January 27 is celebrated as the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the day of the complete lifting of the siege of Leningrad. It lasted 872 days (from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944) and claimed over a million human lives, becoming the bloodiest blockade in human history: over 641 thousand inhabitants died from hunger and shelling. Throughout the days the city lived and fought in unimaginably difficult conditions. Its residents gave their last strength in the name of Victory, in the name of preserving the city.
Main announcer of Lenradio M. Melaned - “Order to end the blockade”
Leningrad-Novgorod operation - “Stalin’s first strike”
In January 1943, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts carried out Operation Iskra. A railway line was built on a narrow section near Lake Ladoga, and trains with food, ammunition and fuel went to the city. However, it was not possible to completely lift the blockade from Leningrad.
The main offensive strategic operations of 1944 were called “Stalin’s Ten Strikes”
The first of these was a strike in the Leningrad area - the Leningrad-Novgorod operation.
The general idea of the offensive operation was to launch simultaneous attacks on the flanks of the 18th German Army in the Peterhof-Strelna area (Krasnoselsko-Ropshinskaya operation) and in the Novgorod area (Novgorod-Luga operation). Then it was planned, attacking in the Kingisepp and Luga directions, to encircle the main forces of the 18th Army and develop an offensive towards Narva, Pskov and Idritsa. The main goal of the upcoming offensive was the complete liberation of Leningrad from the siege. In addition, it was planned to liberate the Leningrad region from German occupation and create the preconditions for a further successful offensive into the Baltic states
The position of the fascists
For two and a half years, the German troops strengthened themselves very thoroughly. The Nazis created a powerful and well-equipped defense. The line of defense consisted of a system of strong resistance nodes and strongholds that had fire communications. The defense was especially powerful in the Pulkovo Heights area and north of Novgorod. There were not only machine gun and gun emplacements here, but also reinforced concrete pillboxes, anti-tank ditches and gouges. In addition, the marshy area helped the defending side. Soviet troops needed to overcome many rivers, streams, lakes and swamps. There were few dirt roads here, the railways were destroyed. The thaw made the operation even more difficult.
And now the numbers. According to Soviet data, the entire German 18th Army consisted of 168,000 soldiers and officers, about 4,500 guns and mortars, 200 tanks and self-propelled guns. Air support for the entire Army Group North was provided by the 1st Air Fleet with 200 aircraft. According to other sources, the 1st Air Fleet consisted of 370 aircraft, of which 103 were based near Leningrad.
According to German sources, on October 14, 1943, the entire Army Group North (including formations located in northern Finland) numbered 601,000 people, 146 tanks, 2,398 guns and mortars.
In any case, the Soviet troops had a significant superiority over the German ones. In the direction of the main attack, the troops of the Leningrad Front outnumbered the enemy in manpower by more than 2.7 times, in artillery by 3.6 times, and in tanks by 6 times.
The siege of Leningrad was of great strategic importance for Berlin. It made it possible to pin down significant forces of the Red Army and the Baltic Fleet, close the approaches to the Baltic states and its ports and naval bases, maintain freedom of action of the German Navy in the Baltic and ensure sea communications with Finland and Sweden. In addition, Adolf Hitler believed that the Red Army did not have enough strength to simultaneously continue the offensive in the southern direction and strike in the north. And the commander of the 18th Army, Lindemann, assured the Fuhrer that his troops would repel the enemy’s attack. Therefore, Army Group North received orders to maintain positions in the Leningrad area at any cost.
"January Thunder" or Operation "Neva-2"
January 14
The artillery of the 42nd and 67th armies conducted continuous shelling of enemy positions in the Pulkovo Heights and Mga areas in order to disorient the enemy and prevent him from understanding where and when the next blow would be struck.
January 15
After a 110-minute artillery barrage, in which 2,300 guns and mortars took part, formations of three rifle corps of the 42nd Army went on the offensive on a 17-kilometer section of the Ligovo-Redkoye-Kuzmino front. Formations of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps (45th, 63rd, 64th Rifle Divisions), advancing directly behind the artillery rampart, advanced 4.5 kilometers with minimal losses by the end of the first day of the offensive. The attacks of the 109th (72nd, 109th, 125th rifle divisions) and 110th (56th, 85th, 86th rifle divisions) rifle corps advancing from the right and left were less successful.
January 16-17
In the following days, formations of the 2nd Shock and 42nd Armies slowly but persistently advanced in the direction of Ropsha and Krasnoye Selo towards each other. German troops offered fierce resistance and launched desperate counterattacks whenever possible.
Only by the end of the third day, units of the 2nd Shock Army managed to advance up to 10 kilometers and complete the breakthrough of the enemy’s main defensive line at the front up to 23 kilometers. This allowed I. I. Fedyuninsky on the morning of January 17 to form a mobile group (152nd tank brigade, as well as several rifle and artillery units), which was tasked with rapidly developing the offensive, capturing and holding Ropsha.
Even more stubborn battles unfolded in the offensive zone of the 42nd Army. A large number of anti-tank ditches and minefields, as well as effective enemy artillery fire, caused large losses in the army's tank units, which were unable to properly support the advance of the rifle formations. Despite this, the Soviet infantry continued to stubbornly move forward. So, on January 16, units of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps, moving forward another 3-4 kilometers, reached the Krasnoye Selo-Pushkin highway. On the same day, units of the 109th Rifle Corps took the strong enemy defense center of Finskoe Koirovo, and units of the 110th Corps took Aleksandrovka. 
On the morning of January 17, the commander of the 42nd Army brought into battle the 291st Rifle Division and a mobile group (1st Leningrad Red Banner, 220th Tank Brigades, as well as two self-propelled artillery regiments) with the task of supporting the offensive of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps , capture Krasnye Selo, Dudergof and Voronya Gora.
By the end of January 17, the troops of the 2nd shock and 42nd armies were separated by only 18 kilometers. The German troops, who by this time had thrown into battle not only all the tactical reserves in the area, but also the 61st Infantry Division, which made up the operational reserve, found themselves under the threat of complete encirclement.
The commander of Army Group North was forced to request permission from A. Hitler to withdraw parts of the 26th Army Corps of the 18th Army from the Mginsky ledge in order to free up several divisions to strengthen the defense southwest of Leningrad. Having not received an unequivocal answer, G. Küchler decided to transfer a number of formations (21st, 11th, 225th infantry divisions and other units) to the Krasnoe Selo area, but this measure did not help change the situation. Soon, German troops began a hasty retreat to the south from the areas of Strelna, Volodarsky and Gorelovo.
January 18
Soviet troops achieved the final turning point of the battle in their favor
In the offensive sector of the 2nd Shock Army, the 122nd Rifle Corps, with the support of tank units, after a fierce battle, took Ropsha and, together with the 108th Rifle Corps and a mobile group brought into battle from the second echelon of the army, continued the offensive to the east.
On the same day, rifle units of the 42nd Army began an assault on Krasnoye Selo and Voronya Gora; tank units continued their offensive towards units of the 2nd Shock Army. Fierce fighting for these key strongholds continued for several days.
