Presentation for a class hour, extracurricular presentation, or history lesson

It lasted exactly 871 days. This is the longest and most terrible siege of the city in the history of mankind. Almost 900 days of pain and suffering, courage and dedication. Many years after the break of the blockade of Leningrad, many historians, and ordinary people as well, wondered whether this nightmare could have been avoided? To avoid - apparently not. For Hitler, Leningrad was a "tasty morsel" - after all, there is the Baltic Fleet and the road to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, from where during the war help came from the allies, and if the city surrendered, it would be destroyed and wiped off the face of the earth. Was it possible to mitigate the situation and prepare for it in advance? The issue is controversial and worthy of a separate study.

Memories of the blockade of Leningrad peoplesurvivors, their letters and diaries reveal a terrible picture to us. A terrible famine fell upon the city. Money and jewelry have depreciated. The evacuation began in the fall of 1941, but only in January 1942 did it become possible to take a large number of people, mainly women and children, through the Road of Life. There were huge queues at the bakeries where the daily ration was served. In addition to famine, besieged Leningrad was attacked by other disasters: very frosty winters, sometimes the thermometer dropped to -40 degrees. The fuel ran out and water pipes froze - the city was left without electricity and drinking water. Another misfortune for the besieged city in the first blockade winter was the rats. They not only destroyed food supplies, but also spread all kinds of infections. People were dying, and there was no time to bury them, the corpses lay right in the streets. There were cases of cannibalism and robbery.

From the first days of the blockade, she began her dangerous and heroic work The road of life - the pulse of besieged Leningrad. The only way, apart from ineffective aviation, for the evacuation of people from besieged Leningrad, as well as for the delivery of provisions and military supplies back to the city in September-November 1941, was Lake Ladoga, along which the ships of the Ladoga flotilla cruised daily. On September 12, 1941, the first barges with food came to the city along this route, and until late autumn, when storms made navigation impossible, barges traveled along the Road of Life. Each of their voyages was a feat - enemy aircraft constantly made their bandit raids, weather conditions were often not in the hands of sailors either - the barges continued their voyages even in late autumn, until the very appearance of ice, when navigation was in principle impossible.

However, it was obvious that before the onset of cold weather the German ring around the city would not be broken, and in order to avoid the possibility of a complete blockade of Leningrad in the winter, it was necessary to find a way out as soon as possible. And such a solution was found - this is the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating ice crossings across Lake Ladoga, which were later called "The Road of Life".

Many were at first rather skeptical about this idea, as they doubted that the ice would be able to carry the huge amount of cargo that was going to be transported through it. The Germans did not believe in this either; in leaflets scattered over Leningrad, they wrote literally the following: "It is impossible to supply millions of people and the army on the ice of Lake Ladoga." However, leaving the city of three million for the whole winter without supplies actually meant dooming its inhabitants to certain death, and work on the creation of the ice crossing began. At first, as a result of the titanic work of the Logistics Directorate on the Leningrad Front, in less than a month, all the information available at that time on the transportation of heavy cargo on ice, as well as on the ice regime of Lake Ladoga specifically, was collected. As a result of these studies, the most suitable route for the crossing was Novaya Ladoga - Chernoushevo - Lemassar - Kobona. On November 20, 1941, the first horse-drawn carts went along the "Road of Life", and a day later the famous GAZ-AA (one and a half).

Despite the fact that it seemed that a huge theoretical preparation was carried out before the creation of the ice crossing, and besides, the winter of 1941-1942 was very harsh and snowy, Lake Ladoga presented an unpleasant surprise. It very often happened that a convoy of trucks loaded to capacity crossed the route without any problems, and the light vehicle following them fell through the ice. And it fell through instantly, leaving no chance for the people inside. This was due to the phenomenon of resonance, which was poorly understood at that time, or rather, the flexural-gravitational wave, in order to avoid which, all cars were ordered to follow at a strictly defined speed. After several such incidents, the crossing received its second, more eerie name - "Death Road".

The Germans did not forget about the "Road of Life", regularly making air raids and artillery strikes on the lake, since their positions were literally a few kilometers from the crossing. Therefore, many drivers of one and a half, when driving at night, drove without turning on the headlights, in order to somehow protect themselves from aircraft strikes, we can say that they were driving almost blindly. The drivers who worked on the Road of Life are generally worthy of a separate story. They spent in terrible cold (most even drove with the doors open so that they could have time to jump out in the event of a failure under the ice) for 12 hours at the wheel, making 5-7 trips a day across the entire Ladoga Lake, but at the same time they received the same meager rations, as well as simple blockades. However, none of them complained, since everyone understood how important their work was for the blockades and the soldiers who defended Leningrad.

