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 volunteers from North Africa, Europe and the Italian navy during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War 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 mass 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 highest degree 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 a significant part of the population within several years Soviet Union, first of all, Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, as well as all Jews and Gypsies - in total at least 30 million people. 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, naval and air Force Germany. 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 fighting 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, who really imagined huge losses, which he would have incurred by entering into urban battles, his decision doomed its population to starvation.

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, 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 effects of starvation after they were transported to the " Mainland" Doctors did not immediately learn how to care for starving people. There were cases when they died 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 normal level due to the almost complete lack 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 of real conditions blockades

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: by air to ensure the supply of such big city was impossible, and navigation on Lake Ladoga temporarily ceased 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. 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). Died during the Battle of Leningrad more people than England and the USA 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 health care 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

Ship and coastal artillery(345 guns with a caliber of 100-406 mm, if necessary, more than 400 guns were introduced) effectively suppressed enemy batteries, helped repel ground attacks, and supported the advance of 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 some military equipment, partially remove the civilian population, 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 was opened commemorative plaque on the stele “To the Sailors of the 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 (pr. People's Militia- y railway station Ligovo).
• 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 arrow 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.

January 18 is a special date for Russians and especially for St. Petersburg residents. On this day back in 1943, during the Great Patriotic War, the blockade of Leningrad was broken.
Despite the fact that the city remained besieged for another year, with the breaking of the blockade the situation on the entire Leningrad Front improved significantly.

Preparation

Scouts of the Leningrad Front

Almost a month was allotted for the preparation of the operation, during which the troops began comprehensive preparations for the upcoming offensive. Particular attention was paid to organizing interaction between strike groups, for which the command and headquarters of the two fronts coordinated their plans, established demarcation lines and worked out interactions, conducting a series of war games based on the real situation.

Operation Spark

According to the plans of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Soviet troops, with attacks from two fronts - Leningrad from the west and Volkhov from the east - were supposed to defeat the enemy group holding the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge.

Command of the fronts was entrusted to Lieutenant General L.A. Govorov and Army General K.A. Meretskov. The interaction was coordinated by representatives of the Headquarters - Army General G.K. Zhukov and Marshal K.E. Voroshilov. On January 12, 1943, after artillery preparation, which began at 9:30 a.m. and lasted 2:10 a.m., the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front launched a powerful attack from west to east.

Soviet soldiers in the attack near Leningrad during the beginning of the breaking of the blockade

The offensive was supported by the 2nd shock and 8th armies of the Volkhov Front, ships, coastal artillery and aviation. 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. Command Nazi troops, trying to hold Workers' Villages No. 1 and 5 at any cost, transferred its units from other sectors of the front.

The enemy group unsuccessfully tried several times to break through to the south to its main forces. And 6 days later, on January 18, on the outskirts of Rabochy settlement No. 1 near Shlisselburg, units of the 123rd Infantry Brigade of the Leningrad Front joined forces with units of the 372nd Division of the Volkhov Front. On the same day, Shlisselburg and the entire southern coast of Lake Ladoga were completely liberated.

By January 18, 1943, about 800 thousand people remained in the city. Around midnight, a message was broadcast on the radio that the blockade had been broken. The townspeople began to take to the streets, shouting and cheering. All of Leningrad was decorated with flags. There was hope that their hometown would be liberated. And although the blockade ring was completely lifted only, and as a result of breaking the blockade ring, only a narrow corridor was recaptured - a strip of peat bog, the significance of this day for the future fate of Leningrad can hardly be overestimated.

During the offensive operation of the Soviet troops, after fierce battles, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts united in the area of ​​Worker settlements No. 1 and 5. On the same day, Shlisselburg was liberated. The entire southern coast of Lake Ladoga has been 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.

Raise the red flags
Over the free Neva,
Hello, full of courage
Leningrad is fighting!

The siege of Leningrad lasted almost 900 days. It was finally lifted in the winter of 1944, after Stalin’s successful First Strike, which opened the account for a series of offensive operations by the Red Army.

Museum Diorama “Breaking the Siege of Leningrad”

A few kilometers from the Nevsky Piglet, on the left bank ramp of the Ladoga Bridge, there is a museum-diorama “Breaking the Siege of Leningrad”, opened in May 1985. In front of the diorama are tanks raised from the bottom of the Neva and restored. The exhibition is slowly expanding; the white KV-1 appeared on the site this year, on the anniversary of the lifting of the blockade. According to the museum’s aunties, two witnesses of those battles survived at this site - two old linden trees crippled by shells. All the other trees around were planted after the war. Here is one of them - right next to the bridge, with the top broken off.
The main exhibition of the museum, a diorama, is dedicated to Operation Iskra in January 1943. Its size is impressive - 40x8 meters. Which show the battles of the operation.

