Where was the road of life in besieged Leningrad? See what the “Road of Life” is in other dictionaries. Reasons for the existence of multiple routes

The only way, other than ineffective aviation, for evacuating people from besieged Leningrad, as well as for delivering provisions and military cargo back to the city in September-November 1941, was Lake Ladoga, along which ships of the Ladoga Flotilla sailed daily. However, it was obvious that before the onset of cold weather the German ring around the city would not be broken and in order to avoid the possibility of a complete blockade of Leningrad in winter, it was necessary to as soon as possible Find the way out. And such a solution was found - this is the idea of creating ice crossings across Lake Ladoga, which later received the name “Road of Life”.

Many were at first quite skeptical about this idea, as they doubted that the ice could withstand that great amount cargo that was going to be transported through it. The Germans did not believe in this either; in the leaflets scattered over Leningrad they literally wrote the following: “it is impossible to supply the million-strong population and the army across the ice of Lake Ladoga.” However, leaving a city of three million without supplies for the whole winter actually meant dooming its inhabitants to certain death, and work on creating an ice crossing began. First, as a result of the titanic work of the Logistics Directorate on the Leningrad Front, all the information available at that time about the transportation of heavy cargo on ice, as well as about the ice regime specifically on Lake Ladoga, was collected in less than a month. As a result of these studies, the most suitable route for the crossing was Novaya Ladoga - Chernoushevo - Lemassar - Kobona. On November 20, 1941, the first horse-drawn carts went along the “Road of Life,” and a day later the famous GAZ-AA (one and a half trucks).

The Germans also did not forget about the “Road of Life”, regularly carrying out air raids and artillery strikes on the lake, since their positions were literally a few kilometers from the crossing. Therefore, many lorry drivers, when driving at night, drove without turning on their headlights, in order to somehow protect themselves from air strikes; one might say that they were driving almost blindly. The drivers who worked on the “Road of Life” deserve a special mention. They spent 12 hours behind the wheel in terrible cold (most even drove with the doors open so they could jump out in case of falling through the ice), making 5-7 flights a day across the entire Lake Ladoga, but at the same time they received the same meager rations, like ordinary blockade survivors. However, none of them complained, since everyone understood how important their work was for the siege survivors and the soldiers who defended Leningrad.

The ice crossing in the winter of 1942-1943 posed an even greater danger than the year before. As a result of a mild winter with frequent thaws, the ice often broke, and this led to an even greater number of failures, but the “Road of Life”, even in such conditions, continued to operate until April 24, 1943, that is, even after the siege of Leningrad was lifted. In just two years, according to official statistics, more than 640 thousand people were evacuated across the ice of Lake Ladoga, 575 thousand tons of various cargo were delivered to the city, and about 300 thousand soldiers and officers were transported to the Leningrad Front. That is, it is obvious that the creation of the “Road of Life” in November 1941 was one of the key factors, which, at least minimally, made it possible to provide food for the residents of the city and the soldiers of the defense of Leningrad, and this in turn directly influenced the overall outcome of the Battle of Leningrad.

The road of life. The road of life. "Road of Life", the only military strategic transport route, which connected besieged Leningrad with the country in September 1941 and March 1943, passed through Lake Ladoga. During navigation periods... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

The road of life- In 1941 1942 this was the name of the road on the ice of Lake Ladoga, which connected Leningrad, blocked by German troops, with the “Mainland”, i.e. the rear. Food and ammunition were delivered to the city along this road, and they were taken out of the city along it... ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

The road of life- the only military strategic transport route that connected besieged Leningrad with the country in September 1941, March 1943, passed through Lake Ladoga. During navigation periods, transportation along the “D. and." were carried out along the water route... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

THE ROAD OF LIFE- during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route through Lake Ladoga. (during periods of navigation on water, in winter on ice), connecting from September 1941 to March 1943 blockaded Leningrad with the country ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

The road of life- ROAD, and, f. Dictionary Ozhegova. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

THE ROAD OF LIFE- during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route across Lake Ladoga (during periods of navigation on water, in winter on ice), connecting blockaded Leningrad with the country in September 1941-March 1943. Source: Encyclopedia Oteche...Russian history

