The blockade of Leningrad became the most difficult test for the city and its residents in the northern capital's entire history. Hunger, cold, bombing and death followed the people of Leningrad for 2.5 years.
Dark Ages
Hitler’s command understood that Leningrad was of extremely important strategic, economic and cultural significance to the Soviet Union. Taking the northern capital would not only mean the fall of one of the country's symbols, but would also open the way for German troops to move south toward Moscow, the current capital of the Soviet Union.
In July 1941, the systematic and massive attack on Leningrad by Army Group "North" began, and on September 8, 1941, the northern capital was on the ring. Nearly 3 million cities have lost transport links to the rest of the country. The coast of the Gulf of Finland was under enemy control. The enemy also advanced along the east coast of Lake Ladoga but failed to completely occupy it. The lake became the legendary "Way of Life" through which besieged residents received help.
After the siege around Leningrad finally closed, residents began preparing for a possible blockade. All the groceries were bought in the store and all the money was withdrawn from the savings account at the savings bank. Unfortunately, not everyone manages to stock up on food. But even those who were able to accumulate some supplies devoured them long before the first lockdown winter was over. Few were lucky enough to be evacuated from Leningrad. Constant shelling from German artillery prevented them from leaving the city safely. A dark and terrible time has come for the people of Leningrad.
It was not until January 1943 that the Soviet army successfully broke through the German defenses and partially lifted the blockade of the city. The blockade of Leningrad was not completely lifted until January 27, 1944. However, it was not until the summer of 1944 that the Red Army was able to dislodge the Nazis from the northern capitals beyond Vyborg and Petrozavodsk.
The blockade of Leningrad lasted 872 days. During this period, the Germans bombed the city with 150,000 heavy artillery shells and more than 107,000 incendiary and high-explosive bombs. More than 3,000 buildings were completely destroyed and approximately 7,000 more were partially collapsed. However, the city's main monuments have been preserved. The Leningraders used sandbags and plywood shields to hide themselves from the enemy. According to various estimates, the blockade of Leningrad claimed between 600,000 and 1.5 million lives. Among them, only 3% of the citizens died from bombing and shelling, and the rest died from starvation.
A difficult test
The first winter in besieged Leningrad turned out to be the coldest. The thermometer sometimes drops to -32°C. Heavy snow complicated the situation. They were unusual in the winter of 1941/42. The snow in the city on the Neva River did not completely melt until the end of April. Without electricity and heating, Leningraders were forced to flood their stoves, and when they ran out of firewood, they used anything they could burn as fuel: furniture, books, old objects.
The bombardment continued in the city all day long. Typically, the Nazis would attack Leningrad several times a day: people were forced to take shelter in basements. The longest bombardment occurred near the end of the blockade - on August 17, 1943, when approximately 2,000 shells fell on the city in 13 hours.
According to historian Nikita Lomakin, this strategy was already well-established in the leadership of the Reich even before the blockade began: the Germans intended to compress the ring around the city as tightly as possible , hitting the most important infrastructure. In Berlin they expected to starve the city and anticipated the imminent surrender of its defenders. Historians note that the idea of attacking the city was abandoned in order not to endanger the lives of German soldiers.
However, for the residents of Beidu, the most difficult test was not the cold, nor the shelling. The most terrible enemy of Leningraders was hunger. At the beginning of autumn, no one can imagine what they will face in winter.Galina Tikhomirova, chairwoman of an NGO for residents of besieged Leningrad, who herself survived the blockade, told the Regnum news agency that many people were convinced that the Germans would soon be driven out of Leningrad. Back, the battle will be in the fall. Most people, in her words, never thought about changing their cards in the first place, but no one knew there would be such a terrible winter.
Fatal fires
One of the events that affected Leningrad's food supply was the fire in the Badayevsky warehouse, caused by the Luftwaffe bombings of September 8-10, 1941. The airstrike dropped approximately 280 incendiary bombs on the food warehouse, destroying nearly 50 buildings. According to official data, there were 3,000 tons of flour and 2,500 tons of sugar in the warehouse at the time. In addition, countless cookies, candies and other products were destroyed by the fire in the warehouse.