January 19
In the morning, with a simultaneous attack from both sides, units of the 63rd Guards Rifle Division stormed Voronya Gora, and units of the 64th Guards and 291st Rifle Divisions liberated Krasnoe Selo.
The German command, taking advantage of the fact that there was no continuous front line yet, withdrew most of the troops from the encirclement area.
January 20th
The remnants of the Peterhof-Strelny enemy group were destroyed. The Germans, retreating, abandoned heavy weapons and siege equipment, which had accumulated near Leningrad for years.
Soviet troops captured 265 guns, including 85 heavy ones. The Germans were pushed back 25 km from the second Soviet capital.
The defeat of the Peterhof-Strelna group and the successes of the Volkhov Front, which also went on the offensive on January 14, created favorable conditions for the continuation of the offensive by the troops of the Leningrad Front. Maslennikov’s army received an order to strike in the direction of Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin and Tosno in order to go behind the forces of Army Group North, which held positions in the area of Ulyanovka, Mgi and Tosno. Subsequently, the 42nd Army was supposed to defeat the 26th and 28th German Army Corps and, in cooperation with the forces of Sviridov’s 67th Army and the right wing of the VF, establish control over the October Railway and completely remove the encirclement from Leningrad. The forces of Fedyuninsky’s army were given the task of bypassing Krasnogvardeysk from the southwestern direction, facilitating the offensive of the 42nd Army.
January 21
Units of the 67th Army of the Leningrad Fleet and the 8th Army of the VF, having discovered the withdrawal of the forces of the Mga enemy group, went on the offensive. On the same day, Soviet troops liberated Mga. The Kirov Railway was recaptured from the Germans. However, they were unable to develop the offensive. The Nazis took up positions on the intermediate defensive line “Avtostrada” along the October Railway and put up stubborn resistance.
The Germans' retreat from Mga forced the command of the Leningrad Front to adjust their plans. Now the main task of the 2nd shock and 42nd armies was to attack Krasnogvardeysk, and then on Kingisepp and Narva. The 67th Army was supposed to occupy the Oktyabrskaya Railway and support the attack on Krasnogvardeysk.
For several days there were stubborn battles on the line of the Oktyabrskaya Railway, for Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin and Slutsk. The Germans tried to hold Krasnogvardeysk at any cost. The commander of Army Group North deployed several formations to this area. Hitler refused to allow the withdrawal of troops from the Oktyabrskaya Railway line, from Pushkin and Slutsk.
January 24-30
Pushkin and Sluts were released. On January 25, a decisive assault on Krasnogvardeysk began. Fierce fighting lasted for almost a day. On January 26, Krasnogvardeysk was cleared of Nazis. The solid front of defense of the 18th German Army was broken through, and the German divisions were retreating. By January 30, the 2nd Shock Army reached the Luga River. On the night of February 1, Kingisepp was taken by storm. The Germans, unable to hold their position on Luga, retreated to the line on the Narva River. Formations of the 42nd Army, developing an offensive in the southwestern direction, also reached Luga and occupied a bridgehead in the Bolshoi Sabsk region. The troops of the 67th Army under the command of Sviridov, overcoming strong enemy resistance, liberated Vyritskaya on January 27, and recaptured Siversky by January 30.
Thus, in parts of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet, they broke through the powerful enemy defenses and inflicted a heavy defeat on the 18th German Army. Soviet soldiers finally liberated Leningrad and advanced 70-100 km.
On January 21, the front commander addressed Stalin:
In connection with the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade and from enemy artillery shelling, we ask for permission:
1. Issue and publish an order to the front troops on this matter.
2. In honor of the victory, fire a twenty-four artillery salvo from three hundred and twenty-four guns in Leningrad on January 27 this year at 8:00 p.m. 
Stalin granted the request of the command of the Leningrad Front and on January 27, a fireworks display was fired in Leningrad to commemorate the final liberation of the city from the siege, which lasted 872 days. The order to the victorious troops of the Leningrad Front, contrary to the established order, was signed by L. A. Govorov, and not Stalin. Not a single front commander was awarded such a privilege during the Great Patriotic War. And on January 27, an order from the Military Council of the Leningrad Front was read out on the radio, which said about the complete liberation of Leningrad from the siege.
Leningraders rejoiced: the terrible blockade, which claimed thousands of lives, was a thing of the past.
Results of the operation
By the end of January 1944, the troops of the Leningrad Front, in cooperation with the troops of the Volkhov Front, inflicted a heavy defeat on the 18th German Army, advanced 70 - 100 kilometers, liberated a number of settlements (including Krasnoe Selo, Ropsha, Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin, Slutsk ) and created the preconditions for further offensive. Although the Leningrad-Novgorod operation continued, the main task of the entire strategic offensive was completed - Leningrad was completely liberated from the siege.
Briefly about lifting the siege of Leningrad
The Soviet troops were faced with the task of defeating the German Army Group North (16 A and 18 A), completely lifting the blockade of Leningrad and liberating the Leningrad region from the fascist invaders. As a result of the operation, Soviet troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the Nazi Army Group North and threw it back 220-280 km, destroying 3 and defeating 23 enemy divisions. Leningrad was completely freed from the siege, the Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region were almost completely liberated, and the liberation of the Estonian SSR began.
January 27 is the day of military glory
Days of Military Glory of Russia (Days of Glory of Russian Weapons) are memorable days of Russia to commemorate the victories of Russian troops that played a decisive role in the history of Russia. One of these days is the “Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade.” The list of these days was established in February 1995 by the law “On Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia” (today there are 17 days of military glory).
The original name of the Day of Military Glory was the Day of Lifting the Siege of Leningrad (1944). However, in 2013, it was decided to correct this name, since at the end of January 1944, the blockade was completely lifted by Soviet troops, who had previously released several areas in the Leningrad direction.
The importance of lifting the blockade
Photo - echo of the blockade
1 of 16
Poetry
September 8, usual day of the week. G. Stanislavskaya
(September 8, 1941, the siege of Leningrad began)
September 8, usual day of the week,
The beginning of autumn, beautiful and bright,
The September breeze and the doves were flying,
And the forest attracted people with gifts,
And silence and freshness of breath.
Usually it was early in the morning...
It was like this before or after,
But this year trouble was knocking on the door.
In that 41st memorable year
Beauty was bound with an iron hoop,
Merciless, destructive reach,
Turned the life of Leningraders into hell, -
BLOCKADE. We, the living, cannot understand
What did the child feel as he faded away?
Carrying a dead mother on a sled
And biting my lips out of helplessness...
Sirens sound, metronome sound
The memory of the children under the siege is disturbing,
They suffered countless hellish torments,
Labor for the front without ceremonial speeches,+
They had their fate, but people did not give up,
The city, adults and children did not give up!
To their memory, living one, bow down
And tell us - let them remember! – to our children.
Dedicated to all the siege survivors of the city of Leningrad... S.V. Titov
Thin fingers, transparent fingers,
Cloudy lens of the pupil.
The night danced snow waltzes,
The candle flickered dimly.
The stars fell like shells,
Burning through the world.