The picturesque canvas measuring 40 x 8 m tells about the seven-day battles of Operation Iskra in January 1943. observation deck A grandiose panorama of the battle opens up. A close-up shows the crossing of the Neva by units of the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front under the command of General L.V. Govorov. From the east, troops of the Volkhov Front under the command of General K. A. Meretskov are making their way towards the Leningraders. On January 12, 1943, with a counter strike, the troops of our two fronts broke through the fascist German defenses on the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge, defeated the enemy group and on January 18, 1943 met in the 1st and 5th Workers' Villages. In the liberated territory in the breakthrough zone, the Polyany-Shlisselburg railway with a bridge across the Neva was built in 18 days. Called by the people the “Road of Victory,” it allowed us to accumulate forces for the complete liberation of the Leningrad land from the Nazi invaders in January 1944.

Reconstruction of the blockade breaking

On the recreated battlefield there is a complete picture of combat operations: tanks, aircraft and infantry. For the sake of this memorable date, reenactors from all over Russia, as well as from Poland, Estonia and even Brazil, came to St. Petersburg.

Almost the same place where the battles took place in 1943 was chosen for reconstruction. Reenactors used exact copies of historical military equipment, including T-60 tanks. Most important point operation - the reunification of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, as a result of which the fascist troops themselves found themselves surrounded.

Poems dedicated to breaking the blockade

Raise red flags! (January 18, 1943) A. Prokofiev


So the brothers met,
The sky became red.
Is there a tighter hug?
Is there a brighter joy?
He knows the beautiful city,
What's on the dangerous path
Better than our brotherhood
We can't find it anywhere.
There was a storm here,

Here she poured for love
Noble, scarlet
And sacred blood.
Raise the red flags
Over the free Neva,
Hello, full of courage
Leningrad is fighting!

Three Minute Celebration (Breaking the blockade) Sergei Narovchatov

Three more salvos at the bastards!
And then at eleven forty
We are the first of the Volkhovites to rush in
To the burning First Village.
From the other end, past the shaky walls,
Crucified by fire in the wind,
Are they people, fascists, or through the foggy darkness?
They glide in smoky camouflage suits.
To battle! But the spark of unexpected meetings
A word flashed in the distance.
Russian speech is becoming brighter and wider
It's burning towards us!
And where the destroyed pillbox stood frozen -
At least put a monument over them, -
The St. Petersburg resident shakes hands with the Volkhov man,
They kiss. You can't separate me!
Life should not be valued
Taking risks again and again
So that not us, so others can survive
Until that big day.
And right on the street flasks from belts
We pick it up and in the bright morning
For our victory, for the memory of it
At the celebration we drink for three minutes.
We kiss again. Time doesn't wait.
Having formed the battle formations,
Forever inseparable, go on a hike together
Until the last breath and shot.
I knew the holidays of summer and winter -
Just touch the memory.
In the gold mines of Kolyma
I drank blue fire.
I respected the customs of Kabarda,
I remember the festivities in the Urals,
I drank on first-name terms with all of Fergana
At the construction site of the Grand Canal.
I walked towards cheerful speeches,
No matter where you wander around the world,
But I have never seen a better celebration,
Than three minutes it is.

Photo of breaking the blockade

Photo Breaking the siege of Leningrad

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January 27th is celebrated military glory Russia - the day of the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad. It lasted 872 days (from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944) and claimed over a million human lives, becoming the bloodiest blockade in human history: over 641 thousand inhabitants died from hunger and shelling. Throughout the days the city lived and fought in unimaginably difficult conditions. Its residents gave their last strength in the name of Victory, in the name of preserving the city.

Main announcer of Lenradio M. Melaned - “Order to end the blockade”

Leningrad-Novgorod operation - “Stalin’s first strike”

In January 1943, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts carried out Operation Iskra. A railway line was built on a narrow section near Lake Ladoga, and trains with food, ammunition and fuel went to the city. However, it was not possible to completely lift the blockade from Leningrad.

