Where to look for the reason?

In 1949, by decision of the party and state bodies, a unique museum was closed - Leningrad Defense Museum, located in the building of the former manufactory exhibition in Solyanoy lane, and soon in 1950 was arrested and sentenced to death (later the sentence was commuted to 25 years in the camp) the founder of the museum and its permanent leader - L. Rakov.

The closing decision stated: “The exposition of the museum has perverted the course historical events during the years of the Great Patriotic War, and is anti-party in nature, and insufficiently emphasizing the role of the party and Stalin, as well as sticking out local Leningrad patriotism ... "

Here is how his former guide describes the closing of the museum N. Nonina:

“One thousand nine hundred and forty-nine years... Bonfires are burning in the courtyard of the Museum of Defense. They burn priceless unique exhibits, authentic documents, relics. Harness authentic photos. Sculptures are smashed in the halls of the museum with a hammer. The painting is being torn off with hooks. Crowbars are destroying the walls... Burning bonfires. The Leningrad Defense Museum is dying…”

The inhuman cruelty of the destruction of the museum preceded the destruction of the party leaders of Leningrad in the courtyard of the House of Officers by only a few months. What documents were burned at the stake? What were they looking for, breaking the walls and opening the floors of the building?

Blockade

I. Stalin did not like Leningrad. He did not like and did not trust the Leningrad party organization, starting from the time of G. Zinoviev. I. Stalin was afraid of S. Kirov, and, it seems, initiated his murder and the destruction of the entire top of the Leningrad party organization. I. Stalin wanted to surrender the city. great city, the cradle of Russian culture.

Proof of this is in his order to the Deputy Commander of the Leningrad Front, Major General I. Fedyuninsky and the leaders of the Leningrad Party Organization:

"If you are within a few coming days if you do not break through the front and do not restore a strong connection with the 54th Army, which connects you with the rear of the country, all your troops will be taken prisoner. The restoration of this connection is necessary not only in order to supply the troops of the Leningrad Front, but especially in order to give an outlet for the troops of the Leningrad Front to retreat to the east - to avoid capture, in case the need forces the surrender of Leningrad. Keep in mind that Moscow is in a critical position, and it is not in a position to help with new forces. Either you will break through the front in these two or three days and give your troops the opportunity to retreat to the east, if it is impossible to hold Leningrad, or you will be taken prisoner. We demand: concentrate divisions 8 or 10 and break through to the east. This is necessary both in case Leningrad is retained, and in case Leningrad is surrendered. For us, the army is more important ... "

Panic sounds in the words of I. Stalin: save Moscow at the cost of surrendering Leningrad! "Army is more important!" Obviously, the Leningrad leaders were able to convey a simple idea to I. Stalin. Without Leningrad, without the Leningrad industry, the Soviet Union will not survive the war with Germany.

Leningrad industry- this is not only the Kirov plant, which produces heavy tanks. These are the giants of power engineering: Elektrosila and Metal Works. This is the "Red Triangle" - a plant that produces technical rubber. This is a shipbuilding giant - "Admiralty Plant". This and many other factories that can be rebuilt for the production of weapons in a fairly short time.

The Leningrad leaders proposed a plan to J. Stalin, and J. Stalin accepted this plan. October 27, i.e. four days after Stalin's order, I. Fedyuninsky, no longer the deputy commander of the Leningrad Front, but only the commander of the 54th Army, took an active part in the Tikhvin defensive and Tikhvin offensive operations, which means that the general carried out the order of I. Stalin and withdrew troops to the east in the direction of Moscow.

But Leningrad was not surrendered. The blockade of the city, which officially began on September 8, lasted 872 days, until January 27, 1944. Wikipedia defines the term "blockade" as follows: "Military blockade - military actions aimed at isolating an enemy object by cutting off all its external relations ..."

Based on this definition, there was no blockade of Leningrad. Leningrad was not isolated from the country. There was a monstrous famine of the great city. Conscious starvation many thousands from six hundred thousand to one and a half million. Who knows the exact number of deaths from starvation? Only the concrete Motherland at the Piskaryovskoye memorial cemetery.

September 8, 1941, which according to official historians, is the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad, were destroyed Badaev warehouses, wooden warehouses, built at the beginning of the century by the merchant S. Rasteryaev. These warehouses stored 3 thousand tons of flour and 2.5 thousand tons of sugar, which, according to official data, was the beginning of the famine.

The first German air raid began at 5:30 in the morning. Here is how an eyewitness describes it.