You survived this blockade,
You and your ghostly guest.
Stale cracker - cut into halves,
A flask of icy water,
Piles of ruins, cold and ice.
How can I survive until Wednesday?
The stop is two kilometers away;
The streets are full of corpses
Dead faces, streaks of wind, -
The echo of war...
The city thawed, consecrated in the spring,
You've warmed up a little too.
Old maples spread out their branches,
And the bridges creaked.
Dust is on the chest of drawers, there are shadows in the room.
Where is your ghostly guest?
Maybe he left? Or maybe a vision
You had a chance to meet...
Video
At what cost did our veterans pay for victory in the Great Patriotic War? How does today's generation “remember” their history? Why would our children give Leningrad to the enemy if they were in the place of our veteran heroes?
This film shows parallels between two eras - the Soviet period and the modern one. Veterans talk about the severity of wartime. Meanwhile, modern children sit in history class and don’t even try to imagine how hard it was for our people during the Great Patriotic War. What can change their attitude towards the history of their homeland? Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, as well as cultural, scientific and political figures will try to answer this and many other questions in the film.
Documentary film "History Lesson". 2010
Film by K. Nabutov “Siege of Leningrad”. Part 1
The authors of the film balanced the dry language of numbers and documents with human stories, because each survivor of these terrible months has their own blockade. Ordinary Leningraders who became prisoners of a hungry city tell their stories.
There was also a place in the film for a view from “the other side.” German veterans - some ask Leningraders for forgiveness, but there are also those who are still confident that they were right at that time...
ITAR-TASS, as part of the Leningrad Victory-70 project, talks about the last 50 days of the siege
Nikitin V. “Unknown blockade. Leningrad 1941—1944: Photo album”/V. Fedoseev
LENINGRAD, 1944. January 27. /TASS/. “January 27, 1944 will forever go down in the glorious history of the city of Lenin. On this day, an order to the troops of the Leningrad Front announced the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade and from the barbaric artillery shelling of the enemy,” LenTASS reported. - The valiant warriors of the Leningrad Front defeated the enemy and drove him back along the entire front for 65-100 km. In fierce battles, Krasnoe Selo, Ropsha, Uritsk, Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Ulyanovka, and Gatchina were taken. The hero city, the fighter city, which for 28 months steadfastly and courageously fought against the brutal enemy, withstood an unprecedented siege and threw back the Nazi gangs. The soldiers of Leningrad, continuing the offensive, are driving the enemy from their native Soviet land. In commemoration of the Great Victory and in honor of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade, yesterday, January 27, the city of Lenin saluted the valiant troops of the Leningrad Front."
At 20 o'clock the first salvo of 324 guns fired. A roaring echo swept over the streets and squares, over the majestic buildings of the city, into which the foot of a foreign conqueror had never set foot and would never set foot. The rockets soared high, coloring the evening sky with thousands of multi-colored lights, illuminating the spire of the Admiralty, the dome of Isaac, the vast palaces, embankments, and bridges on the Neva. Bright beams of searchlights crossed in the clouds. Leningraders, who gathered in the streets, squares, and embankments of the Neva, which had recently been subjected to artillery fire, joyfully greeted their liberators - the soldiers of the Leningrad Front. 24 historic salvos thundered one after another. The guns installed on the Field of Mars, on the banks of the Neva, fired, and the artillery of the ships of the Red Banner Baltic fired. And each time the thousand-voiced “hurray” of the Leningraders merged with the roar of guns into a single solemn salute. The majestic enchanting spectacle was visible far beyond Leningrad, its reflections were seen by the glorious soldiers of the Leningrad front...LenTASS
Comrades! I just got off duty, from the tower. How beautiful the city was today, how it was filled with light, how it sparkled! We celebrated the victory of the troops of the Leningrad Front, and the volleys of guns today brought not death, but joy,” says observer Comrade Belova, speaking excitedly at a rally of MPVO fighters. The large Lenin room of the headquarters of the MPVO of the Kuibyshev region is filled with girls in greatcoats. Today, on this historic day, they rejoice along with all the working people of Leningrad, ready to go on combat duty at any moment.LenTASS
The mood that gripped the Leningraders was very accurately conveyed in her siege diary by the writer Vera Inber. On January 27, it contained only a short entry: “The greatest event in the life of Leningrad: its complete liberation from the siege. And here I, a professional writer, lack words. I just say: Leningrad is free. And that’s all.”
Leningraders, who had recently heard volleys of German artillery shelling the city, found military features in the victorious salute. "These were military missiles by nature, we have seen them before,- wrote V. Inber. - Their purpose was to indicate the beginning of attacks, designate landing sites for aircraft, signal artillerymen, direct infantrymen, and warn tankers. But then these were single missiles. And now - thousands of attacks, hundreds of battles, sorties, naval battles immediately rushed into the sky."
The Leningrad Victory arose from the daily exploits of army and navy soldiers, residents of Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov and Leningrad partisans who fought in the besieged areas of the Leningrad region, all the people in the country and abroad who helped the blockaded city, delivering it food, raw materials, weapons and they even simply wrote letters to the heroic Leningraders through newspapers to support their spirit.
FROM THE ORDER OF THE MILITARY COUNCIL OF THE LENINGRAD FRONT TO THE TROOPS OF THE LENINGRAD FRONT
January 27, 1944. As a result of the fighting, a task of historical importance was solved: the city of Leningrad was completely liberated from the enemy blockade and from barbaric enemy artillery shelling...Citizens of Leningrad! Courageous and persistent Leningraders! Together with the troops of the Leningrad Front, you defended our hometown. With your heroic work and steely endurance, overcoming all the difficulties and torments of the blockade, you forged weapons of victory over the enemy, devoting all your strength to the cause of victory.
The liberation of Leningrad from the blockade became a holiday for the whole country, and Moscow, which saluted each of the military victories, this time ceded the honorable right to the city on the Neva to hold the fireworks. Muscovites listened to the Neva salute on the radio and rejoiced along with the Leningraders. TASS reported this:
“The capital of our homeland, Moscow, which salutes in honor of the liberation of more and more new cities, yesterday listened with particular excitement to the fireworks, this time thundering from Leningrad itself. In the most difficult, sometimes tragic days of the blockade of the front city, Muscovites were always mentally with the Leningraders. They admired their extraordinary perseverance and courage, experienced their trials with them and firmly believed in victory.
Moscow was jubilant yesterday. Thousands of people at enterprises, metro mines, in scientific laboratories, on the streets and squares of the capital listened to the victorious salvos of Leningrad."
Congratulations from abroad
The significance of the Battle of Leningrad was realized in many countries of the world, and this is confirmed by the greetings that flew to the USSR immediately after the news of the Leningrad victory.
“The English Women's Parliament addressed the following message to the women of Leningrad. "On behalf of half a million women, we salute the women of Leningrad. We rejoice at the liberation of your city. We salute your courage, your heroic example inspires us, and we promise to work and fight for victory. We will build with you a better world of freedom and progress."(TASS).
