Lake Ladoga during the siege of Leningrad. The road of life

The siege of Leningrad lasted 872 days. During this time, more than one million people died from famine. After the end of World War II, the Nuremberg trials of Nazi and fascist criminals took place.

Representatives of the USSR brought charges against the group commander German army“North”, because of whose actions so many civilians of the besieged city died. General von Leeb was acquitted of this charge. At that time, there was no clause yet that would prohibit the use of hunger as a military strategy against civilians.

The survivors of the besieged city owe a lot to the appearance of the highway (“Road of Life”) through It was she who made it possible to break the blockade ring, because due to its geographical location Leningrad is not able to survive without food supplies.

Meaning of the laid path

The road operated from the autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1943. Its purpose was to connect besieged Leningrad (St. Petersburg) with the country. Officially, it was called Military Highway No. 101.

Since September 1941, Soviet troops, along with the civilian population, were surrounded by German and Finnish troops. The city was not ready for the blockade and did not have the necessary supplies of food and fuel. Everything needed could be delivered by air or across the lake.

"The Road of Life" via Ladoga lake made it possible to evacuate part of the population and partially provide the surviving people with food.

Freight transportation on ice

In October 1941, research began to build a route across Lake Ladoga; in winter it was covered with ice. After preliminary calculations, construction began in November. It was assumed that the width of the track would be 10 meters so that cars could move in both directions at the same time. Every 5-7 kilometers special heating points were built.

The direction of the road was chosen based on the presence of strong ice cover. It had to withstand heavy loads. The main one was the GAZ-AA, popularly called a “lorry”. In order to prevent massive falls through the ice, there had to be a distance of at least 100 meters between cars. At the same time, a railway line was being built across the lake.

The created “Road of Life” (Leningrad) passed close to the front line; it required protection, which was provided by military units. The ice section of the road had two defensive lines created using wooden logs and sandbags, which were frozen with ice. Small-caliber artillery guns were installed every one or two kilometers and every three kilometers. The highway was defended from the air by six fighter regiments.

During the first winter of the blockade, more than 500 thousand residents were evacuated along the “Road of Life” and about 250 thousand tons of food were delivered. Basically it was flour, grain, cereals, meat products, fats, vegetables, nuts, dried fruits, vitamin C. The work of the ice road continued in the winter of 1942-1943.

Cargo transportation by water

With the melting of the ice, the road through did not cease to exist. Since the spring of 1942, transportation on ice was replaced by navigation by water. However, with ice still remaining in some areas, there was a full month between shipments across the lake. In April, it was no longer possible to transport cargo on ice, and barges were able to travel on water only from the end of May.

The country's leadership needed to carry out work to restore damaged ships. There were no more than 15 barges in working order. They decided to build the barges on site. The site for the work was the pulp and paper mill in Syasstroy. At the same time, the construction of metal ships began in Leningrad itself, which were transported for final assembly by rail.

Anti-aircraft artillery divisions and fighter air regiments were responsible for guarding the route. They had to fight the forces of the German-Finnish-Italian flotilla.

In 1942, about 400 thousand residents were evacuated by water, and 350 thousand tons of food were delivered. At the same time, 290 thousand military personnel were delivered to the city. In addition to food and petroleum products, horses were also delivered to the city.

Since April 1943, cargo transportation across the lake continued. Although their number has decreased, since a significant part of the goods was already transported by rail, launched in 1942.

Was there only one “Road of Life” (Leningrad)?

The official route is the path from Kokorevo to Kobona along the lake. This thread connected the multimillion-dollar city with the country. Such information is available in textbooks and for tourists. However, there is evidence that the “Road of Life” across Lake Ladoga took a different route. The existence of other transportation lines is evidenced by many facts.

Calculation discrepancy

Simple calculations confirm the existence of several roads. So during the first winter of the blockade, the road worked for 150 days. Officially, about 350 thousand tons of cargo were transported. It turns out that 2,400 tons were delivered to Leningrad per day.

They transported cargo with “lorry-and-a-half trucks”, the back of which could load one and a half tons. Another half ton could be attached to a sled. That is, one loaded vehicle could transfer two tons per trip. Every day, 1,200 fully loaded lorries crossed the road. At the same time, they had to move in both directions.

The ice might not be able to withstand such an onslaught. Moreover, in addition to trucks, buses also plied along the highway, which transported about half a million civilians during these 150 days. Tanks were also transported across Ladoga, from which they removed weapon turrets to lighten the weight. It is unlikely that the blockade “Road of Life” alone would have withstood such loads, especially since the road was ice.

The Mystery of the Sunken Trucks

During transportation, about a thousand cars went under the ice. Many of them are still under water today. When the water in the lake is particularly clear, pilots visually record the outlines of the trucks. They are not always located on the official route. Some of them are located hundreds of kilometers from the well-known “Road of Life”.