“In the silence of the early morning, a rumble suddenly arose, coming from nowhere. He kept growing and growing. The windows trembled and everything around began to vibrate. Away in clear sky an armada of aircraft appeared. They flew in formation at different heights, slowly, confidently. All around exploded anti-aircraft shells- like shreds of cotton in blue sky. Artillery hit frantically, randomly, without harming the aircraft. They did not even maneuver, did not change formation, and, as if not noticing the firing, flew towards the target ... "

Thick, black, heavy smoke hung over the city. Burnt sugar.

What prevented Field Marshal Wilhelm von Leeb, commander of Army Group North, from taking food depots, because there were no more than 5 kilometers in a straight line? Why did the Field Marshal give up 3,000 tons of flour and 2,500 tons of sugar for the needs of his own troops, preferring to destroy them?

They say that during the bombing of the Badaev warehouses, someone launched rockets. The theme of "rocketmen" was quite common during the siege. Even G. Matveev's book "The Green Chain" was dedicated to her, in which two boys Misha and Styopa helped to catch a one-armed German saboteur, "Uncle Petya", who was carrying a huge suitcase with rockets.

What were these "rocketmen" aiming at? To the headquarters of the city's defense - Smolny?

Smolny was not bombed. If they bombed, there would be traces. And there was no need to aim aircraft at the Smolny building. It was very easy to spot the building from the air: the bend of the Neva, the Okhtinsky bridge, and such a “visual” landmark as the Smolny Cathedral, built by the great K. Rastrelli.

Perhaps the "rocketmen" aimed enemy aircraft and artillery at the industrial facilities of the city? The largest and strategically most important facility in Leningrad - Kirov Plant, which in Peaceful time produced mainly tractors, and with the outbreak of war, he completely switched to the production of tanks, moreover, heavy tanks - KV.

There was no need to direct German aircraft at the Kirov plant, because the plant was at a distance 3 (!!!) kilometers from German artillery positions on Mount Voronya in the Krasnoselsky district of Leningrad. Any commander could destroy the plant artillery battery located on the mountain.

According to official data 97% Leningraders died of starvation and only 3% from artillery shelling and bombing, and this despite the fact that about 150 thousand shells and 107 thousand air bombs were fired at the city. Official sources indicate that separate days all the front-line artillery of the enemy hit the city, and the inhabitants of the city did not leave the bomb shelters for days.

How was all this delivered to plant number 371, or rather, to the Kirov plant? How were the military products produced at the factories of the city sent for the needs of the front? Questions... Questions... Questions?

According to official data, only for the second half of 1941, the active army received from Leningrad 3 million shells and mines 3 thousand regimental and anti-tank guns, 713 tanks, 49 armored vehicles.

At the end 1941, when about 40 cases of cannibalism were registered in the city, G. Zhukov telegraphed the Leningrad leaders: “Thanks to the people of Leningrad for helping the Muscovites in the fight against the bloody Nazis…”

Availability uninterrupted delivery channel weapons to the active front from Leningrad and, on the other hand, components to Leningrad factories from the Urals and the Urals (Perm), suggests the presence railway line, equipped with loading and unloading systems, for the tank HF weighs 47, 5 tons.

As is known from official sources, the last line of the October railway was cut by the Germans with the capture of the Mga station on September 8, 1941. All other lines of the south-western direction were cut by them before. The Vyborg line was cut by the Finns near the Sestroretsk station.

And, nevertheless, the two-way channel functioned properly and smoothly, as evidenced by the telegram G. Zhukova and a photograph of tanks on Palace Square. Let's try to figure it out.

Tanks KV in the photograph are depicted passing the arch of the General Staff in the direction of Nevsky Prospekt. On Nevsky Prospekt, they could only turn left, towards the Moskovsky railway station, because they ran straight into St. Isaac's Square along Gogol Street, and to the right, they again returned to Palace Square.

So, the Moscow railway station and the Oktyabrskaya line of the railway. The Kirov railway is connected to the Oktyabrskaya road, going to Murmansk and passing through the Sortavala station, on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga.

It is through Kirov road, popularly nicknamed "Murmanka", there were deliveries of weapons and food delivered to the port of Murmansk by the famous "convoys" from Great Britain. And if in September it was transported along the Murmanka 27,6% of the total number of all military cargo delivered under Lend-Lease, then in October - already 73,8% more than twice! And all these cargoes went through Sortavala, because to the south the railway is limited by Lake Ladoga from the east. Apparently, at the end of September, part of the Kirov road from the Sortavala station to Moscow was reconstructed.

