“Lorry” on the Road of Life: thin ice and the burning hands of the driver. A poem about the siege of Leningrad. Two roads of the ice track

70 years ago, on November 22, 1941, the first automobile convoy carrying a load of food passed across the ice of Lake Ladoga to Leningrad besieged by the Nazis.

A lot was said about the “Road of Life,” or more precisely, about the military highway No. 101 (VAD No. 101) in Soviet times. In particular, the magazine “Behind the Wheel” has repeatedly published the memoirs of drivers who worked on the ice road.

Numerous publications, as a rule, omitted details that seemed insignificant to some and seditious to others. Today, when the general outline of what happened is widely known, it is precisely such details that are most interesting.

Lake Ladoga - the largest freshwater body of Europe, with almost sea depths (allowing, in particular, the use of submarines) - became the umbilical cord that connected the fighting Leningrad with the rest of the country.

On November 20, 1941, as the ice strengthened, a sleigh convoy (almost 350 teams) under the command of Senior Lieutenant M.S. Murov left the Leningrad coast (in the vicinity of the village of Kokorevo) towards the village of Kobona. A day later, this convoy will deliver the first 63 tons of flour to the city (with a requirement of 1100 tons/day). At the same time, the first passenger car crossed Ladoga. On November 22, an empty convoy of 60 GAZ-AA trucks of the 388th separate motor battalion, captain V.A. Porchunov, left the western bank. On the morning of the 23rd, the transport left Kobona back, loaded with food. These are widely known facts.

Few people know about the so-called " Small road life" that ran across the ice Gulf of Finland- it connected the Oranienbaum defensive bridgehead, Kronstadt and Leningrad. And about the road that stretched 71 km from the Shepelevsky lighthouse to the islands of Seskar and Moshchny in the Gulf of Finland. What is noteworthy is that this route was crossed by the same German road. The place of intersection was nicknamed "International Crossroads" by wits. There were frequent clashes between ours and the Germans.

It is practically overlooked that VAD No. 101 was created not at the last moment, out of hopelessness, but in advance, using data compiled by the Tsarist hydrographers. The road was provided with maintenance, an air defense system, and air cover. The NKVD division carried out the access control regime. The road was launched... a plan that she was able to carry out on January 18, 1942.

In former times, they tried not to focus attention on facts that could give rise to unwanted speculation about the dramatic events of those years. Speaking about hunger and cold, about the blockade bread norm (as of November 20, 1941, the norm for an employee and a dependent was 125 g), they omitted, for example, information that in 1942 an oil pipeline and a high-voltage cable were laid to Leningrad along the bottom of Ladoga. They didn’t say that tanks were transported on the ice of Ladoga - special research work determined the strength limits of ice for different types transport (including aircraft) and military equipment.

The heavy KV tank could not withstand the ice, so the tank walked along it without a turret and dragged the turret behind it on a drag. More than 700 combat vehicles were driven this way! The tanks were not sent from " Mainland"to besieged Leningrad, as one might think, and from the depleted city to other fronts. Our contemporary, not familiar with the realities of those years, will then require clarification: wouldn’t it have been better to warm the exhausted residents with electricity and oil flowing along the bottom of Ladoga, than to produce armored vehicles “for export”? I personally do not have the right to answer this question unequivocally.

Industrial equipment and cultural property continued to be evacuated from the besieged city along the “Road of Life.” Few people know that the ceiling lamps at the Novokuznetskaya metro station in Moscow are decorated with mosaics by Professor Vladimir Aleksandrovich Frolov, taken from Leningrad along the “Road of Life”. Professor Frolov remained in the besieged city and died of exhaustion.

Or, for example, this detail: in many photographs you can see that cars are walking along the ice track with their headlights on, just like on Nevsky Prospekt. What about blackout compliance? It turns out that German shelling and bombing of the road were not effective enough (due to the lack of precise landmarks when shooting). On the contrary, due to poor visibility, cars often fell through the ice. By turning on the high beams, one could notice a bomb crater or wormwood in advance. By the way, the ice was “tired”, so it is wrong to imagine VAD No. 101 as one or two tracks - as fatigue set in, the road was moved several meters to the side, and dozens of such tracks were laid.

In total, the Road of Life was served by 4,500 cars. During the winter of 1941/42, they delivered 361,109 tons of various cargo (including 262,419 tons of food) to Leningrad and transported them to " Mainland» 554,186 people. The first ice automobile “navigation” closed only in the midst of spring, on April 21. And then some desperate drivers managed to drive along the highway later - the ice, which had grown to severe temperatures down to minus 50 degrees, still held frosts. The cruel truth of the war: if the winter of 1941/42 had not been so severe, the city might not have survived it...

The siege of Leningrad is an unhealed wound in people's memory. 497 days, counting from September 8, 1941, when the Germans finally cut the city’s land connection with the rest of the USSR. A modern military operation unparalleled in terms of bloodshed and duration. Before the war, 2 million 887 thousand people lived in the city. The blockade mercilessly divided the inhabitants into three: the first was destined to die of hunger, the second was to be taken to the “Mainland” along Ladoga, the third was to survive, fully knowing the horrors of the blockade and the joy of victory.