THE ROAD OF LIFE- ROAD OF LIFE, during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route across Lake Ladoga (during periods of navigation on water, in winter on ice), connecting blockaded Leningrad with the country from September 1941 to March 1943... encyclopedic Dictionary

The road of life- A memorial kilometer sign on the Kushelevka Piskarevka railway section, near the Bogoslovskoe cemetery “Road of Life” during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route across Lake Ladoga. During periods of navigation on water, ... ... Wikipedia

The road of life- (“Road of Life”), the only military strategic transport route across Lake Ladoga, connecting from September 1941 to March 1943 Leningrad, blocked by Nazi troops, with the rear regions of the country during the Great... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

The road of life- Book High The route on the ice of Lake Ladoga, along which during the Great Patriotic War besieged Leningrad was supplied with food and weapons. The victories near Leningrad helped create the Road of Life on the ice of Ladoga, which saved many... ... Phrasebook Russian literary language

Books

Road of Life, Lindes Emma Category: Miscellaneous Publisher: Nestor-History, Manufacturer: Nestor-History, Buy for 770 UAH (Ukraine only)
The Road of Life, Lindes Emma, 1970. Former Cambridge graduate, handsome Conrad Helldorf returns to his native Berlin to find out the truth about his father, who died before his birth in the fall of 1944. Conrad’s new life... Category: Contemporary foreign prose Publisher:

The only way, other than ineffective aviation, for evacuating people from besieged Leningrad, as well as for delivering provisions and military cargo back to the city in September-November 1941, was Lake Ladoga, along which ships of the Ladoga Flotilla sailed daily. However, it was obvious that the German ring around the city would not be broken before the onset of cold weather, and in order to avoid the possibility of a complete blockade of Leningrad in winter, it was necessary to find a way out as soon as possible. And such a solution was found - this is the idea of creating ice crossings across Lake Ladoga, which later received the name “Road of Life”.

At first, many were quite skeptical about this idea, since they doubted that the ice would be able to carry the huge amount of cargo that was going to be transported through it. The Germans did not believe in this either; in the leaflets scattered over Leningrad they literally wrote the following: “it is impossible to supply the million-strong population and the army across the ice of Lake Ladoga.” However, leaving a city of three million without supplies for the whole winter actually meant dooming its inhabitants to certain death, and work on creating an ice crossing began. First, as a result of the titanic work of the Logistics Directorate on the Leningrad Front, all the information available at that time about the transportation of heavy cargo on ice, as well as about the ice regime specifically on Lake Ladoga, was collected in less than a month. As a result of these studies, the most suitable route for the crossing was Novaya Ladoga - Chernoushevo - Lemassar - Kobona. On November 20, 1941, the first horse-drawn carts went along the “Road of Life,” and a day later the famous GAZ-AA (one and a half trucks).

Despite the fact that it seemed that a huge amount of theoretical preparation had been carried out before the creation of the ice crossing, and besides, the winter of 1941-1942 was very harsh and snowy, Lake Ladoga presented an unpleasant surprise. It often happened that a convoy of trucks loaded to capacity covered the route without any problems, and the light vehicle following them fell through the ice. Moreover, it failed instantly, leaving no chance for the people inside. This was due to the phenomenon of resonance, little studied at that time, or rather a flexural-gravitational wave, in order to avoid which, all cars were ordered to travel at a strictly defined speed. After several such cases, the crossing received its second, more terrible name - “Death Road”.
The Germans also did not forget about the “Road of Life”, regularly carrying out air raids and artillery strikes on the lake, since their positions were literally a few kilometers from the crossing. Therefore, many lorry drivers, when driving at night, drove without turning on their headlights, in order to somehow protect themselves from air strikes; one might say that they were driving almost blindly. The drivers who worked on the “Road of Life” deserve a separate story. They spent 12 hours behind the wheel in terrible cold (most even drove with the doors open so they could jump out in case of falling through the ice), making 5-7 flights a day across the entire Lake Ladoga, but at the same time they received the same meager rations, like ordinary blockade survivors. However, none of them complained, since everyone understood how important their work was for the siege survivors and the soldiers who defended Leningrad.

…………………………………………

Lake Ladoga, Road of Life, Osinovets.

