For the command of the Wehrmacht, the mastery of the city on the Neva was not only of great military strategic importance. In addition to capturing the entire coast of the Gulf of Finland and destroying the Baltic Fleet, far-reaching propaganda goals were also pursued. The fall of the cradle of the Revolution would inflict irreparable moral damage on the whole Soviet people and would significantly undermine the fighting spirit of the armed forces. The command of the Red Army had an alternative: withdraw troops and surrender the city without a fight. In this case, the fate of the inhabitants would be even more tragic. Hitler intended to wipe the city from the face of the earth in the literal sense of the word.
Leningrad was finally surrounded by German and Finnish troops on September 8, 1941. The blockade of Leningrad lasted 872 days. In addition to military units of the army and navy, more than three million people were besieged - Leningraders and refugees from the Baltic states and neighboring regions. Leningrad during the blockade lost more than 600 thousand civilians, of which only three percent died from bombing and shelling, the rest died from exhaustion and disease. More than one and a half million people were evacuated.
Attempts to break the blockade in 1942
Even in the most difficult days of the war, attempts were made to break the encirclement. In January 1942, the Soviet army launched an offensive to connect the blocked city with the `` Big Land '' in the area of ​​the village of Lyubtsy. The next attempt was made in August - October towards the village of Sinyavino and the Mga station. These operations to break the siege of Leningrad were unsuccessful. Although the Sinyavinsky offensive failed, but with this maneuver, the Wehrmacht’s next plans to capture the city were frustrated.
Strategic background
The defeat of the Hitlerite group of forces on the Volga fundamentally changed the alignment of strategic forces in favor of the Soviet army. Under the current conditions, the High Command decided to carry out an operation to release the northern capital. The operational measure involving the forces of the Leningrad, Volkhov fronts, the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Flotilla received the code name Iskra. Long- range aviation was supposed to support offensive operations on land . The liberation of Leningrad from the blockade, although partial, was made possible thanks to serious miscalculations of the German command. Hitler’s rate underestimated the importance of accumulating reserves. After fierce battles in the Moscow direction and the south of the country, two tank divisions and a significant part of the infantry formations were withdrawn from the Army Group North to partially compensate for the losses of the central group. By the beginning of 1943, near Leningrad, the invaders did not have large mechanized formations to counter the possible offensive of the Soviet army.
Bet Plans
Operation Spark was conceived in the fall of 1942. At the end of November, the headquarters of the Leningrad Front proposed to Stavka to prepare a new offensive and break through the enemy ring in two directions: Shlisselburg and Uritsky. The Supreme High Command decided to focus on one, the shortest, in the Sinyavino-Shlisselburg area.
On November 22, the command presented a counter-action plan for the concentrated forces of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. The operation received approval, no more than a month was allotted for the preparation. It was very important to carry out the planned offensive in the winter: in the spring, the marshes became impassable. Due to the thaw that began in late December, the breakthrough of the blockade was postponed for ten days. The code name of the operation was proposed by I.V. Stalin. Half a century ago, V. I. Ulyanov, creating the press organ of the Bolshevik party, named the newspaper Iskra with the intent that the flame of revolution would ignite from the spark. Stalin thus drew an analogy, suggesting that an operational offensive maneuver would develop into significant strategic success. General management was entrusted to Marshal K.E. Voroshilov. To coordinate actions on the Volkhov Front, Marshal G.K. Zhukov was sent.
Offensive preparation
During December, the troops intensely prepared for battle. All units were staffed with personnel and equipment for one hundred percent, accumulated up to 5 sets of ammunition for each unit of heavy weapons. Leningrad during the blockade was able to provide the front with all the necessary military equipment and small arms. And for tailoring uniforms, not only specialized enterprises were involved, but also citizens who had personal use of sewing machines. Behind the rear, sappers reinforced the existing bridge crossings and erected new ones. About 50 kilometers of roads were laid to provide an approach to the Neva.
Particular attention was paid to training fighters: they had to be taught how to fight in the winter in the forest and attack a fortified area equipped with strong points and long-range firing points. Polygons simulating the conditions of the areas of the alleged offensive were arranged in the rear of each compound. To break through engineering defenses , special assault groups were created. Passages were arranged on minefields . All commanders, up to and including the company commanders, were provided with updated maps and photographic schemes. The regrouping was carried out exclusively at night or in non-flying weather. The activity of front-line intelligence intensified. It was precisely established the location of enemy defensive objects. For the command staff were arranged staff games. The final phase was the conduct of exercises with live firing. Disguise measures, the spread of misinformation, as well as strict observance of secrecy, have borne fruit. The enemy learned about the planned offensive in just a few days. The Germans did not have time to further strengthen the dangerous areas.
Alignment of forces
Formations of the Leningrad Front as part of the 42nd, 55th, 67th armies held the city’s defense from the inner southeastern side of the ring on the Uritsk – Kolpino line, the right-bank territories of the Neva to Ladoga. The 23rd Army conducted defensive operations from the north on the Karelian Isthmus. The military aviation forces consisted of the 13th Air Army. The breakthrough of the blockade was provided by 222 tanks and 37 armored vehicles. The front was commanded by Lieutenant General L. A. Govorov. Infantry units from the air were supported by the 14th Air Army. 217 tanks were concentrated in this direction. Army commander K. A. Meretskov commanded the Volkhov Front. In the direction of the breakthrough, using reserves and applying a regrouping of forces, it was possible to achieve superiority of manpower by four and a half times, artillery - by seven times, tanks - by ten times, aviation - by two times. The density of guns and mortars from Leningrad amounted to 146 units per 1 km of the front. The offensive was also supported by artillery of the ships of the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Flotilla (88 guns with a caliber from 100 to 406 mm) and naval aircraft.