This, of course, is a very approximate division - how approximate is generally appropriate for assessing such dramatic events. However, there is no exact data. At the Nuremberg trials, the number of victims of the blockade was announced at 632 thousand people. Moreover, only 3% of them died from bombing and shelling - the rest from hunger. However, this number has been questioned several times, each time increasing. In particular, today the number of deaths is often cited as 1.5 million. Accurate statistics simply could not exist; many already died on the “Mainland” from exhaustion, unable to bear the move.

Monuments have been erected and poems dedicated to the heroism of the drivers, who made two and even three trips to Leningrad in the most severe conditions:

“Dear friendship of many to many.

They don't know on earth yet

Scarier and more joyful than the road..."

Olga Berggolts

A separate assessment, going beyond the automotive topic, awaits the decisions and events that entailed such dramatic consequences for Leningrad and its inhabitants. Today, from high stands, we are being hinted that the events of the Great Patriotic War are not subject to revision and do not allow for new interpretations. We are essentially being asked to unlearn how to think. It is understanding and accepting the truth, no matter how bitter it may be, that will help you avoid tragic mistakes in the future.

In 2011, the magazine “Behind the Wheel”, together with the Ministry of Transport, recovered from the bottom of Ladoga the remains of trucks that had sunk under the ice of the “Road of Life”.

The “Road of Life” is the only military-strategic transport route that connected Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) besieged by the Germans with the rear of the country during the Great Patriotic War from September 1941 to March 1943. Passed through Lake Ladoga.

During navigation periods, transportation along the “Road of Life” was carried out along the water route on ships of the Ladoga military flotilla and ships of the Northwestern river shipping company, during freeze-up - along the ice road by vehicle, then to Leningrad by rail.

Leningrad was encircled on September 8, 1941, when the Nazis cut all railway, river and road communications. More than 2.5 million residents, including 400 thousand children, found themselves in a blocked city.

The air bridge between the mainland and the besieged city only to a small extent satisfied his needs for food and other necessary goods.

The only route through which it was possible to deliver goods to Leningrad in large volumes and evacuate people from the besieged city was Lake Ladoga, the southwestern and southeastern coasts of which remained in the hands of Soviet troops.

High waves caused by windy stormy weather have long made the lake dangerous for navigation. Since the founding of St. Petersburg, waterways have been built to bypass it during transportation. Therefore, there were no piers or piers on the shores of Ladoga.

In September and October 1941, work was carried out at an accelerated pace to equip the harbors, dredge the bottom, and build narrow-gauge railways, warehouses, and dugouts. Telephone and telegraph communications were established through underwater cables.

To connect with Leningrad, the inactive dead-end Irinovskaya line was reconstructed, along which 3-4 pairs of suburban steam trains ran before the war. In 1941, this line became the only road out of besieged Leningrad; it turned into an important highway, and the remote little Ladoga Lake station became a large railway junction with an adjacent lake-river port. At the Ladoga Lake station, the number of tracks has increased from four to more than twenty.

On September 12, 1941, the first convoy of ships arrived in besieged Leningrad, delivering 800 tons of grain and 60 tons of ammunition. During the short but very difficult autumn navigation of 1941, about 60 thousand tons of various cargoes were delivered to the western shore of Lake Ladoga, including 45 thousand tons of food. 33.5 thousand civilians and wounded were evacuated from the city. Transportation took place under conditions of continuous German air raids from the shore, located only 25-30 kilometers from the route.

With the onset of winter and freeze-up, water communications ceased to function. Under these conditions, the only way out of the situation was to build a winter road on the ice of Lake Ladoga. Long before the onset of winter, the road department of the Leningrad Front Logistics Directorate, which was entrusted with the construction of this road, did a lot of preparatory work together with scientists from the Hydrological Institute to study ice regime Ladoga and the design of ice routes.

The data obtained formed the basis for the design of the route, which received official name- Military highway No. 101 (No. 102), but the residents of besieged Leningrad gave it a different name - “Road of Life”. The route, with a total length of over 30 kilometers, ran from Cape Osinovets (the villages of Vaganovo and Kokkorevo), through the Zelentsy islands, with a branch to the villages of Kobona and Lavrovo.

The road was built according to the principle of the shallowest depths - there the ice broke through less often.

The first horse transport battalion set off along it on November 21, 1941. He brought 63 tons of flour to the city. On November 22, a convoy of 60 vehicles from the side of besieged Leningrad crossed Lake Ladoga on ice for the first time. The next day they returned to the city with food. The ice cover was so fragile that a two-ton truck carried only 2-3 bags of food. Nevertheless, that flight managed to transport 33 tons of food.

Due to heavy traffic on ice that was not yet strong enough, the road had to be moved to a new location several times. During the first month, the road was transferred four times, and certain sections of it even more often. In addition, the route was under constant shelling and bombing by German artillery and aviation, and the harsh nature of Ladoga made additional adjustments to the work. Unusually severe frosts began at the end of November. Blew fiercely North wind, a snowstorm swept the road. Under these conditions, drivers often became disorientated. As a result, on November 29, 1941 alone, 52 vehicles were lost (by February 1, 1942, 327 vehicles sank on the ice of Lake Ladoga).