There are documents from which it becomes clear that some drivers deviated from the route in order to profit from transportation and dump part of the cargo. However, there were not many such cases, and there were many hundreds of trucks that sank away from the highway. So the question of whether Leningrad provided Lake Ladoga only through one road is quite controversial.

Reasons for the existence of multiple routes

The official highway (“Road of Life” across Lake Ladoga) No. 101 Kokorevo - Kobona, of course, existed and operated. However, calculations and the location of many sunken trucks indicate that she could not be the only one.

All maps and documents on this case were classified for a long time and stored in special archives. Perhaps such secrecy is due to the desire not to reveal all the ways in the event of another war.

Reasons why multiple routes could exist:

• Danger from German aviation. The overwhelming superiority of German aviation in the winter of 1941 was undeniable. Having marked the road across the lake, the Nazis regularly bombed it. To minimize losses from air raids, it was necessary to change the route. The first lines were laid closer to the shores of the lake, but as the ice strengthened, the route was drawn closer to its center.

• The ice could not withstand the constant load. Eyewitnesses of those years testify that only 60-70 cars could pass along the road. Then the ice began to crack, and it took time to restore it. This means that the movement had to move to a new path. Otherwise, Leningrad would not have been able to receive such an amount of cargo.

Creation of a railway line

Only the railway could cope with large cargo transportations. By 1942 east coast a line was drawn to the lake. This made it possible to increase cargo transportation. Thanks to all of the above methods, the blockade of Leningrad was partially lifted.

Memory of the broken blockade ring

Hundreds of thousands of people were employed to maintain the ice surface. They lived on the ice, filling the cracks that appeared and building wooden decks. The feat of these people, like the drivers themselves, is difficult to truly evaluate. The blockade was lifted at the cost of the lives of many of them. Lake Ladoga became the outlet that made it possible to break the ring of death for many civilians.

Along the land section from Leningrad to Ladoga there are monuments dedicated to the “Road of Life”. All of them are part of the Green Belt of Glory memorial, which stretches for many kilometers. The memorial consists of seven monuments, 46 memorial pillars along the highway, 56 pillars along the railway.

The most memorable are the monuments at 40 and 103 kilometers of the highway. The first is the “Broken Ring” memorial (architect V. G. Filippov), which symbolizes the breaking of the blockade ring formed by German-Finnish troops over Leningrad since the fall of 1941. At the 103rd kilometer there is a monument “Legendary lorry” (architect Levenkov A.D.). It depicts a car driving, breaking out of the ice.

It is difficult for modern Leningraders to imagine the horrors that happened on the streets of their beloved city six decades ago, when people fell dead in the street from hunger and cold, when shells rained from the sky, when the 900 days of the siege dragged on in an endless line. These days are imprinted in the history and consciousness of the city and for many representatives of the older generation it is still vivid in their memory.

History of besieged Leningrad

In the summer of 1940, Hitler approved the plan, codenamed Barbarossa. A year later, the plan began to be rapidly implemented. The goals were the destruction of the military potential of the USSR, and with it Bolshevism as an ideology, the colonization of new lands, and the reduction of the Slavs to the level of a slave caste. Army Group North, with the support of 14 Finnish divisions on the Karelian Isthmus, was supposed to defeat Soviet troops on the Baltic coast and capture Leningrad. Leningrad was the second largest city, a major industrial center that also produced military products, and also a base for the Baltic Fleet.

For all these reasons, the city was an inevitable target of the German offensive, one of the priorities in the first months of the war. was one of the symbols of the Soviet state. His fall would have a negative impact on the morale and fighting spirit of the people. Under the onslaught of the Germans, the Soviet army, taken by surprise, rolled back to the Luga River near Ancient Novgorod. German troops made a roundabout maneuver and reached Mga - only 16 kilometers from Leningrad. The Finns took advantage of the situation and regained their lands near the Baltic Sea.

The ring around Leningrad began to tighten already in August 1941. For defense, trenches and anti-tank ditches were dug, encircling the city in a triple ring, and a people's militia was formed. After the capture of Shlisselburg, Leningrad was completely cut off from the rest of the country by land. Now the city was supplied only by air. Stalin entrusted the defense of the city. The mobile phase of the Battle of Leningrad was soon over. Hitler ordered the city's surrender to be achieved through bombing, shelling and starvation. The siege of Leningrad began.

The main food warehouses were destroyed. There were still two and a half million inhabitants in the city. Only a small part of the townspeople managed to evacuate in the fall. Mostly women remained in the city. The tasks of maintaining industrial production, caring for families and building defensive structures fell on their shoulders. Already in September, the norm for issuing bread to one person was halved. Rationing of fats, meat, cereals and fish began. Electricity was supplied only for a few hours. Soon sawdust had to be added to the bread due to the lack of sufficient flour. The daily ration was 375 grams for workers, 250 for engineers and technicians, 125 for employees and dependents. The reduction ranged from 60 to 80%.

