Terrible memories of a girl who survived the blockade in Leningrad. Siege of Leningrad: how it was

In the initial stages of the war, the German leadership had every chance to capture Leningrad. And yet, this did not happen. The fate of the city, in addition to the courage of its inhabitants, was decided by many factors.

Siege or assault?

Initially, the Barbarossa plan involved the rapid capture of the city on the Neva by Army Group North, but there was no unity among the German command: some Wehrmacht generals believed that the city needed to be captured, while others, including the chief of the general staff, Franz Halder, assumed that you can get by with the blockade.

In early July 1941, Halder made the following entry in his diary: "The 4th Panzer Group must set up barriers from the north and south of Lake Peipus and cordon off Leningrad." This record does not yet allow us to say that Halder decided to limit himself to blockade the city, but the mention of the word "cordon" already tells us that he did not plan to take the city right away.

Hitler himself advocated the capture of the city, guided in this case by economic rather than political aspects. The German army needed the possibility of unhindered navigation in the Baltic Gulf.

Luga failure of the Leningrad blitzkrieg

The Soviet command understood the importance of the defense of Leningrad, after Moscow it was the most important political and economic center of the USSR. The city housed the Kirov Machine-Building Plant, which produced the latest heavy tanks of the KV type, which played an important role in the defense of Leningrad. And the name itself - "City of Lenin" - did not allow it to be handed over to the enemy.

So, both sides understood the importance of capturing the Northern capital. The Soviet side began the construction of fortified areas in places of possible attacks by German troops. The most powerful, in the Luzhek area, included more than six hundred bunkers and bunkers. In the second week of July, the German 4th Panzer Group reached this line of defense and could not immediately overcome it, and here the German plan for the Leningrad blitzkrieg collapsed.

Hitler, dissatisfied with the delay in the offensive and the constant requests for reinforcements from Army Group North, personally visited the front, making it clear to the generals that the city must be taken and as soon as possible.

Dizzy with success

As a result of the Fuhrer's visit, the Germans regrouped their forces and in early August broke through the Luga line of defense, rapidly capturing Novgorod, Shiimsk, and Chudovo. By the end of the summer, the Wehrmacht achieved maximum success in this sector of the front and blocked the last railway going to Leningrad.

By the beginning of autumn, it seemed that Leningrad was about to be taken, but Hitler, who focused on the plan to capture Moscow and believed that with the capture of the capital, the war against the USSR would be practically won, ordered the transfer of the most combat-ready tank and infantry units from Army Group North. near Moscow. The nature of the battles near Leningrad immediately changed: if earlier the German units sought to break through the defenses and capture the city, now the first task was to destroy industry and infrastructure.

"Third Option"

The withdrawal of troops proved to be a fatal mistake for Hitler's plans. The remaining troops for the offensive were not enough, and the encircled Soviet units, having learned about the confusion of the enemy, tried with all their might to break through the blockade. As a result, the Germans had no choice but to go on the defensive, limiting themselves to indiscriminate shelling of the city from distant positions. There was no question of a further offensive, the main task was to preserve the siege ring around the city. In this situation, the German command had three options:

1. Taking the city after the completion of the encirclement;
2. The destruction of the city with the help of artillery and aircraft;
3. An attempt to deplete the resources of Leningrad and force him to surrender.

Hitler initially had the highest hopes for the first option, but he underestimated the importance of Leningrad to the Soviets, as well as the resilience and courage of its inhabitants.
The second option, according to experts, was a failure on its own - the density of air defense systems in some areas of Leningrad was 5-8 times higher than the density of air defense systems in Berlin and London, and the number of guns involved did not allow fatal damage to the city's infrastructure.

Thus, the third option remained Hitler's last hope for taking the city. It resulted in two years and five months of bitter confrontation.

environment and hunger

By mid-September 1941, the German army completely surrounded the city. The bombing did not stop: civilian objects became targets: food warehouses, large food industry plants.

From June 1941 to October 1942, many residents of the city were evacuated from Leningrad. At first, however, very reluctantly, because no one believed in a protracted war, and even more so they could not imagine how terrible the blockade and battles for the city on the Neva would be. Children were evacuated to the Leningrad region, but not for long - most of these territories were soon captured by the Germans and many children were returned back.

Now the main enemy of the USSR in Leningrad was hunger. It was he, according to Hitler's plans, who was to play a decisive role in the surrender of the city. In an attempt to establish a food supply, the Red Army repeatedly attempted to break through the blockade, organized "partisan convoys" that delivered food to the city right across the front line.

The leadership of Leningrad also made every effort to fight hunger. In November and December 1941, terrible for the population, active construction of enterprises producing food substitutes began. For the first time in history, bread was baked from cellulose and sunflower oil cake, in the production of semi-finished meat products they began to actively use by-products that no one would have thought of using in food production before.

In the winter of 1941, food rations hit a record low: 125 grams of bread per person. The issuance of other products was practically not carried out. The city was on the verge of extinction. The cold also became a severe test, the temperature dropped to -32 Celsius. And the negative temperature kept in Leningrad for 6 months. In the winter of 1941-1942, a quarter of a million people died.

The role of saboteurs

The first months of the siege, the Germans shelled Leningrad from artillery almost without hindrance. They transferred to the city the heaviest guns they had, mounted on railway platforms, these guns were capable of firing at a distance of up to 28 km, with 800-900 kilogram shells. In response to this, the Soviet command began to deploy a counter-battery fight, detachments of reconnaissance and saboteurs were formed, who discovered the location of the Wehrmacht's long-range artillery. Significant assistance in organizing the counter-battery fight was provided by the Baltic Fleet, whose naval artillery hit the German artillery formations from the flanks and rear.

International factor

A significant role in the failure of Hitler's plans was played by his "allies". In addition to the Germans, Finns, Swedes, Italian and Spanish units participated in the siege. Spain did not officially participate in the war against the Soviet Union, with the exception of the volunteer Blue Division. There are different opinions about her. Some note the steadfastness of its fighters, others - a complete lack of discipline and mass desertion, soldiers often went over to the side of the Red Army. Italy provided torpedo boats, but their land operations were unsuccessful.

"Road of Victory"

The final collapse of the plan to capture Leningrad came on January 12, 1943, it was at that moment that the Soviet command launched Operation Iskra and after 6 days of fierce fighting, on January 18, the blockade was broken. Immediately after this, a railway was laid to the besieged city, later called the "Road of Victory" and also known as the "Corridor of Death". The road was so close to military operations that German units often fired cannons at trains. However, a flood of supplies and food poured into the city. Enterprises began to produce products according to peacetime plans, sweets and chocolate appeared on store shelves.

In fact, the ring around the city still held whole year, but the encirclement was no longer so dense, the city was successfully supplied with resources, and the general situation on the fronts did not allow Hitler to build such ambitious plans anymore.

You can call it a feat, but you can understand that it was the work, beloved or necessary in the conditions of war, that gave people the opportunity to feel the power of their will, and this was the very life that turned out to be more important than the existence of the physical, and in the end became that very Victory . Collected photographic evidence of this experience.

In the dirt, in the darkness, in hunger, in sadness,
Where death, like a shadow, dragged on its heels,
We were so happy
They breathed such stormy freedom,
That the grandchildren would envy us.

(Olga Bergholz)

Artists and climbers camouflaged urban objects

During the blockade, there were about a hundred members of the Union of Artists in the city. In addition to creating propaganda posters, they were engaged in masking urban objects. For example, models of buildings were erected on the roofs of workshops, creating the illusion of residential areas.

With high-rise dominants of the city - domes and spiers - they acted like this: gilded by electroplating (for example, the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral), painted with oil gray paint to match the sky (the paint can be washed off from such gilding), and covered with gold leaf covered with huge covers.

Since most of the climbers were called to the front, participants were attracted for these works. sports section DSO "Art": pianist O. A. Firsova, secretary of the DSO A. I. Prigozheva, employee of the film studio "Lenfilm" A. A. Zemba, junior lieutenant M. M. Bobrov, cellist M. I. Shestakov, artist T. E. Wiesel. The team was led by architect S. N. Davydov and engineer L. A. Zhukovsky. The work was carried out in extreme conditions, each member of the team showed incredible self-control.

Energy workers and citizens broke through the energy blockade and launched tram traffic

After the blockade ring closed, an energy blockade began in the city. By February 1942, only one station was operating, carrying a load of only 3,000 kW, and when steam locomotives froze at the station at night and it completely stopped, the workers were able to start one locomotive with incredible efforts and set up the work of the enterprise.

To help with the energy supply of the city, 3,000 Leningraders went to cut down the forest, special women's teams were formed to harvest peat, it was allowed to demolish all wooden buildings within the city.

Thanks to the efforts of people, at the end of February 1942, tram traffic was restored in the city - according to the memoirs of Leningraders, this event made many perk up.

In the narrowest place of Lake Ladoga, it was decided to lay 120 kilometers of armored cable. There was no water, no steam, no electricity at the Sevkabel plant, but by the summer of 1942, the plant's workers were able to produce more than 100 kilometers of cable that can withstand a voltage of 10 kilovolts - 270 drums of 11 tons each.

Three construction battalions, divers, signalmen, with the help of mobilized workers from Leningrad enterprises, were able to lay a cable along the bottom of the lake - and on September 23, 1942, at 09:40, the energy of the Volkhovskaya hydroelectric station began to flow into the besieged city.

The blockade cable is still in use: it was raised from the bottom of Ladoga and laid under the sidewalk of Nevsky Prospekt.

5,000 people built railroad tracks on the Road of Life

In the winter of 1942–1943, the construction of a 35-kilometer pile-ice railway crossing began simultaneously from the two shores of Lake Ladoga. The construction was led by I. G. Zubkov, thanks to him a street in the Kirovsky district was named after him.

More than 5,000 people worked at the construction site - mobilized workers (mostly women) - and military builders. They worked around the clock, lived next to the construction site in dugouts. There were constant enemy attacks on the construction site, people fell through the ice, ice shifts broke already clogged piles, but in spite of everything, work continued anew.

On January 18, 1943, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts broke through the blockade of Leningrad. This road is no longer needed. Its builders were immediately transferred to work on the same bridge across the Neva at the site of the breakthrough.

During the blockade, composer Dmitri Shostakovich worked on the construction of defensive lines and, as part of the conservatory team, put out fires from incendiary bombs.

Despite the fact that Shostakovich asked to go to the front, applied to the People's Militia, the Military Council of the Front ordered the immediate evacuation of the composer and his family to Kuibyshev, where at the end of December 1941 he completed work on the famous Seventh Symphony.

Zookeepers rescue animals

The Leningrad zoo was closed only in the winter of 1941-1942. Already in the spring, exhausted employees began to prepare it to receive visitors. 162 animals were exhibited. Over the summer, about 7,400 Leningraders came to see them, which means that people needed a zoo in the besieged city.

