Day of lifting the blockade of the city of Leningrad (1944) Day of military glory of Russia - Day of lifting the blockade of the city of Leningrad (1944) is celebrated in accordance with the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 No. 32-FZ "On the days of military glory (victory days) of Russia." In 1941, Hitler launched military operations on the outskirts of Leningrad in order to completely destroy the city. On September 8, 1941, the ring around the important strategic and political center closed. On January 18, 1943, the blockade was broken, and the city had a land communication corridor with the country. On January 27, 1944, the Soviet troops completely lifted the Nazi blockade of the city that had lasted for 900 days. As a result of the victories of the Soviet Armed Forces in the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, near Smolensk, in the Left-bank Ukraine, in the Donbass and on the Dnieper in late 1943 - early 1944, favorable conditions were created for a major offensive operation near Leningrad and Novgorod. By the beginning of 1944, the enemy had created a defense in depth with reinforced concrete and wood-and-earth structures, covered with minefields and barbed wire. The Soviet command organized an offensive by troops of the 2nd shock, 42nd and 67th armies of the Leningrad, 59th, 8th and 54th armies of the Volkhov, 1st shock and 22nd armies of the 2nd Baltic fronts and Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Long-range aviation was also involved, partisan detachments and brigades. The purpose of the operation was to defeat the flank groupings of the 18th Army, and then, by actions in the Kingisepp and Luga directions, complete the defeat of its main forces and reach the line of the Luga River. In the future, acting on the Narva, Pskov and Idritsa directions, defeat the 16th Army, complete the liberation of the Leningrad Region and create conditions for the liberation of the Baltic states. On January 14, Soviet troops went on the offensive from the Primorsky bridgehead to Ropsha, and on January 15 from Leningrad to Krasnoe Selo. After stubborn fighting on January 20, Soviet troops united in the Ropsha area and liquidated the encircled Peterhof-Strelninskaya enemy grouping. At the same time, on January 14, Soviet troops went on the offensive in the Novgorod region, and on January 16 - in the Luban direction, on January 20 they liberated Novgorod. In commemoration of the final lifting of the blockade on January 27, 1944, a festive salute was given in Leningrad. Nazi genocide. Siege of Leningrad On the evening of January 27, 1944, fireworks rumbled over Leningrad. The armies of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts pushed back the German troops from the city, liberated almost the entire Leningrad region. The blockade, in the iron ring of which Leningrad was suffocating for 900 long days and nights, was put to an end. That day became one of the happiest in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Leningraders; one of the happiest - and, at the same time, one of the most mournful - because everyone who lived to see this holiday during the blockade lost either relatives or friends. More than 600 thousand people died of terrible starvation in the city surrounded by German troops, several hundred thousand - in the area occupied by the Nazis. Exactly one year later, on January 27, 1945, units of the 28th Rifle Corps of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, an ominous Nazi death factory, where about one and a half million people were killed, including one million one hundred thousand Jews. Soviet soldiers managed to save a few - seven and a half thousand emaciated, similar to living skeletons of people. All the rest - those who could walk - the Nazis managed to steal. Many of the liberated prisoners of Auschwitz could not even smile; they were only strong enough to stand. The coincidence of the day of lifting the blockade of Leningrad with the day of the liberation of Auschwitz is something more than a mere accident. The blockade and the Holocaust, symbolized by Auschwitz, are phenomena of the same order. At first glance, such a statement may seem erroneous. The term "holocaust", which takes root in Russia with some difficulty, denotes the Nazi policy aimed at the extermination of the Jews. The practice of this destruction could be different. Jews were brutally killed during the pogroms carried out by the Baltic and Ukrainian nationalists, they were shot at Babi Yar and the Minsk Pit, they were killed in numerous ghettos, they were destroyed on an industrial scale in numerous death camps - Treblinka, Buchenwald, Auschwitz. The Nazis sought the "final solution of the Jewish question", the destruction of the Jews as a nation. This incredible crime was averted thanks to the victories of the Red Army; however, even a partial implementation of the Nazi plan of genocide led to truly horrific results. About six million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis and their accomplices, about half of whom were Soviet citizens. The Holocaust is an undeniable crime, a symbol of the Nazi policy of genocide against "racially inferior" peoples. The criminality of the blockade of Leningrad in the eyes of many, both in the West and in our country, does not look so obvious. Very often one hears that