The only way to supply the city in winter was Lake Ladoga. This route, which was traversed day and night in all weathers by slow-moving barges in the summer or by trucks in the winter, was inevitably vulnerable to German air raids. Nevertheless, it was he who received the name “road of life.” Along the road there were traffic controllers, rescue services, medical posts and communication points with the “mainland”, and military guard posts. Several tracks were organized to properly distribute the load on the ice. Where it was too thin, improvised bridges were built.

Up to 4,000 cars passed through this every day dangerous route. However, mass deaths from starvation still occurred. Most of the siege survivors were found last refuge in mass graves - without coffins and without names. People died at home, on the road, at machines, in lines for food. The bill ran into tens of thousands every month. Sometimes the death was not registered intentionally - in order to use the remaining ration card for others family members. Cards were counterfeited and stolen, and the black market flourished. Cats and dogs disappeared from the streets - they were eaten too. There were also cases of cannibalism.

They went crazy from hunger and completely lost self-control. There was a catastrophic shortage of medicines. Winter 1941-1942 became the most difficult period of the entire Leningrad blockade. With spring there was a noticeable improvement. Back on the streets public transport. Perked up cultural life. The Germans said goodbye to the hope of capturing Leningrad. They suffered serious losses as a result of periodic counter-offensives by Soviet troops. January 27, 1944 is the date of the end of the blockade of the city. There was delight and general jubilation. The unbending spirit of Leningraders buried the ambitious plans of Hitler and his military machine.

• The poetess Olga Berggolts, who became the muse of the siege of Leningrad, was denied burial at the Piskarevsky Memorial by the Soviet authorities for unknown reasons, next to the hundreds of thousands who died during the siege. But it is her words that are carved on the main stele of this memorial - “No one is forgotten and nothing is forgotten.”

The need to build a new road to Leningrad arose after the blockade ring around the city closed. The only possibility was to use Lake Ladoga for these purposes. After the onset of cold weather, a complex transport route was laid directly on the ice, the configuration of which changed depending on the conditions. People called her the Road of Life.

The road of life of besieged Leningrad

In terms of attacking Soviet Union Hitler gave special attention to the capture and destruction of Leningrad. The fall of this historical capital and cradle of the revolution should have preceded the complete defeat of Moscow. Leningrad and Moscow were undoubtedly important strategic points and transport hubs. But even more important was their role in the consciousness of Soviet citizens. For Hitler, the first priority was to undermine the morale of the defenders. He knew better than anyone how important it was to either inspire or demoralize a crowd.

Therefore, Army Group North, under the command of Feodor von Bock, was ordered to destroy Leningrad. Initially, it was assumed that the city would be taken outright, using the blitzkrieg technique. But by the time the troops of the German army approached the intended target, it had already become clear that a lightning war would not work on Soviet territory. The military leaders were against a direct assault on the fortified city. This is how the blockade of Leningrad was proposed. Instead of suffering the inevitable human losses during the assault, the Germans decided to starve the city to death. Constantly showering it with generous artillery fire.

Cars take people out of besieged Leningrad along the “Road of Life.”

At first, roads and railways were cut off. And on September 8, 1941, after the capture of Shlisselburg, the history of besieged Leningrad began - one of the most tragic in the Great Patriotic War. The only connection with the outside world for Leningraders was the road that began on the shores of Lake Ladoga. This thin thread, which the defenders of Leningrad managed to stretch at the cost of incredible efforts, gave life and hope.

The road of life through Lake Ladoga

When the blockade ring closed, the only possibility of communication with besieged Leningrad remained - through Lake Ladoga, the coast of which continued to be controlled by the Soviet army during the Great Patriotic War. This lake was very difficult for navigation. Unexpected gusts of wind often hit ships. Therefore, the coast was not equipped with either berths or piers.

The first cargoes delivered were dumped directly on the wild coast. At the same time, work was urgently carried out to deepen the bottom and develop the harbor. Dugouts were dug on the shore and warehouses were equipped. Telephone and telegraph cables were laid underwater. From shore to nearest line railway laid a narrow-gauge railway.

Already on September 12, just four days after the start of the siege of Leningrad, the first batch of cargo was delivered across Lake Ladoga. There were 60 tons of various ammunition and 800 tons of food. Leningraders were taken on the return flight. During the autumn navigation, until the ice made it impossible to move around the lake, 33.5 thousand people were evacuated from the city by water. During the same time, 60 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to Leningrad.

In addition to unfavorable weather conditions, transportation was complicated by constant German air raids. The use of available tugs and barges for delivery was strongly encouraged. However, even the full load of all the ships could not fully provide food to the surrounded city. In addition, the task was further complicated by the fact that it was not only food that had to be supplied. To wage war and defend the city, weapons were required. Therefore, part of the cargo consisted of ammunition.

How they paved the Road of Life

From the very beginning it was clear that the shipping route was a temporary measure. The cold weather was soon to come. Therefore, ahead of time, employees of the Hydrological Institute and the road department of the Leningrad Front began to design a highway that was to be laid directly on the ice of frozen Lake Ladoga.