Zoo employees, headed by director Nikolai Sokolov, restored buildings after the bombing, treated wounded animals, and searched for those who had escaped from destroyed enclosures. They collected the corpses of horses killed by shells in the fields, risking their lives, gathered vegetables in abandoned fields, mowed the remaining grass in all possible points of the city, collected mountain ash and acorns. The predators were fed with a mixture of grass and bagasse, sewn into the skins of rabbits. Rats were specially caught for the golden eagle.

Elephant Betty died from a bomb explosion in September 1941, and Hippo Beauty was able to survive thanks to the help of employee Evdokia Ivanovna Dashina. Every day, Evdokia Ivanovna brought a forty-bucket barrel of water on a sled from the Neva to take care of Beauty's skin, which, without constant moisturizing, began to crack.

In November 1941, a cub was born to the hamadryas Elsa. But the exhausted monkey had no milk. A nearby maternity hospital came to the rescue, providing a daily portion of donor milk. And the newborn hamadryas survived in the besieged city.

Employees of the OHM in St. Isaac's Cathedral rescued museum valuables from suburban palaces

St. Isaac's Cathedral during the war years was the place where the exhibits of the Leningrad palace-museums were kept, which were taken out of Peterhof, Lomonosov, Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Gatchina - a total of 120 thousand museum items.

In the cathedral, the United Management of Museums (OHM) was created, where many employees of museums located in the territory occupied by the Nazis worked. The head (OHM) was Evdokia Ignatievna Ledinkina, the main custodian - Researcher Gatchina Palace Serafima Nikolaevna Badaeva.

All employees were transferred to the barracks regime by order of the Administration of Palaces and Parks of Leningrad. They slept on plank beds, covered with clothes. In the first months of the siege, 62 employees of suburban museums lived in the cathedral, by the spring of 1942 there were only 40 of them. It was very damp in the basements, so the employees had to pull heavy boxes with exhibits out to dry, and pull them back in case of an alarm.

In May 2005, a memorial plaque with the names of those who preserved the treasures of national culture during the years of the siege was unveiled in the basement of the cathedral.

During the war years, the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing on St. Isaac's Square, 4 had huge collection grains. Several tons of various grain crops were stored in the institute's fund. They were intended for the post-war restoration of agriculture. 28 employees of the institute died of starvation, but never touched a single grain, not a single grain of rice or a potato tuber.

Leningraders donated blood for the front

From the first days of the war, a mass of people went to the Leningrad Institute of Blood Transfusion (now the Russian Research Institute of Hematology and Transfusiology) who wanted to donate blood to help the wounded at the front. In 1941, almost 36 thousand Leningraders were registered as donors, in 1942 - almost 57 thousand, and in 1943-1944 - 34 thousand people each.

When donor depletion began, the single dose of blood sampling was reduced to 170 milliliters. Only in 1943, the dose was increased to 200 milliliters, and in 1944 - to 250. In total, during the war years, the institute prepared about 113 tons of canned blood.

Donors received special rations, but most of them refused monetary compensation after donating blood, and this money went to the defense fund. At the end of 1942, 510 thousand rubles were collected, and the management of the institute sent a telegram to I.V. Stalin, in which he asked to use these funds for the construction of the Leningrad Donor aircraft.

The newspapers "Smena" and "Leningradskaya Pravda", large-circulation newspapers of large factories continued to be published in the city, as well as all-Union publications were printed on matrices dropped from aircraft. Employees of newspapers and printing houses, at the cost of their lives and incredible efforts, continued to work as usual.

The newspaper "Leningradskaya Pravda" did not come out only once - on January 25, 1942, the number had already been typed up, but it could not be printed: on that day there was no electricity in the city.

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The first ordeal that fell to the lot of courageous Leningraders was regular shelling (the first of them dated September 4, 1941) and air strikes (although for the first time enemy planes tried to penetrate the city limits on the night of June 23, but to break through there they succeeded only on September 6). However, German aviation did not drop shells randomly, but according to a well-defined scheme: their task was to destroy as many civilians as possible, as well as strategically important objects.

On the afternoon of September 8, 30 enemy bombers appeared in the sky over the city. High-explosive and incendiary bombs rained down. The fire engulfed the entire southeastern part of Leningrad. The fire began to devour the wooden storages of the Badaev food warehouses. Flour, sugar and other foodstuffs burned. It took almost 5 hours to pacify the conflagration. “Hunger hangs over a multi-million population ─ there are no Badaev food warehouses.” “At the Badaev warehouses on September 8, a fire destroyed three thousand tons of flour and two and a half tons of sugar. This is what is consumed by the population in just three days. The main part of the reserves was dispersed over other bases ... seven times more than burned down at Badaevsky. But the products discarded by the explosion were not available to the population, because. a cordon was set up around the warehouses.

In total, over 100 thousand incendiary and 5 thousand high-explosive bombs, about 150 thousand shells were dropped on the city during the blockade. In the autumn months of 1941 alone, the air raid alert was announced 251 times. The average duration of shelling in November 1941 was 9 hours.

Without losing hope of taking Leningrad by storm, on September 9, the Germans launched a new offensive. The main blow was delivered from the area west of Krasnogvardeysk. But the command of the Leningrad Front transferred part of the troops from the Karelian Isthmus to the most threatening areas, replenished the reserve units with detachments of the people's militia. These measures allowed the front on the southern and southwestern approaches to the city to stabilize.

It was clear that the plan of the Nazis to capture Leningrad was a fiasco. Having not achieved the previously set goals, the top of the Wehrmacht came to the conclusion that only a long siege of the city and incessant air raids could lead to its capture. In one of the documents of the operational department of the General Staff of the Third Reich "On the Siege of Leningrad" dated September 21, 1941, it was said:

“b) First we blockade Leningrad (hermetically) and destroy the city, if possible, with artillery and aircraft.

c) When terror and famine have done their work in the city, we will open separate gates and release unarmed people.

d) The remnants of the “fortress garrison” (as the enemy called the civilian population of Leningrad ─ ed. note) will remain there for the winter. In the spring we will penetrate the city ... we will take out everything that remains alive into the depths of Russia or take it prisoner, raze Leningrad to the ground and transfer the area north of the Neva to Finland.

Such were the plans of the adversary. But the Soviet command could not put up with such circumstances. On September 10, 1941, the first attempt to de-siege Leningrad dates back. The Sinyavino operation of the troops of the 54th separate army and the Leningrad Front began in order to restore the land connection between the city and the country. The Soviet troops were underpowered and could not complete the task they had left. On September 26, the operation ended.

Meanwhile, the situation in the city itself became more and more difficult. In besieged Leningrad, 2.544 million people remained, including about 400 thousand children. Despite the fact that an “air bridge” began to operate from mid-September, and a few days earlier, small lake vessels with flour began to moor to the Leningrad coast, food supplies were declining at a catastrophic rate.

On July 18, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR adopted a resolution to introduce in Moscow, Leningrad and their suburbs, as well as in individual settlements of Moscow and Leningrad regions cards for the most important food products (bread, meat, fats, sugar, etc.) and for manufactured goods of prime necessity (by the end of the summer, such goods were issued on cards throughout the country). They set the following norms for bread:

Workers and engineering and technical workers of the coal, oil, metallurgical industries were supposed to be from 800 to 1200 gr. bread a day.

The rest of the mass of workers and engineering and technical workers (for example, light industry) was given 500 gr. of bread.

Employees of various industries National economy received 400-450 gr. bread a day.

Dependents and children also had to be content with 300-400 gr. bread per day.

However, by September 12, in Leningrad, cut off from the mainland, there remained: grain and flour for 35 days, cereals and pasta for 30, meat and meat products for 33, fats for 45, sugar and confectionery for 60 days. day in Leningrad there was the first reduction in the daily norms of bread established throughout the Union: 500 gr. for workers, 300 gr. for employees and children, 250 gr. for dependents.

But the enemy did not calm down. Here is the entry dated September 18, 1941, in the diary of the Chief of the General Staff of the Land Forces of Nazi Germany, Colonel-General F. Halder: “The ring around Leningrad is not yet closed as tightly as we would like ... The enemy has large human and material forces and means . The situation here will be tense until, as an ally, it makes itself feel hungry. Herr Halder, to the great regret of the inhabitants of Leningrad, thought absolutely right: hunger really felt more and more every day.

From October 1, the townspeople began to receive 400 gr. (workers) and 300 gr. (other). Food, delivered by waterway through Ladoga (for the entire autumn navigation ─ from September 12 to November 15 ─ 60 tons of provisions were brought in and 39 thousand people were evacuated), did not cover even a third of the needs of the urban population.

Another significant problem was the acute shortage of energy. Before the war, Leningrad plants and factories operated on imported fuel, but the siege disrupted all supplies, and the available supplies were melting before our eyes. The threat of fuel starvation loomed over the city. In order to prevent the emerging energy crisis from becoming a catastrophe, on October 8 the Leningrad Executive Committee of Working People's Deputies decided to stock up firewood in the regions north of Leningrad. Detachments of loggers were sent there, which consisted mainly of women. In mid-October, the detachments began their work, but from the very beginning it became clear that the logging plan would not be carried out. The Leningrad youth also made a considerable contribution to resolving the fuel issue (about 2,000 Komsomol members, mostly girls, took part in logging). But even their labors were not enough to fully or almost completely provide enterprises with energy. With the onset of cold weather, factories stopped one after another.

Only the lifting of the siege could make life easier for Leningrad, for which, on October 20, the Sinyavin operation of the troops of the 54th and 55th armies and the Neva operational group of the Leningrad Front started. It coincided with the offensive of the Nazi troops on Tikhvin, therefore, on October 28, the deblockade had to be postponed due to the aggravated situation in the Tikhvin direction.

The German command became interested in Tikhvin after the failure to capture Leningrad from the south. It was this place that was a hole in the ring of encirclement around Leningrad. And as a result of heavy fighting on November 8, the Nazis managed to occupy this town. And this meant one thing: Leningrad lost the last railway, along which goods were transported to the city along Lake Ladoga. But the Svir River remained inaccessible to the enemy. Moreover: as a result of the Tikhvin offensive operation in mid-November, the Germans were driven back across the Volkhov River. The liberation of Tikhvin was carried out only a month after its capture - on December 9th.

On November 8, 1941, Hitler arrogantly said: “Leningrad will raise its hands: it will inevitably fall, sooner or later. No one will be freed from there, no one will break through our lines. Leningrad is destined to starve to death.” It might have seemed to some then that this would be the case. On November 13, another decrease in the norms for issuing bread was recorded: workers and engineering and technical workers were given 300 grams each, the rest of the population ─ 150 grams each. But when navigation along Ladoga had almost ceased, and provisions were not actually delivered to the city, even this meager ration had to be cut. The lowest norms for the release of bread for the entire period of the blockade were set at the following levels: workers were given 250 grams each, employees, children and dependents ─ 125 grams each; troops of the first line and warships ─ 300 gr. bread and 100 gr. crackers, the rest of the military units ─ 150 gr. bread and 75 gr. crackers. At the same time, it is worth remembering that all such products were not baked from first-class or even second-class wheat flour. The blockade bread of that time had the following composition:

rye flour ─ 40%,

cellulose ─ 25%,

meal ─ 20%,

barley flour ─ 5%,

malt ─ 10%,

cake (if available, replaced cellulose),

bran (if available, meals were replaced).

