The city of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War

Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War took the fate of the first Soviet city, which will be captured by Hitler's troops. The foot of the invader has never set foot in this city - the Leningraders are preparing to fight! In connection with this, detachments of the national militia are formed. Our troops took an unequal battle - they stepped into the battle and died ... They died, to at least briefly stop the enemy offensive. The main thing is to gain time and create defensive lines. Here, on the construction work of the last frontier of defense, about half a million people worked every day.

Hitler's Plans

The blockade of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War lasted 872 days and cost nearly a million people. Some historians for many years wonder whether it was possible to eliminate the invasion of this nightmare. And most often come to the conclusion that, apparently, no. Hitler pursued and thirsted to tear off this tidbit of the Baltic Fleet.

The inhabitants of Leningrad believed in an early victory and refused to leave the city! The city declared martial law. You can take the tram to the front line. Everyone is ready to fight to the end!

Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War

On a sunny day on September 8, 1941, in the sky over Leningrad, the hum of the German Junkers was heard. About 6 thousand bombs hit the city. From planes dropped and leaflets with a mocking text - "Today we bomb you, and tomorrow you will bury yourself." Thus began the first trials ... Trials, which the world did not know yet, trials in which it was easier to die than to survive.

The planes went so low that black crosses on gray-green wings were clearly visible. The aim of the German bombers was food warehouses in Badayevka. The fire was grand, the melted sugar flowed in streams and soaked into the ground. 168 fire trucks were used to extinguish the warehouse. Within five hours, the struggle with the gigantic fire lasted. Burned about 40 rooms, which were 3 thousand tons of flour and 2.5 thousand tons of sugar. The next day on the streets of Kiev, where the food was burned, the Leningraders were drawn. The fire in the warehouses provoked panic. The shelves in the grocery stores were emptied. Rumors spread over the city: "The famine will soon come."

To date, it has been documented that the burned food would last only a few days. What was the cause of the terrible blockade hunger? Historians argue about this until now. Obviously one thing is that Leningrad, like any large city of the Soviet Union, was supplied, as they say, from the wheels. Having fallen into a siege, he immediately lost all the vital arteries. The country's leadership did not expect that the events will develop so rapidly.

The city kept! In September, the fascists broke through the defense. German invaders cut the railroads and soon came to Ladoga Lake. The ring of the blockade closed. From this moment the great blockade of Leningrad began.

Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin sent General Georgy Zhukov to Leningrad, as the situation was critical. The Germans closed the city, that even from the front they saw the domes of the cathedrals. Zhukov collects all reserves and removes sailors from ships. Taking about 50 thousand fighters, he strikes a counterattack. "Stand or die!" - orders the general.

Defensive activity of Leningrad

How can you admit the enemy to Leningrad? How to imagine Russia without Leningrad? The defense of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War was well planned in engineering terms. On the approach to Leningrad the Luga defensive line was well held, which was 175 km in length and 12 km in depth. This defensive structure was built by the inhabitants of Leningrad in the first month after the outbreak of the war. The city of Leningrad during the war is subjected to hurricane shelling. Air defense units do everything to ward off enemy raids. In this they are helped by 60 thousand volunteers from self-defense groups - men and women. The defenders are in strong barrage, so there are fewer victims of shelling than one would expect.

In August 1941, the German army "North" enlarged its ranks of military equipment, having received it from the army "Center". Now the German army, overtaking Leningrad, was supplied with new tanks and dive bombers. With the help of this force, the fascists still managed to break the Luga defense line and take the defending troops into the ring.

The hungry torments of the Leningraders

In September, the city began to feel a clear lack of food. According to the working rate, it was possible to get 500 g of bread, according to the dependent rate - 250 g. For employees and children a limit of 300 grams of bread was set. In October, the situation worsened. The counterfeit cards appeared on the market. They caused confusion in the delivery of food. At the suggestion of the first secretary of the Leningrad City Party Committee, Andrei Zhdanov, a decision was made to re-register the food cards for October. This meant not only replacing some paper sheets with others, but also lowering the rate of bread delivery.

The work card was a kind of stimulus to life. It guaranteed guaranteed the right to receive bread. But even this norm did not always save us from hunger. According to the information provided by the NKVD Office for the Leningrad Region, up to 3,000 people died on average on average every month before the war broke out. In October 1941, the death rate was already 6199 people. In the besieged Leningrad, the bread norm begins to decline rapidly. In November 1941, the dependents, and these were mostly old people and children, could count only 125 grams of bread.

Hunger

Winter came in 1941, an unusually severe one. In this period of time the city water freezes. Therefore, the only source of water production is the Neva River. In addition, the city has exhausted all the fuel reserves, transport has risen. The most expensive thing was wood! In the besieged city there was a famine - the most terrible test that Leningrad experienced during the Great Patriotic War.

125 grams of bread with cellulose and mill dust is a blockage. Mortality from hunger was becoming massive. In such conditions, the bread card was the only condition for preserving life. Up to December 1941, instead of lost cards, you could still get new cards in return. However, cases of theft and abuse increased. Hungry Leningraders often went on deception, trying to get additional food in this way. The issue of duplicates was terminated. From now on, the loss of a piece of paper with an ink seal meant death. In December, about 53 thousand people died from starvation. Leningrad plunged into the cold gloom of numbness.

More than 600 thousand people died from starvation in the blockade. Dying on the street, at work, at home, in the porches - they did not have time to bury ... It is impossible to convey the suffering of the Leningraders. But they not only tried to survive, they worked. How hungry, powerless people could work? This will forever remain an incomprehensible secret, which was preserved by Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War (photo in the article).

Blockade bread

Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War told a lot. During the blockade the bread recipe changed several times. Only one thing remained unchanged - the content of flour. It never exceeded 60%. The remaining 40% consisted of impurities and additives. The decision on additives was taken by the leadership because of the absence of flour. It was instructed the central laboratory at "Lenhlebprom" to develop special technologies for baking bread with possible additives. The number of additional ingredients, as a rule, included bran, linseed meal, soy flour and food pulp.

Leningrad is not discouraged

The city of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War did not bother to drop hands for a single moment and surrender. Residents sought to recreate the old life! Spring finally came. Along with joy was anxiety, waiting for an epidemic, but, fortunately, it was not - the city was awakening. In the spring of 1942, the tramway traffic resumed in the besieged city. This vision seemed like a fresh sip of a new life, but this was not the desired and calm life, but still.

All to fight hunger! Right in the city there are gardens, not a single piece of land is empty. Goebbels said that the city is dead! Meanwhile, in a blockade and hungry city - a football match! The world has never seen such a thing. The Military Council of the Leningrad Front decided to hold a football match. Was tasked to find in Leningrad and on the very front of players who can play a series of matches. Despite the obvious difficulties, the players still managed to collect. The city lived football!

The astonishing tests did not break the will of the Leningraders, they did not just exist - they lived, hoped and created. In the besieged Leningrad composer Dmitry Shostakovich creates his most famous 7th symphony, and it is first performed in a besieged city.

The end of the blockade

Many cities and countries on earth disappeared, turned conquerors into dust. In Russia there are monuments - symbols of invincibility, one of them - Leningrad. In Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War, only captured Germans entered. The blockade of Leningrad was broken! What helped people survive? Every Leningrad citizen felt the wounds inflicted on his homeland as his own, each as close as he could, bringing the Victory closer.