The main offensive strategic operations of 1944 were called "Stalin's Ten Strikes"

The first of these was a strike in the Leningrad area - the Leningrad-Novgorod operation.
The general idea of ​​the offensive operation was to launch simultaneous attacks on the flanks of the 18th German army in the Peterhof - Strelna area (Krasnoselsko-Ropshinskaya operation) and in the Novgorod area (Novgorod-Luga operation). Then it was planned, attacking in the Kingisepp and Luga directions, to encircle the main forces of the 18th Army and develop an offensive towards Narva, Pskov and Idritsa. The main goal of the upcoming offensive was the complete liberation of Leningrad from the siege. In addition, it was planned to liberate the Leningrad region from German occupation and create the preconditions for a further successful offensive in the Baltic states

The position of the fascists

For two and a half years, the German troops strengthened themselves very thoroughly. The Nazis created a powerful and well-equipped defense. The line of defense consisted of a system of strong resistance nodes and strongholds that had fire communications. The defense was especially powerful in the Pulkovo Heights area and north of Novgorod. There were not only machine-gun and gun emplacements here, but also reinforced concrete pillboxes, anti-tank ditches and gouges. In addition, the marshy area helped the defending side. Soviet troops needed to overcome many rivers, streams, lakes and swamps. There were few dirt roads here, the railways were destroyed. The thaw made the operation even more difficult.
And now the numbers. According to Soviet data, the entire German 18th Army consisted of 168,000 soldiers and officers, about 4,500 guns and mortars, 200 tanks and self-propelled guns. Air support for the entire Army Group North was provided by the 1st Air Fleet with 200 aircraft. According to other sources, the 1st Air Fleet consisted of 370 aircraft, of which 103 were based near Leningrad.
According to German sources, on October 14, 1943, the entire Army Group North (including formations located in northern Finland) numbered 601,000 people, 146 tanks, 2,398 guns and mortars.
In any case, the Soviet troops had a significant superiority over the German ones. In the direction of the main attack, the troops of the Leningrad Front outnumbered the enemy in manpower by more than 2.7 times, in artillery by 3.6 times, and in tanks by 6 times.
The siege of Leningrad was of great strategic importance for Berlin. It made it possible to pin down significant forces of the Red Army and the Baltic Fleet, close the approaches to the Baltic states and its ports and naval bases, maintain freedom of action of the German Navy in the Baltic and ensure sea communications with Finland and Sweden. In addition, Adolf Hitler believed that the Red Army did not have enough strength to simultaneously continue the offensive in the southern direction and strike in the north. And the commander of the 18th Army, Lindemann, assured the Fuhrer that his troops would repel the enemy’s attack. Therefore, Army Group North received orders to maintain positions in the Leningrad area at any cost.

"January Thunder" or Operation "Neva-2"

January 14

The artillery of the 42nd and 67th armies conducted continuous shelling of enemy positions in the Pulkovo Heights and Mga areas in order to disorient the enemy and prevent him from understanding where and when the next blow would be delivered.

January 15

After a 110-minute artillery barrage, in which 2,300 guns and mortars took part, formations of three rifle corps of the 42nd Army went on the offensive on a 17-kilometer section of the Ligovo-Redkoe-Kuzmino front. Formations of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps (45th, 63rd, 64th Rifle Divisions), advancing directly behind the artillery rampart, advanced 4.5 kilometers with minimal losses by the end of the first day of the offensive. The attacks of the 109th (72nd, 109th, 125th rifle divisions) and 110th (56th, 85th, 86th rifle divisions) rifle corps advancing from the right and left were less successful.

January 16-17

In the following days, formations of the 2nd Shock and 42nd Armies slowly but persistently advanced in the direction of Ropsha and Krasnoye Selo towards each other. German troops offered fierce resistance and launched desperate counterattacks whenever possible.
Only by the end of the third day, units of the 2nd Shock Army managed to advance forward up to 10 kilometers and complete the breakthrough of the enemy’s main defensive line at the front up to 23 kilometers. This allowed I. I. Fedyuninsky on the morning of January 17 to form a mobile group (152nd tank brigade, as well as several rifle and artillery units), which was tasked with rapidly developing the offensive, capturing and holding Ropsha.
Even more stubborn battles unfolded in the offensive zone of the 42nd Army. A large number of anti-tank ditches and minefields, as well as effective enemy artillery fire, caused large losses in the army's tank units, which were unable to properly support the advance of rifle formations. Despite this, the Soviet infantry continued to stubbornly move forward. So, on January 16, units of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps, moving forward another 3-4 kilometers, reached the Krasnoye Selo-Pushkin highway. On the same day, units of the 109th Rifle Corps took the strong enemy defense center of Finskoe Koirovo, and units of the 110th Corps took Aleksandrovka.