In the besieged city, bread was, of course, the highest value. For a loaf of bread, a bag of cereals or a can of stew, people were ready to give even family jewelry. Different people had different ways of dividing the slice of bread that was given out every morning: someone cut it into thin slices, someone into tiny cubes, but everyone agreed on one thing: the most delicious and satisfying is the crust. But what kind of satiety can we talk about when each of the Leningraders was losing weight before our eyes?

Under such conditions, one had to remember the ancient instincts of hunters and foragers. Thousands of hungry people rushed to the outskirts of the city, to the fields. Sometimes, under a hail of enemy shells, exhausted women and children raked the snow with their hands, dug the ground hardened by frost in order to find at least a few potatoes, rhizomes or cabbage leaves remaining in the soil. The Commissioner of the State Defense Committee for the food supply of Leningrad, Dmitry Vasilievich Pavlov, in his essay “Leningrad in the Siege” wrote: “In order to fill empty stomachs, drown out the incomparable suffering from hunger, the inhabitants resorted to different ways food research: they caught rooks, fiercely hunted for a surviving cat or dog, from home first-aid kits they chose everything that could be used for food: castor oil, petroleum jelly, glycerin; they cooked soup, jelly from wood glue. Yes, the townspeople caught everything that ran, flew or crawled. Birds, cats, dogs, rats - in all this living creatures, people saw, first of all, food, therefore, during the blockade, their population within Leningrad and the surrounding environs was almost completely destroyed. There were also cases of cannibalism, when they stole and ate babies, cut off the most fleshy (mainly buttocks and thighs) parts of the body of the dead. But the increase in mortality was still horrendous: by the end of November, about 11 thousand people had died of exhaustion. People fell right on the streets, going to work or returning from it. On the streets one could observe a huge number of corpses.

The terrible cold that came at the end of November was added to the total hunger. The thermometer often dropped to -40˚ Celsius and almost did not rise above -30˚. The water supply froze, the sewerage and heating systems failed. There was already a complete lack of fuel, all power plants stopped, urban transport stopped. Unheated rooms in apartments, as well as cold rooms in institutions (glass windows of buildings were knocked out due to bombing), were covered with frost from the inside.

Residents of Leningrad began to install temporary iron stoves in their apartments, leading pipes out of the windows. Everything that could burn at all was burned in them: chairs, tables, wardrobes and bookcases, sofas, parquet floors, books, and so on. It is clear that such "energy resources" were not enough for a long period. In the evenings, hungry people sat in the dark and cold. The windows were patched with plywood or cardboard, so the chilly night air penetrated the houses almost unhindered. To keep warm, people put on everything they had, but this did not save either: entire families died in their own apartments.

The whole world knows a small notebook, which became a diary, which was kept by 11-year-old Tanya Savicheva. The little schoolgirl, who was leaving her strength, without being lazy, wrote down: “Zhenya died on December 28. at 12.30 o'clock. morning of 1941. Grandmother died Jan 25. at 3 o'clock. Day 1942 Lenya died on March 17 at 5 o'clock. morning 1942. Uncle Vasya died on April 13 at 2 am 1942. Uncle Lyosha ─ May 10 at 4 o'clock. day 1942 Mom ─ May 13 at 7 o'clock. 30 min. in the morning of 1942, the Savichevs all died. Only Tanya remained.

By the beginning of winter, Leningrad had become a "city of ice," as American journalist Harrison Salisbury wrote. The streets and squares were covered with snow, so the lower floors of the houses are barely visible. “The chime of the trams has ceased. Frozen in the ice boxes of trolleybuses. There are few people on the streets. And those whom you see walk slowly, often stop, gaining strength. And the hands on the street clocks froze on different time zones.

The Leningraders were already so exhausted that they had neither the physical capabilities nor the desire to go down to the bomb shelter. Meanwhile, the air attacks of the Nazis became more and more intense. Some of them lasted for several hours, causing great damage to the city and exterminating its inhabitants.

With particular ferocity, German pilots aimed at plants and factories in Leningrad, such as Kirovsky, Izhorsky, Elektrosila, Bolshevik. In addition, the production lacked raw materials, tools, materials. It was unbearably cold in the workshops, and hands cramped from touching the metal. Many production workers did their work while sitting, since it was impossible to stand for 10-12 hours. Due to the shutdown of almost all power plants, some machines had to be set in motion manually, which increased the working day. Often, some of the workers stayed overnight in the workshop, saving time on urgent front-line orders. As a result of such selfless labor activity in the second half of 1941, the active army received from Leningrad 3 million shells and mines, more than 3 thousand regimental and anti-tank guns, 713 tanks, 480 armored vehicles, 58 armored trains and armored platforms. The working people of Leningrad and other sectors of the Soviet-German front helped. In the autumn of 1941, during the fierce battles for Moscow, the city on the Neva sent more than a thousand artillery pieces and mortars, as well as a significant number of other types of weapons, to the troops of the Western Front. On November 28, the commander of the Western Front, General G.K. Zhukov, sent a telegram to A.A. Zhdanov with the words: “Thank you to the people of Leningrad for helping the Muscovites in the fight against the bloodthirsty Nazis.”

But to accomplish labor feats, nourishment, or rather, nutrition, is necessary. In December, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front, the city and regional committees of the party took emergency measures to save the population. On the instructions of the city committee, several hundred people carefully examined all the places where food was stored before the war. At the breweries, the floors were opened and the remaining malt was collected (in total, 110 tons of malt were saved). At the mills, flour dust was scraped off the walls and ceilings, and each bag was shaken out, where flour or sugar once lay. The remains of food were found in warehouses, vegetable stores and railway cars. In total, about 18 thousand tons of such residues were collected, which, of course, was of great help in those difficult days.

From the needles, the production of vitamin C was established, which effectively protects against scurvy. And the scientists of the Forest Engineering Academy under the guidance of Professor V. I. Sharkov developed a technology for the industrial production of protein yeast from cellulose in a short time. The 1st confectionery factory began daily production of up to 20 thousand dishes from such yeast.

On December 27, the Leningrad city committee adopted a resolution on the organization of hospitals. City and regional hospitals operated in all large enterprises and provided bed rest for the most weakened workers. Relatively rational nutrition and a warm room helped tens of thousands of people to survive.

At about the same time, the so-called household detachments began to appear in Leningrad, which included young Komsomol members, most of them girls. The pioneers of such extremely important activity were the youth of the Primorsky region, whose example was followed by others. In the memo that was given to the members of the detachments, one could read: “You ... are entrusted with taking care of the daily domestic needs of those who are most difficult to endure the hardships associated with the enemy blockade. Caring for children, women and the elderly is your civic duty...”. Suffering from hunger themselves, the soldiers of the everyday front brought water from the Neva, firewood or food to the weak Leningraders, melted stoves, cleaned apartments, washed clothes, etc. Many lives have been saved as a result of their noble work.

When mentioning the incredible difficulties that the inhabitants of the city on the Neva faced, it is impossible not to say that people gave themselves not only at the machines in the shops. Scientific papers were read in bomb shelters, dissertations were defended. Not for a single day did the State Public Library. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. “Now I know: only work saved my life,” once said a professor who was an acquaintance of Tatyana Tess, the author of an essay on besieged Leningrad titled "My Dear City". He told how, "almost every evening he went from home to the scientific library for books."

Every day the steps of this professor became slower and slower. He constantly struggled with weakness and terrible weather conditions, on the way he was often taken by surprise by air raids. There were even moments when he thought that he would not reach the doors of the library, but each time he climbed the familiar steps and entered his own world. He saw librarians whom he had known for "a good ten years." He also knew that they, too, were enduring all the hardships of the blockade to the last of their strength, and that it was not easy for them to get to their library. But they, having gathered their courage, got up day after day and went to their favorite work, which, just like that professor, kept them alive.

It is believed that not a single school worked in the besieged city during the first winter, but this is not so: one of the Leningrad schools worked for the entire academic year of 1941-42. Its director was Serafima Ivanovna Kulikevich, who gave this school thirty years before the war.

Every school day teachers invariably came to work. In the teacher's room there was a samovar with boiled water and a sofa on which one could take a breath after a hard road, because in the absence of public transport, hungry people had to overcome serious distances (one of the teachers walked thirty-two (!) Tram stops from home to school). I didn’t even have the strength to carry the briefcase in my hands: it hung on a string tied to my neck. When the bell rang, the teachers went to the classrooms where the same exhausted and emaciated children were sitting, in whose homes irreparable troubles invariably occurred ─ the death of a father or mother. “But the children got up in the morning and went to school. It was not the meager bread ration they received that kept them in the world. They were kept alive by the power of the soul.

There were only four senior classes in that school, in one of which there was only one girl left - ninth-grader Veta Bandorina. But the teachers still came to her and prepared for a peaceful life.

However, it is impossible to imagine the history of the Leningrad blockade epic without the famous "Road of Life" - a highway laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga.

Back in October, work began to study the lake. In November, the exploration of Ladoga unfolded in full force. Reconnaissance aircraft took aerial photographs of the area, and a road construction plan was actively developed. As soon as the water exchanged its liquid state of aggregation for a solid state, this area was examined almost daily by special reconnaissance groups together with Ladoga fishermen. They examined the southern part of the Shlisselburg Bay, studying the ice regime of the lake, the thickness of the ice near the coast, the nature and places of descents to the lake, and much more.

In the early morning of November 17, 1941, a small detachment of fighters descended from the low bank of Ladoga near the village of Kokkorevo onto the still fragile ice, led by a military engineer of the 2nd rank L.N. Sokolov, company commander of the 88th separate bridge-building battalion. The pioneers were tasked with reconnaissance and laying the route of the ice track. Together with the detachment, two guides from local old-timers walked along Ladoga. The brave detachment, tied with ropes, successfully passed the Zelentsy Islands, reached the village of Kobona, and returned back the same way.

On November 19, 1941, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front signed an order on the organization of transportation on Lake Ladoga, on the laying of an ice road, its protection and defense. Five days later, the plan for the entire route was approved. From Leningrad, it passed to Osinovets and Kokkorevo, then descended to the ice of the lake and ran along it in the area of ​​the Shlisselburg Bay to the village of Kobona (with a branch to Lavrovo) on the eastern shore of Ladoga. Further, through swampy and wooded places, it was possible to reach two stations of the Northern Railway ─ Zaborye and Podborovye.

At first, the military road on the ice of the lake (VAD-101) and the military road from the Zaborye station to the village of Kobona (VAD-102) existed as if separately, but later they were merged into one. Major General A. M. Shilov, authorized by the Military Council of the Leningrad Front, was its head, and Brigadier Commissar I. V. Shishkin, deputy head of the political department of the front, was its military commissar.