In September, on one of the days when in St. Petersburg they remembered the beginning of the blockade 70 years ago, I went to Lake Ladoga. There, on the coast in the village of Osinovets, there is a museum of the Road of Life. This museum is a branch of the Central Naval Museum, and, as its director says, is the most visited museum Leningrad region.
At the Ladoga Lake station, where I arrived by train from the Finlyandsky Station, there is a memorial steam locomotive ESH-4375. During the war years, such vehicles carried cargo and passengers to Lake Ladoga. The motto on board is: “Everything for the front, everything for victory!”
On the memorial plaque “Eshki”, as the railway workers affectionately called this locomotive, it is written: “On this locomotive in the period 1941-1942, the Komsomol-youth brigade of the locomotive depot TCH-12 consisting of: senior driver Vasily Eliseev, assistant driver Ivan Belyaev, fireman Boris Alexandrov, as part of a locomotive column, delivered 2,312 heavy trains with 2 million tons of ammunition, fuel and food to besieged Leningrad and for the front. Honor and glory to the heroic railway workers for their courageous work on the “Road of Life.”
Along the railway track from St. Petersburg to the station there are memorial kilometer poles, one of them is in the foreground.

The Road of Life was the only transport route across Lake Ladoga during the Great Patriotic War. During periods of navigation - on water, in winter - on ice. Connected besieged Leningrad with the country from September 12, 1941 to March 1943. The road laid on ice is often called the Ice Road of Life (officially - Military Highway No. 101). During the Great Patriotic War it was called "Road of Death".

The original building of the Ladoga Lake station station. In the same building there is a museum dedicated, naturally, to the Road of Life.

I left his visit until the next time, since I learned about him shortly before the return train to St. Petersburg departed.

After walking a little along the road behind the station building, I reached Lake Ladoga.

Ladoga amazes with its size. Water all the way to the horizon, you can’t even believe that this is a lake, it seems like you’re standing on the seashore.

Lake Ladoga is one of the largest lakes in Europe, its length from north to south is 207 km, and from west to east 136 km, average depth 51 m.

They also say that Lake Ladoga has a difficult temperament - the weather can change very quickly, and small ripples can give way to strong excitement. So in September 1941, a storm destroyed dozens of barges in this part of the coast and killed over a thousand people.

In winter, due to strong winds, there is no even ice on the surface of the lake, ice moves and hummocks form. This complicated the construction of the Road and the transportation of goods on ice.

The Leningrad blockade was established on September 8, 1941, when Shlisselburg was captured by fascist troops. This was the last land route that led from Leningrad to the mainland. Ladoga remained as the last hope for supplying the besieged city. There were no piers or piers on the shores of Ladoga. But already in September the first navigation on Lake Ladoga began. WITH big land cargo was delivered first to Volkhov, from there to Novaya Ladoga, and then by water to the western bank to the Osinovets lighthouse. On September 12, two barges loaded with 626 tons of grain and 116 tons of flour arrived here first. This date is considered the beginning of the Road of Life. In total, before the end of navigation in 1941, 60 thousand tons of various cargoes, including 45 thousand tons of food, were delivered to the besieged city by water, and about 33,500 Leningraders were evacuated.
Entrance to the museum.

There are many exhibits on the site near the museum.
Military transport aircraft Li-2. It was this Li-2 that Alexander Rogozhkin filmed in the film “Peregon”.

On similar planes, food and medicine were delivered to Leningrad during the blockade.

On November 17, two groups carried out reconnaissance of the ice route. On November 20, the first horse-drawn convoy of 350 sleighs, headed by Senior Lieutenant M.S. Murov, set off along the ice Road of Life from Vaganovsky Descent near the village of Kokkorevo. Upon arrival in Kobona, 63 tons of flour were loaded onto the sleigh. On the morning of November 21, the convoy arrived at Cape Osinovets. On November 22, the first convoy of 60 GAZ-AA vehicles (better known as “lorry”) under the command of Captain V.A. Porchunov set off for Kobona for food. In total, during the first winter of the blockade, the ice road was open until April 24 (152 days). During this time, 361,109 tons of various cargo were transported, including 262,419 tons of food. More than 550 thousand Leningraders and more than 35 thousand wounded were evacuated from the city. Thanks to these transportations, the norms for the distribution of bread were increased from December 25: to workers and technical workers by 100 grams, and to employees, dependents and children by 75 grams.
The second navigation along Ladoga began on May 23, 1942, during which 1,099,500 tons of various cargo were transported in both directions, of which more than 790 thousand tons were transported to besieged Leningrad, including 353 thousand tons of food. About 540 thousand people were taken from the city to the mainland, including more than 448 thousand evacuated residents. Also, about 290 thousand soldiers and officers were transferred to replenish the Leningrad Front. In 1942, a pipeline for supplying fuel and a cable were laid along the bottom of Lake Ladoga, through which electricity was supplied to Leningrad from the partially restored Volkhov hydroelectric station.
From December 19, 1942 to March 30, 1943, the ice Road of Life was in operation again for 101 days. During this period, more than 200 thousand tons of various cargo were transported, including over 100 thousand tons of food, and about 89 thousand people were evacuated.