Summing up

From September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 Leningrad was not blocked. In other words, there was no blockade of Leningrad in the classical sense of the term. There were three two-way communication channels cities with "mainland".

– Kirov railway from Leningrad to Moscow, enveloping Lake Ladoga from the North and capable of transporting bulky cargo.

– Military Highway No. 101, passing along the southern part of the lake, using cargo barges in summer, and GAZ-AA trucks (one and a half) on ice in winter. From November 1941 to April 1942, 550 thousand residents of the city were evacuated along this road and 361 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to the city. The last figure is clearly exaggerated. A. Kungurov's calculation shows that in order to transfer such a quantity of cargo across the ice, the interval of movement of vehicles should have been 1 minute, but to avoid ice resonance, the distance between the vehicles should have been at least 100 meters. Apparently, a significant part of the cargo was transported by the Kirov railway through Sortavala.

– 12 km “corridor” between the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts. Along this "corridor" on March 29, 1942, partisans from the Novgorod and Pskov regions delivered a sledge train with several tons of food to the besieged Leningrad. Why this "corridor" was not used to create a normal-profile railway is explained only by the lack of time and technical difficulties. The construction of a dirt road for the evacuation of city residents by road, apparently, was found to be inappropriate, and the construction of a normal-profile railway is associated with great risks.

Massive artillery shelling of the city, as well as massive air bombardments did not have and the reason for this is the commanders of the German and Finnish armies, who blocked Leningrad from the South and from the North: Field Marshal General W. von Leeb and Field Marshal Baron G. Mannerheim.

Here is how Wikipedia describes von Leeb's personality:

“As an officer of the old school, honest and uncompromising, a man of high moral principles, moreover, religious, von Leeb, after the Nazis came to power, openly expressed dislike for the new regime and its leaders. Hitler, who called von Leeb an "incorrigible anti-fascist", put him under tacit surveillance by the Gestapo. However, von Leeb, being a sane person, did not join any groups of conspirators and conspirators, although he criticized Hitler's program for the militarization of the country. His anti-Nazi sentiments did not prevent him from taking the post of commander of the 2nd Army Group stationed in Kassel at the end of 1933. Being a specialist in defense measures, von Leeb published in 1938 the book "Defence", which went through several reprints and was translated into foreign languages, including Russian (it was used to create the field manual of the Red Army)."

Being an old school officer von Leeb, apparently, could not allow shelling a peaceful city, moreover, well known to him. Therefore, the shelling of Leningrad was sporadic. Isn't that why 12 German artillerymen were hastily hanged without any trial in order to eliminate unnecessary witnesses?

As for the baron G. Mannerheim, then for him Petersburg was a city with which a significant part of his life was connected. Here he spent his youth, here he married, finished military school enlisted in the military and rose to the rank of lieutenant general. Until the end of days desk field marshal there was a photograph of the last Russian emperor with a dedicatory inscription.

From the Finnish side in Leningrad was not released not a single projectile.

The uninterrupted operation of the Kirov railway, which connected Leningrad with the "Greater Land", was possible only thanks to security guarantees from the Finnish side.

Throughout the blockade, Leningrad remained the most important source who supplied the front with the necessary products. From the first days of the blockade, at least until November 1941, the Kirov Plant of Leningrad remained the main manufacturer heavy tanks HF, and after that date, just as importantly, a supplier of spare tank units. All Leningrad enterprises worked for the needs of the front. They worked hard in three shifts.

To work at such a grueling pace 125 grams of so-called bread are clearly insufficient. That is why workers and engineers received 600 grams of normal bread, plus additional products. All other residents of the besieged city: children, old people, women were treated as dependents and were doomed to heroism, courage and starvation.

In essence, besieged Leningrad was a camp, one of the "islands" of the Gulag, like the camps of Kolyma, only in Kolyma they mined gold for the chances of surviving, and in Leningrad only those who worked at defense enterprises had real chances to survive. That was the plan, reported to I. Stalin by the Leningrad leaders and approved by him.

The majority of those who received 125 grams of the so-called bread fought courageously against hunger. They were essentially unnecessary ballast. There were more than 600,000 of them. All this was palpably visible from oblivion in the halls Museum of the Defense of Leningrad. That is why the museum was so barbarously destroyed. Therefore, the former Leningrad leaders were shot so hastily, because the leaders of the camps were not left alive. These were the laws of the "big zone".

The hero city, which for more than two years was in a military blockade of the German, Finnish and Italian armies, today recalls the first day of the blockade of Leningrad. On September 8, 1941, Leningrad was cut off from the rest of the country, and the inhabitants of the city bravely defended their homes from the invaders.