In the Volkhov direction, the density of guns ranged from 101 to 356 units per kilometer. The total number of strike groups on both sides reached 303 thousand soldiers and officers. The enemy besieged the city with twenty-six divisions of the 18th Army (Army Group North) and the formation of four Finnish divisions in the north. Our troops, breaking the blockade, were to attack the heavily fortified Shlisselburg-Sinyavinsky area, which was defended by five divisions with seven hundred guns and mortars.The group of the Wehrmacht was commanded by General G. Lindeman.
Battle on the Shlisselburg ledge
On the night of January 11-12, the Volkhov Front aviation and the 13th air army of the Leningrad Front launched a massive bombing attack on predetermined targets in the intended breakout area. On January 12, at half past ten in the morning, artillery preparation began. Shelling of enemy positions lasted two hours and ten minutes. Half an hour before the start of the attack, attack aircraft raided German fortified defenses and artillery batteries. At 11.00, the 67th Army from the Neva and the units of the second shock and eighth armies of the Volkhov Front launched an offensive. The infantry attack was supported by artillery fire with the formation of a shaft of fire one kilometer deep. The troops of the Wehrmacht fiercely resisted, the Soviet infantry was moving slowly and unevenly.
In two days of fighting, the distance between the advancing groups was reduced to two kilometers. Only six days later, the advancing formations of the Soviet army managed to unite in the area of ​​workers' settlements No. 1 and No. 5. On January 18, the city of Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost) was liberated and the entire territory adjacent to the shore of Lake Ladoga was cleared of the enemy. The width of the land corridor was in various sections from 8 to 10 kilometers. On the day of the breaking of the blockade of Leningrad, the reliable land connection of the city with the `` Big Land '' was restored. The combined group of the 2nd and 67th armies tried unsuccessfully to develop the success of the offensive and expand the bridgehead to the south. The Germans were tightening reserves. Since January 19, five divisions and a large amount of artillery were transferred to the dangerous areas by the German command over ten days. The offensive in the Sinyavino area drowned. In order to keep the conquered lines, the troops went on the defensive. The positional war began. The official end date for the operation is January 30th.
Offensive results
As a result of the Soviet offensive, parts of the Wehrmacht's army were driven back from the shore of Lake Ladoga, but the city itself remained in the frontline zone. The breakthrough of the blockade during Operation Iskra showed the maturity of military thought by the high command. The defeat of the enemy’s grouping on a thoroughly fortified area by a coordinated joint strike from outside and outside became a precedent in Russian military art. The armed forces have gained serious experience in conducting offensive operations in a wooded area in winter conditions. Overcoming the echeloned defensive system of the enemy showed the need for thorough planning of conducting artillery fire, as well as the operational movement of units during the battle.
Loss of parties
About how bloody the battles were, the loss figures show. The 67th and 13th armies of the Leningrad Front lost 41.2 thousand people dead and wounded, including 12.4 thousand people irretrievable losses. The Volkhov Front lost 73.9 and 21.5 thousand people, respectively. Seven enemy divisions were defeated. The losses of the Germans amounted to more than 30 thousand people, irretrievable - 13 thousand people. In addition, about four hundred guns and mortars, 178 machine guns, 5,000 rifles, a large number of ammunition, and a half hundred vehicles were taken as trophies of the Soviet army. Two of the latest T-VI Tiger heavy tanks were captured.
Major victory
Operation Spark to break the blockade achieved the desired results. Within seventeen days along the shore of Lake Ladoga, a road and a thirty-three-kilometer railway line were laid. On February 7, the first train arrived in Leningrad. The stable supply of the city and military units was restored, and the supply of electricity increased. Water supply resumed. Significantly improved the situation of the civilian population, industrial enterprises, units of the front and the Baltic Fleet. In the following months of the year, more than eight hundred thousand civilians were evacuated from Leningrad to the rear areas.
The liberation of Leningrad from the blockade in January 1943 was a key moment in the defense of the city. Soviet troops in this direction finally seized the strategic initiative. The danger of the unification of German and Finnish troops was eliminated. January 18 - on the day of the breaking of the siege of Leningrad - the critical period of isolation of the city ended. Successful completion of the operation was of great ideological importance for the people of the country. Not the largest battle of the Second World War attracted the attention of the political elite overseas. US President T. Roosevelt congratulated the Soviet leadership on military success, and sent a letter to residents of the city in which he recognized the greatness of the feat, their unbending stamina and courage.
Museum of the Leningrad Blockade Breakthrough
Memorials were erected throughout the confrontation line in memory of the tragic and heroic events of those years. In 1985, in the Kirovsky district of the region, near the village of Maryino, a diorama called Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad was opened . It was in this place, on January 12, 1943, that the units of the 67th Army crossed the Neva on ice and broke through the enemy defenses. The diorama '' Breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad '' is an art canvas measuring 40 by 8 meters. The canvas depicts the events of the attack on German defenses. In front of the canvas, an objective plan, with a depth of 4 to 8 meters, recreates volumetric images of fortified positions, communication moves, military equipment.
The unity of the composition of the painting canvas and volumetric design creates a stunning effect of presence. On the very bank of the Neva is a monument `` Breakthrough of the blockade. '' The monument is a T-34 tank mounted on a pedestal. The fighting vehicle seems to be rushing to join the troops of the Volkhov Front. On an open area in front of the museum, war equipment is also exhibited.
The final lifting of the siege of Leningrad. 1944 year
The complete lifting of the siege of the city took place only a year later as a result of the large-scale Leningrad-Novgorod operation. The troops of the Volkhov, Baltic and Leningrad fronts defeated the main forces of the 18th army of the Wehrmacht. January 27 was the official day of lifting the nearly 900-day blockade. And 1943 was recorded in the historiography of World War II as the year of breaking the blockade of Leningrad.