Reconnaissance of the ice route was carried out on such horse-drawn convoys.

Monument to military units that defended the Road of Life.

Turret from T-34.

Lots of anti-aircraft, naval and field guns.

Glowing buoy Zheleznitsa. The buoy was placed on the water route near the Zheleznitsa Bank. During the war days it was the main point for orientation when sailing.

Self-propelled landing double-hold tender. Load capacity 25 tons, speed 5 knots. They were built under blockade conditions, which is why they have simple angular shapes. They were equipped with engines from the ZiS-5.

Towing steamer Izhorets 8. In September 1941, it arrived at the port of Osinovets with ammunition and food. During the first navigation he transported a large number of different cargoes. After the war, the ship was repaired, sailed on White Lake, and in 1976. from Belozersk was brought to Osinovets and placed in eternal parking in the museum.

Sea hunter MO-215.
These were fast ships (they could reach speeds of up to 50 km/h), they carried out various operations, landing and picking up scouts in the occupied territory.

A lorry raised from the bottom of Lake Ladoga.
During the first 2 weeks of the ice road, 157 cars went under the ice. Drivers drove with the doors open in order to have time to leave the cab if the car began to fall through the ice. But they still died often.
During the two blockade winters, more than 1,100 vehicles went under the ice - one in four.

The brake light bulbs remained intact.

A fragment from another truck.

These are like fragments of an Il-2 attack aircraft.

Armor plate. Are these bullet marks?

Museum building. Inside there is an exhibition of five halls dedicated to the history of the creation and work of the heroic military communications that ensured life and communication between besieged Leningrad and the country from the end of November 1941 to March 30, 1943. The exhibitions are arranged in chronological order.

45 mm cannon on a ship's pedestal, 120 mm mortar, quad Maxim machine gun.

There was no electricity in the museum and the lighting of the stands did not work. Apparently, electrical problems are not that rare here.

The blockade survivors were brought on a tour by bus.

The excursion is conducted by the director of the museum A. B. Voitsekhovsky. He tells an interesting story.
At the museum you can buy a disc with the film, where the director also gives a tour of the museum, says Interesting Facts about the construction and functioning of the Road of Life. The film also includes rare chronicle footage.

For example, I learned that a pipeline was laid along the bottom of the lake, through which fuel and various oil products were pumped to besieged Leningrad. Almost a prototype of Nordstream.
An electrical cable was also laid.
Or how in the summer they transported empty railway tanks by floating to the mainland.

An artillery rangefinder tube, the barrel of one of the three 100 mm cannons blown up by the Germans, and a steering wheel from a minesweeper.

Scheme of the Road of Life.

There is another attraction nearby. The Osinovetsky lighthouse, founded in 1905, is the second highest on Ladoga (after Storozhensky): 70 m from base to top, 74 m from the fire to sea level, and its light can be seen 40 km away. The lighthouse is active, 366 steps lead to a 500-watt lamp, which from April to November in dark time lights up every four seconds.

Links

Was connected to the country. Transportation along the road of life was carried out from September 12, 1941 to March 1943. During the navigation period, delivery was carried out on tugs with barges and ships, and in winter the vehicles traveled along the ice road.

During this period, over 1,600 thousand tons of cargo, mainly food, fodder and fuels and lubricants, were brought to the besieged city along the legendary Road of Life, which was officially listed as military highway No. 101. During the 500 days of the blockade (before it was broken), more than a million people were evacuated along the highway.