However, despite the difficult weather conditions, shelling and overwork, drivers made two trips per day. It was about the life and death of hundreds of thousands of people. The slogan of those days was: “Every two flights provide 10,500 Leningrad residents. Fight for two flights.” Some drivers even managed to make three trips.

In certain periods, up to four thousand cars operated on the “Road of Life”. In order to have time to jump out if the car starts to sink, drivers often did not close the doors when driving on the highway.

Several thousand, and according to some sources, tens of thousands of people worked on the road. In addition to drivers and mechanics, these were those who paved the way and were engaged in ice exploration, and traffic controllers who sent convoys along the safest routes. Every day they put their lives in danger.

Since January 1942, traffic along the highway has become more orderly. The road was a complex engineering structure. Its builders made road signs, built bases, warehouses, heating and medical centers, workshops, telephone and telegraph stations, food and technical assistance points, and adapted various means of camouflage.

The protection and defense of the "Road of Life" was carried out by rifle units located along the shores of the lake and along the route, marine brigades, as well as aviation and anti-aircraft units of the Leningrad Front, the country's Air Defense Forces, the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Military Flotilla, united in the Ladoga Air Defense Region. The Ladoga ice route was protected from German air raids by small-caliber anti-aircraft batteries (the weight of the guns, which fell through the ice after firing, did not allow the installation of a larger caliber). They, along with anti-aircraft machine guns, were placed in a checkerboard pattern on both sides of the road.

Ground security was carried out by a specially formed rifle regiment, whose fighters were located on the ice of Lake Ladoga, 8-12 kilometers from the shore occupied by the enemy. Two defensive lines were created with pillboxes and snow-ice trenches. Hundreds of land mines and several thousand anti-personnel mines were installed in front of the front line.

During the first and most terrible winter of the blockade, the ice road functioned for 152 days, until April 24, 1942, when truck wheels began to fall under the melted ice. During this time, more than 360 tons of various cargo were transported, six rifle divisions and a tank brigade were transported with full armament. At the same time, about 540 thousand people, about 3,700 wagons of industrial equipment and other property were evacuated from Leningrad.

During the navigation of 1942, the mass evacuation of the population of Leningrad was completed. On December 19, 1942, the road on the ice of Lake Ladoga resumed operation, which operated until March 30, 1943 (101 days).

The total amount of cargo transported to Leningrad along the “Road of Life” for the entire period of its operation amounted to over 1,615 thousand tons; During the same time, about 1,376 thousand people were evacuated from the city. To supply oil products to Leningrad, the Ladoga pipeline was laid along the bottom of the lake.

Nobody knows how many people died on the “Road of Life” - from shelling or on thin ice. Cars - the legendary GAZ lorry and a half - were pulled from the bottom of the lake for several decades after the end of the war. Now a bronze copy of such a machine stands on the shores of Lake Ladoga as a monument to the feat that ordinary people performed day after day on military highway No. 101.

The memory of the mass heroism of the Soviet people who ensured movement along the “Road of Life” is immortalized in monuments and memorial ensembles included in the “Green Belt of Glory”. Central location Among them are the architectural and sculptural composition “Broken Ring”, the ensemble “Rumbolovskaya Mountain”, and the monument “Flower of Life”. Along the ground part of the route, 45 memorial kilometer poles were installed. In 1972, the Road of Life Museum (a branch of the Central Naval Museum) was opened in the village of Osinovets on the western shore of Lake Ladoga. In 1974, a memorial station-monument was built at the Ladoga Lake station near Osinovets.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

On August 30, 1941, the State Defense Committee adopted its first resolution No. 604 “On the transportation of goods for Leningrad,” which outlined specific measures to organize water transportation along Lake Ladoga. On the western shore of the lake, the construction of the port of Osinovets began, 55 km from Leningrad, not far from the Ladoga Lake station, the final station of Irinovskaya railway. On September 12, 1941, two barges arrived at the piers of Cape Osinovets from the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, delivering 626 tons of grain and 116 tons of flour. This is how the blockade “artery” of Leningrad began to operate, which the people called the Road of Life. From September 12 to November 15, when navigation officially ended, 24,097 tons of grain, flour and cereals, more than 1,130 tons of meat and dairy products and other cargo were delivered across Ladoga. Each voyage across the lake was a feat. The amount of food brought across Ladoga was the city's 20-day requirement.

Water transportation in the fall of 1941 was the first stage of the struggle for Ladoga communications, which was waged throughout the entire period of the siege of Leningrad. By November 1941, the city had been under siege for three months. Available food supplies have almost completely dried up. The severity of the situation was aggravated by the fact that water transportation was interrupted by the early freeze-up (although individual ships made their way until December 7, 1941). With the onset of freeze-up, transportation by water ceased. Preparations have begun for the construction of a winter road on the ice of Lake Ladoga.