this is, of course, a huge tragedy, but war is always cruel in relation to the civilian population. Moreover, there are statements that the Soviet leadership is allegedly guilty of the horrors of the blockade, which did not want to surrender the city and, thereby, save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. However, in fact, the destruction by blockade of the civilian population of Leningrad was originally planned by the Nazis. Already on July 8, 1941, on the seventeenth day of the war, a very characteristic entry appeared in the diary of the Chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder: we will then have to feed during the winter. The task of destroying these cities must be carried out by aviation. Tanks should not be used for this. It will be "a national disaster that will deprive the centers not only of Bolshevism, but also of Muscovites (Russians) in general." Hitler's plans were soon embodied in the official directives of the German command. On August 28, 1941, General Halder signed the order of the High Command of the Wehrmacht Ground Forces to Army Group North on the blockade of Leningrad: “... on the basis of the directives of the Supreme High Command, I order: 1. Block the city of Leningrad with a ring as close as possible to the city itself in order to save our forces . Do not demand surrender. 2. In order for the city, as the last center of red resistance in the Baltic, to be destroyed as quickly as possible without great casualties on our part, it is forbidden to storm the city with infantry forces. After the defeat of the enemy's air defense and fighter aircraft, his defensive and vital abilities should be broken by destroying waterworks, warehouses, sources of electricity and power plants. Military installations and the ability of the enemy to defend must be suppressed by fire and artillery fire. Every attempt of the population to go outside through the encirclement troops should be prevented, if necessary - with the use of weapons ... "As you can see, according to the directives of the German command, the blockade was directed specifically against the civilian population of Leningrad. Neither the city nor its inhabitants were needed by the Nazis. The fury of the Nazis towards Leningrad was terrifying. “The poisonous nest of St. Petersburg, from which the poison bubbles up into the Baltic Sea, must disappear from the face of the earth,” Hitler said in a conversation with the German ambassador in Paris on September 16, 1941. - The city is already blocked; now all that remains is to shell it with artillery and bomb it until the water supply, energy centers and everything that is necessary for the life of the population are destroyed. Another week and a half later, on September 29, 1941, these plans were recorded in the directive of the Chief of Staff of the German Naval Forces: “The Fuhrer decided to wipe the city of Petersburg from the face of the earth. After the defeat of Soviet Russia, the continued existence of this largest settlement is of no interest .... It is supposed to surround the city with a tight ring and raze it to the ground by shelling from artillery of all calibers and continuous bombing from the air. If, due to the situation that has developed in the city, requests for surrender are made, they will be rejected, since the problems associated with the stay of the population in the city and its food supply cannot and should not be solved by us. In this war being waged for the right to exist, we are not interested in saving at least part of the population. A characteristic commentary on these plans was given by Heydrich in a letter to the Reichsführer SS Himmler dated October 20, 1941: “I would like to humbly draw attention to the fact that clear orders regarding the cities of Petersburg and Moscow cannot be implemented in reality if they are not initially executed with all cruelty. A little later, at a meeting at the headquarters of the High Command of the Ground Forces, the Nazi plans for Leningrad and its inhabitants were summed up by Quartermaster General Wagner: “There is no doubt that it is Leningrad that must die of starvation.” The plans of the Nazi leadership did not leave the right to life to the inhabitants of Leningrad - just as they did not leave the right to life to the Jews. It is significant that the famine was organized by the Nazis in the occupied Leningrad region. It turned out to be no less terrible than the famine in the city on the Neva. Since this phenomenon has been studied much less than the Leningrad famine, here is an extensive quote from the diary of a resident of the city of Pushkin (former Tsarskoe Selo): “December 24. The frosts are unbearable. People are dying of hunger in their beds by the hundreds a day. About 25 thousand remained in Tsarskoye Selo by the arrival of the Germans. 