In the documents it was called military highway No. 101. There were to be heating points at every fifth kilometer of the route. And they planned to make the road itself 10 meters wide. But in reality everything was much more complicated than on paper. Given that the Road of Life, as the Leningraders themselves called it, passed through places of the shallowest depths, the ice often broke through, taking not only valuable cargo, but also many human lives.

The length through Ladoga was approximately 30 kilometers. Tens of thousands of people worked harmoniously on this relatively small site in difficult conditions. These were truck drivers and horse-drawn drivers, mechanics who repaired cars, traffic controllers whose task was to direct drivers along the safest routes. In addition, there were those who directly paved the road. And it had to be laid constantly. At times because the road was covered with snow, at times because it was necessary to choose areas with a stronger layer of ice, and at times because the road was damaged by German air raids, which were carried out with enviable regularity.

The road of life was constantly being repaired. Divers strengthened it with all possible means at hand, diving under the ice and installing flooring and supports there. This was far from just a wide track laid on ice. Road signs were installed along the road. Along the route of the trucks, medical and heating stations were built. Along the route there were warehouses and bases. Technical assistance stations, workshops and food stations were also equipped. Telephone and telegraph communications passed along the road.

Food situation

Meanwhile, the situation in the city was getting worse. In fact, it reached a critical point, crossed it and confidently moved on. There was a catastrophic shortage of food. At the beginning of the siege, there were approximately 2.9 million people in the city. There were no significant food reserves in Leningrad. It functioned using products supplied from the Leningrad region.

In addition, even the small reserves that were available were destroyed in warehouses during the first shelling. The system of issuing food by cards was introduced immediately. However, the issuance standards were constantly reduced. By November 1941 the situation was critical. Bread distribution standards have fallen below the required physiological minimum. Only 125 grams of bread were given out per day. For workers, the ration was a little more - 200 grams. This is a small piece of bread. And nothing more. By that time, all reserves had long been exhausted. Many did not survive the harsh winter of 1941.

And do not forget that these 125 grams were not bread made from pure flour, albeit of a lower grade. Everything that could be edible was added to the bread - food cellulose, cake, wallpaper dust, burlap punches. There was also the concept of measles flour. It was formed from a wet crust that had set and hardened like cement. On the way to Leningrad, many cars sank along with food. Special teams, under cover of darkness, searched for these places and, with the help of ropes and hooks, lifted bags of flour from the bottom. Some part in the very middle could remain dry. And the rest of the flour turned into a hard crust, which was then broken and added to the blockade bread.

Route to Leningrad

The situation in the city was well known to the drivers of the vehicles that delivered tens of tons of various cargo to the shores of Ladoga during the Leningrad blockade and picked up evacuees from there. They risked their lives every minute, going out onto the ice of Lake Ladoga. And these are not just big words. In just one day on November 29, 1941, 52 cars went under water. And this is on a stretch of 30 kilometers! Of which the first few kilometers can not even be taken into account - there the road was relatively safe.

On the way, the driver was constantly in danger of going under the ice. Therefore, no one closed the car doors, despite the bone-chilling cold. This left a chance to get out of the sinking car. When the situation was especially dangerous (trucks were making trips on already melting ice), the drivers rode on the running board of the car the entire way. The thirty-kilometer ice section thus turned into a serious and lengthy test. After all, we had to drive at low speed. But almost every driver made two trips a day.

However, the dangers did not end there. The Germans tried to carry out airstrikes on convoys during the transport of goods. They aimed both at the trucks themselves and at the route, trying to destroy the route itself. Capricious weather also practically attacked the Ladoga military road. The rising snowstorm quickly leveled the road laid on ice with the surrounding untouched landscape. There was an extremely great danger of going astray. Many drivers died from the cold after getting lost in a snowstorm. To prevent such cases, many road signs were installed along the route.

Sinking cars on the "Road of Life".

Siege winter

In total, Leningraders had to endure three blockade winters. And although it was at this time that the ice road worked best, and a considerable number of tons of cargo could be delivered along it, it was the winters of the blockade that were the most difficult time for Leningraders. After all, the cold was added to the acute problem of malnutrition. There was no central heating, no electricity. Those lucky ones who were able to acquire a potbelly stove slowly burned everything that could burn in it. In some cases, even furniture and parquet were used.

During the first winter - from December 1941 to February 1942 - a quarter of a million people died in Leningrad. But with the increase in bread distribution standards, the mortality rate became less. In order for the delivery of goods to the besieged city to take place more massively and safely, already in the winter of 1942 they began to build an ice railway, which was supposed to run directly across the lake. However, its construction was not completed, since on January 18, 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken, and the need for the Lake Ladoga station disappeared.

There was another path, which was called the small road of life. It passed along the surface of the Gulf of Finland. Most of the defenders of Leningrad moved along this small route. This way they got to the defended “patch”. It was also used to send back numerous soldiers wounded in battle.

And when the blockade was broken, another road appeared, which was unofficially called the “Victory Road.” It was built right through swamps and difficult rough terrain for the rapid evacuation of the population and the delivery of necessary food and ammunition.

