Herunterladen "Город-герой Ленинград / Hero city Leningrad - 1941- 1944"

Город-герой Ленинград в фотографиях 1941-1944 Hero city Leningrad in photographs 1941-1944 Музыка: Адажио из Симфонии № 7 Д. Шостаковича Music: Adagio from the Symphony No. 7 by D. Shostakovich Leningrad, the cradle of the Revolution of 1917, was regarded as a special city for the USSR. The city being the former capital of Russia, is home to the Baltic Fleet, and is known for her great industrial strength housing numerous arms factories. In 1939. the city was responsible for 11% of all Soviet industrial output. When Hitler attacked Russia in 1941, the capture of Leningrad was one of the three strategic goals in Operation Barbarossa. Reportedly, Hitler was so confident of capturing Leningrad, he had invitations printed to the victory celebrations to be held at the city's Astoria Hotel....Also clear was Hitler's intention to utterly destroy the city and annihilate her population...."After the defeat of Soviet Russia there can be no interest in the continued existence of this large urban centre..,.." On Friday, 27 June 1941, the Council of Deputies of the Leningrad administration organised "First response groups" of civilians. In the next days, Leningrad's civilian population was informed of the danger and over a million citizens were mobilised for the construction of fortifications. Several lines of defences were built along the city's perimeter to repulse hostile forces approaching from north and south by means of civilian resistance... As Nazi forces advanced on the city, the last rail connection to Leningrad was severed on 30 August, when the Germans reached the Neva River. On 8 September, the road to the besieged city was severed when the Germans reached Lake Ladoga at Shlisselburg, leaving just a corridor of land between Lake Ladoga and Leningrad which remained unoccupied by Axis forces. Bombing on 8 September caused 178 fires and the Nazis had largely surrounded the city, cutting off all supply routes to the city and suburbs... however they were unable to press home their offensive.... the air attack of Friday, 19 September was particularly brutal. It was the heaviest air raid Leningrad would suffer during the war, as 276 German bombers hit the city killing 1,000 civilians. On 21 September, German High Command considered how to destroy Leningrad. Occupying the city was ruled out "because it would make us responsible for food supply".The resolution was to lay the city under siege and bombardment, starving its population....Thus began the siege that lasted for "900 days and nights".. To sustain the defence of the city, it was vitally important for the Red Army to establish a route for bringing a constant flow of supplies into Leningrad. This route was effected over the southern part of Lake Ladoga and the corridor of land which remained unoccupied by Axis forces between Lake Ladoga and Leningrad. The road was named the" Road of Life" bringing essential supplies to the city and evacuating civilians from the besieged city...during the winter months across the frozen Lake and watercraft during the warmer months... The two-and-a-half year siege caused the greatest destruction and the largest loss of life ever known in a modern city... The siege caused extreme famine resulting in the deaths of up to 1,500,000 soldiers and civilians and the evacuation of 1,400,000 more (mainly women and children), many of whom died during evacuation due to starvation and bombardment..... The siege was broken on 27 January 1944. The title of Hero City was awarded to Leningrad in 1965