Breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad in January 1943: historical facts

For the command of the Wehrmacht, mastery of the city on the Neva had not only important military-strategic importance. In addition to seizing the entire coast of the Gulf of Finland and destroying the Baltic Fleet, far-reaching propaganda goals were also pursued. The fall of the cradle of the Revolution would inflict irreparable moral damage on the entire Soviet people and greatly undermine the fighting spirit of the armed forces. The command of the Red Army had an alternative: withdraw troops and surrender the city without a fight. In this case, the fate of the inhabitants would be even more tragic. Hitler intended to erase the city from the face of the earth in the literal sense of the word.

Leningrad was finally surrounded by German and Finnish troops on September 8, 1941. The blockade of Leningrad lasted 872 days. In addition to the military formations of the army and navy, more than three million people were sieged - Leningraders and refugees from the Baltic and neighboring regions. Leningrad during the blockade has lost more than 600 thousand civilians, of which only three per cent were killed by bombing and artillery shelling, the rest died of exhaustion and disease. More than 1.5 million people were evacuated.

Attempts to break the blockade in 1942

Even in the most difficult days of the war, attempts were made to break the ring of encirclement. In January 1942, the Soviet army launched an offensive to connect the blocked city with the "Big Land" in the vicinity of the village of Lyubtsy. The next attempt was made in August-October in the direction of Sinyavino village and Mga station. These operations to break through the siege of Leningrad were unsuccessful. Although the Sinyavino offensive failed, this maneuver disrupted the Wehrmacht's plans to seize the city.

Strategic Prerequisites

The rout of the Hitlerite grouping of troops on the Volga radically changed the alignment of strategic forces in favor of the Soviet army. Under the circumstances, the High Command planned to carry out the operation to unblock the northern capital. The operational measure involving the forces of the Leningrad, Volkhov fronts, the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Flotilla was given the code name "Iskra". To support offensive actions on land should be long-range aviation. The liberation of Leningrad from the blockade, albeit partial, was made possible by the serious miscalculations of the German command. The Hitlerite rate underestimated the importance of accumulating reserves. After fierce battles in the Moscow direction and the south of the country, two tank divisions and a significant number of infantry formations were withdrawn from Army Group North to partially compensate for the losses of the central group. By the beginning of 1943, near Leningrad, the invaders had no large mechanized formations to counter the possible offensive of the Soviet army.

Plans for Betting

Operation Iskra was conceived in the autumn of 1942. At the end of November, the headquarters of the Leningrad Front offered Stavka a fresh offensive and a breakthrough of the enemy ring in two directions: Shlisselburg and Uritsk. The Supreme High Command decided to concentrate on one, the shortest, in the Sinyavino-Shlisselburg area.

On November 22, the commanders presented a plan for the counteraction of the concentrated forces of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. The operation received approval, the training was given not more than a month. It was very important to implement the planned offensive in winter: in the spring the swampy places became impassable. Due to the beginning of the thaw in the end of December, the breakthrough of the blockade was postponed for ten days. The code name for the operation was suggested by JV Stalin. Half a century ago, VI Ulyanov, creating the organ of the press of the Bolshevik Party, called the newspaper Iskra with the intention that a flame of revolution would kindle from the spark. Stalin, therefore, conducted an analogy, suggesting that an operational offensive maneuver would develop into a significant strategic success. General leadership was entrusted to Marshal KE Voroshilov. To coordinate the actions, the Marshal GK Zhukov was sent to the Volkhov Front.

Preparing the offensive

During December, the troops were preparing intensively for the battle. All units were manned and fully equipped, up to 5 sets of ammunition for each unit of heavy weapons. Leningrad during the blockade was able to provide the front with all the necessary military equipment and small arms. And for sewing uniforms, not only profile enterprises were involved, but also citizens who had personal sewing machines. In the rear, the sappers reinforced the existing bridge passages and erected new ones. Approximately 50 kilometers of roads were laid to provide access to the Neva.