5-6 thousand were dispersed to the rear and in the nearest villages, two thousand - two and a half were knocked out by shells, and according to the last census of the Administration, which was carried out the other day, there were eight and something thousand left . Everything else is dead. It is no longer surprising when you hear that one or another of our acquaintances has died ... December 27th. Carts drive through the streets and collect the dead from their homes. They are folded into anti-air slots. They say that the whole road to Gatchina is lined with corpses on both sides. These unfortunates gathered their last junk and went to change for food. On the way, one of them sat down to rest, he didn’t get up anymore ... The old men from the nursing home, distraught with hunger, wrote an official request addressed to the commander of the military forces of our section and somehow sent this request to him. And it read: “we ask permission to eat the elderly who died in our house.” The Nazis deliberately doomed hundreds of thousands of people to starvation both in besieged Leningrad and in the Leningrad region occupied by them. So the blockade and the Holocaust are indeed phenomena of the same order, undeniable crimes against humanity. This, by the way, has already been legally fixed: in 2008, the German government and the Commission for the presentation of Jewish material claims against Germany (Claims Conference) came to an agreement according to which the Jews who survived the siege of Leningrad were equated with the victims of the Holocaust and received the right to one-time compensation . This decision is certainly the right one, opening up the right to receive compensation for all blockade survivors. The blockade of Leningrad is the same crime against humanity as the Holocaust. Thanks to the actions of the Nazis, the city was actually turned into a gigantic ghetto dying of starvation, the difference of which from the ghettos in the territories occupied by the Nazis was that auxiliary police units did not break into it to carry out massacres and the German security service did not carry out mass executions here. However, this does not change the criminal essence of the blockade of Leningrad. Author: Alexander Dyukov Pervo
In 1941, Hitler launched military operations on the outskirts of Leningrad in order to completely destroy the city. On September 8, 1941, the ring around the important strategic and political center closed. On January 18, 1943, the blockade was broken, and the city had a land communication corridor with the country. On January 27, 1944, the Soviet troops completely lifted the Nazi blockade of the city that had lasted for 900 days.
As a result of the victories of the Soviet Armed Forces in the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, near Smolensk, in the Left-Bank Ukraine, in the Donbass and on the Dnieper, in late 1943 - early 1944, favorable conditions were created for a major offensive operation near Leningrad and Novgorod.
By the beginning of 1944, the enemy had created a defense in depth with reinforced concrete and wood-and-earth structures, covered with minefields and barbed wire. The Soviet command organized an offensive by troops of the 2nd shock, 42nd and 67th armies of the Leningrad, 59th, 8th and 54th armies of the Volkhov, 1st shock and 22nd armies of the 2nd Baltic fronts and Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Long-range aviation, partisan detachments and brigades were also involved.
The purpose of the operation was to defeat the flank groupings of the 18th Army, and then, by actions in the Kingisepp and Luga directions, complete the defeat of its main forces and reach the line of the Luga River. In the future, acting on the Narva, Pskov and Idritsa directions, defeat the 16th Army, complete the liberation of the Leningrad Region and create conditions for the liberation of the Baltic states.
On January 14, Soviet troops went on the offensive from the Primorsky bridgehead to Ropsha, and on January 15 from Leningrad to Krasnoe Selo. After stubborn fighting on January 20, Soviet troops united in the Ropsha area and liquidated the encircled Peterhof-Strelninskaya enemy grouping. At the same time, on January 14, Soviet troops went on the offensive in the Novgorod region, and on January 16 in the Luban direction, on January 20 they liberated Novgorod.
In commemoration of the final lifting of the blockade on January 27, 1944, a festive salute was given in Leningrad.
Nazi genocide. Leningrad blockade
On the evening of January 27, 1944, fireworks rumbled over Leningrad. The armies of the Leningrad, Volkhov and 2nd Baltic fronts pushed back the German troops from the city, liberated almost the entire Leningrad region.
The blockade, in the iron ring of which Leningrad was suffocating for 900 long days and nights, was put to an end. That day became one of the happiest in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Leningraders; one of the happiest - and, at the same time, one of the most mournful - because everyone who lived to see this holiday during the blockade lost either relatives or friends. More than 600 thousand people died of terrible starvation in the city surrounded by German troops, several hundred thousand in the area occupied by the Nazis.
January 27 marks the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the day of the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad. It lasted 872 days (from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944) and claimed over a million human lives, became the most bloody blockade in the history of mankind: over 641 thousand inhabitants died from starvation and shelling. During all the days the city lived and fought, in unimaginably difficult conditions. Its inhabitants gave their last strength in the name of Victory, in the name of preserving the city.