The ice crossing in the winter of 1942-1943 posed an even greater danger than a year earlier. As a result of the mild winter with frequent thaws, the ice often broke, and this led to even more failures, but the Road of Life, even in such conditions, continued to operate until April 24, 1943, that is, even after the blockade of Leningrad was lifted. In just two years on the ice of Lake Ladoga, according to official statistics, more than 640 thousand people were evacuated, 575 thousand tons of various cargoes were delivered to the city and about 300 thousand soldiers and officers were transported to the Leningrad Front. That is, it is obvious that the creation of the "Road of Life" in November 1941 was one of the key factors, which, at least minimally, made it possible to provide food for the residents of the city and the soldiers of the defense of Leningrad, and this in turn directly influenced the overall outcome of the Leningrad battle.

The road of life. The road of life. "The Road of Life", the only military strategic transport artery, connecting blockaded Leningrad with the country in September 1941 - March 1943, passed through Lake Ladoga. During the navigation periods ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

The road of life - In 1941 1942. this was the name of the road on the ice of Lake Ladoga, which connected Leningrad, which was blocked by German troops, with the "Big Land", that is, the rear. On this road, food and ammunition were delivered to the city, along which they were taken out of the city ... ... Dictionary of winged words and expressions

The road of life - the only military strategic transport highway connecting blockaded Leningrad with the country in September 1941 March 1943, passed through Lake Ladoga. During the navigation periods, transportation on D. well. " were produced along the waterway ... ... Saint Petersburg (encyclopedia)

THE ROAD OF LIFE - during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route through Lake Ladoga. (during periods of navigation on water, on ice in winter), connecting the blockaded Leningrad with the country from September 1941 to March 1943 ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

The road of life - ROAD, and, well. Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

THE ROAD OF LIFE - during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route across Lake Ladoga (during periods of navigation on water, in winter on ice), connecting blockaded Leningrad with the country in September 1941 March 1943. Source: Encyclopedia of Fatherland ... Russian history

THE ROAD OF LIFE - THE ROAD OF LIFE, during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route across Lake Ladoga (during periods of navigation by water, in winter on ice), connecting the blocked Leningrad with the country from September 1941 to March 1943 ... encyclopedic Dictionary

The road of life - A memorial kilometer sign on the Kushelevka Piskaryovka railway section, near the Theological cemetery "The Road of Life" during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport highway across Lake Ladoga. During periods of navigation on water, ... ... Wikipedia

The road of life - ("The Road of Life",) the only military strategic transport highway across Lake Ladoga, connecting from September 1941 to March 1943 Leningrad, blocked by Nazi troops with the rear areas of the country during the Great ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

The road of life - Book. High. The route on the ice of Lake Ladoga, along which during the Great Patriotic War, besieged Leningrad was provided with food and weapons. The victories near Leningrad helped to create the Road of Life on the Ice of Ladoga, which saved many ... ... Phraseological dictionary of the Russian literary language

Books

  • The Road of Life, Lindes Emma Category: Miscellaneous Publisher: Nestor-History, Manufacturer: Nestor-History, Buy for 770 UAH (only Ukraine)
  • The Road of Life, Lindes Emma, \u200b\u200b1970. Former Cambridge graduate, handsome Konrad Helldorf returns to his native Berlin to find out the truth about his father, who died before his birth in the fall of 1944. Konrad's new life ... Category: Contemporary foreign prose Publisher:

In September, one of the days when Petersburg was remembering the beginning of the blockade 70 years ago, I went to Lake Ladoga. There, on the coast in the village of Osinovets, there is a Museum of the Road of Life. This museum is a branch of the Central Naval Museum, and, according to its director, is the most visited museum in the Leningrad region.

At the station Ladoga Lake, where I arrived by train from the Finland Station, there is a memorial steam locomotive ESH-4375. During the war, such vehicles carried cargo and passengers to Lake Ladoga. On board the motto: "Everything for the front, everything for victory!"
On the memorial plaque "eshki", as the railway workers affectionately called this steam locomotive, it is written: "On this steam locomotive in the period 1941-1942, the Komsomol youth brigade of the locomotive depot TCh-12, consisting of: senior machinist Vasily Yeliseyev, assistant machinist Ivan Belyaev, fireman Boris Alexandrov, as part of a locomotive convoy, delivered 2312 heavy trains with 2 million tons of ammunition, fuel and food to besieged Leningrad and for the front. Honor and glory to the heroes-railroad workers for their courageous work on the "Road of Life".
Memorial kilometer pillars have been installed along the railway track from St. Petersburg to the station, one of them is in the foreground.