For reference: The Siege of Leningrad lasted 872 days from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944, when it was completely lifted. The blockade ring was broken on January 18, 1943.

If you fly in a helicopter over Ladoga these days, you can see hundreds of dark rectangles under the water; these are the skeletons of trucks that went under the ice during the first and second blockade winters. Along with the vehicles that carried flour and shells, drivers and road workers often died.

Olga Berggolts wrote about the Road of Life:

Bread came to us along the road of life,
dear friendship of many to many.
They don't know on earth yet
scarier and more joyful than the road.

The road of life - how to get there

Most of the monuments are located along the modern A-128 highway, which is called the “Road of Life”. The most convenient way to get to all the monuments is by car, stopping at each of them (see map below).

You can also take the train to the Ladoga Lake station (departure from the Finlyandsky Station). In the village you can see the Road of Life Museum, the Osinovetsky lighthouse and the Esh-4375 steam locomotive (located right at the station). In addition, the village has a wonderful sand beach, so in summer the excursion can be combined with swimming and sunbathing. Please note that in Lake Ladoga the water is clean, but always cold.

Road of life - map

From the history

On September 8, 1941, the Germans captured Shlisselburg and cut off all land routes and the waterway along the Neva. The blockade of Leningrad began and Ladoga became the only route connecting the city with the mainland.

On September 12, the delivery of goods to the besieged city began. Food was brought first to Volkhov, from there to Novaya Ladoga, and then transported on barges to the western bank to the Osinovets lighthouse.

In the fall of 1941, the ice on Ladoga did not form for a long time and barges walked along the lake, avoiding ice areas. The first sleigh train left on November 17, delivering 63 tons of flour to the city, and soon the movement of vehicles began. The ice was still very fragile and in order to prevent the transport from failing, part of the cargo was placed on sleighs, which reduced the pressure on the ice and made it possible to transport more products.

The movement was organized in both directions along two routes located at a distance of 100 - 150 meters from each other. The Germans constantly shelled and bombed the highway, but they failed to stop the movement. The truck drivers kept their doors open so they could jump out if the truck started to sink. In the first winter alone, about a thousand trucks went under the ice, and it is unknown how many people died here. In memory of the feat that ordinary people accomplished every day, on the shore of Lake Ladoga there is a bronze copy of the legendary GAZ-AA lorry.

Here is how the Leningrad poet Anatoly Molchanov wrote:

And somewhere on Ladoga, in the white expanse
Ice floes explode from bombs and frost,
And the engines howl, and the engines groan,
And they pull cars loaded with bread -
In a snowstorm and shelling, without sleep and peace,
We are responsible for the life and struggle of Leningrad.
And there was such traffic on the highway,
How in Peaceful time on Nevsky Prospekt.

Thanks to the delivery of food along the ice route, on December 25, 1941, people standing in line at bakeries suddenly learned that the bread quota had been increased by 75 grams. Children and women cried with happiness - it would seem that such a small piece of bread, but it gave them a chance to escape from starvation!

The population was evacuated along the Road of Life - first of all, women and children, the sick and the elderly were taken out.

During the first winter of the blockade, the ice route was in operation for 152 days until April 24, 1942. In April, during thaws, cars had to move on water.

During the first winter of the siege, more than 550 thousand Leningraders and more than 35 thousand wounded were evacuated from Leningrad, 361 thousand tons of various cargo were delivered to the city, including 262.5 thousand tons of food and about 32 thousand tons of ammunition
During the second navigation, more than 1 million tons of various cargoes were transported in both directions, and about 540 thousand people were evacuated from their cities.

On December 19, 1942, the ice route began to operate again, and already on January 18, 1943, Soviet troops liberated Shlisselburg, breaking through the Leningrad blockade. For delivery of goods by south coast Lake Ladoga was laid Railway to the Polyany station, later called the Victory Road.

But the Ladoga route continued to operate for almost another year, until the final lifting of the blockade of Leningrad on January 27, 1944.

Railway of life

There is a page in the history of the Road of Life that is not written about and people try to remember less.

In the second year of the siege of Leningrad, an attempt was made to build an ice railway, the Road of Life, which was supposed to connect the Kobona station on the eastern side of Ladoga with the Ladoga Lake station on the western side. The builders were given two months for all work.