The main announcer of Lenradio M. Melaned - "The order to end the blockade"
Leningrad-Novgorod operation - "Stalin's first blow"
In January 1943, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts carried out Operation Iskra during Operation Iskra. A railway line was laid in a narrow section near Lake Ladoga, trains with food, ammunition and fuel went to the city. However, it was not possible to completely remove the blockade from Leningrad.
Main offensive strategic operations 1944 were called "Ten Stalinist blows"
The first of these was a strike in the Leningrad region - the Leningrad-Novgorod operation.
The general plan of the offensive operation was to deliver simultaneous strikes on the flanks of the 18th German Army in the Peterhof-Strelna region (Krasnoselsko-Ropsha operation) and in the Novgorod region (Novgorod-Luga operation). Then it was planned, advancing in the Kingisepp and Luga directions, to surround the main forces of the 18th Army and develop an offensive against Narva, Pskov and Idritsa. main goal the upcoming offensive was the complete liberation of Leningrad from the blockade. In addition, it was planned to liberate the Leningrad region from German occupation and create the prerequisites for a further successful offensive into the Baltic states.
The position of the fascists
For two and a half years, the German troops strengthened very thoroughly. The Nazis created a powerful and well-equipped defense in terms of engineering. The line of defense consisted of a system of strong nodes of resistance and strongholds that had fire links. Particularly powerful defense was in the Pulkovo Heights and north of Novgorod. There were not only machine-gun emplacements, but also reinforced concrete pillboxes, anti-tank ditches and gouges. In addition, the marshland helped the defending side. Soviet troops had 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 carried out 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) consisted of 601,000 people, 146 tanks, 2,398 guns and mortars.
In any case, the Soviet troops had a significant superiority over the Germans. 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, in tanks - by 6 times.
The blockade 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 the 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 south 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, the Army Group "North" received an order to maintain positions in the Leningrad region at any cost.
"January Thunder" or Operation "Neva-2"
January 14
The artillery of the 42nd and 67th armies was continuously shelling enemy positions in the areas of Pulkovo heights and Mga in order to disorient the enemy and not let him know where and when the next blow would be struck.
January 15
After a 110-minute artillery preparation, in which 2300 guns and mortars took part, formations of three rifle corps of the 42nd Army went on the offensive on the 17-kilometer section of the Ligovo - Rare - Kuzmino front. Formations of the 30th Guards Rifle Corps (45th, 63rd, 64th Rifle Divisions), advancing directly behind the artillery rampart, advanced 4.5 kilometers forward with minimal losses by the end of the first day of the offensive. The attacks of the 109th (72nd, 109th, 125th rifle divisions) and the 110th (56th, 85th, 86th rifle divisions) rifle corps, advancing on the right and left, were less successful.
January 16-17
In the following days, formations of the 2nd shock and 42nd armies slowly but stubbornly moved towards Ropsha and Krasnoye Selo towards each other. German troops put up fierce resistance and, at every opportunity, made desperate counterattacks.
Parts of the 2nd shock army only by the end of the third day managed to move forward up to 10 kilometers and complete the breakthrough of the main defensive line of the enemy 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 heavy losses in the tank units of the army, which could not properly support the offensive of 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 Krasnoe Selo-Pushkin highway. On the same day, units of the 109th Rifle Corps took a strong enemy defense center Finnish Koyrovo, 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 , take possession of Krasnoye 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 tactical reserves in the area, but also the 61st Infantry Division, which constituted the operational reserve, were under the threat of complete encirclement.
The commander of Army Group North was forced to request permission from A. Hitler to withdraw units 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 unambiguous answer, G. Kühler decided to transfer a number of formations (21st, 11th, 225th infantry divisions and other units) to the Krasnoye Selo area, but this measure did not help to change the situation. Soon the German troops began a hasty retreat to the south from the areas of Strelna, Volodarsky and Gorelovo.
January 18
Soviet troops achieved a final turning point in the battle in their favor
On 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 brought into battle from the second echelon of the army and a mobile group, continued the offensive to the east.
On the same day, the rifle units of the 42nd Army launched an assault on Krasnoye Selo and Voronya Gora; tank subunits 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, units of the 63rd Guards Rifle Division stormed Voronya Gora with a simultaneous blow from both sides, and units of the 64th Guards and 291st Rifle Divisions liberated Krasnoye Selo.