On the morning of January 17, the commander of the 42nd Army brought into battle the 291st Rifle Division and a mobile group (1st Leningrad Red Banner, 220th Tank Brigades, as well as two self-propelled artillery regiments) with the task of supporting the offensive of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps , capture Krasnye Selo, Dudergof and Voronya Gora.
By the end of January 17, the troops of the 2nd shock and 42nd armies were separated by only 18 kilometers. The German troops, who by this time had thrown into battle not only all the tactical reserves in the area, but also the 61st Infantry Division, which made up the operational reserve, found themselves under the threat of complete encirclement.
The commander of Army Group North was forced to request permission from A. Hitler to withdraw parts of the 26th Army Corps of the 18th Army from the Mginsky ledge in order to free up several divisions to strengthen the defense southwest of Leningrad. Having not received an unequivocal answer, G. Küchler decided to transfer a number of formations (21st, 11th, 225th infantry divisions and other units) to the Krasnoye Selo area, but this measure did not help change the situation. Soon, German troops began a hasty retreat to the south from the areas of Strelna, Volodarsky and Gorelovo.

January 18

Soviet troops achieved the final turning point of the battle in their favor

In the offensive sector of the 2nd Shock Army, the 122nd Rifle Corps, with the support of tank units, after a fierce battle, took Ropsha and, together with the 108th Rifle Corps and a mobile group brought into battle from the second echelon of the army, continued the offensive to the east.
On the same day, rifle units of the 42nd Army began an assault on Krasnoye Selo and Voronya Gora; tank units continued their offensive towards units of the 2nd Shock Army. Fierce fighting for these key strongholds continued for several days.

January 19

In the morning, a simultaneous attack from both sides by units of the 63rd Guards rifle division They stormed Voronya Gora, and units of the 64th Guards and 291st Rifle Divisions liberated Krasnoye Selo.
The German command, taking advantage of the fact that there was no continuous front line yet, withdrew most of the troops from the encirclement area.

January 20th

The remnants of the Peterhof-Strelny enemy group were destroyed. The Germans, retreating, abandoned heavy weapons and siege equipment, which had accumulated near Leningrad for years.

Soviet troops captured 265 guns, including 85 heavy ones. The Germans were pushed back 25 km from the second Soviet capital.

The defeat of the Peterhof-Strelna group and the successes of the Volkhov Front, which also went on the offensive on January 14, created favorable conditions for the continuation of the offensive by the troops of the Leningrad Front. Maslennikov’s army received an order to strike in the direction of Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin and Tosno in order to go behind the forces of Army Group North, which held positions in the area of ​​Ulyanovka, Mgi and Tosno. Subsequently, the 42nd Army was supposed to defeat the 26th and 28th German Army Corps and, in cooperation with the forces of Sviridov’s 67th Army and the right wing of the VF, establish control over the October Railway and completely remove the encirclement from Leningrad. The forces of Fedyuninsky’s army were given the task of bypassing Krasnogvardeysk from the southwestern direction, facilitating the offensive of the 42nd Army.

January 21

Units of the 67th Army of the Leningrad Fleet and the 8th Army of the VF, having discovered the withdrawal of the forces of the Mga enemy group, went on the offensive. On the same day, Soviet troops liberated Mga. The Kirov Railway was recaptured from the Germans. However, they were unable to develop the offensive. The Nazis took positions at the intermediate defensive line "Avtostrada" along Oktyabrskaya railway and put up stubborn resistance.
The Germans' retreat from Mga forced the command of the Leningrad Front to adjust their plans. Now the main task of the 2nd shock and 42nd armies was to attack Krasnogvardeysk, and then on Kingisepp and Narva. The 67th Army was supposed to occupy the Oktyabrskaya Railway and support the attack on Krasnogvardeysk.
For several days there were stubborn battles on the line of the Oktyabrskaya Railway, for Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin and Slutsk. The Germans tried to hold Krasnogvardeysk at any cost. The commander of Army Group North deployed several formations to this area. Hitler refused to allow the withdrawal of troops from the Oktyabrskaya Railway line, from Pushkin and Slutsk.