Two roads of the ice track

On November 22, the first convoy of GAZ-AA trucks entered the ice. The ice road, which became known as Military Automobile Road No. 101 (VAD-101), began operating on November 26, 1941. The entire road had to be moved to a new track due to ice fatigue. And during the first month of operation, the road was transferred to new routes four times, and some sections of it even more often.

The route was laid out and marked with milestones. The Ice Road was a well-organized highway that provided drivers with confident driving at high speed. The track was served by 350 traffic controllers, whose tasks included dispersing cars, indicating the direction of movement, monitoring the safety of ice and other duties. The road has become a complex engineering structure. Its builders made road signs, milestones, portable shields, bridges, built bases, warehouses, heating and medical stations, food and technical assistance stations, workshops, telephone and telegraph stations, and adapted various means of camouflage. This work required dedication and courage, as it had to be carried out under any conditions - severe frosts, freezing winds, blizzards, shelling and enemy air raids. In addition, lighthouse lanterns with blue glass were displayed - first at every 450-500 m, and then at 150-200 m

On November 24, 1941, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front adopted resolution No. 00419 “On the construction of Military Highway No. 102 (VAD-102).” Thus, now the delivery of goods to Leningrad began to be carried out along two roads.

The road consisted of two ring routes, each of which had two separate directions of movement - for freight traffic (to the city) and for empty traffic or evacuation (from the city). The first route for transporting goods to the city ran along the route Zhikharevo - Zhelannye - Troitskoye - Lavrovo - station. Lake Ladoga, the length of the route was 44 km; for empty vehicles and evacuation from the city - Art. Lake Ladoga or Borisova Griva - Vaganovsky Descent - Lavrovo - Gorodishche - Zhikharevo with a length of 43 km. Total length the flight along the first ring road was 83 km.

The second route for cargo transportation ran along the route Voybokalo - Kobona - Vaganovsky Spusk - station. Lake Ladoga or Borisova Griva (58 km) and for empty or evacuation - station. Lake Ladoga or Borisova Griva - Vaganovsky descent - Lavrovo - Babanovo - Voybokalo (53 km). The total length of the second ring route was 111 km. The former Tikhvin - Novaya Ladoga highway ceased to function, but was maintained in working condition.

Despite frosts and snowstorms, enemy artillery fire and air strikes, and the enemy’s occupation of Tikhvin on November 8, the movement of freight vehicles did not stop for almost a single day. In November-December, 16,449 tons of cargo were delivered along the route.

The “Road of Life” is not only a route on the ice of the lake, it is a path that had to be overcome from the railway station on the western shore of the lake to the railway station on the eastern shore and back. The road worked until the last possible opportunity. In mid-April, the air temperature began to rise to 12 - 15°C and the ice cover of the lake began to quickly collapse. A large amount of water accumulated on the surface of the ice. For a whole week - from April 15 to 21 - the vehicles walked through solid water, in some places up to 45 cm deep. On the last trips, the vehicles did not reach the shore and carried the loads by hand. Further movement on the ice became dangerous, and on April 21 the Ladoga Ice Route was officially closed, but in fact it functioned until April 24, as some drivers, despite the order to close the route, continued to travel on Ladoga. When the lake began to open up and traffic on the highway stopped, highway workers moved 65 tons of food products from the eastern to the western shore. In total, during the winter of 1941/42, 361,109 tons of various cargoes were delivered to Leningrad along the ice route, including 262,419 tons of food.

Part three. Ice road on Ladoga and its role in transporting people and food

November 13, 1941 - Deputy Commander of the Troops, Chief of Logistics of the Leningrad Front, General F.N. Lagunov signed order No. 0164 “On organizing the construction of an ice road along the route - Cape Osinovets - Kareji Lighthouse.”

The construction of the ice road began on November 15, and was headed by the head of the 3rd department of the Road Department of the Logistics Directorate of the Leningrad Front, military engineer of the 3rd rank B.V. Yakubovsky, to whose disposal one working battalion, the 165th construction battalion and the 88th were transferred separate bridge-building battalion. The general management of the construction of the ice road was entrusted to the head of the Road Department, military engineer 1st rank V. G. Monakhov. The ice situation prevented us from laying a route along Ladoga - the ice in the middle part of the lake could not completely establish itself. Only by November 20 did the real possibility of laying an ice road become possible. Later, from December 1941 to February 1942, the operation of this road was in charge of captain 2nd rank M.A. Nefedov, and then everything was subordinated to Major General A.M. Shilov, as mentioned above, the head of water transportation on Lake Ladoga. This road was called military road No. 101 (VAD-101). It should be noted that this VAD included 1,728 military personnel, 3,624 cars, mainly GAZ-AA, 147 tractors, 960 horses and 1,000 sleighs. The ice track was serviced by 350 traffic controllers (this work was mainly done by women), the number of control posts ranged from 45 to 75. A line dispatch service was established on both banks of Ladoga. There were heating and food points along the route every 7 kilometers. The car service points along the highway carried out minor and medium-sized car repairs, and on the banks there were branches of Leningrad repair plants No. 1 and No. 2, which carried out complex repairs.

11/15/41 – 12/06/41 – an extended bypass road (VAD-102) was built to bypass the city of Tikhvin, located on the railway. line Volkhov - Vologda and occupied by the Nazis on November 8; Then railway stations began to develop. tracks and storage facilities at Podborovye and Zaborye stations on the railway section. line further Tikhvin towards Vologda.

21-23.11.41 – regular automobile-drawn transportation of goods and people began along the organized ice section of the route on Lake Ladoga, connecting winter period 1941-1942 Leningrad with the Mainland. Then this part was popularly called the “Road of Life”. Later, this entire combined route - railway-ice-road from Leningrad to the mainland began to be called the same.

The number of ice routes starting from the piers on the western shore of Ladoga (including the main Vaganovsky descent near the village of Kokorevo) towards Kobona on the eastern shore of Ladoga numbered up to 60!

Road transport on the Ladoga ice track

Scheme of ice-roads across Lake Ladoga in the winter of 1941-1942.

And the strength of the spirit and the strength of the wind “Few people know that in the winter period from mid-November 1941 to March 1942, ice boats were used for reconnaissance and other military purposes - sailing transport devices on skates, moving rapidly by the force of the wind across the ice expanses of not only the Gulf of Finland, but also the Ladoga lakes. Rear Admiral Yu. A. Panteleev (himself a boater athlete) received an order to identify experienced boater yachtsmen among military sailors, transport them and all the boaters available in Leningrad to Ladoga and use them to paralyze fascist reconnaissance groups. IN short time A detachment was created under the command of the experienced yachtsman I. I. Smetanin, consisting of: E. I. Lodkin, A. M. Mikhailov, V. K. Kochegin and K. I. Alexandrov and others. In mid-November, two detachments of iceboat crews began operating on Ladoga. One detachment was armed with 19 iceboats, the second - 16. These were mainly available heavy Russian-type iceboats. We had to hastily build additional ice buoys, which were built according to the drawings and with the consultation of their designer N.Yu. Ludewig. (.). And no one then dreamed or in spirit knew that the first sack of flour to Leningrad, dying of hunger, would be delivered across the thin ice of Ladoga on a boat. This happened on November 20, 1941, when another reconnaissance of the future ice section of the Road of Life was carried out on ice boats. Ice sailboats returned from Kobona to Osinovets with sacks of precious flour. On November 21, when sleigh convoys entered the ice, which was not yet accessible to motor vehicles, the ice boaters, overtaking their exhausted horses, also transported tons of rye and wheat flour to the besieged city. Each of the boats had sails with an area of up to sixty square meters. One boat took five or six bags of flour (400–600 kg). With a good wind, the boat managed to make from four to six trips per day (3500 kg of flour, and this is seven thousand loaves of bread or twenty-eight thousand people fed according to the blockade standards). On November 23, food began to be transported by cars (although at first empty cars pulled loaded sleighs). Only on November 25 did the transportation of people and goods by GAZ-AA vehicles begin. The boaters provided military escort for convoys and convoys, made daily detours along the ice route in order to find a way around areas bombed by the Nazis, and provided assistance to cars and sleighs stuck in the ice. And, most importantly, they began to take exhausted old people, women and children out of besieged Leningrad, saving those who had no chance of surviving in a city surrounded by the enemy. By the way, not a single boat was sunk or hit during these evacuation flights. Their small size, white sail and high speed of movement provided good camouflage from the air and did not allow targeted fire against them. The speed of these life-saving “ice yachts” was such that the women transferred to the mainland became hysterical when they were asked to disembark. Exhausted to the limit, people thought that they were being abandoned to their fate in the middle of the lake. They could not believe that the road from death to life took only 20 minutes - in such a time, in the absence of deep snow, the loaded iceboat managed to cover 35 kilometers of the ice route. And although the number of evacuated people on the boats was not as large as it was carried out by water, air, road and by rail, but still it was a feat of boaters - masters of such a simple type of sailing transport, driven not only by the power of the wind, but also by the strength of the Russian spiritof people!"

From the memoirs of academician D.S. Likhacheva

“The first opportunity for evacuation by car along the ice road across Lake Ladoga appeared in December 1941. This ice road was called the road of death (and not at all the “Road of Life,” as our writers later called it with leaf). The Germans fired at it, the road was covered with snow, cars often fell into ice holes (after all, they were driving at night). They said that one mother went crazy: she was driving in the second car, and her children were riding in the first, and this first car fell through the ice before her eyes. Her car quickly drove around the wormwood, where the children were writhing under the water, and rushed on without stopping. How many people died from exhaustion, were killed, fell through the ice, froze or went missing on this road! Only God knows!

06.12.41 – 06.01.42 – period of operation of bypass roads: initially – 320 km long, until the liberation of the city of Tikhvin on December 9. Next from the 20th of December highway moved to Tikhvin.