The German command, taking advantage of the fact that there was no solid front line yet, withdrew most of the troops from the encirclement area.
January 20th
The remnants of the Peterhof-Strelna group of the enemy were destroyed. The Germans, retreating, abandoned heavy weapons and siege equipment, which had accumulated for years near Leningrad.
Soviet troops captured 265 guns, including 85 heavy ones. The Germans were pushed back from the second Soviet capital by 25 km.
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 of the troops of the Leningrad Front. Maslennikov's army was ordered to strike in the direction of Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin and Tosno in order to reach the rear of the forces of Army Group North, which held positions in the area of Ulyanovka, Mga and Tosno. In the future, the 42nd Army was to defeat the 26th and 28th German Army Corps and, in cooperation with the forces of the 67th Army of Sviridov and the right wing of the VF, establish control over the October Railway and completely remove the encirclement from Leningrad. The forces of the Fedyuninsky army received the task of bypassing Krasnogvardeisk from the south-western direction, contributing to the offensive of the 42nd army.
January 21
Parts of the 67th Army of the LF and the 8th Army of the VF, having discovered the retreat of the forces of the Mgin group of the enemy, went on the offensive. On the same day, Soviet troops liberated Mga. The Kirov railway was recaptured from the Germans. However, they could not develop the offensive. The Nazis took up positions at the intermediate defensive line "Autostrada" along the October Railway and put up stubborn resistance.
The retreat of the Germans 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 the attack on Krasnogvardeisk, and then on Kingisepp and Narva. The 67th Army was to occupy the October Railway and support the advance on Krasnogvardeisk.
For several days there were stubborn battles on the line of the October railway, for Krasnogvardeysk, Pushkin and Slutsk. The Germans tried to keep Krasnogvardeysk at any cost. The commander of Army Group North deployed several formations to the area. Hitler refused to allow the withdrawal of troops from the line of the October railway, from Pushkin and Slutsk.
January 24-30
Pushkin and Sluts were released. On January 25, a decisive assault on Krasnogvardeysk began. Fierce fighting went on for almost a day. On January 26, Krasnogvardeysk was cleared of the Nazis. The solid defense front of the 18th German Army was broken through, the German divisions retreated. 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 the Luga, retreated to the line on the Narva River. Formations of the 42nd Army, developing the offensive in a southwestern direction, also reached the Luga and occupied a bridgehead in the Bolshoy Sabsk area. The troops of the 67th Army under the command of Sviridov, overcoming the strong resistance of the enemy, liberated Vyritskaya on January 27, and by January 30 recaptured Siversky.
Thus, in part of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts, in cooperation with the Baltic Fleet, they broke through the powerful defenses of the enemy and inflicted a heavy defeat on the 18th German army. Soviet soldiers finally unblocked Leningrad, advanced 70-100 km.
On January 21, the front commander turned to Stalin:
In connection with the complete liberation of the city of Leningrad from the enemy blockade and from enemy artillery shelling, we ask you to allow:
1. Issue and publish on this occasion an order to the troops of the front.
2. In honor of the victory won, fireworks in Leningrad on January 27 this year at 20.00 hours with twenty-four artillery salvos from three hundred and twenty-four guns. 
Stalin granted the request of the command of the Leningrad Front and on January 27 a salute was fired in Leningrad to mark the final liberation of the city from the blockade, 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 by Stalin. None of the commanders of the fronts during the Great Patriotic War was awarded such a privilege. And on January 27, the order of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front was read on the radio, which said about the complete liberation of Leningrad from the blockade.
Leningraders rejoiced: the terrible blockade that claimed thousands of lives was a thing of the past.
Operation results
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 prerequisites for a further offensive. Although the Leningrad-Novgorod operation continued, the main task of the entire strategic offensive was completed - Leningrad was completely liberated from the blockade.
Briefly about the lifting of the blockade 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 Nazi invaders. As a result of the operation, Soviet troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the Nazi German Army Group North and pushed it back 220-280 km, destroying 3 and defeating 23 enemy divisions. Leningrad was completely delivered from the siege, almost completely liberated Leningrad region and part of the Kalinin region, the beginning of the liberation of the Estonian SSR.