January 24-30

Pushkin and Sluts were released. On January 25, a decisive assault on Krasnogvardeysk began. Fierce fighting lasted for almost a day. On January 26, Krasnogvardeysk was cleared of Nazis. The solid front of defense of the 18th German Army was broken through, the German divisions were retreating. By January 30, the 2nd Shock Army reached the Luga River. On the night of February 1, Kingisepp was taken by storm. The Germans, unable to hold their position on Luga, retreated to the line on the Narva River. Formations of the 42nd Army, developing an offensive in the southwestern direction, also reached Luga and occupied a bridgehead in the Bolshoi Sabsk region. The troops of the 67th Army under the command of Sviridov, overcoming strong enemy resistance, liberated Vyritskaya on January 27, and recaptured Siversky by January 30.
Thus, in parts of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet, they broke through the powerful enemy defenses and inflicted a heavy defeat on the 18th German Army. Soviet soldiers Leningrad was finally released and advanced 70-100 km.

On January 21, the front commander addressed Stalin:
In connection with the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade and from enemy artillery shelling, we ask for permission:
1. Issue and publish an order to the front troops on this matter.
2. In honor of the victory, fire a salute with twenty-four artillery salvoes from three hundred and twenty-four guns in Leningrad on January 27 this year at 20.00.

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. And on January 27, an order from the Military Council of the Leningrad Front was read out on the radio, which said about the complete liberation of Leningrad from the siege.

Leningraders rejoiced: the terrible blockade, which claimed thousands of lives, was a thing of the past.

Results of the operation

By the end of January 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front, in cooperation with the troops of the Volkhov Front, inflicted a heavy defeat on the 18th German Army, advanced 70 - 100 kilometers, liberated a number of settlements (including Krasnoye Selo, Ropsha, Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin, Slutsk ) and created the preconditions for further offensive. Although the Leningrad-Novgorod operation continued, the main task of the entire strategic offensive was completed - Leningrad was completely liberated from the siege.

Briefly about lifting the siege of Leningrad

Before Soviet troops The task was to defeat the German Army Group North (16 A and 18 A), completely lift the blockade of Leningrad and liberate the Leningrad region from the fascist invaders. As a result of the operation, Soviet troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the Nazi Army Group North and threw it back 220-280 km, destroying 3 and defeating 23 enemy divisions. Leningrad was completely freed from the siege, the Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region were almost completely liberated, and the liberation of the Estonian SSR began.

January 27 is the day of military glory

Days of Military Glory of Russia (Days of Glory of Russian Weapons) - memorable days of Russia in commemoration of victories Russian troops, which played a decisive role in the history of Russia. One of these days is the “Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade.” The list of these days was established in February 1995 by the law “On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia” (today there are 17 days of military glory).

The original name of the Day of Military Glory was the Day of Lifting the Siege of Leningrad (1944). However, in 2013, it was decided to correct this name, since at the end of January 1944, the blockade was completely lifted by Soviet troops, who had previously released several areas in the Leningrad direction.

The importance of lifting the blockade

Photo - echo of the blockade

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Poetry

September 8, usual day of the week. G. Stanislavskaya
(September 8, 1941, the siege of Leningrad began)

September 8, usual day of the week,
The beginning of autumn, beautiful and bright,
The September breeze and the doves were flying,
And the forest attracted people with gifts,
And silence and freshness of breath.
Usually it was early in the morning...
It was like this before or after,
But this year trouble was knocking on the door.
In that 41st memorable year
Beauty was bound with an iron hoop,
Merciless, destructive reach,

Turned the life of Leningraders into hell, -
BLOCKADE. We, the living, cannot understand
What did the child feel as he faded away?
Carrying a dead mother on a sled
And biting my lips out of helplessness...
Sirens sound, metronome sound
The memory of the children under the siege is disturbing,
They suffered countless hellish torments,
Labor for the front without ceremonial speeches,+

They had their fate, but people did not give up,
The city, adults and children did not give up!
To their memory, living one, bow down
And tell us - let them remember! – to our children.

Dedicated to all the siege survivors of the city of Leningrad... S.V. Titov
Thin fingers, transparent fingers,
Cloudy lens of the pupil.

The night danced snow waltzes,
The candle flickered dimly.

The stars fell like shells,
Burning through the world.

You survived this blockade,
You and your ghostly guest.
Stale cracker - cut into halves,
A flask of icy water,

Piles of ruins, cold and ice.
How can I survive until Wednesday?
The stop is two kilometers away;
The streets are full of corpses
Dead faces, streaks of wind, -
The echo of war...

The city thawed, consecrated in the spring,
You've warmed up a little too.
Old maples spread out their branches,
And the bridges creaked.