It is clear that this route of transporting cargo to Leningrad and evacuating people from the besieged city along these “overseas” bypass roads was forced and existed for only 25 days, i.e. was only a small period of time from the entire epic. Driving along such a highway was an unimaginable ordeal for evacuees. This multi-kilometer road, covered by vehicles for 2 - 3 - 4 days (!) in frosty weather for exhausted Leningraders, was like hell, although heating and food points were set up on the road (by the way, this topic is transporting people along a bypass road, almost no covered in the literature). Transport by rail was still impossible due to the destroyed big bridges on the railway the line going towards Volkhov, which was put in order from destruction (as, indeed, were the Voybokalo and Zhikharevo stations); the last two stations were restored again as transfer points for road traffic with goods and people between east coast Ladoga and the railway). On December 20, a “short” road of 190 km began to operate - this is the route between Kobona and Tikhvin. He was passing through settlements: Kobona - Novaya Ladoga - Syasstroy - Kolchanovo - Koskovo - Tikhvin.

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The need to pave new road to Leningrad arose after the blockade ring around the city closed. The only possibility was to use Lake Ladoga for these purposes. After the onset of cold weather, a complex transport route was laid directly on the ice, the configuration of which changed depending on the conditions. People called her the Road of Life.

The road of life of besieged Leningrad

In his plan for an attack on the Soviet Union, Hitler gave a special place to the capture and destruction of Leningrad. The fall of this historical capital and the cradle of the revolution was to be preceded by the complete defeat of Moscow. Leningrad and Moscow were undoubtedly important strategic points and transport hubs. But even more important was their role in the consciousness of Soviet citizens. For Hitler, the first priority was to undermine the morale of the defenders. He knew better than anyone how important it was to either inspire or demoralize a crowd.

Therefore, Army Group North, under the command of Feodor von Bock, was ordered to destroy Leningrad. Initially, it was assumed that the city would be taken outright, using the blitzkrieg technique. But by the time the troops German army approached the intended goal, it already became clear that lightning war would not work on Soviet territory. The military leaders were against a direct assault on the fortified city. This is how the blockade of Leningrad was proposed. Instead of suffering the inevitable human losses during the assault, the Germans decided to starve the city to death. Constantly showering it with generous artillery fire.

Cars take people out of besieged Leningrad along the “Road of Life.”

At first, roads and railways were cut off. And on September 8, 1941, after the capture of Shlisselburg, the history of besieged Leningrad began - one of the most tragic in the Great Patriotic War. The only connection with the outside world for Leningraders was the road that began on the shores of Lake Ladoga. This thin thread, which the defenders of Leningrad managed to stretch at the cost of incredible efforts, gave life and hope.

The road of life through Lake Ladoga

When the blockade ring closed, the only possibility of communication with besieged Leningrad remained - through Lake Ladoga, the coast of which continued to be controlled during the Great Patriotic War Soviet army. This lake was very difficult for navigation. Unexpected gusts of wind often hit ships. Therefore, the coast was not equipped with either berths or piers.

The first cargoes delivered were dumped directly on the wild coast. At the same time, work was urgently carried out to deepen the bottom and develop the harbor. Dugouts were dug on the shore and warehouses were equipped. Telephone and telegraph cables were laid underwater. A narrow-gauge railway was built from the shore to the nearest railway line.

Already on September 12, just four days after the start of the siege of Leningrad, the first batch of cargo was delivered across Lake Ladoga. There were 60 tons of various ammunition and 800 tons of food. Leningraders were taken on the return flight. During the autumn navigation, until the ice made it impossible to move around the lake, 33.5 thousand people were evacuated from the city by water. During the same time, 60 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to Leningrad.

In addition to unfavorable weather conditions Transportation was complicated by constant German air raids. The use of available tugs and barges for delivery was strongly encouraged. However, even the full load of all the ships could not fully provide food to the surrounded city. In addition, the task was further complicated by the fact that it was not only food that had to be supplied. To wage war and defend the city, weapons were required. Therefore, part of the cargo consisted of ammunition.

How they paved the Road of Life

From the very beginning it was clear that the shipping route was a temporary measure. The cold weather was soon to come. Therefore, ahead of time, employees of the Hydrological Institute and the road department of the Leningrad Front began to design highway, which was supposed to be laid directly on the ice of frozen Lake Ladoga.

In the documents it was called military highway No. 101. There were to be heating points at every fifth kilometer of the route. And they planned to make the road itself 10 meters wide. But in reality everything was much more complicated than on paper. Given that the Road of Life, as the Leningraders themselves called it, passed through places of the shallowest depths, the ice often broke through, taking not only valuable cargo, but also many human lives.

The length through Ladoga was approximately 30 kilometers. Tens of thousands of people worked harmoniously on this relatively small site in difficult conditions. These were truck drivers and horse-drawn drivers, mechanics who repaired cars, traffic controllers whose task was to direct drivers along the safest routes. In addition, there were those who directly paved the road. And it had to be laid constantly. At times because the road was covered with snow, at times because it was necessary to choose areas with a stronger layer of ice, and at times because the road was damaged by German air raids, which were carried out with enviable regularity.

The road of life was constantly being repaired. Divers strengthened it with all possible means at hand, diving under the ice and installing flooring and supports there. This was far from just a wide track laid on ice. Road signs were installed along the road. Along the route of the trucks, medical and heating stations were built. Along the route there were warehouses and bases. Technical assistance stations, workshops and food stations were also equipped. Telephone and telegraph communications passed along the road.