"Victory Road"

Sections of ice roads were calculated and laid based on data from divers and scientists from the Hydrological Institute. On the operational military map, the Road of Life constantly changed its outlines. Often the reason was that the delivery of goods took place in areas that, due to bombing, became dangerous. And the weather constantly made its own adjustments. Temperature changes, underwater currents and other external factors greatly influenced sometimes the entire route, and sometimes only a separate section of the route. Traffic on the ice tracks was corrected by traffic controllers. During the first winter alone, the ice road was completely moved 4 times. And some areas changed their configuration 12 times.

It is with such changes that the difference in data on the length of the path in historical documents is associated. In addition, the map of military highway No. 101 also included a land section to the railway station. Some indicated the full mileage, and some indicated only the section that was called the “Road of Life” on the ice of Lake Ladoga.

Monuments on the Road of Life

• Flower of Life;
• Katyusha;
• Broken ring;
• Crossing;
• Diary of Tanya Savicheva;
• One and a half truck;
• Rumbolovskaya mountain.

In addition to them, 102 memorial pillars and memorial steles were installed along the highway and railway. Some of the steles are included in the complex of monuments and memorials, and some are installed separately.

Among the memorial buildings on the Road of Life, the monument to the “lorry” stands out. There is simply nothing like him anymore. “Lorry” was popularly called a car with a carrying capacity of one and a half tons. It was on such trucks that people and goods were transported along the Road of Life. In the place of the road where the most massive shelling took place, today there stands a life-size truck cast in bronze.

Monument "Lorry" on the "Road of Life"

Flower of Life

The road of life passed not far from Vsevolozhsk. There, on the third kilometer of the memorial route, the Flower of Life complex was opened in 1968. It is dedicated to the youngest victims of the siege of Leningrad. After all, during the years of the siege, children became not only passive victims of hunger and shelling. To the best of their ability, they helped in the defense of the city, taking on responsibilities that would otherwise be entrusted only to adults. Schoolchildren extinguished incendiary bombs, stood on patrol, helped in hospitals and collected raw materials for military needs.

The memorial complex consists of three parts. First, the visitor is presented with a 15-meter sculpture of a flower, on the petals of which are carved the words of a children’s song popular in the USSR: “Let there always be sunshine” and an image of a pioneer boy. Next comes the Alley of Friendship, which consists of nine hundred birches - according to the number of days of the siege. Scarlet pioneer ties are tied to tree trunks in memory of the dead children. Behind the alley is a funeral mound. Rarely is there any mention in guidebooks about the Road of Life without a photo of this mound. Among other attractions, there is a diary of a girl, recreated in stone, who, in an incorrect childish handwriting, successively wrote down the dates of death of her family members in a notebook.

Monument "Flower of Life" on the "Road of Life"

Broken ring

On the western shore of Lake Ladoga, where the Road of Life began, there is another monument. With stern brevity he symbolically illustrates Interesting Facts about the Road. Two massive semi-arches, in the shape of a torn ring, seven meters high, remind of the blockade ring. And the rupture of the memorial itself, the Broken Ring, points to the Road of Life. Under the ring towards the descent to the lake, right along the stonework, there is a concrete track from the wheels of a car.

From here, during the years of the blockade, trucks began their journey, delivering valuable cargo of food and ammunition to the besieged city. Beneath the impressive monument are the words from a poem by Bronisław Kezhun:

“Descendant, know: in harsh years,

Loyal to the people, duty and Fatherland,

Through the ice hummocks of Ladoga

From here we led the road of Life,

So that life never dies."

Monument “Broken Ring” on the “Road of Life”

Osinovetsky lighthouse

The road of life is most often associated with trucks on ice and snowstorms. However, when the ice melted, it did not stop functioning. Just in warm time The Ladoga flotilla took on the load. Often it was even more difficult and dangerous than moving on ice in cars. Coastline Lake Ladoga has never been conducive to shipping.

In late spring, summer and early autumn, ships plying on the lake were guided by the light of the Osinovetsky lighthouse, located on the southwestern shore. This lighthouse is still in operation today. There are no excursions there, since the lighthouse is a strategic site and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.

Construction of the Osinovetsky lighthouse began back in 1905. Since then he has not stopped his work. The light of the lighthouse indicates the western border of the bay, from which the Neva begins its journey. It rises 74 meters above the lake level, and the light of the lighthouse is visible at a distance of 40 kilometers.

Monument "Osinovetsky Lighthouse" on the "Road of Life"

Due to the fact that during the blockade the Osinovetsky lighthouse served as an important landmark for ships traveling along the Road of Life, it is classified as a cultural heritage site, although it is not a monument as such.

Katyusha

The road of life was the only connecting thread between besieged Leningrad and the rest of the country. The only artery through which food and ammunition arrived. She was what kept the city alive. The defenders of Leningrad understood this very well, the Leningraders themselves understood this, and the Germans understood this. They desperately tried to cut off this last line of communication in order to finally strangle resistance and destroy the weakened city.