In those days, the agency prepared a review of British newspapers and radio, which “animatedly commented” on events in the USSR and the glorious victories of the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts.
"It is hardly possible to find anything like the resistance of Leningrad, which is an example of human triumph amid unimaginable trials,"- writes the Evening Standard newspaper in an editorial.
A military observer for the Reuters agency, referring to the breakthrough of German lines on the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts and the occupation of Novgorod by the Red Army, writes that these victories dealt a crushing blow to the powerful German fortifications between Lake Ilmen and Leningrad, which the Germans considered as the German “north-eastern rampart” ".
Radio London notes that “Leningrad was one of the first targets of the German offensive at the beginning of the war. In order to capture this city, the Germans exerted all their strength. They continuously bombed Leningrad, subjected it to fire from long-range large-caliber guns. To this was soon added hunger - this horror of besieged cities The Germans repeatedly stated that the fall of Leningrad was a matter of days. But the Leningraders, gritting their teeth, inflicted blow after blow on the enemy. Until the last day, Leningrad did not cease to endure the incredible severity of the shelling and was a front city. With their dedication, the population of Leningrad and the heroic soldiers who defended the city together with the population wrote the most remarkable page in the history of the world war, for they, more than anyone, helped the coming final victory over Germany."
The London Star wrote: “Leningrad has long won its place among the hero cities of the current war. The battle of Leningrad sowed alarm among the Germans. It made them feel that they were only temporary masters of Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Oslo.”
From New York, TASS reported the American reaction to the victory of Soviet troops near Leningrad. “Commentator Swing states that the breakthrough of Soviet troops on the Leningrad front is a major victory, has not only military-strategic but also great moral significance. The commentator recalls that this multimillion-dollar city for a long time withstood bombing, shelling, famine, and disease. Among "In this hell, Leningraders continued their work, inspired by the belief that the siege of the city would come to an end. Residents of Leningrad lived the same life as the whole country, rejoiced at successes on other fronts, and now the entire Soviet country is celebrating the victory at Leningrad,"- reported the correspondent. TASS.
"No major city in modern times has endured such a siege,- wrote the New York Times. - It is unlikely that in history one can find an example of such endurance that the Leningraders showed for such a long time. Their feat will be recorded in the annals of history as a kind of heroic myth... Leningrad embodies the invincible spirit of the people of Russia."
Why Leningrad won
"We won because we were stronger in spirit than the enemy"- says Yuri Ivanovich Kolosov, head of the Association of Historians of the Siege and the Battle of Leningrad.
"In Leningrad there were optimists and pessimists,- he said in a conversation with a correspondent. ITAR-TASS. - Pessimists are those who evacuated after the first winter of the siege. But the optimists remained in the city until the end."
Yu. Kolosov recalls that the unparalleled courage of the Leningraders during the days of the siege was recognized even by the enemy: “In the spring of 1945, when Soviet troops were advancing in Germany, Hitler’s leaders called on the Germans to defend Berlin in the same way as the Russians defended Leningrad.”
The importance of the victory at Leningrad, according to Yu. Kolosov, is recognized in many countries: “I remember that in 1994, during celebrations in honor of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the second front, French President Francois Mitterrand emphasized that “if Leningrad had not stood, Moscow would have fallen. With its fall, Russia would exit the war. And there wouldn’t be our anniversary today, because the boot of a German soldier would still be trampling French soil.”
"Leningrad won because everyone in Leningrad was united,- says honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, veteran of the Great Patriotic War Mikhail Mikhailovich Bobrov. - We believed we would survive." He recalls how during the days of the blockade people tried to protect each other. “I remember such a case. To camouflage the spire of the Peter and Paul Fortress, we needed a cable - the one we needed was found at the Kirov plant. We came for this cable, we were taken to the last workshop, which was almost at the front line (the front line was only 2.5-3 km from the plant - approx. ITAR-TASS), there were mortars on the roof, and teenagers, boys and girls of 13-14 years old, were working in the workshops, making tanks. Then there was shelling, and the adults began to take the children to shelter. After the war, the children of the blockade. won gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics! Modern athletes have a lot to learn from these people of enormous fortitude."
British journalist Alexander Werth, who visited Leningrad in 1943, wrote in his book “Russia in the War of 1941-45”: “The most remarkable thing in the history of the Leningrad blockade is not the fact that the Leningraders survived, but how they survived.” Speaking about “an extraordinary phenomenon that can be called “Leningrad in the days of war,” Werth expresses the idea that “The question of declaring Leningrad an open city could never arise, as it did, for example, with Paris in 1940.”
The main factor that determined the Leningrad victory, according to A. Werth, was that “the local pride of Leningrad had a unique character - an ardent love for the city itself, for its historical past, for the wonderful literary traditions associated with it (this primarily concerned the intelligentsia) was united here with the great proletarian and revolutionary traditions of the city’s working class. And nothing could It’s better to weld these two sides of Leningraders’ love for their city into one whole than the threat of destruction hanging over it.”
A British journalist noted that “in Leningrad, people could choose between a shameful death in German captivity and an honorable death (or, if lucky, life) in their own, unconquered city,” and believed that “it would be a mistake to try to distinguish between Russian patriotism, revolutionary impulse and Soviet organization or ask which of these three factors played a more important role in the salvation of Leningrad."
"Leningraders, soldiers of the front and navy, preferred death in the fight against the enemy rather than surrender the city to the enemy,- Marshal Georgy Zhukov wrote in his book “Memories and Reflections”, emphasizing that “The history of wars has never known such an example of mass heroism, courage, labor and combat valor as was shown by the defenders of Leningrad.” He especially noted the labor valor of Leningraders, which, according to the marshal, was difficult to overestimate: “People worked with exceptional enthusiasm, malnourished and sleep-deprived, under artillery fire and air strikes.”
Forever in memory
“From this hour begins another period in the life of the city, when the historian takes up a pen and begins to write in order the entire history of the completed titanic epic. It is already in the past, but this past only yesterday breathed with all the flames of struggle, and everywhere in the city there are still fresh scars and traces of this of a battle that had no equal in history. The silence of restoration sets in. But in the ears there are still echoes of all the countless shots, in the eyes there are still pictures of unprecedented feats, in the heart there are sad memories of dead loved ones, of dead heroes, memories that lift a person to new works, to new ones. feats in the name of life",- Nikolai Tikhonov, a witness and participant in those events, wrote in his essay “Leningrad in January”.
Historians still argue about the exact number of deaths during the siege in Leningrad. According to official post-war data, 642 thousand people died in the city, but modern historians believe that the death toll exceeded 1 million people. Almost the same number of soldiers were killed in battle and died from wounds. Tens of thousands of Leningraders died during the evacuation.
At the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery - the largest memorial burial site of the Second World War - 420 thousand city residents who died from hunger, bombing and artillery shelling, and 70 thousand soldiers - defenders of Leningrad are buried in mass graves. Burials here began in January 1942, when from 3 thousand to 10 thousand people were buried daily in huge trench graves.
The Piskarevsky Memorial was opened on May 9, 1960, on the fifteenth anniversary of the Victory. Siege burials have also been preserved in the Serafimovsky, Bolsheokhtinsky, Volkovovo, Bogoslovsky and Chesmensky cemeteries of the city.
Most of the victims of the siege died of starvation. Bombing and artillery shelling claimed the lives of 16,747 Leningrad residents, and 33,782 people were injured from shrapnel. During the entire period of the blockade, the Nazis fired 150 thousand heavy artillery shells into the city, destroying more than 5 million square meters. m of area, that is, every third house.
Repressed Museum of the Siege
In April 1944, the exhibition “Heroic Defense of Leningrad” opened in the premises of the former agricultural museum in Solyanoy Gorodok. It reflected all stages of the Battle of Leningrad - the struggle on the distant approaches, the work of the legendary Road of Life, military operations to break through and lift the blockade, the heroic work of workers in factories. The success of the exhibition exceeded all expectations. In the first six months of operation, more than 220 thousand people visited here. In August 1945, accompanied by Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov, the exhibition was visited by the former Allied commander, General D. Eisenhower.
In October 1945, by order of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Federation, the exhibition "Heroic Defense of Leningrad" was transformed into a museum of republican significance. The number of sections and halls increased from 26 to 37.
"LENINGRAD CASE"
Many leaders of the city that survived the siege were involved in the “Leningrad Case” (1949). Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks G.S. Malenkov accused them of anti-government actions and exceeding their own significance in the history of the defense of Leningrad.
“Kuznetsov, and with him Popkov, Kapustin, Solovyov, presented themselves as the only organizers of the defense of Leningrad and brazenly hid facts and documents about the leading and decisive role of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in the liquidation of the blockade and the defeat of the Germans near Leningrad. In these “For this purpose, they created a museum of the defense of Leningrad, where they hung their huge portraits in prominent places,” the charges in the “Leningrad Case” stated. One of the museum exhibits was used against Marshal Zhukov - his equestrian portrait was even specially taken to Moscow to support accusations of Bonapartism.
The officials involved in the Leningrad case were removed from their posts, expelled from the party and repressed.
The official opening of the museum took place on January 27, 1946, on the second anniversary of the lifting of the blockade. But in this form, the Leningrad Defense Museum did not last long, becoming a victim of the “Leningrad affair” initiated in 1949. The museum was liquidated in November 1952, its exhibits were transferred to other institutions, some of them were destroyed. Samples of weapons were handed over to military units or sent for melting down.
The Memorial Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad was revived in 1989 by decision of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council, adopted at the request of veterans. He was allocated only a few rooms in a building on Solyany Lane with a total area of just over 1 thousand square meters. m. War veterans, participants of the Road of Life, residents of besieged Leningrad provided the museum with valuable exhibits that they carefully preserved after the war. Some of the materials were provided by the Military History Museum of Artillery and Signal Corps and the Central Naval Museum.
Battle of Leningrad The defense of Leningrad became part of the Battle of Leningrad, which was the longest in the Great Patriotic War and included more than 20 major military operations.
The Battle of Leningrad began on July 10, 1941, when German troops moved directly to the city from the line of the Velikaya River, and ended completely only on August 9, 1944, with the completion of the Svir-Petrozavodsk operation and the defeat of the strategic enemy group (German and Finnish troops) on the northern wing of the front.
Researchers consider it necessary to raise the question of restoring the memory of the Battle of Leningrad as a single set of events in the history of the war. As Yuri Kolosov notes, the Battle of Leningrad, unlike the Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk, is now not considered by historians as a single operation, but is presented as separate events.
He considers this situation one of the consequences of the “Leningrad affair” of 1949, as a result of which many evidence of the heroic defense of Leningrad was destroyed. “We are talking about the blockade of Leningrad separately, about the Novgorod operation separately, and so on. This contradicts history. It is necessary, first of all, to restore the place of the Battle of Leningrad in the history of the Great Patriotic War,”- emphasized the historian and veteran.
The siege of Leningrad is one of the most terrible and difficult pages in the history of our country.
January 27- Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad by Soviet troops from the blockade of it by Nazi troops (1944)
16 long months residents of the northern capital were waiting for liberation from the fascist encirclement.
In 1941 Hitler launched military operations on the outskirts of Leningrad in order to completely destroy the city.
In July - September 1941, 10 divisions of the people's militia were formed in the city. Despite the most difficult conditions, the industry of Leningrad did not stop its work. Assistance to the blockade survivors was carried out on the ice of Lake Ladoga. This transport route was called the “Road of Life”. On January 12-30, 1943, an operation was carried out to break the blockade of Leningrad ( "Spark").
September 8, 1941 the ring around the important strategic and political center has closed.
January 12, 1944 At dawn, artillery cannonade thundered. The first blow dealt to the enemy was extremely strong. After two hours of artillery and air preparation, the Soviet infantry moved forward. The front was broken through in two places, five and eight kilometers wide. Later, both sections of the breakthrough were connected.
January 18 The blockade of Leningrad was broken, the Germans lost tens of thousands of their soldiers. This event meant not only a major failure of Hitler's strategic plans, but also his serious political defeat.
January 27 As a result of the offensive operations of the Leningrad, 20th Baltic and Volkhov fronts, with the support of the Baltic Fleet, the main forces of the enemy group of forces "North" were defeated and the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted. The front line moved away from the city by 220-280 kilometers.
The defeat of the Nazis near Leningrad completely undermined their positions in Finland and other Scandinavian countries.
During the blockade, about 1 million inhabitants died, including more than 600 thousand from hunger.
During the war, Hitler repeatedly demanded that the city be razed to the ground and its population completely destroyed.
However, neither shelling and bombing, nor hunger and cold broke its defenders.
Beginning of the blockade
Soon after the start of World War II Leningrad found itself in the grip of enemy fronts. The German Army Group North (commanded by Field Marshal W. Leeb) was approaching it from the southwest; The Finnish army (commander Marshal K. Mannerheim) targeted the city from the north-west. According to the Barbarossa plan, the capture of Leningrad was supposed to precede the capture of Moscow. Hitler believed that the fall of the northern capital of the USSR would bring not only a military gain - the Russians would lose the city, which is the cradle of the revolution and has a special symbolic meaning for the Soviet state. The Battle of Leningrad, the longest of the war, lasted from July 10, 1941 to August 9, 1944.
In July-August 1941 German divisions were stopped in the battles on the Luga line, but on September 8 the enemy reached Shlisselburg and Leningrad, which was home to about 3 million people before the war, was surrounded. To the number of those caught in the blockade, we must add approximately 300 thousand more refugees who arrived in the city from the Baltic states and neighboring regions at the beginning of the war. From that day on, communication with Leningrad became possible only by Lake Ladoga and by air. Almost every day Leningraders experienced the horror of artillery shelling or bombing. As a result of the fires, residential buildings were destroyed, people and food supplies were killed, incl. Badaevsky warehouses.
At the beginning of September 1941 Stalin recalled Army General G.K. from near Yelnya. Zhukov and told him: “You will have to fly to Leningrad and take command of the front and the Baltic Fleet from Voroshilov.” Zhukov's arrival and the measures he took strengthened the city's defenses, but it was not possible to break the blockade.