Dust is on the chest of drawers, there are shadows in the room.
Where is your ghostly guest?
Maybe he left? Or maybe a vision
You had a chance to meet...

Video

At what cost did our veterans pay for victory in the Great Patriotic War? How does today's generation “remember” their history? Why would our children give Leningrad to the enemy if they were in the place of our veteran heroes?
This film shows parallels between two eras - Soviet period and modern. Veterans talk about the severity of wartime. Meanwhile, modern children sit in history class and don’t even try to imagine how hard it was for our people during the Great Patriotic War. What can change their attitude towards the history of their homeland? Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, as well as cultural, scientific and political figures will try to answer this and many other questions in the film.

Documentary film "History Lesson". 2010

Film by K. Nabutov “Siege of Leningrad”. Part 1

The filmmakers balanced the dry language of numbers and documents with human stories, because each survivor of these terrible months has their own blockade. Ordinary Leningraders who became prisoners of a hungry city tell their stories.
There was also a place in the film for a view from “the other side.” German veterans - some ask Leningraders for forgiveness, but there are also those who are still confident that they were right at that time...

00:21 — REGNUM On this day 75 years ago, January 18, 1943, Soviet troops broke the enemy blockade of Leningrad. It took another year of stubborn fighting to completely eliminate it. The day of breaking the blockade is always celebrated in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. Today the President of Russia will visit the residents of both regions Vladimir Putin, whose father fought and was seriously wounded in the battles on Nevsky Piglet.

The breaking of the blockade was the result of Operation Iskra, which was carried out by troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, which united south of Lake Ladoga and restored the land connection between Leningrad and the “Mainland”. On the same day, the city of Shlisselburg, which “locks” the entrance to the Neva from Ladoga, was liberated from the enemy. The breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad became the first in military history an example of unblocking a large city with a simultaneous blow from the outside and from the inside.

The strike forces of the two Soviet fronts, which were supposed to break through the enemy’s powerful defensive fortifications and eliminate the Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky ledge, included more than 300 thousand soldiers and officers, about 5 thousand guns and mortars, more than 600 tanks and more than 800 aircraft.

On the night of January 12, the positions of the German fascists were subjected to an unexpected air raid by Soviet bombers and attack aircraft, and in the morning massive artillery preparation began using large-caliber guns. It was carried out in such a way as not to damage the ice of the Neva, along which the infantry of the Leningrad Front, reinforced with tanks and artillery, soon moved on the offensive. And from the east, the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front went on the offensive against the enemy. She was given the task of capturing numbered workers' settlements north of Sinyavino, which the Germans had turned into fortified strongholds.

During the first day of the offensive, the advancing Soviet units, with heavy fighting, managed to advance 2-3 kilometers deep into the German defense. The German command, facing the threat of dismemberment and encirclement of its troops, organized an urgent transfer of reserves to the site of the breakthrough planned by the Soviet units, which made the battles as fierce and bloody as possible. Our troops were also reinforced with a second echelon of attackers, new tanks and guns.

On January 15 and 16, 1943, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts fought for individual strong points. On the morning of January 16, the assault on Shlisselburg began. On January 17, Podgornaya and Sinyavino stations were taken. As former Wehrmacht officers later recalled, control of the German units in the areas of the Soviet offensive was disrupted, there were not enough shells and equipment, the single line of defense was crushed, and individual units were surrounded.

The Nazi troops were cut off from reinforcements and defeated in the area of ​​workers' settlements; the remnants of the defeated units, abandoning their weapons and equipment, scattered through the forests and surrendered. Finally, on January 18, units of the shock group of troops of the Volkhov Front, after artillery preparation, went on the attack and linked up with the troops of the Leningrad Front, capturing workers’ villages No. 1 and 5.

The blockade of Leningrad was broken. On the same day, Shlisselburg was completely liberated, and the entire southern shore of Lake Ladoga came under the control of the Soviet command, which soon made it possible to connect Leningrad with the country by road and railway and save hundreds of thousands of people who remained in the city besieged by the enemy from starvation.

According to historians, the total combat losses of the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts during Operation Iskra amounted to 115,082 people, of which 33,940 were irrecoverable. Soldiers and officers of the Red Army sacrificed themselves to save Leningraders who did not surrender to the enemy from painful death. Militarily, the success of Operation Iskra meant the final loss of the enemy's strategic initiative in the northwestern direction, as a result of which the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad became inevitable. It happened a year later, on January 27, 1944.