The road of life was under constant fire. To protect against enemy aircraft, it used the legendary Katyusha launchers. In memory of this, on the site where anti-aircraft units were located during the war, a monument was erected, reminiscent of these defensive guns that covered the movement of trucks. It consists of steel beams directed into the sky, each of which is 14 meters long. There are 5 such beams in total. They represent the famous "Katyusha".

Monument "Katyusha" on the "Road of Life"

Poem about the siege of Leningrad

Leningraders' deep feelings about wartime and the siege hometown found their way out in art. Poems dedicated to the Road of Life, paintings, photographs, literary essays - everything that could help express feelings was used. Olga Berggolts, Eduard Asadov, Vera Ibner, Boris Bogdanov, Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Lifshits are the most famous poets who glorified the days of the siege in their works. But this list is far from complete.

And even today, seven decades later, this theme continues to inspire poets and words of memory, pain and gratitude are harmoniously formed into rhymed lines. Here is an excerpt from a modern poem:

Road of Life, dear Ladoga,

Oh, how many you were able to save then!

For our grandparents, I know

You won't find a more sacred place in the world!

I stand before you on my knees,

I stand and look into the distance thoughtfully,

From all post-war generations,

As God, I thank you.

And I know: I still dream at night

To everyone who survived the siege hell,

A stream of cars, a sleepless line,

Carrying bread across the Ladoga ice...

Natalia Smirnova

The road of life is called the only transport highway passing through Lake Ladoga, connecting the city of Leningrad, which was under German blockade, with the entire country during the Great Patriotic War. The road operated from September 1941 to March 1943 - the entire blockade period. Food, weapons, and medicine were delivered to the city along it, and people were evacuated from the city. There was simply no other route connecting the city with the country.

Leningrad blockade

The advance of the German army occurred at lightning speed, and in September 1941 Leningrad found itself surrounded. The Germans managed to cut off railway connections between Leningrad and other cities of the country. Fearing large losses during the capture of the city, Hitler gave orders to keep the city under siege, constantly shelling and bombing it. According to his calculations, unable to withstand the siege, the city was soon to surrender. At the same time, the commanders of the Leningrad Front were given orders to defend the city to the last living person - it was impossible to “surrender” Leningrad to Hitler.

By the time the siege began, about 2.5 million civilians remained in the city, among whom about 400 thousand were children. Food warehouses were destroyed at the very beginning of the blockade - the city was left without supplies. Residents were doomed to starvation. It was possible to deliver food only by air - by aviation and across Lake Ladoga: during navigation by water, in winter - by ice. Aviation could not cope with the supply of the required volumes - the carrying capacity of the aircraft was very small, and the caravans passing along the lake were constantly fired upon by the Germans.

Road of life - Ladoga

As long as navigation was possible, food was brought into the city by barges. It was extremely difficult - German aviation constantly carried out raids, in addition to this, Lake Ladoga was often not suitable for navigation weather– storms and strong winds. But, despite all this, the barges continued to supply food and weapons to the city every day, and on the way back, people were evacuated, many of whom died as a result of the bombing.

After the water in the lake froze, the work of transporting goods and evacuating people was carried out by trucks. Every voyage of any ship and any vehicle going to Leningrad or back was a real feat: the transport route passing along Lake Ladoga was under constant fire from the German army - it had the task of cutting off this connecting thread between Leningrad and the “mainland” and finally taking the city Starved out.

The meaning of the Road of Life

The significance of the Road of Life in the history of the city and in history is enormous:

• thanks to the fact that the Soviet army was able to organize, provide protection and preserve this transport artery, a huge number of human lives were saved;
• the city was saved and preserved, which has important strategic, cultural and historical heritage our homeland;
• Thanks to the presence of fortitude, courage and the desire to win at any cost, the defense of the city and its supply during the siege greatly raised the spirit of the soldiers of the Soviet army, the entire Soviet people and greatly demoralized the enemy troops.

The siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War is considered one of the longest and most terrible siege of the city in the entire history of mankind. But thanks to the courage of the people, it was removed and the city was recaptured. And where the “Road of Life” passed is now the Museum of Memory.

On this day, November 22, 75 years ago, the highway life that connected besieged Leningrad with the mainland.

As a result of the unsuccessful start of the war for the USSR and subsequent battles, German and Finnish troops surrounded the Soviet troops defending Leningrad in early September 1941. In addition to the troops, the entire civilian population of the city was surrounded by the blockade. To supply them, it was necessary to arrange the delivery of goods, which could be done either with the help of aviation, or by delivering goods by water - through Lake Ladoga to the coast of Ladoga, controlled by blockaded Soviet troops. The air bridge to Leningrad was established, but it could not fully satisfy transportation needs. The development of the water route began.