The ice on Ladoga is still fragile, and the first sleigh convoy is already on its way. On November 20, the first 63 tons of flour were delivered to the city.

The hungry city did not wait, therefore it was necessary to go to all sorts of tricks in order to deliver the largest mass of food. For example, where the ice cover was dangerously thin, it was built up with planks and brush mats. But even such ice could sometimes “let you down”. On many sections of the track, he was able to withstand only a half-loaded car. And it was unprofitable to distill cars with a small load. But here, too, a way out was found, moreover, a very peculiar one: half of the load was placed on a sled, which was attached to the cars.

All efforts were not in vain: on November 23, the first column of motor vehicles delivered 70 tons of flour to Leningrad. From that day on, the work of drivers, road maintenance workers, traffic controllers, doctors, full of heroism and courage, began - work on the world-famous "Road of Life", work that only a direct participant in those events could best describe. Such was Senior Lieutenant Leonid Reznikov, who published in the Front Road Worker (a newspaper about the Ladoga military highway, which began to be published in January 1942, the editor is journalist B. Borisov) poems about what fell to the driver of a lorry at that harsh time:

“We forgot to sleep, we forgot to eat ─

And with loads they raced on the ice.

And in a mitten, a hand on the steering wheel froze,

Eyes closed as we walked.

The shells whistled like a barrier in front of us,

But the way was ─ to his native Leningrad.

A blizzard and snowstorms rose to meet,

But the will knew no barriers!

Indeed, the shells were a serious obstacle in the way of the brave drivers. Wehrmacht Colonel-General F. Halder, already mentioned above, wrote in his military diary in December 1941: “The movement of enemy vehicles on the ice of Lake Ladoga does not stop ... Our aviation began raids ...” This “our aviation” was opposed by Soviet 37- and 85 mm anti-aircraft guns, many anti-aircraft machine guns. From November 20, 1941 to April 1, 1942 Soviet fighters to patrol the space above the lake, they flew about 6.5 thousand times, conducted 143 air battles and shot down 20 aircraft with a black and white cross on the hull.

The first month of operation of the ice highway did not bring the expected results: due to difficult weather conditions, not the best state of equipment and German air raids, the transportation plan was not fulfilled. Until the end of 1941, 16.5 tons of cargo was delivered to Leningrad, and the front and the city demanded 2 thousand tons daily.

In his New Year's speech, Hitler said: “We are not deliberately storming Leningrad now. Leningrad will eat itself out!”3 However, the Fuhrer miscalculated. The city on the Neva not only showed signs of life ─ he tried to live as it would be possible in Peaceful time. Here is the message that was published in the Leningradskaya Pravda newspaper at the end of 1941:

“TO LENINGRADERS FOR THE NEW YEAR.

Today, in addition to the monthly food rations, the population of the city will be given: half a liter of wine ─ workers and employees, and a quarter liter ─ dependents.

The Executive Committee of the Lensoviet decided to hold Christmas trees in schools and kindergartens from January 1 to January 10, 1942. All children will be treated to a two-course celebratory dinner without cutting food stamps.”

Such tickets, which you can see here, gave the right to plunge into a fairy tale to those who had to grow up ahead of time, whose happy childhood became impossible because of the war, whose best years were overshadowed by hunger, cold and bombing, the death of friends or parents. And yet, the authorities of the city wanted the children to feel that even in such a hell there are reasons for joy, and the advent of the new year 1942 is one of them.

But not everyone survived until the coming 1942: in December 1941 alone, 52,880 people died of hunger and cold. The total number of victims of the blockade is 641,803 people.

Probably something similar to new year gift there was also an addition (for the first time during the blockade!) to that miserable ration that was supposed to. On the morning of December 25, each worker received 350 grams, and "one hundred and twenty-five blockade grams ─ with fire and blood in half," as Olga Fedorovna Berggolts wrote (who, by the way, along with ordinary Leningraders endured all the hardships of an enemy siege), turned into 200 ( for the rest of the population). Without a doubt, this was facilitated by the "Road of Life", which from the new year began to act more actively than before. Already on January 16, 1942, instead of the planned 2 thousand tons, 2,506 thousand tons of cargo were delivered. From that day on, the plan began to be overfulfilled regularly.

January 24, 1942 - and a new allowance. Now, on a work card, they were issued 400 gr., on an employee's card ─ 300 gr., on a child or dependent card ─ 250 gr. of bread. And some time later, on February 11, workers began to receive 400 gr. bread, all the rest - 300 gr. Notably, cellulose was no longer used as one of the ingredients in bread baking.

Another rescue mission is also connected with the Ladoga highway - the evacuation, which began at the end of November 1941, but became widespread only in January 1942, when the ice became sufficiently strong. First of all, children, the sick, the wounded, the disabled, women with young children, as well as scientists, students, workers of the evacuated factories together with their families and some other categories of citizens were subject to evacuation.

But the Soviet armed forces did not doze off either. From January 7 to April 30, the Lyuban offensive operation of the troops of the Volkhov Front and part of the forces of the Leningrad Front was carried out, aimed at breaking the blockade. At first, the movement of Soviet troops in the Luban direction had some success, but the battles were fought in a wooded and swampy area, for the offensive to be effective, considerable material and technical means, as well as food were needed. The lack of all of the above, coupled with the active resistance of the Nazi troops, led to the fact that at the end of April the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts had to go over to defensive actions, and the operation was completed, since the task was not completed.

Already in early April 1942, due to a serious warming, the Ladoga ice began to thaw, in some places "puddles" appeared up to 30-40 cm deep, but the closure of the lake highway took place only on April 24.

From November 24, 1941 to April 21, 1942, 361,309 tons of cargo were brought to Leningrad, 560,304 thousand people were evacuated. The Ladoga motorway made it possible to create a small emergency stock of food products - about 67 thousand tons.

Nevertheless, Ladoga did not stop serving people. During the summer-autumn navigation, about 1100 thousand tons of various cargoes were delivered to the city, and 850 thousand people were evacuated. During the entire blockade, at least one and a half million people were taken out of the city.

But what about the city? “Although shells were still exploding in the streets and fascist planes were buzzing in the sky, the city, in defiance of the enemy, came to life with the spring.” The sun's rays reached Leningrad and carried away the frosts that had tormented everyone for so long. Hunger also began to recede a little: the bread ration increased, the distribution of fats, cereals, sugar, meat began, but in very limited quantities. The consequences of winter were disappointing: many people continued to die from malnutrition. Therefore, the struggle to save the population from this disease has become strategically important. Starting from the spring of 1942, food stations became the most widespread, to which dystrophics of the first and second degrees were attached for two or three weeks (with the third degree, a person was hospitalized). In them, the patient received meals one and a half to two times more calorie than was supposed to be on a standard ration. These canteens helped to recover about 260 thousand people (mainly workers of industrial enterprises).

There were also canteens. general type, where at least a million people ate (according to statistics for April 1942), that is, most of the city. They handed in their ration cards and in return received three meals a day and soy milk and kefir in addition, and starting in the summer, vegetables and potatoes.

With the onset of spring, many went out of town and began to dig up the earth for vegetable gardens. The party organization of Leningrad supported this initiative and called on every family to have their own garden. A department of agriculture was even created in the city committee, and advice on growing this or that vegetable was constantly heard on the radio. Seedlings were grown in specially adapted city greenhouses. Some of the factories have launched the production of shovels, watering cans, rakes and other garden tools. The Field of Mars, the Summer Garden, St. Isaac's Square, parks, squares, etc. were strewn with individual plots. Any flower bed, any piece of land, even slightly suitable for such farming, was plowed and sown. Over 9 thousand hectares of land were occupied by potatoes, carrots, beets, radishes, onions, cabbage, etc. Collecting edible wild plants was also practiced. The vegetable garden venture was another good opportunity to improve the food supply for the troops and the population of the city.

In addition, Leningrad was heavily polluted during the autumn-winter period. Not only in morgues, but even just on the streets, unburied corpses lay, which, with the advent of warm days, would begin to decompose and cause a large-scale epidemic, which the city authorities could not allow.

On March 25, 1942, the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council, in accordance with the GKO resolution on cleaning up Leningrad, decided to mobilize the entire able-bodied population for cleaning yards, squares and embankments from ice, snow and all kinds of sewage. Lifting their tools with difficulty, the emaciated residents struggled along their front line, the line between cleanliness and pollution. By mid-spring, at least 12,000 households and more than 3 million square meters were put in order. km of streets and embankments were now sparkling clean, about a million tons of garbage were taken out.

April 15 was truly significant for every Leningrader. For almost five hardest autumn and winter months, everyone who worked covered the distance from home to the place of work on foot. When there is emptiness in the stomach, the legs go numb in the cold and do not obey, and shells whistle overhead, then even some 3-4 kilometers seem like hard labor. And then, finally, the day came when everyone could get on the tram and get at least to the opposite end of the city without any effort. By the end of April, trams were running on five routes.

A little later, such a vital public service as water supply was restored. In the winter of 1941-42. only about 80-85 houses had running water. Those who were not among the lucky ones who inhabited such houses were forced to take water from the Neva throughout the cold winter. By May 1942, bathroom and kitchen faucets were noisy again from running H2O. Water supply again ceased to be considered a luxury, although the joy of many Leningraders knew no bounds: “It is difficult to explain what the blockade experienced, standing at an open tap, admiring the stream of water ... Respectable people, like children, splashed and splashed over the sinks.” The sewer network has also been restored. Baths, hairdressing salons, repair and household workshops were opened.

As on New Year's Eve, on May Day 1942, Leningraders were given the following additional products: children ─ two tablets of cocoa with milk and 150 gr. cranberries, adults ─ 50 gr. tobacco, 1.5 liters of beer or wine, 25 gr. tea, 100 gr. cheese, 150 gr. dried fruits, 500 gr. salted fish.

Having physically strengthened and received moral support, the residents who remained in the city returned to the workshops for machine tools, but there was still not enough fuel, so about 20 thousand Leningraders (almost all ─ women, teenagers and pensioners) went to harvest firewood and peat. By their efforts, by the end of 1942, plants, factories and power plants received 750 thousand cubic meters. meters of wood and 500 thousand tons of peat.

Peat and firewood mined by Leningraders, added to coal and oil, brought from outside the blockade ring (in particular, through the Ladoga pipeline built in record time - in less than a month and a half), breathed life into the industry of the city on the Neva. In April 1942, 50 (in May ─ 57) enterprises produced military products: in April-May, 99 guns, 790 machine guns, 214 thousand shells, more than 200 thousand mines were sent to the front.

The civilian industry tried to keep up with the military, resuming the production of consumer goods.

Passers-by on the city streets threw off their cotton trousers and sweatshirts and dressed up in coats and suits, dresses and colored scarves, stockings and shoes, and Leningrad women are already "powdering their noses and painting their lips."