Particular attention was paid to the training of fighters: they had to be taught to fight in the winter in the forest and attack a fortified area equipped with strong points and long-term fire points. In the rear of each compound, polygons were constructed that simulated the conditions of the sites of the alleged offensive. To break through the engineering defenses , special assault teams were created. The passageways were arranged on minefields. All the commanders, up to the company commanders, inclusive, were provided with refined maps and photographic schemes. The regrouping was carried out exclusively at night or in non-flying weather. The activity of front intelligence was intensified. It was precisely established the location of enemy defensive targets. For the command staff were arranged staff games. The final phase was the holding of exercises with live firing. Measures on disguise, the spread of disinformation, as well as the strictest observance of secrecy, have paid off. The enemy learned about the planned offensive in just a few days. In addition, the Germans did not manage to strengthen the dangerous directions.

The alignment of forces

Formation of the Leningrad Front as part of the 42nd, 55th, 67th armies held the defense of the city from the inner southeast side of the ring on the Uritsk-Kolpino line, the right-bank territories of the Neva - to Ladoga. The 23rd Army conducted defensive operations from the north on the Karelian Isthmus. The forces of military aviation consisted of the 13th Air Army. The breakthrough of the blockade was provided by 222 tanks and 37 armored cars. The front was commanded by Lieutenant-General L. A. Govorov. Infantry units from the air were supported by the 14th Air Army. In this direction 217 tanks were concentrated. The commander of the Volkhov Front was Army General KA Meretskov. In the direction of the breakthrough, using reserves and applying the regrouping of forces, it was possible to achieve the superiority of manpower four and a half times, artillery - seven times, tanks - ten times, aviation - twice. The density of guns and mortars on the part of Leningrad was up to 146 units per 1 km of the front. The offensive was also supported by the artillery of the ships of the Baltic Fleet and the Ladoga Flotilla (88 guns from 100 to 406 mm in caliber) and by aircraft of the naval aviation.

On the Volkhov direction, the density of the guns ranged from 101 to 356 units per kilometer. The total strength of the strike group on both sides reached 303,000 soldiers and officers. The enemy besieged the city with twenty-six divisions of the 18th Army (Army Group North) and the formation of four Finnish divisions in the north.Our troops, breaking through the blockade, were to attack the heavily fortified Schiesselburg-Sinyavino region, which was defended by five divisions that had seven Guns and mortars.Grouping of the Wehrmacht was commanded by General G. Lindeman.

Battle of the Schusselburger ledge

In the night from January 11 to January 12, the aviation of the Volkhov Front and the 13th Air Army of the Leningrad Front suffered a massive bomb strike against predetermined targets in the planned breakout section. On January 12, at half past nine in the morning, artillery preparation began. The shelling of enemy positions lasted two hours and ten minutes. Half an hour before the attack, the stormtroopers raided the fortified defenses and artillery batteries of the Germans. At 11.00 the 67th Army from the side of the Neva and the divisions of the second shock and eighth armies of the Volkhov Front launched an offensive. The infantry attack was supported by artillery fire with the formation of a fire shaft one kilometer in depth. The Wehrmacht troops fiercely resisted, the Soviet infantry advanced slowly and unevenly.

For two days of fighting, the distance between the advancing factions was reduced to two kilometers. Only six days later, the advancing formations of the Soviet army succeeded in uniting in the area of workers' settlements No. 1 and No. 5. On January 18, the city of Shlisselburg (Petrokrepost) was liberated and all the territory adjacent to the Ladoga beach was cleared of the enemy. The width of the land corridor was 8 to 10 kilometers in various sections. On the day of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad, the reliable land communication between the city and the "Big Land" was restored. The combined grouping of the 2nd and 67th armies tried unsuccessfully to develop the success of the offensive and to extend the bridgehead to the south. The Germans pulled up reserves. Since January 19, within ten days, five divisions and a large number of artillery have been transferred to the dangerous sectors by the German command. The offensive in the Sinyavino area was choked. In order to keep the conquered frontier, the troops moved to defense. The position war began. The official end date for the operation is 30 January.