The road of life - during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route across Lake Ladoga. During navigation periods - on water, in winter - on ice. From September 12, 1941 to March 1943, she connected the besieged Leningrad with the country. The road laid on ice is often called the Ice Road of Life (officially - Military Highway No. 101). During the Great Patriotic War it was called "The Road of Death".

The original building of the station of the Ladoga Lake station. In the same building there is a museum dedicated, naturally, to the Road of Life.

I left his visit until the next time, because I learned about him shortly before the departure of the return train to St. Petersburg.

After walking a little along the road behind the station building, I reached Lake Ladoga.

Ladoga is striking in its size. Water to the very horizon, I can't even believe that this is a lake, it seems that you are standing on the seashore.

Lake Ladoga is one of the largest lakes in Europe, its length from north to south is 207 km, and from west to east is 136 km, the average depth is 51 m.

They also say that Lake Ladoga has a heavy temper - the weather can change very quickly, and small ripples can be replaced by strong waves. So in September 1941, a storm broke dozens of barges in this part of the coast and killed over a thousand people.

In winter, because of strong winds, there is no even ice on the surface of the lake, ice moves and hummocks form. This complicated the construction of the Road and the transport of goods on ice.

The Leningrad blockade was established on September 8, 1941, when Shlisselburg was captured by fascist troops. This was the last land route that led from Leningrad to the mainland. Ladoga remained as the last hope for supplying the besieged city. There were no marinas or piers on the shores of Ladoga. But already in September, the first navigation on Lake Ladoga began. From the mainland, cargo was delivered first to Volkhov, from there to Novaya Ladoga, and then by water to the western coast to the Osinovets lighthouse. On September 12, two barges were the first to arrive here, loaded with 626 tons of grain and 116 tons of flour. It is this date that is considered the beginning of the Road of Life. In total, by the end of the navigation of 1941, 60 thousand tons of various cargoes, including 45 thousand tons of food, were delivered to the besieged city by water, and about 33 500 Leningraders were evacuated.

Entrance to the museum.

There are many exhibits on the site near the museum.

Military transport aircraft Li-2. It was this Li-2 that Alexander Rogozhkin filmed in the film "Ferry".

Such planes delivered food and medicine to Leningrad during the blockade.

On November 17, two groups conducted reconnaissance of the route on the ice. On November 20, the first horse train of 350 sledges headed by Senior Lieutenant M.S.Murov set off on the ice Road of Life from the Vaganovsky Spusk near the village of Kokkarevo. Upon arrival in Kobona, 63 tons of flour were loaded onto a sled. On the morning of November 21, the convoy arrived at Cape Osinovets. On November 22, the first convoy of 60 GAZ-AA vehicles (better known as "lorries") under the command of Captain V.A.Porchunov went to Kobona for food. In total, during the first blockade winter, the ice road worked until April 24 (152 days). During this time, 361 109 tons of various cargoes were transported, including 262 419 tons of food. More than 550 thousand Leningraders and more than 35 thousand wounded were evacuated from the city. Thanks to these transportations, the norms for the distribution of bread have been increased since December 25: for workers and engineering and technical workers by 100 grams, and for employees, dependents and children by 75 grams.
The second navigation on Ladoga began on May 23, 1942, during the operation of which 1,099,500 tons of various cargoes were transported in both directions, of which more than 790 thousand tons were transported to besieged Leningrad, including 353 thousand tons of food. About 540 thousand people were taken out of the city to the mainland, including more than 448 thousand evacuees. Also, about 290 thousand soldiers and officers were transferred to replenish the Leningrad Front. In 1942, along the bottom of Lake Ladoga, a pipeline was laid for supplying fuel and a cable through which electricity was supplied to Leningrad from the partially restored Volkhovskaya HPP.
From December 19, 1942 to March 30, 1943, the ice Road of Life operated again for 101 days. During this period, more than 200 thousand tons of various cargoes were transported, including over 100 thousand tons of food, and about 89 thousand people were evacuated.

On such horse-drawn carts, reconnaissance of the ice route was carried out.