To supply Leningrad, in addition to aviation, there was still the possibility of delivering cargo by water transport- through Ladoga to the unequipped southwestern coast, held by surrounded troops. From Leningrad to the coast of Ladoga there was both a railway and a road, but in order to receive a large number of cargoes it was necessary to expand the coastal railway stations, build berths and dig approach fairways to them. The need to begin work on the Ladoga coast was stated in the GKO decree of August 30, 1941. The following were chosen to receive ships: Osinovets Bay, fenced by a 400-meter dilapidated stone pier, 1.5 km from the Ladoga Lake railway station; Goltsman Bay, located 3 km from the same station; and Morier Bay, located to the north, which had an overpass for one ship. Four dredgers were used in the construction of the ports. The deadlines for delivery of the berths were set as follows: by September 12 for receiving one vessel, by September 18 for simultaneous reception of five, by September 25 - 12 vessels. By the end of September, warehouses, a narrow gauge railway connecting the berths with the main railway, 2 berths with depths on approaches of 2.5 m in Osinovets, 2 berths with depths of 2.5 m and 1.7 m in Holtzman harbor and a protective dam were built in Morier Bay.

In September, the North-Western River Shipping Company had 5 lake and 72 river tugs, 29 lake and about 100 river barges on the Volkhov and Ladoga. Cargoes to Leningrad were sent along the following route. After arriving by rail at the Volkhov station, the wagons went to the pier in Gostinopolye, where the cargo was loaded onto barges. River tugs delivered barges along the Volkhov through the Volkhov Lock to Novaya Ladoga, where some of them were loaded, and from there they were towed to Osinovets for 14-18 hours by lake tugs or ships of the military flotilla. At its berths, cargo was reloaded onto a narrow-gauge railway, transported several hundred meters to the Irinovskaya branch of the Oktyabrskaya Railway, from where, after reloading, it went directly to Leningrad.
Management of all water transportation from Novaya Ladoga to Shlisselburg and Leningrad from September 3, 1941 was entrusted to the Ladoga Military Flotilla, previously the North-Western Shipping Company was included in its composition, and on September 30 a transportation commissioner was appointed - Major General A.M. Shilov , who led the entire route, including the ports. To cover the route, the Osinovetsky air defense brigade area was created, consisting of three divisions on the western bank of Ladoga (Major General of Artillery S.E. Prokhorov), the Svirsky air defense brigade area, consisting of five divisions, covered the route on the eastern bank. In total, they included 76 85-mm, 69 76-mm, 39 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, 75 anti-aircraft machine guns and 60 searchlights.
The first barges with cargo began to arrive in Osinovets starting on September 12. In total, about 20 thousand tons of cargo were delivered in September. During the transportation of goods, a number of barges were lost as a result of the Ladoga storms. On September 17 and 18, barges carrying people sank: one with 520 military personnel heading to Leningrad, 300 of them were rescued, and the other with 300 evacuees, most of of which died. After these incidents, the transportation of people on barges stopped; they began to be transported only on self-propelled vessels.
Due to the fact that Volkhov freezes much earlier than Ladoga, at the end of October it was decided to transport cargo from Gostinopol, which also happened to be close to the front line, to Novaya Ladoga. Due to the onset of freeze-up, barges were no longer used for transportation on November 10; the automobile ice road began operating on November 22, but individual ships continued to deliver cargo until December 4.
In total, during the first navigation, 60 thousand tons of cargo were transported to Leningrad by water, including 45 thousand tons of food. 10.3 thousand tons of cargo were sent in the opposite direction, 33 thousand Leningraders were evacuated and about 20 thousand military personnel were transported.

In October, work began to prepare for the construction of an ice route across Lake Ladoga. Basically, the work consisted of summarizing scattered data on the ice regime of the lake, routing the road based on these data and calculating the costs of its construction. On November 13, the chief of logistics of the Leningrad Front, F.N. Lagunov, signed an order “On organizing the construction of an ice road along the water route Cape Osinovets - Kareji Lighthouse.” The road was supposed to be 10 m wide for two-way traffic, and feeding and heating points were to be built every 5 km. From November 15 to 19, 12 groups surveyed the established ice. The results showed that the route to Kareji has ice-free sections, but it is possible to construct a road through the Zelentsy Islands. On November 19, the commander of the Leningrad Front signed an order to organize a road and tractor road across Lake Ladoga. The automobile and tractor road with a daily cargo turnover of 4000 tons was supposed to pass along the route Cape Osinovets - Zelentsy Islands with a branch to Kobona and Lavrovo. Feeding and heating points were supposed to be provided every 7 km. For the operation and protection of the road and transshipment bases, a Road Administration was created, headed by engineer of the first rank V.G. Monakhov, which was subordinate to the chief of front rear services. On November 26, the ice road received the name military highway No. 101. On December 7, captain 2nd rank M.A. Nefedov was appointed head of the road instead of Monakhov. To maintain the road, including transshipment points, the Ice Road Administration was assigned military units numbering a total of 9 thousand people. Transportation through Ladoga was carried out by the 17th separate motor transport brigade, which was not subordinate to the ice route management. At the expense of the rear of the 54th Army, by November 22, it was ordered to organize supply routes along the Novaya Ladoga - Chernoushevo - Lemasar - Kobona highway with the opening of transshipment bases on railway stations Voybokalo and Zhikharevo, as well as ensure the delivery of goods to transshipment bases in Kobon and Lavrovo. The commissioner of the Leningrad Front, A. M. Shilov, was responsible for the delivery of goods to the eastern shore of the lake.