The Nazis' plans for Leningrad
Blockade, organized by the Nazis, was aimed specifically at the extinction and destruction of Leningrad. On September 22, 1941, a special directive noted: “The Fuhrer decided to wipe out the city of Leningrad from the face of the earth. It is planned to surround the city with a tight ring and, through shelling from artillery of all calibers and continuous bombing from the air, raze it to the ground... In this war, waged for the right to exist, we are not interested in preserving at least part of the population.” On October 7, Hitler gave another order - not to accept refugees from Leningrad and to push them back into enemy territory. Therefore, any speculation - including those spread today in the media - that the city could have been saved if it had been surrendered to the mercy of the Germans should be classified either as ignorance or a deliberate distortion of historical truth.
Food situation in the besieged city
Before the war, the metropolis of Leningrad was supplied, as they say, “on wheels”; the city did not have large food reserves. Therefore, the blockade threatened a terrible tragedy - famine. On September 2, we had to strengthen the food saving regime. From November 20, 1941, the lowest norms for the distribution of bread on cards were established: workers and engineers - 250 g, employees, dependents and children - 125 g. First-line soldiers and sailors - 500 g. Massive death of the population began.
In December, 53 thousand people died, in January 1942 - about 100 thousand, in February - more than 100 thousand. The preserved pages of the diary of little Tanya Savicheva do not leave anyone indifferent: “Grandmother died on January 25. ... “Uncle Alyosha on May 10... Mom on May 13 at 7.30 in the morning... Everyone died. Tanya is the only one left." Today, in the works of historians, the numbers of dead Leningraders vary from 800 thousand to 1.5 million people. Recently, data on 1.2 million people has increasingly appeared. Grief came to every family. During the battle for Leningrad, more people died than England and the United States lost during the entire war.
"The road of life"
The salvation for the besieged was the “Road of Life” - a route laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga, along which, from November 21, food and ammunition were delivered to the city and the civilian population was evacuated on the way back. During the period of operation of the “Road of Life” - until March 1943 - 1,615 thousand tons of various cargo were delivered to the city by ice (and in the summer on various ships). At the same time, more than 1.3 million Leningraders and wounded soldiers were evacuated from the city on the Neva. To transport petroleum products along the bottom of Lake Ladoga, a pipeline was laid.
Feat of Leningrad
However, the city did not give up. Its residents and leadership then did everything possible to live and continue to fight. Despite the fact that the city was under severe blockade conditions, its industry continued to supply the troops of the Leningrad Front with the necessary weapons and equipment. Exhausted by hunger and seriously ill, workers carried out urgent tasks, repairing ships, tanks and artillery. Employees of the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing preserved the most valuable collection of grain crops.
Winter 1941 28 employees of the institute died of starvation, but not a single box of grain was touched.
Leningrad dealt significant blows to the enemy and did not allow the Germans and Finns to act with impunity. In April 1942, Soviet anti-aircraft gunners and aircraft thwarted the German command's operation "Aisstoss" - an attempt to destroy from the air the ships of the Baltic Fleet stationed on the Neva. Counteraction to enemy artillery was constantly improved. The Leningrad Military Council organized a counter-battery fight, which resulted in a significant reduction in the intensity of shelling of the city. In 1943, the number of artillery shells that fell on Leningrad decreased by approximately 7 times.
Unparalleled self-sacrifice ordinary Leningraders helped them not only defend their beloved city. It showed the whole world where the limits of Nazi Germany and its allies were.
Actions by the leadership of the city on the Neva
Although Leningrad (as in other regions of the USSR during the war) had its own scoundrels among the authorities, the party and military leadership of Leningrad basically remained at the height of the situation. It behaved adequately to the tragic situation and did not at all “get fat,” as some modern researchers claim.
In November 1941 The secretary of the city party committee, Zhdanov, established a strictly fixed, reduced food consumption rate for himself and all members of the military council of the Leningrad Front. Moreover, the leadership of the city on the Neva did everything to prevent the consequences of a severe famine. By decision of the Leningrad authorities, additional food was organized for exhausted people in special hospitals and canteens. In Leningrad, 85 orphanages were organized, accepting tens of thousands of children left without parents.
In January 1942 A medical hospital for scientists and creative workers began operating at the Astoria Hotel. Since March 1942, the Leningrad City Council allowed residents to plant personal vegetable gardens in their yards and parks. The land for dill, parsley, and vegetables was plowed even near St. Isaac's Cathedral.
Attempts to break the blockade
Despite all the mistakes, miscalculations, and voluntaristic decisions, the Soviet command took maximum measures to break the siege of Leningrad as quickly as possible. Were undertaken four attempts to break the enemy ring.
First– in September 1941; second– in October 1941; third- at the beginning of 1942, during a general counter-offensive, which only partially achieved its goals; fourth– in August–September 1942
The siege of Leningrad was not broken then, but Soviet sacrifices in offensive operations of this period were not in vain. Summer-autumn 1942 the enemy failed to transfer any large reserves from Leningrad to the southern flank of the Eastern Front. Moreover, Hitler sent the command and troops of Manstein’s 11th Army to take the city, which otherwise could have been used in the Caucasus and near Stalingrad.
Sinyavinsk operation 1942 The Leningrad and Volkhov fronts were ahead of the German attack. Manstein's divisions intended for the offensive were forced to immediately engage in defensive battles against the attacking Soviet units.
"Nevsky Piglet"
The heaviest battles in 1941-1942. took place on the “Nevsky Piglet” - a narrow strip of land on the left bank of the Neva, 2-4 km wide along the front and only 500-800 meters deep. This bridgehead, which the Soviet command intended to use to break the blockade, was held by Red Army units for about 400 days.
A tiny piece of land was at one time almost the only hope for saving the city and became one of the symbols of the heroism of the Soviet soldiers who defended Leningrad. The battles for the Nevsky Piglet claimed, according to some sources, the lives of 50,000 Soviet soldiers.
Operation Spark
And only in January 1943, when the main forces of the Wehrmacht were pulled towards Stalingrad, the blockade was partially broken. The course of the unblocking operation of the Soviet fronts (Operation Iskra) was led by G. Zhukov. On a narrow strip of the southern shore of Lake Ladoga, 8-11 km wide, it was possible to restore land communications with the country.
Over the next 17 days, railroads and roads were built along this corridor.
January 1943 became a turning point in the Battle of Leningrad.
The final lifting of the siege of Leningrad
The situation in Leningrad has improved significantly, but the immediate threat to the city continued to remain. In order to completely eliminate the blockade, it was necessary to push the enemy back beyond the Leningrad region. The idea of such an operation was developed by the Supreme Command Headquarters at the end of 1943. Forces of the Leningrad (General L. Govorov), Volkhov (General K. Meretskov) and 2nd Baltic (General M. Popov) fronts in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet, Ladoga and Onega flotillas The Leningrad-Novgorod operation was carried out.