Leningraders saved only a small part of their food ingredients. Alma Orekhova, an eyewitness to these horrific events, recalled how the sugar melted in the fire. "Mom went and got some black sweet earth. It was like soaking in molasses ," Alma said.
Later calculations showed that the destroyed sugar stocks could supply the city's population for a month, based on a standard of 6 teaspoons of sugar per person per day. Furthermore, the amount of flour stored in the Badaev warehouse prevented the rate of distribution of bread to civilians between November 20 and December 24, 1941 from slowing down to the record low of 125 grams per day.
In early autumn, the food situation in Leningrad was already precarious. According to the data of the Leningrad City Executive Committee, on September 12, 1941, the remaining food in the city: cereals and flour - 35 days, cereals and pasta - 30 days, meat and meat products - 33 days, fat - 45 days, Sugar and confectionery products - 60 days.
Daily consumption of flour for baking bread is falling at a record rate. If it was 2100 tons on September 11, 1941, it dropped to 510 tons on November 20. The lack of flour was supplied with cakes, bran, malt , cellulose, nettles and, in days of utter scarcity - wallpaper dust and sawdust.
The strictest economy
Due to a lack of flour, only 10 of the 18 Leningrad bakeries that operated before the war operated during the blockade. As motorized transport was virtually inoperable during the winter of 1941/42, goods were brought from the warehouses by hand or on sleds.
Bread was the most important product in the diet of the besieged Leningraders. His cards are issued daily. Other products - once every ten days. The price of rationed bread is 1.7-1.9 rubles per kilogram, while the price of bread sold on the market can reach up to 500 rubles per kilogram. True, the market price of bread gradually began to decrease, and by March 1942 its price did not exceed 150 rubles per kilogram. However, as Block points out, with bartering boom, prices are conditional. The goods they exchanged were of at least some value to the hungry, frozen, and exhausted citizens.
The most difficult period for bread supplies was December 1941. That's when daily allowances for dependents, employees and children were cut to 125 grams per day. 375 grams per person for workers, 500 grams per person for soldiers, and 250 grams per person for the rest of the population. According to the memories of survivors, these two and a half years "converged into an endless night", and the only thought was to eat! It was not until after December 25, 1941 that nutritional standards gradually began to be restored.
Decrease in mortality
War Years Quartermaster Lieutenant General Dmitry Pavlov, authorized by the Defense Council to provide food for Leningrad and the Leningrad Front, admitted that from mid-November 1941 to January 1942 The second half of the year is the most difficult period. The entire time of lockdown. At that time, internal resources were virtually depleted, and the transportation of important supplies from the ice of Lake Ladoga had not yet been established.
It was during this period that the highest number of Leningraders died. Over 250,000 people died throughout the winter of 1941/42. Male mortality was almost twice as high as female mortality, so that by the end of the war, women comprised the majority of the urban population.
During the first lockdown winter electricity production did not exceed 15% of pre-war levels. Heating, plumbing and sewers are not working. Work in almost all factories was stopped except those of national defense importance.
From the second half of October 1941 to mid-April 1942, the city's daily average temperature did not exceed 0℃. Stable negative temperatures have been recorded since October 11. Even in early May, the thermometer often drops to +1°C. According to scientists, the climatic winter in Leningrad and its suburbs in 1941/42 was 178 days.
In the spring of 1942, as temperatures warmed, the number of sudden deaths on the city's streets began to decrease. So, if in February at least 7,000 residents were picked up, and in April - about 600, then in May the number is 50. So does the death total. If in January-February 1942 nearly 130,000 people died in Leningrad every month, then in May this number dropped to 50,000. Overall, 780,000 Leningraders died during the most difficult period of the blockade in the winter and spring of 1941/42.
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