Results of the offensive

As a result of the Soviet offensive, parts of the Wehrmacht's army were thrown from the shore of Ladoga, but the city itself remained in the front zone. The breakthrough of the blockade during the operation "Iskra" showed the maturity of the military thought of the top command personnel. The defeat of the enemy grouping on a thoroughly fortified area by a concerted joint blow from outside and outside became a precedent in the domestic military art. The Armed Forces have received serious experience in conducting offensive operations in the wooded area in winter conditions. Overcoming the enemy's echeloned defensive system showed the need for a thorough planning of the artillery fire, as well as the rapid movement of units during the battle.

Losses of the parties

The numbers of losses are indicative of how bloody the fighting was. The 67th and 13th armies of the Leningrad Front lost 41.2 thousand people killed and wounded, including 12.4 thousand people, irrecoverable losses. The Volkhov Front lost 73.9 and 21.5 thousand people, respectively. Seven enemy divisions were defeated. The losses of the Germans amounted to more than 30 thousand people, irretrievable - 13 thousand people. In addition, about four hundred guns and mortars, 178 machine guns, 5,000 rifles, a large quantity of ammunition, and a hundred and fifty motor vehicles were taken as trophies of the Soviet Army. Two new heavy tanks T-VI "Tiger" were captured.

A Major Victory

The operation "Iskra" on the breakthrough of the blockade achieved the desired results. For seventeen days along the shore of Lake Ladoga, a road and a railway line thirty-three kilometers long were laid. On February 7, the first train arrived in Leningrad. The stable supply of the city and military units was restored, and the supply of electricity increased. The water supply resumed. The situation of the civilian population, industrial enterprises, front and Baltic fleet units has significantly improved. In the following months of the year more than eight hundred thousand civilians were evacuated from Leningrad to the rear areas.

The liberation of Leningrad from the blockade in January 1943 was a key moment in the defense of the city. The Soviet troops in this direction finally took over the strategic initiative. The danger of combining German and Finnish troops was eliminated. January 18 - the day of the breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad - the critical period of isolation of the city was completed. The successful completion of the operation was of great ideological significance for the people of the country. Not the most massive battle of the Second World War attracted the attention of the political elite across the ocean. US President T. Roosevelt congratulated the Soviet leadership on military success, and sent a letter to the city's inhabitants, in which he recognized the greatness of the feat, their unshakable staunchness and courage.

Museum of the breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad

Memorials were erected throughout the confrontation line in memory of the tragic and heroic events of those years. In 1985, a diorama "Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad" was opened in the Kirov district of the area near the village of Marino. It was in this place on January 12, 1943 that units of the 67th Army on the ice crossed the Neva and broke through the enemy defenses. Diorama "Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad" is an art canvas measuring 40 by 8 meters. The canvas depicts the events of the attack on German defenses. Before the canvas, a detailed plan, depth of 4 to 8 meters, recreates the volume images of fortified positions, communications, military equipment.

The unity of the composition of the picturesque canvas and three-dimensional design creates an amazing effect of presence. On the very banks of the Neva there is a monument "Breakthrough of the Blockade". The monument is a T-34 tank mounted on a pedestal. The fighting machine seems to be rushing to join the troops of the Volkhov Front. At the open area, the museum also exhibits war-time technique.

The final lifting of the siege of Leningrad. 1944 year

Complete removal of the siege of the city occurred only a year later as a result of a large-scale Leningrad-Novgorod operation. The troops of the Volkhov, Baltic and Leningrad fronts defeated the main forces of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht. January 27 became the official day of lifting the almost 900-day blockade. And 1943 was recorded in the historiography of the Great Patriotic War as the year of the breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad.