"The road of life" through Lake Ladoga: historical facts

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

Representatives of the USSR accused the commandergroup of the German Army "North", because of the actions of which such a large number of civilians of the besieged city were killed. On this charge, General von Leib was acquitted. At that time, the Geneva Convention did not yet have a paragraph on which it would be forbidden to use hunger as a military strategy towards civilians.

Those who survived in the besieged city are much obligedthe appearance of the motorway ("The Road of Life") through Lake Ladoga. It was she who allowed to break the blockade ring, because because of its geographical location, Leningrad is not able to survive without delivering food.

Meaning of the paved path

The motorway worked from the autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1943. Her appointment was in connection with the besieged Leningrad (St. Petersburg) with the country. Officially, it was called the Military Road No. 101.

Since September 1941, Soviet troops, together withThe civilian population was surrounded by German and Finnish troops. The city was not ready to blockade and did not have the necessary supplies of food and fuel. Delivering everything you need could be aviation or through the lake.

The "road of life" through Lake Ladoga allowed the evacuation of part of the population and partially provide the survivors with food.

Cargo transportation by ice

Since October 1941, a study forconstruction of the route through Lake Ladoga, in the winter it was covered with ice. After preliminary calculations, construction began in November. It was assumed that the width of the route would be 10 meters, so that cars could move simultaneously in both directions. Every 5-7 kilometers were built special points for heating.

The direction of the road was chosen on the basis of availabilitylasting ice cover. He had to withstand large loads. The main mode of transport was GAZ-AA, called "polutorkoy" among the people. In order to prevent mass dips under the ice between the machines there should be a distance of at least 100 meters. At the same time a railway branch was laid across the lake.

The created "Road of Life" (Leningrad) was heldnear the front line, she demanded protection, which was provided by military units. The ice section of the road had two defensive lines, created with the help of wooden log houses, sandbags, which were frozen in ice. Every one or two kilometers, antiaircraft machine guns were installed, and every three kilometers - small artillery guns. From the air the highway was protected by six fighter regiments.

During the first winter of the blockade on the "Road of Life" wasmore than 500 thousand people were evacuated 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 ice road continued in the winter of 1942-1943.

Cargo transportation by water

With the melting of ice, the road through Lake Ladoga is notceased to exist. Since the spring of 1942, transportation on ice has been replaced by navigation on water. However, due to the fact that the ice still remained in some areas, a break between deliveries through the lake amounted to a whole month. In April, it was already impossible to carry the load across the ice, and barges could only go on the water from the end of May.

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

The guards of the way were engaged in anti-aircraft artillery divisions, fighter regiments. They had to fight the forces of the German-Finno-Italian flotilla.

During 1942 about 400 water was evacuatedthousands of inhabitants, delivered food for 350 thousand tons. At the same time, 290 thousand servicemen were delivered to the city. In addition to products and petroleum products, cattle and horses were brought to the city.

From April 1943, cargo transportation through the lake continued. Though their quantity has decreased, as a significant part of cargoes have already been transported by rail, launched since 1942.

Was the "Road of Life" (Leningrad) one?

The official route is the path from Kokorev toKobons on the lake. This thread connected a multi-million city with the country. Such information is placed in textbooks and routing sheets for tourists. However, there are data on which the "Way of Life" through Lake Ladoga went on a different path. The existence of other lines for transportation is evidenced by many facts.

Mismatch in calculations

Confirmation of the existence of several roadsare simple calculations. So for the first winter of the blockade of the road worked 150 days. Officially, about 350 thousand tons of cargo were shipped. It turns out that 2400 tons were delivered to Leningrad in 24 hours.

Transported a cargo of "semitrack", in the body of whichit was possible to load one and a half tons. Another half a ton could be attached to the sleigh. That is, for a flight one loaded to the point of failure the car could transfer two tons. Every day the road was crossed by 1200 fully loaded "half-tails". At the same time, they had to move in both directions.

Ice could not withstand such an onslaught. Moreover, in addition to trucks, buses, which took about half a million civilians over the 150 days, were running on the highway. Also on Ladoga transported tanks, which were removed from the gun turret to lighten the weight. Hardly a blockade road of life would have sustained such loads, especially since ice was a road.

Riddle of the sunken truck

During the transportation under the ice took about a thousandcars. Many of them are under water today. When the water in the lake is especially clear, the pilots visually fix the outlines of the trucks. They are not always on the route of 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 clearthat some drivers departed from the route in order to cash in on the carriage and dump some of the cargo. However, there were not many such cases, and there were many hundreds of trucks sunk far from the road. So the question of whether Leningrad provided Lake Ladoga only at the expense of one road is a rather controversial one.

The reasons for the existence of several tracks

Official road (“Road of Life” throughLake Ladoga) No. 101 Kokorevo-Kobona, of course, existed and acted. However, the calculations and location of many wrecks suggest that it could not be the only one.

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

The reasons why there could be several tracks:

• The danger from the German aircraft. The overwhelming superiority of German aviation in winter1941 was undeniable. Marking 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 conducted closer to its center.

• Ice did not maintain a constant load. Eyewitnesses of those years testify that on the wayonly 60-70 cars could pass. Then the ice began to crack, for its recovery took time. So, the movement had to move on to a new path. Otherwise, Leningrad could not receive such a quantity of goods.

Creating a railway line

With big freight in able couldcope only railroad. By 1942, a line was made on the eastern shore of the lake. This allowed us to increase freight traffic. Thanks to all these methods, the blockade of Leningrad was partially lifted.

The memory of the broken blockade ring

To maintain the performance of the iceCoverage were involved hundreds of thousands of people. They lived on the ice, filling the emerging cracks, building wooden decks. The feat of these people, as well as the drivers themselves, is difficult to truly appreciate. At the cost of the lives of many of them, the blockade was lifted. Lake Ladoga was the way to break the ring of death for many civilians.

Along the land from Leningrad to Ladogathere are monuments that are 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 on the highway, 56 pillars by rail.

The most memorable monuments are 40and 103 kilometers of highway. The first is the Memorial "Broken Ring" (architect V.G. Filippov), which symbolizes the rupture of the blockade ring formed by the German-Finnish troops over Leningrad from the autumn of 1941. At 103 km there is a monument to the Legendary Lorry (architect A.D. Levenkov). He depicts a car that rides, breaking free from the ice.