One of the most tragic pages of World War II is the blockade of Leningrad. History has preserved many facts testifying to this terrible test in the life of the city on the Neva. Leningrad was surrounded by fascist invaders for almost 900 days (from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944). Of the two and a half million inhabitants living in the northern capital before the outbreak of war, more than 600,000 people died of starvation during the blockade, and several tens of thousands of citizens died from bombing. Despite the catastrophic shortage of food, severe frosts, lack of heat and electricity, Leningraders bravely resisted the Nazi onslaught and did not give their city to the enemy.
About the siege city for decades
In 2014, Russia celebrated the 70th anniversary of the siege of Leningrad. Today, as several decades ago, the Russian people highly honor the feat of the inhabitants of the city on the Neva. A large number of books have been written about the besieged Leningrad, many documentaries and feature films have been shot. Pupils and students are told about the heroic defense of the city. In order to better imagine the situation of people who find themselves in Leningrad surrounded by fascist troops, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the events associated with its deposition.
The blockade of Leningrad: interesting facts about the significance of the city for invaders
To capture the Soviet lands from the Nazis, a plan was developed for Barbarossa. In accordance with it, the Nazis planned in several months to conquer the European part of the USSR. The city on the Neva in the process of occupation of the Soviet Union was given an important role, because Hitler believed that if Moscow is the heart of the country, then Leningrad is his soul. The Führer was sure that as soon as the northern capital fell under the onslaught of Nazi troops, the fighting spirit of a huge state would weaken, and after that it could easily be conquered.
Despite the resistance of our troops, the Nazis managed to significantly advance deep into the country and surround the city on the Neva from all sides. September 8, 1941 went down in history as the first day of the siege of Leningrad. It was then that all land routes from the city were cut, and he was surrounded by the enemy. Every day, Leningrad was subjected to artillery shelling, but did not give up.
The northern capital was in the blockade ring for almost 900 days. In the entire history of the existence of mankind, it was the longest and most terrible siege of the city. Despite the fact that before the blockade, some of the residents were evacuated from Leningrad, a large number of citizens continued to remain in it. These people suffered terrible torment, and not all of them managed to survive until the liberation of their hometown.
The horrors of hunger
Regular airstrikes are not the worst thing that Leningraders experienced during the war. The food supply in the besieged city was not enough, and this led to a terrible famine. The blockade of Leningrad prevented the delivery of food from other settlements. Interesting facts were left by the townspeople about this period: the local population fell into hungry faints right on the street, cases of cannibalism no longer surprised anyone. Every day more and more deaths from exhaustion were recorded, the corpses lay on the city streets, and there was no one to clean them.
With the beginning of the blockade, Leningraders began to be issued with food cards, on which they could get bread. Since October 1941, the daily bread rate for workers was 400 g per person, and for children under 12 years of age, dependents and employees - 200 g. But this did not save the townspeople from starvation. Food supplies were rapidly declining, and by November 1941, the daily portion of bread had to be reduced to 250 g for workers and to 125 g for other categories of citizens. Due to the lack of flour, it was half inedible impurities, it was black and bitter. Leningraders did not complain, because for them a piece of such bread was the only salvation from death. But the famine did not last all 900 days of the siege of Leningrad. Already at the beginning of 1942, the daily bread standards increased, and he himself became better. In mid-February 1942, residents of the city on the Neva River were first given soldered frozen lamb and beef meat. Gradually, the food situation in the northern capital was stabilized.
Abnormal winter
But not only hunger was remembered by the townspeople of the siege of Leningrad. The story contains facts that the winter of 1941-1942 was unusually cold. Frosts in the city were from October to April and were much stronger than in previous years. In some months, the thermometer column dropped to -32 degrees. The situation was aggravated by heavy snowfalls: by April 1942, the height of the snowdrifts was 53 cm.
Despite the abnormally cold winter, due to lack of fuel in the city, it was not possible to start central heating, there was no electricity, the water supply was turned off. In order to somehow warm the housing, Leningraders used stove stoves: they burned everything that could burn - books, rags, old furniture. Exhausted by hunger, people could not stand the cold and died. The total number of citizens who died from exhaustion and frost by the end of February 1942 exceeded 200 thousand people.
On the "road of life" and life surrounded by the enemy
Until the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted, the only way by which the inhabitants were evacuated and supplied the city was Lake Ladoga. Trucks and horse-drawn carts were transported along it in winter, and in the summer, barges went around the clock. The narrow road, completely unprotected from aerial bombardments, was the only connection between the besieged Leningrad and the world. Locals called Lake Ladoga "dear life", because if not for it, the victims of the Nazis would be incommensurably greater.
The blockade of Leningrad lasted about three years. Interesting facts of this period indicate that, despite the catastrophic situation, life continued in the city. Even during the famine, military equipment was produced in Leningrad, theaters and museums were opened. The morale of the townspeople was supported by famous writers and poets who regularly performed on the radio. By the winter of 1942-1943, the situation in the northern capital was no longer as critical as before. Despite regular bombing, life in Leningrad stabilized. Earned factories, schools, cinemas, baths, managed to restore water supply, public transport began to walk around the city.
Curious facts about St. Isaac's Cathedral and cats
On the very last day of the siege of Leningrad, he was subjected to regular shelling. The shells that leveled many buildings in the city rained down on the side of St. Isaac's Cathedral. It is not known why the Nazis did not touch the building. There is a version that they used its high dome as a guide for shelling the city. The basement of the cathedral served as a repository for Leningraders valuable museum exhibits, so they were able to save them intact until the end of the war.
Not only fascists were a problem for citizens, while the blockade of Leningrad lasted. Interesting facts indicate that rats divorced in a huge number in the northern capital. They destroyed those meager food supplies that remained in the city. In order to save the population of Leningrad from starvation, 4 wagons of smoky cats, considered to be the best rat-catchers, were transported to it along the "road of life" from the Yaroslavl region. Animals worthily coped with the mission assigned to them and gradually destroyed rodents, saving people from another hunger.
Ridding the city of enemy forces
The liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade occurred on January 27, 1944. After a two-week offensive, the Soviet troops managed to push the Nazis back from the city. But, despite the defeat, the invaders besieged the northern capital for about six months. The enemy was finally driven back from the city only after the Vyborg and Svir-Petrozavodsk offensive operations carried out by Soviet troops in the summer of 1944.
The memory of the besieged Leningrad
January 27 in Russia marks the day when the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted. On this memorable date, the country's leaders, church ministers and ordinary citizens come to the Piskarevsky cemetery in St. Petersburg, where the ashes of hundreds of thousands of Leningrad residents who died from hunger and shelling rest in mass graves . 900 days of the siege of Leningrad will forever remain a black page in Russian history and will remind people of the inhuman crimes of fascism.