872 days of the siege of Leningrad entered the history of the Second World War as the most tragic events that are worthy of memory and respect. The courage and courage of the defenders of Leningrad, the suffering and patience of the inhabitants of the city - all this long years will remain an example and a lesson for new generations.

10 interesting, and at the same time horrific facts read about the life of besieged Leningrad in the editorial material.

1. "Blue Division"

The German, Italian and Finnish military officially took part in the blockade of Leningrad. But there was another group, which was referred to as the "Blue Division". It was generally accepted that this division consisted of Spanish volunteers, since Spain did not officially declare war on the USSR.

However, in fact, the "Blue Division", which became part of a big crime against the Leningraders, consisted of regular soldiers of the Spanish army. During the battles for Leningrad, the "Blue Division" for the Soviet military was considered the weak link of the aggressors. Due to the rudeness of their own officers and poor food, the fighters of the "Blue Division" often went over to the side Soviet army, historians say.

2. "Road of Life" and "Alleyway of Death"


The residents of besieged Leningrad managed to save themselves from starvation in the first winter thanks to the "Road of Life". In the winter period of 1941-1942, when the water on Lake Ladoga froze, a connection was established with the "Great Land", through which food was brought into the city and the population was evacuated. Through the "Road of Life" 550 thousand Leningraders were evacuated.

In January 1943, Soviet soldiers broke through the blockade of the invaders for the first time, and a railway was built on the liberated site, which was called the "Road of Victory". In one section, the "Road of Victory" came close to enemy territories, and trains did not always reach their destination. This section of the military called the "Alleyway of death."

3. Harsh winter

The first winter of besieged Leningrad was the most severe that the inhabitants had ever seen. From December to May, inclusive, in Leningrad held average temperature air 18 degrees below zero, the minimum mark was fixed at 31 degrees. Snow in the city sometimes reached 52 cm.

In such harsh conditions, the inhabitants of the city kept warm by any means. Houses were heated by potbelly stoves, everything that burned was used as fuel: books, paintings, furniture. The central heating in the city did not work, the sewerage and water pipes were turned off, work at factories and plants stopped.

4. Cats-heroes


In modern St. Petersburg, a small monument to a cat has been erected, few people know, but this monument is dedicated to the heroes who twice saved the inhabitants of Leningrad from starvation. The first rescue came in the first year of the blockade. Hungry residents ate all domestic animals, including cats, which saved them from starvation.

But in the future, the absence of cats in the city led to a wholesale invasion of rodents. The city's food supplies were threatened. After the blockade was broken in January 1943, one of the first train sets had four wagons with smoky cats. It is this breed that catches pests best. The supplies of the city's exhausted inhabitants were saved.

5. 150 thousand shells


During the years of the blockade, Leningrad was subjected to an incalculable number of air strikes and shelling, which were carried out several times a day. In total, during the blockade, 150 thousand shells were fired at Leningrad and more than 107 thousand incendiary and high-explosive bombs were dropped.

1,500 loudspeakers were installed on the streets of the city to alert citizens about enemy air raids. The sound of a metronome was the signal for airstrikes: its fast rhythm meant the beginning of an air attack, its slow rhythm meant a retreat, and on the streets they wrote "Citizens! During shelling, this side of the street is most dangerous."

The sound of a metronome and an inscription warning of shelling preserved on one of the houses became symbols of the blockade and the resilience of the inhabitants of Leningrad, which was not conquered by the Nazis.

6. Three waves of evacuation


During the war years, the Soviet military managed to carry out three waves of evacuation of the local population from the besieged and hungry city. For all the time, it was possible to withdraw 1.5 million people, which at that time accounted for almost half of the entire city.

The first evacuation began in the first days of the war - June 29, 1941. The first wave of evacuation was distinguished by the unwillingness of residents to leave the city, in total a little more than 400 thousand people were taken out. The second wave of evacuation - September 1941-April 1942. The main evacuation route for the already besieged city was the "Road of Life", in total more than 600 thousand people were evacuated during the second wave. And the third wave of evacuation - May-October 1942, a little less than 400 thousand people were evacuated.

7. Minimum ration


Hunger has become main problem besieged Leningrad. The beginning of the food crisis is considered to be September 10, 1941, when the Nazi aircraft destroyed the Badaev food warehouses.