On the morning of November 20, a battalion of a horse-transport regiment, recently formed by the Leningrad Front, was sent to the eastern shore of Ladoga from Vaganovsky Spusk near the village of Kokkorevo. The battalion was a horse-drawn sleigh train of 350 teams. In the evening of the same day, the convoy reached Kobona, loaded itself with flour and set off at night on the return journey, arriving in Osinovets on November 21 with a load of 63 tons of flour. On the same day, several successful attempts were made to cross the lake in empty GAZ-AA vehicles. On November 22, a convoy was sent to the eastern bank under the control of the commander of the 389th separate motor transport battalion, Captain V.A. Porchunov, consisting of 60 vehicles with attached sleighs. Having loaded 70 tons of food on the eastern bank, the convoy set off back and arrived in Osinovets in the evening of the same day. In November, on average, a little more than 100 tons of cargo per day were delivered along the route; by the end of December, as the ice strengthened, it was already about 1000 tons.

Until December 15, the route through Ladoga ran in the direction of Kokkorevo - Astrechye Bank - Zelentsy Islands - Kobona. Due to the weakness of the ice during the initial period of operation of the road, its route had to be changed frequently. So, during the first month of using the ice road, its route changed four times. Two-way separate traffic was installed on the ice road, with lanes located at a distance of 100-150 m from each other. To prevent several cars from falling under the ice at once, the distance between cars in a convoy was at least 100 m. The road was served by 350 traffic controllers at 45, and from December 19 at 75 traffic control posts. Along the ice road was laid overhead line communications on poles frozen in ice. As of December 25, the 17th OATBr included a total of 2,877 vehicles - 668 ZIS-5 and 2,209 GAZ-AA, of which only 1,198 were in operation. Of this number, 87 ZIS-5 fuel tankers were engaged only in fuel transportation, 511 vehicles with a total carrying capacity of 900 tons operated on the Tikhvin-Kolchanovo route, and 600 vehicles with a total carrying capacity of 900 tons operated on the Voybokalo-Kokkorevo ice section. By decree of the Leningrad Front, it was planned to release 1,500 vehicles on the ice road from January 5, 1942 (in conventional one and a half ton calculation), from January 15 - 1,700 and from February 1 - 2,000.

From December 10, 1941, in accordance with the resolution of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front, it was planned to begin evacuating residents along the winter road, bringing the number of evacuated population to 5 thousand people per day by December 20. On December 12, the Military Council ordered the evacuation to be postponed. However, from December 1941 to January 22, 1942, 36 thousand people were evacuated by march across Lake Ladoga and by unorganized vehicles. On January 22, 1942, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution on the evacuation of 500 thousand residents of Leningrad. Evacuation points were organized along the route for removing people: at the Finlyandsky station in Leningrad, in Vaganovo, Zhikharevo and Volkhov.
In mid-January 1942, the 17th separate brigade was disbanded and its battalions were subordinated to the command of the military highway. As of January 20, it included: four road maintenance regiments with a total number of 5,335 people, two construction battalions - 1,042 people; nine separate motor transport battalions, motor battalions of the 8th, 23rd, 42nd, 55th armies, a convoy of the NKVD and a separate company of tankers - a total of 8032 people and more than 3400 trucks and special vehicles; two separate repair and restoration battalions - 452 people; three separate evacuation companies - 285 people; separate horse-drawn transport battalion - 1455 people and 952 horses; two separate work battalions (Syassky and Novo-Ladozhsky) - 1905 people; transshipment bases and military health facilities - about 200 people. In total there are about 19 thousand people and 4053 different vehicles. On February 20, the VAD included 15,168 people, 4,283 vehicles (including 3,632 vehicles from motor transport battalions), 136 tractors and 537 horses. On March 26, 1942, 16,168 people, 2,278 trucks (1,129 GAZ-AA and 1,149 ZIS-5, while only 1,103 vehicles were on the road), 163 tank trucks, 167 tractors and 428 horses were working on the road. April 20 - 12,656 people, 2,957 trucks and 348 special vehicles, 84 tractors, 241 horses. Until mid-January, the road management was located in Novaya Ladoga, then in Zhikharevo, and from March 7 in Kobon. From April 21, by order of the Leningrad Front, traffic on the ice road was closed, but some transportation took place until April 25.

The total amount of cargo transported to Leningrad along the Road of Life for the entire period of its operation amounted to over 1 million 615 thousand tons. During the same time, about 1 million 376 thousand people were evacuated from the city.