At the same time, construction of a 35 km long wooden railway bridge, the so-called “pile-ice railway crossing”, began on the two shores of Lake Ladoga. At the same time, two tracks were built - a narrow-gauge railway and a regular-gauge track located 100-200 meters from it.

Builders, mostly women, cut holes and drove piles. The flooring was laid, and the railway track was mounted on top. The work went on in the cold and under enemy fire. In January 1943, when half of the track was built and work trains began to run along it, troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts broke the blockade of Leningrad.

The need for the route disappeared and all the efforts of the builders turned out to be meaningless. Perhaps for this reason they preferred to forget about this railway line.

Small Road of Life

The Small Road of Life began from the Bronka station, located near Oranienbaum (Lomonosov) and walked along the ice through Kronstadt to Lisiy Nos and Gorskaya. Residents of Oranienbaum and defenders of the city experienced the same difficulties as residents of Leningrad. They also starved, they also died of hunger.

In 1941, the bread distribution rate was reduced. But thanks to the action of the Small Road of Life, in January 1942 there was a slight increase in the rate of bread distribution, but despite this, in 1941-1942, 5,000 people died from hunger here.

Monuments on the Road of Life

In total, there are 7 monuments installed on the Road of Life, 46 memorial pillars along the highway and 56 pillars along the railway. All structures of the Road of Life are included in the Green Belt of Glory.

Flower of Life

The monument, located on the high bank of the small Lubya River, is made in the form of a white stone flower on a 10-meter stem, towering above the granite boulders. The words “May there always be sunshine” are carved into the petals of the flower. From the memorial, a 40-meter staircase and a birch alley of Friendship will lead you to a mound where stone sheets of the diary of Tanya Savicheva, a Leningrad pioneer schoolgirl who lost all her loved ones and survived the blockade winter of 1941 - 1942, are installed. Tanya Savicheva died in evacuation in July 1944, while in one of the orphanages in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Broken ring

The monument is made in the form of two reinforced concrete arches 7 meters high, symbolizing the ring of the blockade, the gap between them is the Road of Life. Under the arches in the concrete you can see car tread marks. Nearby are two reinforced concrete balls simulating searchlights, as well as a 45 mm anti-aircraft gun.

Osinovetsky lighthouse

Lake Ladoga has a harsh character and in some places swimming is very dangerous. Ships never moored at the Osinovsky lighthouse - this was considered impossible, since not only was German artillery shelling taking place here, but the elements themselves were raging. On the night of September 16-17, during a storm, barges crashed in this place and more than 1,000 people died.

Ships sank, people died, but to save Leningrad, barges loaded with grain moored at the Osinovsky lighthouse.

Katyusha

The memorial is made in the form of five 14-meter steel beams, installed at an angle to the horizon and symbolizing the famous rocket launcher. On the low granite wall there is an inscription:

1941-1943 Remember these terrible years
The Road of Life passed here
Leningrad was saved by the courage of the brave
Immortal glory to the fallen heroes.

The Road of Life - this name fully corresponded to the role it played: without it, Leningrad would simply have perished.

There are different roads - highways, city, village, broken and well-groomed, there are even racing and ring roads, but there was and is one road, the price of which is the life of Leningraders, and it is impossible not to remember it.

On September 8, 1941, the Nazis captured the city of Shlisselburg at the source of the Neva, surrounding Leningrad from land. The 871-day siege of Leningrad began.

Under the blockade, the only possible transport communication connecting Leningrad with the rear, not counting the air route, was Ladoga.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Lake Ladoga was little developed, poorly studied, it did not have the necessary lake fleet, settling bays and no marina facilities.

On August 30, 1941, the GKO (State Defense Committee) decided to deliver goods to Leningrad through Lake Ladoga. On the western shore of the lake, the construction of a port began in the small Osinovets Bay, 55 km from Leningrad, not far from the Ladoga Lake station, the final station of the Irinovskaya railway roads.

Transportation was entrusted to the Ladoga Military Flotilla and the North-Western River Shipping Company. On September 12, 1941, two barges arrived at the piers of Cape Osinovets from the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga, delivering 626 tons of grain and 116 tons of flour. This is how the blockade “artery” of Leningrad began to operate, which the people called the Road of Life.