Soviet troops went on the offensive on January 14, 1944. and already on January 20 Novgorod was liberated. On January 21, the enemy began to withdraw from the Mga-Tosno area, from the section of the Leningrad-Moscow railway that he had cut.
January 27 To commemorate the final lifting of the siege of Leningrad, which lasted 872 days, fireworks thundered. Army Group North suffered a heavy defeat. As a result of the Leningrad-Novgorod war, Soviet troops reached the borders of Latvia and Estonia.
The importance of the defense of Leningrad
Defense of Leningrad had enormous military-strategic, political and moral significance. Hitler's command lost the opportunity to most effectively maneuver its strategic reserves and transfer troops to other directions. If the city on the Neva had fallen in 1941, then German troops would have united with the Finns, and most of the troops of the German Army Group North could have been deployed south and struck the central regions of the USSR. In this case, Moscow could not have resisted, and the whole war could have gone according to a completely different scenario. In the deadly meat grinder of the Sinyavinsk operation in 1942, Leningraders saved not only themselves with their feat and indestructible fortitude. Having pinned down the German forces, they provided invaluable assistance to Stalingrad and the entire country!
The feat of the defenders of Leningrad, who defended their city under the most difficult trials, inspired the entire army and country, and earned deep respect and gratitude from the states of the anti-Hitler coalition.
In 1942, the Soviet government established “the”, which was awarded to about 1.5 million defenders of the city. This medal remains in the memory of the people today as one of the most honorable awards of the Great Patriotic War.
In accordance with the Program of information, propaganda and military-patriotic events in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, we are publishing another material for conducting classes in the UCP system with military personnel serving under contract and conscription .
The Battle of Leningrad, which lasted from July 10, 1941 to August 9, 1944, was the longest during the Great Patriotic War. It was crowned with a brilliant victory for Soviet weapons, demonstrated the high moral spirit of the Soviet people, and became a symbol of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people and their Armed Forces.
1st stage (July 10 - September 30, 1941) - defense on the distant and near approaches to Leningrad. Leningrad strategic defensive operation.
Having overcome the resistance of Soviet troops in the Baltic states, fascist German troops launched an offensive on the southwestern approaches to Leningrad on July 10. Finnish troops went on the offensive from the north. On July 14, the enemy reached the Luga River and captured a bridgehead in the area west of Shimsk.
On August 8-10, defensive battles began on the near approaches to Leningrad. Despite the heroic resistance of the Soviet troops, the enemy broke through on the left flank of the Luga defense line and occupied Novgorod on August 19, Chudovo on August 20, and cut the Moscow-Leningrad highway and railway. At the end of August, Finnish troops reached the line of the old state border. Having captured Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost) on September 8, German troops cut off Leningrad from land. An almost 900-day blockade of the city began.
An important role in the defense of Leningrad from the sea was played by the heroic defense of the Moonsund Islands, the Hanko Peninsula and the Tallinn naval base, the Oranienbaum bridgehead and Kronstadt. Their defenders showed exceptional courage and heroism.
As a result of stubborn resistance by the troops of the Leningrad Front, the enemy's offensive weakened, and by the end of September the front stabilized. The enemy's plan to capture Leningrad immediately failed.
2nd stage (October 1941 - January 12, 1943) - defensive military operations of the Soviet troops. Siege of the city of Leningrad.
Soviet troops made repeated attempts to lift the blockade of the city. In 1941, the Tikhvin defensive and offensive operations were carried out, in 1942 - the Lyuban and Sinyavin operations.
The German command revised the tactics of the fight for Leningrad. Having failed to take the city by storm, it decided to achieve its goal through a long blockade, artillery shelling and air bombing. Assistance to Leningrad was carried out along the transport route across Lake Ladoga, called the Road of Life.
Despite the most difficult conditions, the industry of Leningrad did not stop its work. In the difficult conditions of the blockade, the working people of the city provided the front with weapons, equipment, uniforms, and ammunition.
Leningrad was covered from the sea by the Baltic Fleet. In January - April 1942, the strike groups of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, advancing towards each other, fought stubborn battles in the Lyuban, and in August-October - in the Sinyavinsk directions in order to break the blockade of the city. Due to a lack of manpower and equipment, the operations were not successful, but the enemy suffered serious damage in manpower and military equipment. His strength was constrained.
3rd stage (1943) - military operations of Soviet troops, breaking the blockade of Leningrad.
In January 1943, the strategic offensive operation Iskra was carried out near Leningrad. On January 12, 1943, formations of the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front (commanded by Colonel General L.A. Govorov), the 2nd shock and part of the forces of the 8th Army of the Volkhov Front (commanded by Army General K.A. Meretskov) with the support of 13- The 1st and 14th Air Armies, long-range aviation, artillery and aviation of the Baltic Fleet launched counter strikes on a narrow ledge between Shlisselburg and Sinyavin. On January 18 they connected. A corridor 8-11 km wide has formed south of Lake Ladoga. A 36-kilometer-long railway was built along the southern shore of Ladoga in 18 days. Trains went along it to Leningrad.
Breaking the blockade became a turning point in the battle for the city on the Neva. And although it still remained a front-line city, the plan to capture it by the Nazis was thwarted.
In the summer and autumn battles of 1943, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts actively thwarted the enemy’s attempts to restore the complete blockade of Leningrad. The combat activity of our troops pinned down about 30 enemy divisions.
4th stage (January - February 1944) - the offensive of Soviet troops in the northwestern direction, the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad.
During this stage, Soviet troops carried out the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation, within the framework of which the troops of the Leningrad Front carried out the Krasnoselsko-Ropshinskaya, and the Volkhov Front - the Novgorod-Luga offensive operations.
On January 14, 1944, Soviet troops went on the offensive from the Oranienbaum bridgehead to Ropsha, and on January 15 - from Leningrad to Krasnoye Selo. On January 20, the advancing troops united in the Ropsha area and eliminated the encircled enemy group. At the same time, on January 14, Soviet troops went on the offensive in the Novgorod area, on January 16 - in the Lyuban direction, and on January 20 they liberated Novgorod.
On January 27, 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was completely eliminated. This January date is immortalized in the Russian Federation as the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the Day of Lifting the Siege of the City of Leningrad.
By February 15, as a result of fierce fighting, the enemy defenses in the Luga area were overcome. After this, the Volkhov Front was disbanded, and the troops of the Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts, continuing to pursue the enemy, reached the border of the Latvian SSR by the end of March 1. As a result, Army Group North was severely defeated, almost the entire Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region were liberated, and favorable conditions were created for the defeat of the enemy in the Baltic states.
The defense of besieged Leningrad became a symbol of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people and was of great military and strategic importance. During the battle for Leningrad, Soviet military art received its development. The battle became a major military-political event and its significance went beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. The Battle of Leningrad demonstrated the great strength of the moral and political unity of Soviet society and the friendship of the peoples of our Motherland. The defense of Leningrad was of a nationwide nature.
The Motherland highly appreciated the feat of the defenders of Leningrad. For courage, bravery and heroism, over 350 thousand soldiers were awarded orders and medals, 226 people were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. About 1.5 million people were awarded the medal “For the Defense of Leningrad”. Leningrad itself was awarded the Order of Lenin, and on May 8, 1965, the hero city of Leningrad was awarded the Golden Star medal.