The peak of the famine in Leningrad fell on November 20-December 25, 1941. The norms for issuing bread for soldiers on the front line of defense were reduced to 500 grams per day, for workers in hot shops - up to 375 grams, for workers in other industries and engineers - up to 250 grams, for employees, dependents and children - up to 125 grams.

Bread in the blockade was prepared from a mixture of rye and oat flour, pomace and unfiltered malt. It was completely black in color and had a bitter taste.

8. Case of scientists


During the first two years of the siege of Leningrad in the city, from 200 to 300 employees of the Leningrad higher educational institutions and members of their families. Leningrad Department of the NKVD in 1941-1942. arrested scientists for "anti-Soviet, counter-revolutionary, traitorous activities."

As a result, 32 highly qualified specialists were sentenced to death. Four scientists were shot, the rest of the death penalty was replaced with various terms of labor camps, many died in prisons and camps. In 1954-55, the convicts were rehabilitated, and a criminal case was initiated against the NKVD officers.

9. Duration of blockade


The blockade of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War lasted 872 days (September 8, 1941 - January 27, 1944). But the first breakthrough of the blockade was carried out in 1943. On January 17, during Operation Iskra, the Soviet troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts managed to liberate Shlisselburg, creating a narrow land corridor between the besieged city and the rest of the country.

After the blockade was lifted, Leningrad was under siege for another six months. The German and Finnish military remained in Vyborg and Petrozavodsk. After the offensive operation of the Soviet troops in July-August 1944, the Nazis managed to push back from Leningrad.

10. Victims


At the Nuremberg Trials, the Soviet side announced 630 thousand dead during the siege of Leningrad, however, this figure is still in doubt among historians. The actual death toll could be as high as 1.5 million.

In addition to the number of deaths, the causes of death are also horrifying - only 3% of all deaths in besieged Leningrad are accounted for by shelling and air strikes by the fascist military. 97% of deaths in Leningrad from September 1941 to January 1944 were due to famine. Dead bodies lying on the streets of the city were perceived by passers-by as an everyday occurrence.

The siege of the city on the Neva began on September 8, 1941, when the Nazis surrounded our northern capital and closed the ring. From the side of the enemy, the combined forces of the German, Spanish ("Blue Division") and Finnish troops acted.

Hitler's plan was as follows: Leningrad should not only be captured, but completely destroyed. Firstly, the accession to this territory made it possible for Germany to rule throughout Baltic Sea. Naturally, if we were lucky, our fleet would have been destroyed. Secondly, the fall of Leningrad had great value to strengthen the spirit of the German army and to attempt moral pressure on the entire population of the Soviet Union: Leningrad has always been the second capital, therefore, if it fell into the hands of the enemy, the spiritual forces of the Soviet soldiers could be broken. After Leningrad, the task of reprisal against Moscow was greatly simplified.


Leningrad was completely unprepared for a siege. There were no special food supplies, since the city was supplied with imported products. In addition, the Nazis constantly carried out shelling, trying to get into the warehouses where flour and sugar were stored.

A hard life began for the people of Leningrad: already in the middle of autumn a terrible famine came to the city. The ration for workers was constantly decreasing, as a result, it reached the figure of 250 g of bread per day. Children and dependents were entitled to even less - 125 g each. What kind of bread was that! Cake, sawdust, acorns and dust left over from the flour reserves ... No more food.


Of course, on such a ration, people died en masse. The phenomenon has become absolutely normal when a person slowly walks down the street and suddenly falls from exhaustion. Passers-by pronounced him dead. The corpses were removed on their own by those who could still somehow move around. More than 630 thousand people died from hunger and its consequences. Many died in the bombings.

Surprisingly and incomprehensibly for our generation: on such food, people managed not only to survive, but also to work. Worked factories, releasing ammunition. Schools, hospitals were operating, theaters were not closed. Children and teenagers worked on an equal footing with adults, they were trained to extinguish dropped bombs. Many lives were saved by 10-12 year old boys and girls.

The only means of communication with " big world”remained the “Road of Life” - a thin artery through which “blood” entered the city: food, medicines. All those who lost their strength were evacuated along the same road.

Several times our troops tried to break the blockade. As early as 1941, attempts were made that were unsuccessful, since the enemy forces were immeasurably larger. And on January 18, 1943, the blockade ring was broken! The city perked up. The residents seemed to have new powers. On January 27, 1944, the blockade was finally lifted.

Surviving what the inhabitants of besieged Leningrad had to endure is a real feat. We all need to remember this. And tell the next generation. People are obliged to keep the eternal memory of that terrible war with all its horrors - so that it never happens again.

Siege of Leningrad brief information.