Monument to the military units that defended the Road of Life.

Tower from T-34.

Lots of anti-aircraft, naval and field guns.

Glowing buoy Zheleznitsa. The buoy was exhibited on the waterway near the Zheleznitsa Bank. During the war, it was the main point for navigation while sailing.

Self-propelled amphibious assault two-hold tender. Loading capacity 25 tons, speed 5 knots. They were built under blockade conditions, which is why they have simple angular shapes. They were equipped with engines from ZiS-5.

The tugboat Izhorets 8. In September 1941, with ammunition and food, it arrived at the port of Osinovets. During the first navigation, I transported a large number of various cargoes. After the war, the ship was repaired, sailed on the White Lake, and in 1976. from Belozersk brought to Osinovets and put to eternal parking in the museum.

Marine hunter MO-215.
These were high-speed vessels (they could reach speeds even up to 50 km / h), they performed various operations, disembarked and picked up scouts in the occupied territory.

A lorry, raised from the bottom of Lake Ladoga.
During the first 2 weeks of the ice road, 157 cars went under the ice. The drivers drove with the doors open in order to get out of the cab in time if the car starts to fall through the ice. But still they died often.
During the two siege winters, more than 1,100 cars went under the ice - every fourth.

The light bulbs in the brake lights remained intact.

Fragment from another truck.

These are like fragments of an Il-2 attack aircraft.

Armored plate. Are these bullet marks?

Museum building. Inside there is an exposition of five rooms dedicated to the history of the creation and work of the heroic military communication, which ensured the life and connection of the blockaded Leningrad with the country from the end of November 1941 to March 30, 1943. The exhibitions are arranged in chronological order.

45 mm cannon on a ship's bollard, 120 mm mortar, quad machine gun Maxim.

A dropper placed on a seriously wounded soldier right on the front line will not be able to instantly heal and magically cover him from shells and bullets; she just has to keep him from dying. The Road of Life played the same role for besieged Leningrad. In the hardest blockade winter of 1941-1942, it was the work of the supply route across the ice of Lake Ladoga that saved the city from inevitable and terrible death. Leningrad had no alternatives to this path.

In any case, the German high command was not going to feed the civilians of the city, they were actually sentenced to death by starvation. And for the USSR, the loss of Leningrad meant almost guaranteed defeat in the war.

Cars move along the thawed "Road of Life"

Ladoga - threat and hope

It all started back in August 1941, when the Germans cut the last railway linking Leningrad with the country. The Soviet command decided to evacuate civilians through Ladoga. This lake is known for its severe storms in bad weather. To ensure safety, ships with people had to go along the Staro-and Novaya Ladoga canals, laid parallel to the southern shore of Lake Ladoga. However, on September 8, 1941, the Germans captured the city of Shlisselburg. The land blockade was finally closed, but there was no room left for the movement of water transport along the canals that entered the Neva near the same Shlisselburg.

As a result, the ships and vessels of the Ladoga military flotilla were forced to sail only on the lake. The route between Novaya Ladoga in the east and Osinovets Bay on the western, besieged coast of Lake Ladoga was short, about 60 kilometers, but extremely risky due to storms that were not inferior in fury to the sea. In addition, they have not yet managed to equip beacons or mark the fairway here.

Nevertheless, the first barges arrived at Osinovets on September 12, 1941. And on the night of September 17, one of the largest disasters in the entire history of navigation on rivers and lakes occurred. Non-self-propelled barge No. 725, together with the Oryol tugboat, was caught in a storm. According to various estimates, it had from 1200 to 1500 people. Of these, the tug was able to save just over two hundred.

But there was no alternative to Ladoga. Already in September 1941, the food situation in Leningrad began to deteriorate rapidly. The besieged city of flour alone required 1100 tons daily. In the first blockade in autumn, they were able to deliver hardly half of this volume by water. Aviation, however, could not transport more than 100 tons per day.

Delivering food and other essential goods to Leningrad, ships and planes not only took out civilians, but also transferred troops from the city to the east. About 20 thousand people transported as reinforcements during the October German offensive on Tikhvin and Volkhovstroy helped stop the enemy on the line east of these cities.

But Tikhvin himself still fell on November 9, 1941, and the supply of goods for Leningrad from the east by rail was interrupted. This put the supply of the besieged city in jeopardy, he was on the verge of death.