Food situation

Meanwhile, the situation in the city was getting worse. In fact, it reached a critical point, crossed it and confidently moved on. There was a catastrophic shortage of food. At the beginning of the siege, there were approximately 2.9 million people in the city. There were no significant food reserves in Leningrad. It functioned using products supplied from the Leningrad region.

In addition, even the small reserves that were available were destroyed in warehouses during the first shelling. The system of issuing food by cards was introduced immediately. However, the issuance standards were constantly reduced. By November 1941 the situation was critical. Bread distribution standards have fallen below the required physiological minimum. Only 125 grams of bread were given out per day. For workers, the ration was a little more - 200 grams. This is a small piece of bread. And nothing more. By that time, all reserves had long been exhausted. Many did not survive the harsh winter of 1941.

And do not forget that these 125 grams were not bread made from pure flour, albeit of a lower grade. Everything that could be edible was added to the bread - food cellulose, cake, wallpaper dust, burlap punches. There was also the concept of measles flour. It was formed from a wet crust that had set and hardened like cement. On the way to Leningrad, many cars sank along with food. Special teams, under cover of darkness, searched for these places and, with the help of ropes and hooks, lifted bags of flour from the bottom. Some part in the very middle could remain dry. And the rest of the flour turned into a hard crust, which was then broken and added to the blockade bread.

Route to Leningrad

The situation in the city was well known to the drivers of the vehicles that delivered tens of tons of various cargo to the shores of Ladoga during the Leningrad blockade and picked up evacuees from there. They risked their lives every minute, going out onto the ice of Lake Ladoga. And these are not just big words. In just one day on November 29, 1941, 52 cars went under water. And this is on a stretch of 30 kilometers! Of which the first few kilometers can not even be taken into account - there the road was relatively safe.

On the way, the driver was constantly in danger of going under the ice. Therefore, no one closed the car doors, despite the bone-chilling cold. This left a chance to get out of the sinking car. When the situation was especially dangerous (trucks were making trips on already melting ice), the drivers rode on the running board of the car the entire way. The thirty-kilometer ice section thus turned into a serious and lengthy test. After all, we had to drive at low speed. But almost every driver made two trips a day.

However, the dangers did not end there. The Germans tried to carry out airstrikes on convoys during the transport of goods. They aimed both at the trucks themselves and along the route, trying to destroy the route itself. Capricious weather also practically attacked Ladoga military road. The rising snowstorm quickly leveled the road laid on ice with the surrounding untouched landscape. There was an extremely great danger of going astray. Many drivers died from the cold after getting lost in a snowstorm. To prevent such cases, many road signs were installed along the route.

Sinking cars on the "Road of Life".

Siege winter

In total, Leningraders had to endure three blockade winters. And although it was at this time that the ice road worked best, and a considerable number of tons of cargo could be delivered along it, it was the winters of the blockade that were the most difficult time for Leningraders. After all, the cold was added to the acute problem of malnutrition. There was no central heating, no electricity. Those lucky ones who were able to acquire a potbelly stove slowly burned everything that could burn in it. In some cases, even furniture and parquet were used.

During the first winter - from December 1941 to February 1942 - a quarter of a million people died in Leningrad. But with the increase in bread distribution standards, the mortality rate became less. In order for the delivery of goods to the besieged city to take place more massively and safely, already in the winter of 1942 they began to build an ice railway, which was supposed to run directly across the lake. However, its construction was not completed, since on January 18, 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken, and the need for the Lake Ladoga station disappeared.

There was another path, which was called the small road of life. It passed along the surface of the Gulf of Finland. Most of the defenders of Leningrad moved along this small route. This way they got to the defended “patch”. It was also used to send back numerous soldiers wounded in battle.

And when the blockade was broken, another road appeared, which was unofficially called the “Victory Road.” It was built right through swamps and difficult rough terrain for the rapid evacuation of the population and the delivery of necessary food and ammunition.

"Victory Road"

Sections of ice roads were calculated and laid based on data from divers and scientists from the Hydrological Institute. On the operational military map The road of life constantly changed its outlines. Often the reason was that the delivery of goods took place in areas that, due to bombing, became dangerous. And the weather constantly made its own adjustments. Temperature changes, underwater currents and other external factors greatly influenced sometimes the entire route, and sometimes only a separate section of the route. Traffic on the ice tracks was corrected by traffic controllers. During the first winter alone, the ice road was completely moved 4 times. And some areas changed their configuration 12 times.

It is with such changes that the difference in data on the length of the path in historical documents is associated. In addition, the map of military highway No. 101 also included a land section to the railway station. Some indicated the full mileage, and some indicated only the section that was called the “Road of Life” on the ice of Lake Ladoga.

Monuments on the Road of Life

Flower of Life;
Katyusha;
Broken ring;
Crossing;
Diary of Tanya Savicheva;
One and a half truck;
Rumbolovskaya mountain.

In addition to them, 102 memorial pillars and memorial steles were installed along the highway and railway. Some of the steles are included in the complex of monuments and memorials, and some are installed separately.

