Taking you back to the Second World War

It was the Leningraders that had pinned down large Nazi forces; it was the Leningraders who sent military equipment manufactured in the besieged city to the defenders of Moscow in the most crucial days of the battle. Indeed, Leningrad sent more than a thousand of regimental guns and mortars to Moscow’s defenders in the last quarter of 1941 alone. Weaponry made in the blockaded city continued to go to other sectors of the Soviet-German front too. It was the Leningraders’ contribution to the common victory.

And Leningraders were also cheered in those days by the news of the Soviet victory in the battle of Moscow. In the course of the counteroffensive the Nazis were pushed back from the Soviet capital bv 100 to 250 kilometres and in some sectors by more than 300 kilometres. The German forces lost 11 tank, 4 motorised, and 23 infantry divisions, at least 300,000 troops, thousands of guns and motor vehicles, and hundreds of tanks and machine guns. It was the first major defeat for Nazi Germany in World War II. The myth that her army was invincible went up in smoke.
The Leningraders were moved by the thought that they had also played a part in that victory.

The newspaper Leningradskaya Pravda observed in those days: “The loving care for the fine city of Lenin fills the hearts of its people with a feeling of profound gratitude. It gives them added strength for carrying on their fight. It inspires them to new heroic deeds. It is gratifying to realise that in the grim days of trial the heart of the whole country is beating in tune with the hearts of the Leningraders.” The winter was drawing to a close. And though death continued to claim thousands of lives. deep in their hearts people felt that the worst was over.

The Soviet Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan sent fruit, nuts, rice, and confectionery. Fihy wagons with food arrived from Tajikistan. Karelia’s fishermen and livestock breeders sent fish and 100 reindeer. Kirghizia sent a trainload of flour, meat, butter, dried fruit, and tobacco; and Kazakhstan dispatched 77 wagons with various goods. Forty-three wagons with New Year gifts arrived in Leningrad from as far away as the Pacific coast. People in the city of Omsk in Siberia sent three trainloads of warm clothes. Although the food situation was difficult, people throughout the country considered it their duty to give the best they had to the Leningraders, who were suffering the most.

Leningrad, cut off from the mainland, received help from all parts of the country. Trains transporting food to the northwestern regions of the country carried posters which read: “You are not alone, Leningrad!” and “We are with you, the city of Lenin!” These trains were given the green light all the way through. Nearly a thousand wagons with food were sent to Leningrad from Stalingrad, Penza, Gorky, and Kuibyshev Regions. The city of Yaroslavl dispatched 33 railway wagons of grape-sugar and 240 tons of cheese. More than 12,000 tons of flour and 760 tons of meat came from Saratov Region.

Women, children, and old people were the first to leave. Within less than four months nearly 515,000 people were evacuated. In areas to which they were taken local residents did all they could for the starved, exhausted Leningraders. Good care and attention helped many of the evacuees recover and get back on their feet quickly. Actually, of course, the ice road was only part of the lifeline, which originated in the faraway fields of Siberia and Kazakhstan, in the mountains of Kirghizia and Transcaucasia, and on the farms of Tataria and the Urals.

Any break in traffic would have spelled death to the city. But the small December increase heartened the Leningraders, giving them renewed hope, even despite the fact that almost 200,000 people died of hunger in January and February 1942. For these, the effect of prolonged malnutrition had proved too strong, and the increased rations could not save them. Then came the day when 2,506 tons of goods were brought to Leningrad-506 tons more than planned. That was on January 18, 1942. The city was provided with flour for 21 days. As soon as traffic on the ice road became regular, the authorities started a mass evacuation of civilians.