“Breaking the blockade eased the suffering and hardships of Leningraders, instilled confidence in victory in all Soviet citizens, and opened the way to the complete liberation of the city, - the speaker of the upper house recalled today, January 18, in her blog on the website of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko. — Residents and defenders of the city on the Neva did not allow themselves to be broken, they withstood all the tests, once again confirming that greatness of spirit, courage and dedication are stronger than bullets and shells. In the end, it is not force that always triumphs, but truth and justice.”

As already reported IA REGNUM, on the 75th anniversary of the breaking of the blockade, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the region. He will lay flowers at the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery, where many thousands of Leningrad residents and defenders of the city are buried, visit the military-historical complex "Nevsky Piglet" and the Proryv panorama museum, in the Kirovsky district of the Leningrad region, meet with veterans of the Great Patriotic War and representatives of search engines detachments working on the battlefields of that war.

Veterans and survivors of the blockade of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, activists of social, military-historical and youth movements will gather at noon at a solemn meeting at the Sinyavinsky Heights memorial, dedicated to breaking the blockade, in the village of Sinyavino, Kirov district of the Leningrad region.

At 17:00 in the center of St. Petersburg there will be a ceremony of laying flowers at the memorial sign “Days of the Siege”. During the event, students of the association of teenage and youth clubs “Perspective” of the Central District will read poems about the Great Patriotic War, and blockade survivors will share stories about life and death in the besieged city. Candles will be lit in memory of the victims, after which flowers will be laid at the memorial plaques.

The siege of Leningrad by German and Finnish troops lasted 872 days, from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. During the blockade, according to various sources, from 650 thousand to 1.5 million people died, mainly from starvation. The blockade was completely lifted on January 27, 1944.

Background

In place of the politics of the 90s, when everything connected with the Soviet Union was attacked, Russia remembered patriotic education and the preservation of the spiritual foundations that unite Russian citizens. The most important place was occupied by the memory of the victory in the Great Patriotic War as a manifestation of mass patriotism and heroism of the Soviet people.
At the same time, attempts to distort military history continue both from foreign journalists, historians and artists, and inside Russia. A RANEPA survey in 2015 showed that 60% of Russian citizens notice such distortions in the domestic media, and 82.5% in the foreign press.
A particularly fierce struggle against the legacy of the Great Patriotic War is being waged in countries that directly or indirectly support fascist ideas: primarily in Ukraine and the Baltic states.

If this outstanding military leader of the Red Army had no other glorious military deeds except heroic defense Leningrad, then even then his name would have been preserved forever by grateful descendants

Marshal of the Soviet Union Bagramyan I.Kh.

Breakthrough and complete lifting of the blockade

Since 1941, the troops of the Leningrad Front fought under conditions of a complete blockade of the city and had no experience in breaking through heavily fortified defensive lines. They had to be taught this in a very short time. Since the autumn of 1942, the units began to actively prepare for the operation to break the blockade, codenamed “Iskra”.

Workday L.A. Govorova at this time rarely ended before 4 o'clock in the morning. Working in his office in Smolny, he carefully calculated the upcoming operation step by step. And in the morning the commander could be seen at staff exercises with division commanders, at training of infantrymen, sappers, tank crews, and at shooting.

To the wife’s question, what will happen if the operation fails. Govorov answered with all directness: “Then at least put your head in the hole...”. He understood the responsibility he had and that he had no right to make a mistake.

Commander L.A. Govorov and member of the military council
Leningrad Front A.A. Zhdanov. Smolny. Winter 1942-1943

In conditions of an acute lack of forces and means, L.A. Govorov took a conscious risk - he alternately brought units and units from the front line to the second echelon for the purpose of conducting training on offensive topics. G Vorov trained his troops the same way Suvorov once trained his army before the storming of the Turkish fortress of Izmail. Soviet soldiers dubbed the enemy bank of the Neva “Nevsky Izmail”. And indeed, 6 meters high, it was doused with water by the Germans, which made it impregnable for infantry. And at the top there are wire fences, several defensive lines and well-armed, well-fed elite units of the Wehrmacht. In addition, first, our soldiers had to overcome as much as 800 m along the ice of the river under continuous fire, which was a serious obstacle for people weakened by hunger and suffering from dystrophy. And tanks in this case were simply useless.

We could only count on artillery, aviation and the morale of our infantry.