Among the memorial buildings on the Road of Life, the monument to the “lorry” stands out. There is simply nothing like him anymore. “Lorry” was popularly called a car with a carrying capacity of one and a half tons. It was on such trucks that people and goods were transported along the Road of Life. In the place of the road where the most massive shelling took place, today there stands a life-size truck cast in bronze.

Monument "Lorry" on the "Road of Life"

Flower of Life

The road of life passed not far from Vsevolozhsk. There, on the third kilometer of the memorial route, the Flower of Life complex was opened in 1968. It is dedicated to the youngest victims of the siege of Leningrad. After all, during the years of the siege, children became not only passive victims of hunger and shelling. To the best of their ability, they helped in the defense of the city, taking on responsibilities that would otherwise be entrusted only to adults. Schoolchildren extinguished incendiary bombs, stood on patrol, helped in hospitals and collected raw materials for military needs.

The memorial complex consists of three parts. First, the visitor is presented with a 15-meter sculpture of a flower, on the petals of which are carved the words of a children’s song popular in the USSR: “Let there always be sunshine” and an image of a pioneer boy. Next comes the Alley of Friendship, which consists of nine hundred birches - according to the number of days of the siege. Scarlet pioneer ties are tied to tree trunks in memory of the dead children. Behind the alley is a funeral mound. Rarely is there any mention in guidebooks about the Road of Life without a photo of this mound. Among other attractions, there is a diary of a girl, recreated in stone, who, in an incorrect childish handwriting, successively wrote down the dates of death of her family members in a notebook.

Monument "Flower of Life" on the "Road of Life"

Broken ring

On the western shore of Lake Ladoga, where the Road of Life began, there is another monument. With stern brevity he symbolically illustrates Interesting Facts about the Road. Two massive semi-arches, in the shape of a torn ring, seven meters high, remind of the blockade ring. And the rupture of the memorial itself, the Broken Ring, points to the Road of Life. Under the ring towards the descent to the lake, right along the stonework, there is a concrete track from the wheels of a car.

From here, during the years of the blockade, trucks began their journey, delivering valuable cargo of food and ammunition to the besieged city. Beneath the impressive monument are the words from a poem by Bronisław Kezhun:

“Descendant, know: in harsh years,

Loyal to the people, duty and Fatherland,

Through the ice hummocks of Ladoga

From here we led the road of Life,

So that life never dies."

Monument “Broken Ring” on the “Road of Life”

Osinovetsky lighthouse

The road of life is most often associated with trucks on ice and snowstorms. However, when the ice melted, it did not stop functioning. It’s just that in warmer times the Ladoga flotilla took on the load. Often it was even more difficult and dangerous than moving on ice in cars. Coastline Lake Ladoga has never been conducive to shipping.

In late spring, summer and early autumn, ships plying on the lake were guided by the light of the Osinovetsky lighthouse, located on the southwestern shore. This lighthouse is still in operation today. There are no excursions there, since the lighthouse is a strategic site and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.

Construction of the Osinovetsky lighthouse began back in 1905. Since then he has not stopped his work. The light of the lighthouse indicates the western border of the bay, from which the Neva begins its journey. It rises 74 meters above the lake level, and the light of the lighthouse is visible at a distance of 40 kilometers.

Monument "Osinovetsky Lighthouse" on the "Road of Life"

Due to the fact that the Osinovetsky lighthouse served as an important landmark for ships traveling along the Road of Life during the blockade, it is classified as an object cultural heritage, although it is not a monument as such.

Katyusha

The road of life was the only connecting thread between besieged Leningrad and the rest of the country. The only artery through which food and ammunition arrived. She was what kept the city alive. The defenders of Leningrad understood this very well, the Leningraders themselves understood this, and the Germans understood this. They desperately tried to cut off this last line of communication in order to finally strangle resistance and destroy the weakened city.

The road of life was under constant fire. To protect against enemy aircraft, it used the legendary Katyusha launchers. In memory of this, on the site where anti-aircraft units were located during the war, a monument was erected, reminiscent of these defensive guns that covered the movement of trucks. It consists of steel beams directed into the sky, each of which is 14 meters long. There are 5 such beams in total. They represent the famous "Katyusha".

Monument "Katyusha" on the "Road of Life"

Poem about the siege of Leningrad

Leningraders' deep feelings about wartime and the siege hometown found their way out in art. Poems dedicated to the Road of Life, paintings, photographs, literary essays - everything that could help express feelings was used. Olga Berggolts, Eduard Asadov, Vera Ibner, Boris Bogdanov, Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, Vladimir Lifshits are the most famous poets who glorified the days of the siege in their works. But this list is far from complete.

And even today, seven decades later, this theme continues to inspire poets and words of memory, pain and gratitude are harmoniously formed into rhymed lines. Here is an excerpt from a modern poem:

Road of Life, dear Ladoga,

Oh, how many you were able to save then!

For our grandparents, I know

You won't find a more sacred place in the world!

I stand before you on my knees,

I stand and look into the distance thoughtfully,

From all post-war generations,

As God, I thank you.

And I know: I still dream about it at night

To everyone who survived the blockade hell,

A stream of cars, a sleepless line,

Carrying bread across the Ladoga ice...

Natalia Smirnova

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