How the "Road of Life" was laid

By this time, the Soviet side was already working on a project to create a supply route across the ice of Lake Ladoga. Some experience of laying such roads has already been, and the most recent and large-scale one was obtained literally a year before the events described, during the war with Finland. It was a rush of the Red Army across the ice of the Vyborg Bay. By the time of the fall of Tikhvin, the first projects of the road already existed, the matter was for implementation.


Horse train on the ice of Lake Ladoga

The northern, shallower part of Lake Ladoga froze faster. It was necessary to wait for this moment and conduct reconnaissance. This was done on November 15-18. Then a small convoy of seven cars tried to pass from the eastern shore of the lake, but failed. The same thing happened with the second column. And only the reconnaissance of the 88th bridge-building battalion, after spending a whole day on the ice, managed on November 18 to find a way from the port of Osinovets on the "Leningrad" side of Lake Ladoga to the village of Kobona on the eastern shore. The ice track has turned from an idea into a tangible fact. For the first few days, horse-drawn carts were supposed to go along it, and by the end of November - automobile columns.

On November 21, 350 horse teams arrived in Osinovets, delivering the first 63 tons of flour for Leningraders. So a thin thread stretched between Leningrad and the mainland, without which the city would not have survived the blockade. Officially, it was called the military road number 102 (VAD-102). It was led by the general-major of the quartermaster service Afanasy Mitrofanovich Shilov.

VAD-102 in operation and in battle

Every kilogram delivered along the "Road of Life" was worth a lot of effort and loss. The cars collapsed and sank, they were smashed by German aviation, the track itself had to be moved every now and then, because the ice could not withstand the loads. The management of transportations has established a special regime of traffic, in which the movement of cars would not overload the ice cover. With all efforts, it was only in January 1942 that the Road of Life was able to deliver at least the minimum daily rate of flour per day of work.

The population was evacuated back from the city along the same route and troops continued to be transferred from Leningrad. And not only rifle units. In February 1942, the 124th tank brigade - several dozen heavy KVs - was marched across the ice of Ladoga. For safety reasons, the turrets were removed from the tanks, thereby reducing the mass, and they were driven behind the combat vehicles on a sleigh.


Roads of Life Map

The Germans were totally unhappy with the existence of such a road right under their noses. Luftwaffe bombers bombed it from the very moment of its appearance, fighters hunted Soviet transport aircraft. When the movement on the ice opened, the enemy artillery began to "process" the route. The German command even prepared the 8th Panzer Division for a dash on the ice in order to interrupt the supply of Leningrad. They failed to fulfill this plan only because of the general offensive of the Soviet Volkhov and Leningrad fronts in January 1942.

Soviet troops defended the "Road of Life" from the ground and air. Here the pilot of the 4th Guards Fighter Regiment Leonid Georgievich Belousov repeated the feat of Alexei Maresyev. He froze his legs in flight, gangrene began, they had to be amputated. Despite this, the pilot returned to service at the end of 1944. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union only 13 years later.

In the summer and autumn of 1942, the enemy deployed Italian torpedo boats and armed German ferry catamarans "Siebel" to Ladoga. In October, the Germans launched a major operation against the island of Sukho, located next to the highway. The Soviet garrison fought back with the help of the Ladoga Flotilla.


In the summer, the Ladoga track became exclusively water

Leningrad was already ready for the second blockade winter. The supply on Lake Ladoga functioned properly, the operation of the route provided conditions for several major offensive operations of the Leningrad Front. By the winter of 1942–1943, several projects for organizing movement on ice had appeared. Among them was such a risky one as building a trolleybus line. It was because of the risk that this project was rejected. Instead, it was decided to build a railway bridge across Ladoga. But this idea was not implemented in time.

On January 18, 1943, Soviet troops broke through the blockade of Leningrad. And although the movement along the "Road of Life" continued until March, the main load was taken by a new artery - the railway "Victory Road" built in a record 17 days.

The material was republished from the portal worldoftanks.ru as part of the partnership.

Sources:

  1. Kovalchuk V. M. Leningrad and "Big Land". The history of the Ladoga communication of blockaded Leningrad. L., 1975.
  2. Battle for Leningrad // Ed. S.P. Platonov. M., 1964.
  3. Tsybulsky I., Chechin O. Ladoga Soldiers. M., 1977.
  4. Ladoga native // \u200b\u200bComp. Z.G. Rusakov. L., 1969.
  5. Documents of the 28th Army Corps, 18th Army, from the NARA collection.

Close