January 27 - day of military glory
The Days of Military Glory of Russia (Days of Glory of Russian Weapons) are the memorable days of Russia in commemoration of the victories of the Russian troops, which played a decisive role in the history of Russia. One of these days is the Day full release Leningrad from the fascist blockade. The list of these days was established in February 1995 by the law "On the days of military glory and memorable dates in Russia" (today there are 17 days of military glory).
The original name of the Day of Military Glory is the Day of lifting the blockade of the city of Leningrad (1944). However, in 2013 it was decided to correct this name, since at the end of January 1944 the Soviet troops, who had previously released several sections in the Leningrad direction, lifted the blockade completely.
The importance of lifting the blockade
Photo - echo of the blockade
1 of 16
Poetry
September 8, the usual day of the week. G. Stanislavskaya
(September 8, 1941, the blockade of Leningrad began)
September 8, the usual day of the week,
The beginning of autumn, beautiful and bright,
September breeze and doves flew
And the forest beckoned people with gifts,
And silence, and freshness of breath.
The usual early morning...
So it was before or after,
But this year, trouble knocked on the house.
In that 41st memorable year
Beauty was bound with an iron hoop,
Ruthless, destructive grasp,
Who turned the life of Leningraders into hell, -
BLOCKADE. We, the living, do not understand
What did the child feel, fading away,
Carrying a dead mother on a sled
And biting lips from impotence ...
Sirens sound, metronome sound
The memory of the children of the blockade worries,
They fell without an account of hellish torments,
Labor for the front without front speeches,+
They fell out, but people did not give up,
The city did not give up, adults and children!
Their memory, living, bow
And tell me - let them remember! - to our children.
Dedicated to all the blockade survivors of the city of Leningrad ... S.V. Titov
Thin fingers, transparent fingers,
Cloudy lens of the pupil.
The night danced snowy waltzes,
The candle flickered dimly.
Stars fell like shells
Burning through the world.
You survived this blockade
You and your ghostly guest.
Stale cracker - in half,
flask of cold water,
Piles of ruins, cold and ice.
How to 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 warmed up a little.
Branches spread old maples,
And the bridges creaked.
Dust is on the dresser, there are shadows in the room.
Where is your ghostly guest?
Maybe he left? Or maybe a vision
You happened to meet...
Video
At what cost was the victory in the Great Patriotic War given to our veterans? How does today's generation "remember" its 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, meanwhile, are sitting in a history lesson and do not even try to imagine how hard it was for our people in the Great Patriotic War. What can change their attitude to the history of their homeland? This and many other questions in the film will try to answer the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, as well as figures of culture, science and politics.
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 everyone who survived these terrible months has his own blockade. Ordinary Leningraders, who became prisoners of a hungry city, tell their stories.
In the film, there was a place for a look “from the other side”. German veterans - some ask for forgiveness from Leningraders, but there are those who are still confident in their then rightness ...
The offensive of the Nazi troops on Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), the capture of which the German command attached great strategic and political importance, began on July 10, 1941.
In August, heavy fighting was already on the outskirts of the city. On August 30, German troops cut the railroads connecting Leningrad with the country. On September 8, the Nazis managed to block the city from land. According to Hitler's plan, Leningrad was to be wiped off the face of the earth. Having failed in attempts to break through the defense Soviet troops inside the blockade ring, the Germans decided to starve the city out. According to all the calculations of the German command, the population of Leningrad had to die of hunger and cold.
In September-October, enemy aircraft made several raids a day. The purpose of the enemy was not only to interfere with the activities of important enterprises, but also to create panic among the population. Especially intense shelling was carried out at the beginning and end of the working day. Many died during shelling and bombing, many buildings were destroyed.
The conviction that the enemy would not succeed in capturing Leningrad held back the pace of evacuation. More than two and a half million inhabitants, including 400,000 children, turned out to be in the besieged city. There were few food supplies, so food surrogates had to be used. Since the beginning of the introduction of the rationing system, the norms for issuing food to the population of Leningrad have been repeatedly reduced.