Extremely important events took place in 1942 at the front. From August 19 to October 30, the Sinyavskaya offensive operation of the troops took place

Leningrad and Volkhov fronts with the support of the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga military flotilla. This was the fourth attempt to break the blockade, like the previous ones, which did not solve the set goal, but played a definitely positive role in the defense of Leningrad: another German attempt on the inviolability of the city was thwarted.

The fact is that after the heroic 250-day defense of Sevastopol, Soviet troops had to leave the city, and then the entire Crimea. So it became easier for the Nazis in the south, and it was possible to focus all the attention of the German command on the problems in the north. On July 23, 1942, Hitler signed Directive No. 45, in which, in common terms, he "gave the green light" to the operation to storm Leningrad in early September 1942. At first it was called "Feuerzauber" (translated from German ─ "Magic Fire"), then ─ "Nordlicht" ("Northern Lights"). But the enemy not only failed to make a significant breakthrough to the city: the Wehrmacht during the fighting lost 60 thousand people killed, more than 600 guns and mortars, 200 tanks and the same number of aircraft. The prerequisites were created for a successful breakthrough of the blockade in January 1943.

The winter of 1942-43 was not as gloomy and lifeless for the city as the previous one. There were no more mountains of garbage and snow on the streets and avenues. Trams are back to normal. Schools, cinemas and theaters reopened. Water supply and sewerage operated almost everywhere. The windows of the apartments were now glazed, and not ugly boarded up with improvised materials. There was a small supply of energy and provisions. Many continued to engage in socially useful work (in addition to their main job). It is noteworthy that on December 22, 1942, the awarding of the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" to all those who distinguished themselves began.

There was some improvement in the situation with provisions in the city. In addition, the winter of 1942-43 turned out to be milder than the previous one, so the Ladoga highway during the winter of 1942-43 operated only 101 days: from December 19, 1942 to March 30, 1943. But the drivers did not allow themselves to relax: the total turnover amounted to more than 200 thousand tons of cargo.



"Survivors of the blockade"

Introduction

You need to know what war is like
to know what kind of blessing it is ...

A. Adamovich, D. Granin

Studying the life of my great-grandfather - Nikolai Danilovich, I found that most of the life of my relatives on the mother's side, Yulia Evgenievna Kirillova, passed in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Among them are native Leningraders, relatives who came to this city and, of course, relatives who are now living and living there.

In January, Russia celebrates another anniversary of the lifting of the blockade of Leningrad. This event is also directly related to my family, since many of my relatives survived one of the terrible stages of the Great Patriotic War- blockade of Leningrad, fought in the Red Army on the outskirts of the city, were militias of the city militia, residents of besieged Leningrad. This work is dedicated to them.

The purpose of this research work consists in summarizing the collected material about my relatives related to besieged Leningrad.

Scientific research methods: field(a trip to St. Petersburg and visiting places related to the siege of Leningrad and the life of my relatives - the State Memorial Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad, the Museum "Road of Life", the museum of railway workers "The Road of Life", Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery, Nikolsky Naval Cathedral, our ancestral home No. 92 on Moika Embankment Street); communication with relatives, contact with which has long been lost; historical analysis of sources and scientific literature. I met an amazing woman - Ugarova\Zaitseva\ Galina Nikolaevna, who is now 80 years old. She is the oldest representative of the Leningrad line of relatives. Thanks to her memoirs, I have reconstructed many forgotten pages of my family's history;

The basis of the historical part of the study was made up of works on the history of the Great Patriotic War by domestic authors, materials from periodicals, and the personal archive of the Poluyanchik-Moiseev family.

In besieged Leningrad

St. Petersburg (Leningrad) is one of the largest spiritual, political, economic scientific and cultural centers countries. Then, in June 1941, few suspected that what is to be endured city ​​for the next three years, putting on the altar common Victory hundreds of thousands of their sons and daughters. My family didn't know about it. In the Red Army in those fateful days on the North-Western Front, my great-grandfather on the mother's side, Poluyanchik Nikolai Danilovich, served as a career officer. (Three times Cavalier of the Order of the Red Star, lieutenant colonel (26.04.1913-02.08.1999) was born in Petrograd in the family of a peasant in the Minsk province, Slutsk district, Lansky volost, the village of Yaskovichi, in the family of Daniil Iosifovich and his wife Evdokia Nikolaevna.)

The German offensive against the Soviet Union was to develop along three main lines. Army Group "South" is advancing from the Lublin region to Zhitomir and Kiev, Army Group "Center" from the Warsaw region to Minsk, Smolensk, Moscow, Army Group "North" is advancing from East Prussia through the Baltic republics to Pskov and Leningrad. The "North" group included the 16th and 18th armies, the 1st air fleet and the 4th tank group, a total of 29 divisions, the total number of troops reached approximately 500 thousand people. The troops were well armed and equipped with perfect means of communication. Hitler entrusted the command of the North group to General Field Marshal von Leeb, who was instructed to destroy the units of the Soviet Army located in the Baltic states and develop the offensive through Dvinsk, Pskov, Luga, capture all naval bases on the Baltic Sea and capture Leningrad by July 21 .

On June 22, the enemy fell on parts of the cover of the 8th and 11th Soviet armies. The blow was so powerful that soon our military formations lost contact with the headquarters of their armies. Scattered units could not stop the hordes of Nazis, and by the end of the first day of the war, formations of the enemy 4th Panzer Group broke through the defense line and rushed forward. A few days later, von Leeb's troops, having captured Lithuania and Latvia, entered the borders of the RSFSR. Motorized units rushed to Pskov. The actions of the enemy field troops were actively supported by the 1st Air Fleet. From the north, Finnish troops were advancing on Leningrad through the Karelian Isthmus as part of 7 infantry divisions. On July 10, enemy tank units, having broken through the front of the 11th Army south of Pskov, were moving in a wide stream towards Luga. Before Leningrad, there were 180-200 km; with the rapid pace of advance that the Germans managed to take from the first days of the war, they needed 9-10 days to approach Leningrad.

From the memoirs of great-grandfather Poluyanchik Nikolai Danilovich: “By 06/29/1941, our 708 s.p. 115 s.d. was advanced to the state border in the area of ​​​​the city of Lahtenpokhya, took up defense on the left flank of the 168th rifle division. 7 pages of the army. The enemy delivered the main blow at the junction of the 7th and 23rd armies, trying to break through to the northwestern shore of Lake Ladoga. On 07/04/1941, the enemy managed to break through the defenses in the Mensuvaari area with the forces of two rifle regiments and develop an offensive on the city of Lahdenpokhya. 08/10/1941, starting a new offensive with the main blow in this direction. After stubborn fighting, the enemy broke through the defenses at the junction of the 462nd and 708th rifle regiments. We withdrew to the defense zone of the 168th rifle division. on this day, the Finns captured the city of Lahdenpohjai and reached the coast of Lake Ladoga. At this time, I received the first shrapnel wound in the right side of the face. In the hospital in Leningrad, the fragment was taken out, and I was sent by the transit point of the city to my division, which, without 708 s.p. fought a defensive battle near the city of Vyborg. The troops of the 23rd Army were ordered to withdraw to the line of the former Manngerheim Line. 08/26/1941 in a defensive battle of the headquarters of the 115th rifle division. I received a second shrapnel wound in the knee joint of my right leg and was evacuated to Leningrad. Then by plane to Moscow. Then on the ambulance train to Orenburg to evacuation hospital No. 3327.”

In July 1941, in heavy bloody battles, the troops of the North-Western and Northern Fronts, the sailors of the Baltic Front, and the people's militia detained the enemy on the distant approaches to Leningrad, at the cost of heavy losses in early September, the Nazis managed to go directly to the city. Unable to capture the city on the move, the enemy moved on to a long siege.

From the memoirs of Ugarova Galina Nikolaevna: “My husband Ugarov Dmitry Semenovich was unfit for military service for medical reasons, but he considered it his duty to volunteer for the front. He, as part of one of the divisions of the militia, defended the suburbs of Leningrad - Pulkovo, Gatchina "Ugarov Dmitry Semenovich will bear the brunt of the first battles on his shoulders, according to his recollections:" The personnel of the militia divisions were extremely motley: young people who first picked up rifles, and people of a mature age who had experience of the civil war. In haste, volunteers were trained and hastily sent to the front. Insufficient training of new formations and their weak armament caused many casualties. Only severe necessity compelled such measures.

All its inhabitants rose to the defense of Leningrad. In a short time it was turned into a city-fortress. Leningraders built 35 kilometers of barricades, 4,170 pillboxes, 22,000 firing points, created air defense detachments, security detachments at plants and factories, organized duty in houses, and equipped first-aid posts.

Since September 8, Leningrad has been blocked from land, and the movement of ships from Lake Ladoga along the Neva has been paralyzed. Fascist propaganda, warming up the offensive spirit of their soldiers, announced that institutions, factories, and the population were being evacuated from Leningrad, and that the city, unable to withstand the attacks of the German troops and their allies, the Finns, would surrender in a few days.A terrible danger hung over Leningrad, heavy fighting went on day and night. These 900 days of blockade were not an easy test for the inhabitants of Leningrad. They heroically survived the grief that suddenly fell upon them. But, in spite of everything, they not only managed to withstand all the hardships and hardships of the blockade, but even actively helped our troops in the fight against the Nazi invaders.

Over 475 thousand people worked on the construction of defensive structures near Leningrad from July to December. 626 km of anti-tank ditches were dug, 50,000 gouges were installed, 306 km of forest debris, 635 km of barbed wire, 935 km of communication passages, 15,000 pillboxes and bunkers were built. In Leningrad itself, 110 defense nodes were built 25 km of barricades, 570 artillery pillboxes, about 3,600 machine-gun pillboxes, 17,000 embrasures in buildings, about 12,000 rifle cells and a large number of other structures.

In 1942, Leningrad industry mastered the production of more than 50 new types of weapons and ammunition, produced over 3 million shells and mines, about 40,000 air bombs, and 1,260,000 hand grenades. The labor heroism of Leningraders made it possible to speak out and be sent to the front in the second half of 1941. 713 tanks, 480 armored vehicles, 58 armored trains.

During the blockade, 2 thousand tanks, 1500 aircraft, 225 thousand machine guns, 12 thousand mortars, about 10 million shells and mines were manufactured and repaired. In the most difficult period of the blockade, unprecedented in the history of September-November 1941, the norms for issuing bread to the population were reduced 5 times. From November 20, 1941, workers began to receive 250 grams of surrogate bread per day, employees and dependents - 125 grams. To help Leningrad and its defenders, by decision of the Central Committee of the Party and the Government, the "Road of Life" was created.