Currently, attempts are being made to distort and misrepresent the heroic defense of Leningrad. It is argued, for example, that they should have simply surrendered the city to the Nazis, and it would have remained intact. This shameless lie is dictated by political circumstances and the deliberate falsification of military history. Back in September 1941, a report “On the Siege of Leningrad” was prepared at Hitler’s headquarters. It spoke of the need to raze the city to the ground, leave it for the winter without food, and wait for capitulation. Those who will remain alive by spring will be driven out of the city, and Leningrad itself will be destroyed.
66 years have passed since the significant victory in the battle for Leningrad, but to this day the feat of the Leningraders, army and navy soldiers who defended our northern capital personifies the military glory of Russia. He serves as an example for current generations of fidelity to patriotic and military duty, courage and bravery in defending the freedom and independence of the Fatherland.
Operation January Thunder
January 27, 1944 - the day of the complete liberation of the city of Leningrad from the blockade by Soviet troops
The terrible blockade of Leningrad, which claimed over 950 thousand lives of ordinary citizens and soldiers killed in battle, lasted 872 days. For almost two and a half years - from September 1941 to January 1944, Nazi troops surrounded the city on the Neva, killing it every day by starvation, bombing and artillery shelling.
Soviet troops managed to break through the blockade only in January 1943, but the blockade was completely lifted only a year later. Then, during the offensive operation “January Thunder,” our troops pushed the invaders far from Leningrad by January 27, 1944. Nowadays this date is celebrated as the Day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade, and January 27 is one of the Days of Military Glory of Russia.
The final lifting of the blockade from the second most important city in the USSR was a very difficult task. For more than two years, the Germans prepared several powerful lines of fortifications here; units of the 3rd SS Panzer Corps held the defense in the direction of the main attack. Near Leningrad, the Germans concentrated most of the heavy artillery of the Third Reich, including all the captured guns collected from the captured countries of Europe.
Heavy artillery, freed up after the Germans captured Sevastopol, was also transferred here. In total, there were 256 powerful artillery pieces near Leningrad, including 210 mm and 305 mm Czechoslovak Skoda mortars, 400 mm French railway howitzers and 420 mm German Fat Bertha mortars. This artillery group not only bombarded Leningrad every day, but also ensured the special strength of the German defense lines.
In January 1944, three Soviet fronts were preparing for the operation to lift the blockade - Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic. By this time they numbered about 820 thousand soldiers and officers, almost 20 thousand guns and mortars. They were opposed by the 16th and 18th German armies of Army Group North - 740 thousand soldiers and officers, over 10 thousand guns and mortars.
Directly near Leningrad, the Soviet command managed to create superiority over the enemy - 400 thousand soldiers against 170 thousand Germans, 600 our tanks and self-propelled guns against 200 German ones, about 600 aircraft against 370 German ones. However, near Leningrad, the Germans concentrated a serious artillery group - 4,500 guns and mortars - to siege and shell the city. The Soviet artillery group here consisted of about 6,000 guns, mortars and rocket launchers. Thus, the battles for the final liberation of Leningrad from the siege turned into the most powerful confrontation between artillery fists in the entire Second World War.
Military equipment near St. Isaac's Cathedral. Photo: Anatoly Egorov/RIA Novosti
The operation developed at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command received the code name “January Thunder”. In preparation for the operation on January 1-3, 1944, its details were discussed and agreed upon by Stalin himself and his closest comrade-in-arms, Andrei Zhdanov, who had been in charge of the highest state leadership in the encircled city throughout the years of the blockade.
Returning from Headquarters, at the last meeting of the headquarters of the Leningrad Front on the eve of the offensive, Zhdanov said the following words: “They praise us and thank us for defending the city of Russian glory, for being able to protect it. Now we need to be praised by the Soviet people for our heroism and skill in offensive battles...”
For more than two years of the blockade, the troops of the Leningrad Front proved their heroism in defense, but now they had to attack and break through well-prepared enemy positions. When developing Operation January Thunder, the Soviet command envisaged a simultaneous attack from Leningrad and from the territory of the Oranienbaum bridgehead - a small patch on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, which Soviet troops had held throughout the blockade since 1941.
Our offensive began on January 14, 1944 at 10:40 am after a powerful 65-minute artillery barrage. During the first 24 hours, Soviet troops advanced 4 km, occupying the entire first line of enemy defense with stubborn fighting. The next day the offensive continued after a 110-minute artillery barrage. For three days our troops literally “gnawed through” the lines of German defense - the enemy fought back desperately in well-prepared positions, constantly launching counterattacks. The German defense was effectively supported by powerful artillery, a mass of fortifications and numerous minefields.
By January 17, Soviet troops managed to break through the enemy’s long-term defenses and bring the 152nd Tank Brigade, formed in besieged Leningrad back in 1942, into the breach. Its T-34 tanks broke through to Ropsha, and German troops between Leningrad and the Oranienbaum bridgehead were under threat of encirclement. Hitler's command had to begin the retreat of its troops near Volkhov in order to free up some of its reserves to fend off the Soviet offensive near Leningrad.
However, the enemy failed to stop the “January Thunder” - on the morning of January 20, 1944, Soviet troops advancing from the Oranienbaum bridgehead and from Leningrad met south of the village of Ropasha, encircled and then destroyed part of the enemy group. In just six days of continuous fighting, the troops of the Leningrad Front completely destroyed two German divisions and inflicted significant damage on another five enemy divisions. In addition, north of Krasnoye Selo, a German artillery group created specifically for shelling Leningrad was destroyed. 265 guns were captured, including 85 heavy mortars and howitzers. The shelling of the city on the Neva, which lasted two years, was stopped forever.
Throughout the next week, Soviet troops continued their offensive, pushing the enemy further away from Leningrad. On January 24, the city of Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo) with its famous palaces, plundered by the German occupiers, was liberated.
During the January offensive, the troops of the Leningrad Front lost about 20 thousand people killed. German losses near Leningrad from January 14 to 26 amounted to about 18 thousand killed and over 3 thousand captured.
The result of the offensive operation “January Thunder” was the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad, our troops broke through the well-prepared enemy defenses and threw them back to a distance of 60-100 km from the city. At the end of January, the attacking troops of the Leningrad Front reached the Estonian border.
On January 27, 1944, in agreement with Stalin, the command of the Leningrad Front officially announced the final lifting of the blockade. In the city on the Neva, a victorious salute was given for the first time - 24 salvos from 324 guns.
On that day, the command’s address to the troops and residents of the city said: “Citizens of Leningrad! Courageous and persistent Leningraders! Together with the troops of the Leningrad Front, you defended our hometown. With your heroic work and steely endurance, overcoming all the difficulties and torments of the blockade, you forged weapons of victory over the enemy, devoting all your strength to the cause of victory. On behalf of the troops of the Leningrad Front, we congratulate you on the significant day of the great victory near Leningrad.”