And now the long-awaited day has come. On January 12, 1943, a barrage of Soviet artillery fire fell on the defensive positions of the fascist troops and crushed the enemy’s forward defense lines for almost two hours. After this, Soviet aviation began to “iron” the enemy’s position. The enemy was taken by surprise.

To save energy, the soldiers were ordered “Hurray!” not to shout, but to raise morale, Govorov called a military band to the battlefield. And so, to the sounds of the “Internationale,” the infantry rushed to the attack. Thanks to grueling training, the soldiers covered 800 m of ice with minimal losses. In order to then overcome the ice wall doused with water, previously prepared hooks, “crampons” and assault ladders were used. And the enemy wavered. The Nazis could not have expected such a powerful, well-prepared attack by our troops, who broke into their defenses from the inside.

Leningrad soldiers drove the Nazis away from the walls hometown. And at the same time the troops of the Volkhov Front rushed towards them, under the command of Army General Meretskov, who were supposed to crush the enemy outside the blockade ring.

On January 15, 1943, in the midst of Operation Iskra, Leonid Aleksandrovich was awarded the rank of “Colonel General” - by the way, his first combined arms rank.

And on January 18, 1943, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, having defeated the enemy, united. The 16-month blockade of long-suffering Leningrad was broken. For high skill in leading troops during the operation to break the blockade of Leningrad and the military successes achieved, Colonel General L.A. Govorov was awarded the commander's Order of Suvorov, 1st degree.

But even after successful operations, Govorov always carefully analyzed their results and the losses incurred. After breaking the blockade of Leningrad, in his order dated February 15, 1943, he noted: “Anyone who allows unjustified losses and thereby deprives his unit of combat effectiveness without completing the assigned task commits a crime. Army commanders, on personal responsibility, do not authorize attacks without reconnaissance of the enemy and not provided with fire..."

L. A. Govorov presents the Guards Banner to the commander
63rd Guards Rifle Division to Major General Semonyak
for distinction in breaking the siege of Leningrad. 1943

Throughout the winter and summer of 1943, the troops of the Leningrad Front, together with the Volkhov Front, pinned down the opposing Army Group North. They did not allow the German command to close the blockade ring again and transfer the divisions thus freed to Kursk, where the greatest battle took place, which predetermined the radical turning point in the course of the entire war. The merit of the Leningrad soldiers also contributed to this.

In besieged Leningrad L.A. Govorov also managed to write articles in which he analyzed the course of hostilities. The following works belong to his pen: “Battles for Leningrad”, “In defense of the city of Lenin”, “A year and a half of fighting for Leningrad”, “The Great Battle of Leningrad”, etc.

By September 1943 L.A. Govorov presents to Headquarters a plan for a new operation, this time to completely lift the siege of Leningrad. After its approval, the troops began preparations for the upcoming offensive. And again, L.A. Govorov and the front command carefully calculate the future operation, paying attention to the smallest details.

On November 17, 1943, in the midst of preparations for the operation to completely lift the siege of Leningrad, L.A. Govorov is assigned military rank"army General".

The operation, called the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic operation, began on January 14, 1944 after a powerful artillery preparation.

Formations of the 2nd Shock Army, operating from the Oranienbaum bridgehead, and the 42nd Army, advancing from the Pulkovo Heights, struck in converging directions. During intense battles, Soviet formations successfully broke through the enemy's strong, deeply echeloned defenses and defeated his Peterhof-Strelny group. By January 27, Nazi troops were driven back 65-100 km from the city. Thus, the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted!

For the first time in world history, a city completely blocked by the enemy liberated itself!

On January 27, 1944, the capital ceded the right to Leningrad to fire fireworks to commemorate the final lifting of the blockade, and the order to the victorious troops was signed, contrary to the established order, not by Stalin, but on his behalf by Govorov. None of the commanders of the Great Patriotic War received such a privilege!

Developing the offensive, the troops of the Leningrad Front under the command of Army General L.A. Govorova advanced 100-120 km and reached the Narva River, seizing a bridgehead on its western bank. By March 1, 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front advanced west to 220-280 km. The fascist Army Group North suffered a heavy defeat. 3 and 23 enemy divisions were destroyed, the Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region were almost completely liberated, and the preconditions were created for the subsequent liberation of Estonia. Germany's authority in the eyes of Finland and other Scandinavian countries was seriously undermined.

For his success in carrying out the operation to completely lift the siege of Leningrad, L. A. Govorov was awarded the second Order of Suvorov, 1st degree.