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

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

With all the suffering, Leningraders have not lost either honor or courage. I quote the story of Tatyana Nikolaevna Bushalova: “In January, I began to weaken from hunger, I spent a lot of time in bed. My husband Mikhail Kuzmich worked as an accountant in a construction trust. He was also bad, but still went to work every day. to the store, received bread on my and my card and returned home late in the evening. I divided the bread into 3 parts and at a certain time we ate a piece, drinking tea. The water was heated on the stove "potbelly stove". "I was looking forward to the evening hour when my husband came home from work. Misha quietly told who of our friends had died, who was sick, whether it was possible to change anything from things to bread. I imperceptibly put a larger piece of bread on him, if he noticed, then very he was angry and refused to eat at all, believing that I was infringing on myself. We resisted the impending death as best we could. But everything comes to an end. And it came. On November 11, Misha did not return home from work. Not finding a place for myself, I waited all night for him, on At dawn, I asked my flatmate Ekaterina Yakovlevna Malinina to help me find a husband.

Kate responded to help. We took children's sledges and followed the route of my husband. We stopped, rested, with every hour our strength left us. After a long search, we found Mikhail Kuzmich dead on the sidewalk. He had a watch on his hand, and 200 rubles in his pocket. CARDS were not found." . Hunger revealed the true essence of each person.

Many construction sites were in close proximity to the enemy and were subjected to artillery fire. People worked 12-14 hours a day, often in the rain, in soaking wet clothes. This required great physical endurance.

The population of the besieged city was impatiently awaiting news of the 54th Army advancing from the east. On January 13, 1942, the offensive of the troops of the Volokhov Front began. At the same time, the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front under the command of Major General I. I. Fedyuninsky also went on the offensive in the direction of Pogost. The advance of the troops developed slowly. The enemy himself attacked our positions, and the army was forced to conduct defensive battles instead of an offensive. By the end of January 14, the strike groups of the 54th Army crossed the Volkhov River and captured a number of settlements on the opposite bank.

Under the conditions of the blockade, the most difficult task was to supply the population and troops with food and water, the military equipment of the front - with fuel, factories and factories - with raw materials and fuel. Food supplies in the city were dwindling every day. Gradually reduced the rate of issuance of products. From November 20 to December 25, 1941, they were the lowest, negligible: workers and engineers received only up to 250 grams of surrogate bread, and employees, dependents and children - only 125 grams per day! There was almost no flour in this bread. It was baked from chaff, bran, cellulose. It was almost the only food of the Leningraders. Those who had carpenter's glue, rawhide belts at home, also ate them.

From the memoirs of my great-grandfather Nikolai Danilovich Poluyanchik: “My wife Poluyanchik\Shuvalova\Tamara Pavlovna lived in Leningrad with her parents Pavel Efimovich Shuvalov and Claudia Ivanovna Shuvalova. In this winter of 1941-1942, they had to cook jelly from glue. In those days, that was the only way to save their lives.” The blockade brought other hardships to the people of Leningrad. In the winter of 1941-1942, the city was shackled by a fierce cold. There was no fuel or electricity. Exhausted by hunger, exhausted and exhausted by continuous bombing and shelling, Leningraders lived in unheated rooms with windows sealed with cardboard, because the windows had been shattered by the blast wave. The lamps glowed dimly. The water and sewer lines froze. For drinking water, they had to go to the Neva embankment, go down to the ice with difficulty, take water in quickly freezing ice holes, and then deliver it home under fire.

Trams, trolleybuses, buses stopped. Leningraders had to walk to work on snow-covered and not cleared streets. The main "transport" of the city's residents is children's sledges. They carried belongings from destroyed houses, furniture for heating, water from the hole in cans or saucepans, seriously ill and dead, wrapped in sheets (there was no wood on the coffins).

Death entered all houses. Exhausted people were dying right on the streets. Over 640 thousand Leningraders died of starvation. From the memoirs of my great-grandfather Poluyanchik Nikolai Danilovich: “My parents Poluyanchik Daniil Osipovich and Poluyanchik Evdokia Nikolaevna were in a besieged city. They lived in house number 92 on the street. River embankment Washers. In the cold winter of 1942, my father died of starvation. My mother, on a children's sleigh, overcoming pain and suffering, according to Christian customs, took her husband to the church, where they got married, where their children were baptized, for a funeral service.\photo24\. (Metropolitan of Ladoga and St. Petersburg Alexy (Simansky) refused to leave the city, and, starving together with the population every day, despite the bombing, served the Liturgy. For consecration, instead of the prosphora needed in the service, people carried small pieces of cellulose bread - the highest sacrifice. ) After that, she took her husband on a sled to St. Isaac's Cathedral, where special funeral services took dead people. They buried their father at the Piskarevsky cemetery, but in which grave it is not known. The mother did not have the strength to get to the cemetery.”

My great-grandfather's father, Poluyanchik Daniil Osipovich, was born in Belarus in the Minsk province of the Slutsk district, Lansky volost, the village of Yaskovichi in 1885, nowBaranovichi region. He worked as a printer in three printing houses in Leningrad. Married in 1912. On military service was not called. He died of starvation in Leningrad during the blockade in March 1942. He was taken by his wife on a sledge to the church and then by car to the cemetery. He was buried in a mass grave at the Piskarevsky cemetery.

My great-grandfather lived with his parents, brother and sister in a house on the embankment of the river. Moika, studied at school No. 42 in Leningrad.From the memoirs of Ugarova Galina Nikolaevna: “The father and mother of my husband Ugarov Dmitry Semenovich lived in besieged Leningrad. In the winter of 1943, they were severely exhausted. On one of the days of winter, the husband's father, Semyon Ivanovich Ugarov, went to his brother. A few hours later, his wife Ugarova Vera Ivanovna went in search of her missing husband with her sister Anna Ivanovna Kuracheva. She never found her husband.”

Enemies hoped that heavy hardships would awaken base, animal instincts in Leningraders, drown out all human feelings in them. They thought that the starving, freezing people would quarrel among themselves over a piece of bread, over a log of firewood, stop defending the city and, in the end, surrender it. On January 30, 1942, Hitler cynically declared: "We are not deliberately storming Leningrad. Leningrad will eat itself out" . The challenge to the enemy was the work of 39 schools in the besieged city. Even in the terrible conditions of blockade life, when there was not enough food, firewood, water, warm clothes, many Leningrad children studied. Writer Alexander Fadeev said: "And the greatest feat of Leningrad schoolchildren is that they studied."

At the time of the blockade, there were 2 million 544 thousand civilians in the city, including about 400 thousand children. In addition, 343 thousand people remained in suburban areas (in the blockade ring). In September, when systematic bombardments, shelling and fires began, many thousands of families wanted to leave, but the paths were cut off. The mass evacuation of citizens began only in January 1942 along the ice road.

November came, Ladoga began to gradually tighten with ice. By November 17, the thickness of the ice reached 100 mm, which was not enough to open the movement. Everyone was waiting for frost.

On November 22, that long-awaited day came when cars took to the ice. Observing the intervals, at low speed, they followed the trail of the horses for the load.

It seemed that the worst is now behind us, you can breathe more freely. But the harsh reality overturned all calculations and hopes for an early improvement in the nutrition of the population.

But in the beginning, transportation on the lake gave negligible in comparison with what was needed.

At first they carried two or three sacks of flour on sleds, then cars with bodies half loaded went. Drivers began to attach sleds on cables to the cars, and the sleds were also loaded with flour. Soon it was possible to take a full load, and the cars - at first one and a half, then three-ton and even five-ton ones went out onto the lake: the ice was strong.

On November 22, the convoy returned, leaving 33 tons of food in the city. The next day, only 19 tons were delivered. On November 25, only 70 tons were delivered, the next day - 150 tons. On November 30, warming came, only 62 tons were transported.

On December 22, 700 tons of food were delivered across the lake, the next day, 100 tons more. On December 25, the first increase in the norms for issuing bread took place, workers by 100 grams, employees, dependents and children by 75 grams. How many joys and tears people had, notes Galina Ivanovna, because of these grams.

For the entire period of the road, 361,419 tons of various cargoes were delivered to Leningrad along it, of which 262,419 tons were food. This not only improved the supply of the heroic Leningraders, but also made it possible to create a certain supply of food by the time the ice road was completed, amounting to 66,930 tons.

The ice road also played an important role in the evacuation of the city's population. It was a very difficult task. The evacuation from Leningrad was subject not to the amateur part of the population, but also to the workers of the evacuated factories, institutions, scientists, etc.

Mass evacuation began in the second half of January 1942, after the State Defense Committee on January 22, 1942. adopted a resolution on the evacuation of 500 thousand residents of Leningrad.

From the memoirs of my great-grandfather Nikolai Danilovich Poluyanchik: “My wife Tamara Pavlovna Poluyanchik, together with her parents P.E. Shuvalov, K.I. My sister left Leningrad at the urging of my mother Evdokia. Sister Nadezhda had two young children. They were evacuated to Kazakhstan.”

In early December 1942, Soviet troops surrounded, and in January - early February 1943, they defeated the main enemy grouping, broke through the German defenses and went on the offensive, pushing the enemy hundreds of kilometers to the west, using the favorable situation, the troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts, reinforced reserves struck from two sides at the fortified positions of the enemy south of Ladoga.

The sixteen-month blockade of Leningrad was broken through the efforts of Soviet soldiers on January 18, 1943.

The supply of the city has improved dramatically. Coal was brought in, industry received electricity, frozen plants and factories came to life. The city was recuperating.

The general situation on the Soviet-German front remained tense and did not allow at that time to completely defeat the German troops near Leningrad.

By the end of 1943, the situation had changed radically. Our troops were preparing for new decisive blows against the enemy.

The hour of reckoning has come. The troops of the Lenfront, well trained and equipped with military equipment, under the command of Army General Govorov, in mid-January 1944, went on the offensive from the areas of Oranienbaum and Pulkovo. The forts and ships of the Baltic Fleet opened heavy fire on the fortified positions of the Germans. At the same time, the Volkhov Front hit the enemy with all its might. Before the start of the offensive of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, the 2nd Baltic Front pinned down enemy reserves by active actions and did not allow them to be transferred to Leningrad. As a result of a plan carefully developed by talented commanders, well-organized interaction between the troops of the three fronts and the Baltic Fleet, the strongest German grouping was defeated, and Leningrad was completely freed from the blockade.

“From the memoirs of Ugarova Galina Nikolaevna: “The brother of my husband Ugarov Dmitry Semenovich-Ugarov Vladimir Semenovich survived the blockade. He worked at Marty's Admiralty Shipyards and received an increased ration card as an employee. He survived thanks to his mother Ugarova Vera Ivanovna, who herself did not live to see the victory for 1 year, died of exhaustion in 1944. Even when the food supply improved, exhausted, emaciated people continued to die.”

1.5 million defenders of Leningrad were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad", including my relatives.

Chronological dates of some important events of the siege of Leningrad.

1941

4 September The beginning of the artillery shelling of Leningrad

8 September The capture of Shlisselburg by the Germans. The beginning of the blockade of Leningrad. The first massive enemy air raid on the city.

12-th of September Reducing the norms for issuing bread, meat, cereals to the population. Arrival in Osinovets of the first ships with food from the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga.