From September 12 to November 15, when navigation officially ended, 24,097 tons of grain, flour and cereals, more than 1,130 tons of meat and dairy products and other cargo were delivered across Ladoga. 33,479 people were evacuated from Leningrad by water. Each voyage across the lake was a feat. Autumn storms on Ladoga made navigation impossible. Enemy aircraft, which often attacked transport ships and piers, posed a serious danger to ship traffic. And only thanks to the skill and courage of the teams, the ships made voyages throughout the entire navigation. The amount of food brought across Ladoga was the city's 20-day requirement.

With the onset of freeze-up, transportation by water ceased. Preparations have begun for the construction of a winter road on the ice of Lake Ladoga. After reconnaissance, study of the ice situation and construction of the first line of the ice highway, on November 20, a horse-drawn convoy headed by Senior Lieutenant M.S. descended onto the ice from Vaganovsky Descent near the village of Kokkorevo. Murov. About 350 sleds headed to the eastern shore of the lake to Kobonu. Having loaded 63 tons of flour onto a sleigh, the convoy arrived in Osinovets on the morning of November 21. The next day, November 22, a convoy of 60 GAZ-AA vehicles under the command of Major V.A. Porchunov left for Kobona for food (the first ten vehicles were commanded by Captain Biryukovich). Having completed a difficult voyage, the convoy returned on November 23, delivering 33 tons of food. The ice was so fragile that a two-ton truck carried only 2-3 bags of food.

Thus was born the now famous ice track, which was called Military Highway No. 101.

In early December, the ice became stronger and three-ton ZIS-5 vehicles were launched onto the track; The drivers were already driving without fear of ice failures.

Despite frosts and snowstorms, enemy artillery fire and air strikes, the enemy’s occupation of Tikhvin on November 8, the movement of freight vehicles did not stop for almost a single day; in November-December 16,449 tons of cargo were delivered along the highway, which allowed from December 25 for the first time during the blockade, the bread ration should be slightly increased.

From January 1, 1942, the cargo supply route for Leningrad stabilized, and traffic along it was streamlined. The road has become a complex engineering structure. Its builders made road signs, milestones, portable shields, bridges, built bases, warehouses, heating and medical stations, food and technical assistance stations, workshops, telephone and telegraph stations, and adapted various means of camouflage.

The “Road of Life” is not only a route on the ice of the lake, it is a path that had to be overcome from the railway station on the western shore of the lake to the railway station on the eastern shore and back.

The road consisted of two ring routes, each of which had two separate directions of movement - for freight traffic (to the city) and for empty traffic or evacuation (from the city).

The first route for transporting goods to the city ran along the route Zhikharevo - Zhelannye - Troitskoye - Lavrovo - station. Lake Ladoga, the length of the route was 44 km; for empty vehicles and evacuation from the city - Art. Lake Ladoga or Borisova Griva - Vaganovsky Descent - Lavrovo - Gorodishche - Zhikharevo with a length of 43 km. The total length of the flight along the first ring route was 87 km.

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

Movement along the highway was provided by four road maintenance regiments, three separate bridge-building battalions, the Syask and Novo-Ladoga work battalions and two work companies. Maintenance of the most critical section was entrusted to the 64th Road Maintenance Regiment.

From January 7 to January 19, transportation almost doubled, and on January 18, the road fulfilled the plan for the first time (an average of 2 thousand tons of cargo was delivered to Leningrad daily).

As of January 20, the city was already provided with flour for 21 days, meat for 20, cereals and fat for 9, and sugar for 13 days. The increase in traffic made it possible to increase bread rations for Leningraders twice (January 24 and February 11).

The ice track worked smoothly. In order to further reduce vehicle mileage, on January 11, 1942, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution on the construction of a 40 km long Voybokalo-Lavrovo-Kosa railway line within a month. In conditions harsh winter, in front of the Germans, the construction of the road was completed by February 10. The branch came close to the lake. The length of the route was reduced by more than half, and fuel consumption by 200 tons per day. A separate route, called the “coal” route, was laid from the station. Spit to st. Osinovets and along it special vehicles transported fuel for Leningrad.