Autumn-winter 1941-1942 - the worst time of the blockade. Early winter brought with it cold - heating, hot water was not, and Leningraders began to burn furniture, books, dismantled wooden buildings for firewood. The transport stopped. Thousands of people died from malnutrition and cold. But Leningraders continued to work - administrative offices, printing houses, polyclinics, kindergartens, theaters, a public library worked, scientists continued to work. 13-14-year-old teenagers worked, replacing their fathers who had gone to the front.
On November 22, the movement of vehicles along the ice road began. This transport highway was called "Road of Life". In January 1942, traffic on the winter road was already constant. The Germans bombed and shelled the road, but they failed to stop the movement.
In winter, the evacuation of the population began. The first to take out were women, children, the sick, the elderly. In total, about a million people were evacuated. In the spring of 1942, when it became a little easier, the Leningraders began to clean up the city. Bread rations have increased.
On January 18, 1943, the blockade was broken by the forces of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. To the south of Lake Ladoga, a corridor 8-11 km wide was formed. A 36 km long railway was built along the southern coast of Ladoga in 18 days. Trains went to Leningrad along it. From February to December 1943 on the newly built railway 3104 trains passed.
In February-March 1943, by attacking Mgu and Sinyavino, the Soviet command tried to expand land communications, but did not achieve its goal.
By the beginning of 1944, the Nazis created a defense in depth around Leningrad with reinforced concrete and wood-and-earth structures, covered with minefields and barbed wire. For the complete liberation of Leningrad from the blockade, the Soviet command organized an offensive by the forces of the Leningrad, Volkhov, Baltic fronts and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. Long-range aviation, partisan detachments and brigades were also involved.
On January 14, 1944, Soviet troops went on the offensive from the Oranienbaum bridgehead to Ropsha, and on January 15 from Leningrad to Krasnoe Selo. After stubborn fighting on January 20, Soviet troops united in the Ropsha area and liquidated the encircled Peterhof-Strelninskaya enemy grouping.
The blockade of Leningrad lasted 900 days and became the bloodiest blockade in the history of mankind. Historical meaning the defense of Leningrad is huge. Soviet soldiers, having stopped the enemy hordes near Leningrad, turned it into a powerful bastion of the entire Soviet-German front in the northwest. By holding down significant forces of the fascist troops for 900 days, Leningrad thereby provided significant assistance to the development of operations on all other sectors of the vast front. In the victories near Moscow and Stalingrad, near Kursk and on the Dnieper - a significant share of the defenders of Leningrad.
The motherland highly appreciated the feat of the defenders of the city. Over 350 thousand soldiers, officers and generals of the Leningrad Front were awarded orders and medals, 226 of them were awarded the title of Hero Soviet Union. The medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" was awarded to about 1.5 million people.
For courage, steadfastness and unprecedented heroism in the days of a difficult struggle against the Nazi invaders, the city of Leningrad was awarded the Order of Lenin on January 20, 1945, and on May 8, 1965 received the honorary title "Hero City".
In accordance with the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 "On the days of military glory (victory days) of Russia" and was previously called the Day of lifting the blockade of the city of Leningrad (1944). In November 2013, the name of the day of military glory was changed to "Day of the complete liberation by the Soviet troops of the city of Leningrad from the blockade of its Nazi troops (1944)".
At the numerous requests of the inhabitants of the city, primarily the blockade, the name of the day of military glory was again corrected, it became known as "The day of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade (1944)". The new name of this day most accurately reflects not only the role of Soviet troops in the liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade, but also the merit of the inhabitants besieged Leningrad in the defense of the city.
The heroic defense of Leningrad became a symbol of the courage of the Soviet people. At the cost of incredible hardships, heroism and self-sacrifice, the soldiers and residents of Leningrad defended the city. Hundreds of thousands of those who fought were awarded government awards, 486 received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, eight of them twice.
On December 22, 1942, the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" was established, which was awarded to about 1.5 million people.
On January 26, 1945, the city of Leningrad itself was awarded the Order of Lenin. Since May 1, 1945, Leningrad has been a hero city, and on May 8, 1965, the city was awarded the Gold Star medal.
The memorial ensembles of the Piskarevsky cemetery and the Seraphim cemetery are dedicated to the memory of the victims of the blockade and the fallen participants in the defense of Leningrad, and the Green Belt of Glory was created around the city along the former blockade ring of the front.
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