September 29 Stabilization of the front line around Leningrad.

October 1 Reducing the norms for issuing bread to the population and the norms for allowances for the troops.

the 13th of November Reducing the distribution of food to the population

November 16 The beginning of the transfer of food cargo by aircraft to Leningrad.

20 November Reduction in the distribution of bread and other foodstuffs to the population

November 22 Start of traffic on the Ice Road across the lake

9th December The defeat of the German group near Tikhvin. Liberation of Tikhvin from invaders.

December 25 The first increase in the norms for issuing bread to the population

1942

January 24 The second increase in the norms for issuing bread to the population

11 February Increasing the distribution of food to the population

December 22 By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" was established

1943

January 18 Breaking the blockade. The connection of the Leningrad and Volokhov fronts

February 6 The first train arrived in Leningrad along the newly built railway in the breakthrough zone.

1944

January 14 - 27 Complete liberation of Leningrad from enemy blockade.

List of relatives who died, survived the blockade and defense of Leningrad.

Dead in the blockade:

1. Poluyanchik Daniil Osipovich \ 1986-1942 \, was born in the village of Yaskovichi, Baranovichi district of Belarus, worked in a printing house in Leningrad, married in 1912, was not called up for military service \ warrior of the 2nd category \, died in 1942 in Leningrad into blockade. Buried in common grave at the Piskarevsky cemetery in Leningrad.

2. Ugarova \ Gasilova \ Vera Ivanovna \? -1944 \ was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district. She died of exhaustion in 1944.

3. Ugarov Semyon Ivanovich \? -1942 \ was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district. From 1936 to 1942 he lived in Leningrad. Died in blockade. Where he is buried is unknown.

Survivors of the blockade

4. Ugarov Dmitry Semenovich \ 1919-2005 \ was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district. In 1935 he moved to Leningrad. He went to the front as a volunteer. Fought near the city of Leningrad. Defended Pulkovo, Gatchina.

5. Poluyanchik \ Ivanova \ Evdokia Nikolaevna \ 1888-1964 \, was born in the city of Kalyazin, married in Petrograd in 1912, gave birth to three children: Nikolai, Pavel, Maria. survived the blockade. After the war she lived in Uglich.

6. Ugarov Vladimir Semenovich \ 1927-1995 \, was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district. In 1936 he moved to Leningrad. survived the blockade. He graduated from the FZU, worked at the Marty plant / Admiralty shipyards \. In 1944 he was sentenced to forced labor for being late for work in the city of Molotovsk. Then he lived in the town of Myshkin, where he was buried.

Taken out along the "Road of Life".

7. Poluyanchik \ Shuvalova \ Tamara Pavlovna \ 09/30/1920-03/07/1990 \ was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district Yaroslavl region. Lived in Leningrad. It was taken to the blockade along the "Road of Life" on Lake Ladoga. She lived in Myshkino, got married. She was a housewife. Since 1957 she lived in Uglich. Worked in the organization Raypotrebsoyuz. Buried in Uglich.

8. Zakharyina \ Poluyanchik \ Nadezhda Danilovna \ 1917-1998 \ lived in Leningrad. She gave birth to three children. Sons - Vladimir, Yuri. Vladimir and Yuri live in Leningrad, pensioners. Daughter Lydia /1939-1998\ lived and died in Leningrad. Taken out of the city along the "Road of Life".

9. Shuvalov Pavel Efimovich \ 1896-1975\ was born in the village of Glotovo, Myshkinsky district. He worked at the Kazitsky factory and the Vera Slutskaya factory in Leningrad. Taken out along the "Road of Life". Lived in Uglich

10. Shuvalova \ Gasilova \ Claudia Ivanovna \ 1897-1967\, was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district, lived in Leningrad, gave birth to two children, lived in the city of Uglich. Taken out along the "Road of Life" in 1942.

11. Kuracheva \ Gasilova \ Anna Ivanovna \ 1897-1987 \, was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district. From 1936 to 1942 and from 1950 to 1957 she lived in Leningrad. Taken out along the "Road of Life". From 1957 to 1987 she lived in Uglich, where she was buried.

12 . Poluyanchik Nikolay Danilovich. My maternal great-grandfather, three times holder of the Order of the Red Star, Lieutenant Colonel Poluyanchik Nikolai Danilovich\26.04.1913-02.08.1999. Personnel officer. Participated in the battles for the defense of Leningrad.

I also established relatives who lived in Leningrad at different times:

Ugarov Pavel Semenovich \ 1924-1995 \ was born in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district. In 1935 he moved to live in Leningrad. In 1941 he was taken prisoner. After captivity, he lived in the village of Potapovo, Myshkinsky district. In 1947 he moved to live in Leningrad. He worked as a cashier in a circus, a bookbinder in a printing house. He died and was buried in Leningrad.

1. Mishenkina Alla Dmitrievna

2. Mishenkin Yury Vasilievich

3. Mishenkina Maria Yurievna

4. Mishenkina Antonina Yurievna

5. Kiselevich Kirill Nikolaevich

6. Kiselevich Anna Kirillovna

7. Mishenkin Alexander Kirillovich

8. Zakharyin Yury Grigorievich

9. Zakharyin Vladimir Grigorievich

10. Zakharyin Alexey Yurievich

11. Zakharyin Andrey Vladimirovich

12. Balakhontseva Olga Lvovna

13. Ivanova Zinaida Nikolaevna

Eternal flames burn at the Piskarevsky and Serafimovsky cemeteries .

His monuments and monuments, the names of streets, squares, embankments tell in different ways and about different things. Many of them are like scars left from severe trials and bloody battles. Time, however, does not extinguish the living feeling of human gratitude to those who with their lives blocked the path to the city of the fascist hordes. Splitting the sky, rose at the entrance to the city, in its southern front gate, a tetrahedral obelisk, on the sides of which, like our contemporaries, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the bronze figures of the heroic participants in the legendary defense of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War froze; hundreds of thousands of Soviet people, with their labor or their own means, took part in its construction. It turned into a 220-kilometer belt of Glory, dressed in granite and concrete of monuments, memorials, a fiery, incompressible ring of blockade: at Pulkovo and Yam-Izhora, at Kolpino, on the Pulkovo Heights, in the area of ​​Ligov and former Uritsk, along the borders of the Oranienbaum "piglet", on the Nevsky "patch" obelisks, steles, memorial signs, sculptures, guns and combat vehicles raised on pedestals froze, like immortal sentries, in the guard of honor. Commemorative wayposts lined up along the Road of Life from Leningrad to the Ladoga coast. Eternal flames burn at the Piskarevsky and Serafimovsky cemeteries

900 birch trees have been planted along the entire "Road of Life" highway according to the number of days of blockade. On all birches, red bandages are tied as a symbol of memory. On Piskarevsky memorial cemetery about 470 thousand Leningraders were buried (in 1980). Men, women, children... They also wanted to live, but they died in the name and for the sake of the future, which today has become our present. Victims of the blockade of Leningrad and soldiers of the Leningrad Front were buried in mass graves (a total of about 470 thousand people; according to other sources, 520 thousand people - 470 thousand blockade and 50 thousand military personnel). The largest number of deaths occurred in the winter of 1941-1942.

In two pavilions at the entrance to the Piskarevskoye cemetery - a museum dedicated to the feat of the inhabitants and defenders of the city: exhibiteddiary of Tanya Savicheva - a Leningrad schoolgirl who survived the horrors of the winter of 1941-1942.

For heroism and courage shown in the battle for Leningrad, 140 soldiers of the army, 126 of the fleet, 19 partisans were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 350 thousand soldiers, officers and generals participating in the defense of Leningrad, 5.5 thousand partisans and about 400 ice road workers were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union.

1.5 million defenders of Leningrad were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad".

Enemies hoped that heavy hardships would awaken base, animal instincts in Leningraders, drown out all human feelings in them. They thought that the starving, freezing people would quarrel among themselves over a piece of bread, over a log of firewood, stop defending the city and, in the end, surrender it. On January 30, 1942, Hitler cynically declared: "We are not deliberately storming Leningrad. Leningrad will eat itself out." The challenge to the enemy was the work of 39 schools in the besieged city. Even in the terrible conditions of blockade life, when there was not enough food, firewood, water, warm clothes, many Leningrad children studied. Writer Alexander Fadeev said: "And the greatest feat of Leningrad schoolchildren is that they studied."

“Eternal memory to the dead, and the dead inhabitants and wars

besieged Leningrad! Glory to the survivors!”

Bibliography

Literature:

Molchanov A.V. Heroic defense of Leningrad. St. Petersburg: Madam, 2007. 57s,

Survivors of the blockade / Comp. S.A. Irkhin. Yaroslavl, "Upper Volga", 2005. 156s

Feat of Leningrad//Ontology works of art about the war in 12 volumes. T.3. M., Sovremennik., 1987, 564p.

Pavlov D.S. Leningrad in the blockade. M .: "Young Guard", 1989. 344 p.

Zhukov G.K. Memories and reflections.M. Novosti Press Agency, 1990.V.2.368 p.

Lisochkin I.I. With fire and blood in half. M. "Science", 312p.

Ladoga Native. Leningrad. Lenizdat, 1969 487s.

Defense of Leningrad 1941-1944 M. "Science", 1968 675s.

Vinogradov I.V. Heroes and fate. Leningrad. Lenizdat, 1988 312s.

Bezman E.S. Hours of partisan air. M. Science, 1976 267s.

Tributs. V.F. The Baltics go into battle. Leningrad. Lenizdat, 1973. 213s.

Periodicals:

"Battle for Leningrad" // "Red Star" 09/04/1991.

Blockade of Leningrad, children of the blockade... Everyone heard these words. One of the most majestic and at the same time tragic pages in the archives of the Great Patriotic War. These events went down in world history as the longest and most terrible siege of the city in terms of its consequences. The events that took place in this city from 09/08/1941 to 01/27/1944 showed the whole world the great spirit of the people, capable of a feat in conditions of hunger, disease, cold and devastation. The city survived, but the price paid for this victory was very high.

Blockade. Start

Plan "Barbarossa" - that was the name of the enemy strategy, according to which the capture of the Soviet Union was carried out. One of the points of the plan was the defeat and complete capture of Leningrad in a short time. Hitler dreamed of taking over the city late autumn 1941. The plans of the aggressor were not destined to come true. The city was captured, cut off from the world, but not taken!

The official beginning of the blockade was recorded on September 8, 1941. It was on this autumn day that German troops captured Shlisselburg and finally blocked the land connection of Leningrad with the entire territory of the country.

In fact, everything happened a little earlier. The Germans systematically isolated the city. So, since July 2, German planes regularly bombed railways, preventing the supply of products in this way. On August 27, communication with the city through the railways was already completely interrupted. After 3 days, there was a break in the connection of the city with hydroelectric power plants. And from September 1, all commercial stores stopped working.

In the beginning, almost no one believed that the situation was serious. Yet people who felt something was wrong began to prepare for the worst. The shops were empty very quickly. Right from the first days, food cards were introduced in the city, schools and kindergartens were closed.