The pace of cargo transportation on the highway increased every month. So, it was transported: November - December 1941 - 16,499 tons
January 1942 - 52,934 t
February - 86,041 t
March - 118,332 t
Three weeks of April - 87,253 tons

The ice road worked until the last opportunity. In mid-April, the air temperature began to rise to 12 - 15° and the ice cover of the lake began to quickly collapse. A large amount of water accumulated on the surface of the ice. For a whole week - from April 15 to 21 - the vehicles walked through solid water, in some places up to 45 cm deep. On the last trips, the vehicles did not reach the shore and carried the loads by hand. Further movement on the ice became dangerous, and on April 21 the Ladoga Ice Route was officially closed, but in fact it functioned until April 24, as some drivers, despite the order to close the route, continued to travel on Ladoga. When the lake began to open up and traffic on the highway stopped, highway workers moved 65 tons of food products from the eastern to the western shore.

In total, during the winter of 1941/42, 361,109 tons of various cargoes were delivered to Leningrad along the ice route, including 262,419 tons of food.

During the same period (from January 22 to April 15), 554,186 people were evacuated.
Of these: Families of workers and employees - 193,244
Workers and employees - 66,182
Military families - 92,419
Students of vocational schools - 28,454
Researchers, teachers, students (with families) - 37,877
Collective farmers from the Karelian Isthmus - 27,274
Children from orphanages - 12,639
Wounded Red Army soldiers - 35,713

At the end of May 1942, the sailors of the Ladoga military flotilla and water workers North-Western Shipping Company opened a new navigation along the routes Osinovets - Kobona, Osinovets - Novaya Ladoga. And during this navigation, 1 million 99.5 thousand tons of cargo were transported in both directions: of which more than 790 thousand tons were sent to the besieged city, including 353 thousand tons of food. About 540 thousand people were also transported to the mainland, of which more than 448 thousand were evacuated residents. About 290 thousand soldiers and officers were transferred to replenish the Leningrad Front.

According to some information, in 1942, a pipeline was laid along the bottom of Lake Ladoga to supply fuel to the city and the front, but without this data, I do not presume to say this.

But the construction of the power line began in August 1942. The builders had to build, under continuous bombing and shelling, 104 km of route through forests and swamps and almost 23 km along the bottom of Lake Ladoga, which was especially difficult. With the help of a barge moving along Lake Ladoga, the cable was lowered into the water. All work was carried out at night and only in calm weather to prevent damage to the cable. The developed high-speed cable laying methods made it possible to complete the construction of an underwater transmission line in 8 - 9 days. To lay the first cable line, the builders needed only 45 days instead of 60. On September 23, 1942, Leningrad received electricity from the Volkhov hydroelectric station. The diving team continued its work into the dark October nights. In October, divers laid four more lead cables with a total length of 96 km along the bottom of the lake. In the last days of October, work was especially difficult due to the storm. By November 1, having overcome all difficulties, the divers laid the last string of cable. In December 1942, the supply of electricity to Leningrad increased 4 times compared to the month of February, which had the smallest amount of electricity received by Leningrad during the entire period of the siege. The cable for the power transmission line was manufactured by the team of the Leningrad plant "Sevkabel". People, weakened by hunger, completed the most difficult task: they made 120 kilometers of three-phase electric cable.

At the end of October 1942, preparatory work began on the construction of a route across Lake Ladoga. In connection with the proposal of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front and the People's Commissariat of Railways of the USSR, the State Defense Committee decided to build on the ice of Lake Ladoga not only highway but also a pile-ice railway crossing. It was planned to build a crossing with a length of 35 km with a normal railway track. A narrow-gauge railway was to be built at a distance of 100-200 m south of the main route. The construction of the railway crossing began, and it was laid for 12.5 km, but due to the breaking of the blockade and the construction of a railway line on the territory liberated from the enemy, it was decided to limit the road to an ice road across the lake.

The importance of the Ladoga communication cannot be overestimated. It saved the lives of Leningraders, allowed the city to withstand the blockade, and was the path through which it communicated with the entire country, which provided it with all possible support.

On the western shore of Lake Ladoga, near Cape Osinovets, the “Road of Life” museum has now been created, a branch of the Central Naval Museum. The numerous documents and relics collected here tell about the courage and exploits of those who maintained and protected the water and ice routes that connected the city on the Neva with the mainland during the Great Patriotic War. Near Vaganovsky Spusk it was built memorial Complex"Broken Ring"