Children of the besieged city

The blockade of Leningrad was imprinted with grief and horror on the fate of many people. Children of the blockade are a special category of residents of this city, who were deprived of their childhood by circumstances, forced to grow up much earlier and fight for survival at the level of adults and experienced people.

At the time of the closing of the blockade ring, in addition to adults, 400 thousand children of different ages remained in the city. It was the concern for children that gave the Leningraders strength: they were taken care of, protected, tried to hide from the bombings, comprehensively cared for. Everyone understood that the only way to save the children was to save the city.

Adults could not protect children from hunger, cold, disease and exhaustion, but everything possible was done for them.

Cold

Life in besieged Leningrad was hard, unbearable. The shelling was not the worst thing that the hostages of the city had to endure. When all the power plants were turned off and the city was enveloped in darkness, the most difficult period began. A snowy, frosty winter has come.

The city was covered with snow, frosts of 40 degrees led to the fact that the walls of unheated apartments began to be covered with frost. Leningraders were forced to install stoves in their apartments, in which everything was gradually burned for warmth: furniture, books, household items.

A new trouble came when the sewers froze. Now water could be taken only in 2 places: from the Fontanka and the Neva.

Hunger

Sad statistics says that the biggest enemy of the city's inhabitants was hunger.

The winter of 1941 was a test of survival. To regulate the provision of people with bread, food cards were introduced. The size of the ration was constantly decreasing, in November it reached its minimum.

The norms in besieged Leningrad were as follows: those who worked were supposed to have 250 gr. bread, the military, firefighters and members of the extermination squads received 300 grams each, and children and those who were on someone else's support - 125 grams each.

There were no other products in the city. 125 grams of besieged bread did not bear much resemblance to our ordinary, well-known flour product. This piece, which could only be obtained after many hours of standing in line in the cold, consisted of cellulose, cake, wallpaper paste, mixed with flour.

There were days when people could not get this coveted piece. During the bombing, the factories were not working.

People tried to survive as best they could. They tried to fill their empty stomachs with what they could swallow. Everything was used: first-aid kits were emptied (they drank castor oil, they ate Vaseline), they tore off the wallpaper to get the remains of the paste and cook at least some soup, they cut into pieces and boiled leather shoes, they prepared jelly from wood glue.

Naturally, for the children of that time, the most the best gift there was food. They were constantly thinking about delicious things. The kind of food that was disgusting in normal times was now the ultimate dream.

Holiday for children

Despite the terrible, deadly living conditions, Leningraders with great zeal and zeal tried to ensure that the children who were held hostage by the cold and hungry city lived a full life. And if there was nowhere to get food and warmth, then it was possible to make a holiday.

So, during the terrible winter, when there was a blockade of Leningrad, the children of the blockade celebrated. By the decision of the executive committee of the Leningrad City Council, they were organized and carried out for the small inhabitants of the city.

All theaters of the city took an active part in this. were drawn up holiday programs, which included meetings with commanders and fighters, an artistic greeting, a game program and dances by the Christmas tree, and most importantly, lunch.

There was everything at these holidays, except for the games and the dance part. All due to the fact that weakened children simply did not have the strength for such entertainment. The children were not having fun at all - they were waiting for food.

The festive dinner consisted of a small piece of bread for yeast soup, jelly and a cutlet made from cereals. The children, who knew hunger, ate slowly, carefully collecting every crumb, because they knew the price of the besieged bread.

Hard times

It was much harder for children during this period than for an adult, fully conscious population. How to explain why during the bombing you need to sit in a dark basement and why there is no food anywhere, to children? About the blockade of Leningrad in people's memory there are many scary stories about abandoned babies, lonely guys who tried to survive. After all, it often happened that when leaving for the coveted ration, the relatives of the child simply died on the way, did not return home.

The number of orphanages in the city grew inexorably. In one year, their number grew to 98, and in fact at the end of 1941 there were only 17. About 40 thousand orphans tried to keep and keep in these shelters.

Every little resident of the besieged city has his own terrible truth. The diaries of the Leningrad schoolgirl Tanya Savicheva became famous all over the world.

The symbol of the suffering of Leningraders

Tanya Savicheva - now this name symbolizes the horror and hopelessness with which the inhabitants of the city were forced to fight. What then survived Leningrad! told the world this tragic story through her diary entries.

This girl was youngest child in the family of Maria and Nikolai Savichev. At the time of the blockade, which began in September, she was supposed to be a 4th grade student. When the family learned about the beginning of the war, it was decided not to leave the city anywhere, but to stay in order to provide all possible assistance to the army.

The girl's mother sewed clothes for the fighters. Brother Lek, who had poor eyesight, was not taken into the army, he worked at the Admiralty Plant. Tanya's sisters, Zhenya and Nina, were active participants in the fight against the enemy. So, Nina, while she had strength, went to work, where, together with other volunteers, she dug trenches to strengthen the defense of the city. Zhenya, hiding from her mother and grandmother, secretly donated blood for the wounded soldiers.

Tanya, when schools in the occupied city started working again in early November, went to study. At that time, only 103 schools were open, but they also stopped working with the advent of severe frosts.

Tanya, being a little girl, also did not sit idle. Together with other guys, she helped dig trenches, put out "lighters".

Soon grief knocked on the family's door. Nina did not return home first. The girl did not come after the most severe shelling. When it became clear that they would never see Nina again, mother gave Tanya her sister's notebook. It is in it that the girl will subsequently make her notes.

War. Blockade. Leningrad - a besieged city in which entire families were dying out. So it was with the Savichev family.

Zhenya died next, right at the factory. The girl worked, working hard for 2 shifts in a row. She also donated blood. This is where the power ends.

The grandmother could not bear such grief, the woman was buried at the Piskarevsky cemetery.

And every time grief knocked on the door of the Savichevs' house, Tanya opened her notebook to note the next death of her relatives and friends. Leka soon died, followed by the girl's two uncles, then her mother died.

“The Savichevs are all dead. Only Tanya remained” - these terrible lines of Tanya's diary convey all the horror that the inhabitants of the besieged city had to endure. Tanya is dead. But the girl was mistaken, she did not know that a living person remained among the Savichevs. It was her sister Nina, who was rescued during the shelling and taken to the rear.

It was Nina who, returning to her native walls in 1945, would find her sister's diary and tell the world this story. scary story. The history of a whole people who staunchly fought for their hometown.

Children - heroes of besieged Leningrad

All the inhabitants of the city, who survived and defeated death, should rightfully be called heroes.

Most of the children behaved especially heroically. Little citizens of a big country did not sit and wait for liberation to come; they fought for their native Leningrad.

Almost no event in the city took place without the participation of children. Children, along with adults, took part in the destruction of incendiary bombs, put out fires, cleared the roads, and sorted out the rubble after the bombing.

The blockade of Leningrad continued. The children of the blockade were forced to replace adults near the factory machines who died, died or went to the front. Especially for children who worked in factories, special wooden stands were invented and made so that they could, like adults, work on the manufacture of parts for machine guns, artillery shells and machine guns.

In spring and autumn, children actively worked in gardens and state farm fields. During the raids, the teacher's signal served to the fact that the children, taking off their hats, fell face down into the ground. Overcoming the heat, mud, rain and the first frosts, the young heroes of besieged Leningrad harvested a record harvest.

Children often visited hospitals: they cleaned there, entertained the wounded, and helped feed the seriously ill.

Despite the fact that the Germans tried with all their might to destroy Leningrad, the city lived on. Lived and endured. After the blockade was lifted, 15,000 children received the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad."

The road that brings back to life

The only way that gave at least some opportunity to maintain contact with the country. In the summer they were barges, in the winter they were cars moving on ice. Until the beginning of the winter of 1941, tugboats with barges reached the city, but the Military Council of the front understood that Ladoga would freeze and then all roads would be blocked. New searches and intensified preparation of other means of communication began.

Thus, a path was prepared along the ice of Ladoga, which eventually began to be called the "Road of Life". In the history of the blockade, the date was preserved when the first horse-drawn convoy paved the way on the ice, it was November 21, 1941.

Following this, 60 vehicles drove off, the purpose of which was to deliver flour to the city. The city began to receive bread, the price of which was human life, because moving along this path was associated with great risk. Often cars fell through the ice, drowned, taking people and food to the bottom of the lake. Working as a driver of such a car was deadly. In some places the ice was so fragile that even a car loaded with a couple of bags of cereals or flour could easily be under the ice. Each voyage made this way was heroic. The Germans really wanted to block it, the bombing of Ladoga was constant, but the courage and heroism of the inhabitants of the city did not allow this to happen.

The "Road of Life" really fulfilled its function. Food supplies began to replenish in Leningrad, and children and their mothers were taken out of the city by cars. This path was not always safe. Already after the war, when examining the bottom of Lake Ladoga, toys of Leningrad children were found who drowned during such transportation. In addition to dangerous thawed patches on the icy road, evacuation vehicles were often subjected to enemy shelling and flooding.

About 20 thousand people worked on this road. And only thanks to their courage, fortitude and desire to survive, the city got what it needed most of all - a chance to survive.

Surviving Hero City

The summer of 1942 was very busy. The Nazis stepped up fighting on the fronts of Leningrad. The bombardment and shelling of the city increased noticeably.

New artillery batteries appeared around the city. The enemies had maps of the city, and important areas were shelled daily.

The blockade of Leningrad continued. People turned their city into a fortress. So, on the territory of the city, due to 110 large defense units, trenches and various passages, it became possible to carry out a covert regrouping of the military. Such actions served to significantly reduce the number of wounded and killed.

On January 12, the armies of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts launched an offensive. After 2 days, the distance between these two armies was less than 2 kilometers. The Germans stubbornly resisted, but on January 18 the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts united.

This day was marked by another important event: the blockade was lifted due to the liberation of Shlisselburg, as well as the complete clearing of the southern coast of Lake Ladoga from the enemy.

A corridor of about 10 kilometers turned out along the coast, and it was he who restored the land connection with the country.

When the blockade was lifted, there were about 800 thousand people in the city.

The significant date of January 27, 1944 went down in history as the day when the blockade of the city was completely lifted.

On this joyful day, Moscow conceded to Leningrad the right to fire a salute in honor of the lifting of the blockade in commemoration of the fact that the city survived. The order for the troops that won was signed not by Stalin, but by Govorov. Such an honor was not awarded to any commander-in-chief of the fronts during the entire period of the Great Patriotic War.

The blockade lasted 900 days. This is the most bloody, cruel and inhuman blockade in the history of mankind. Her historical meaning huge. holding back huge forces German troops throughout this time, the inhabitants of Leningrad provided invaluable assistance to military operations in other sectors of the front.

More than 350 thousand soldiers participating in the defense of Leningrad received their orders and medals. 226 people were awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union. 1.5 million people were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad".

The city itself received the honorary title of Hero City for heroism and steadfastness.