Memorial Day - the lifting of the siege of Leningrad

The lifting of the siege of Leningrad in 1944 was a great holiday for the entire population of the Soviet Union. 871 days the cordon of the city continued. How many people died in it? How many lives did the war take? Nobody will answer these questions. One thing is clear: war does not belong to the world.

The lifting of the siege of Leningrad, to which the Soviet troops marched for a long time, was an expected event. Nobody suspected that once the capital of Russia would be in a strong isolation from civilization, that there would be nothing to eat in this city, that even pets would have to eat. Probably, the symbol of the blockaded city was a five-year-old girl Tanya Savicheva, whose diaries show the whole horror of the war.

How many days did the blockade of Leningrad last? This now 871 days seems to us only two and a half years. And for them, for the besieged Leningraders, these days a whole life has passed. The lifting of the siege of Leningrad took place on January 27, 1944. This day in the city is celebrated as the second date of birth.

Initially, the plans of the German troops were the destruction of Leningrad with the help of shelling. But after the failure of the plan for a lightning war, after the brave exploits of Soviet soldiers, the Germans realized that it would be far from easy to capture Russia.

Already at the beginning of September of the first year of the Second World War, the city was cordoned off the land. Surrounded by more than 2.5 million people. Despite the blockade, the residents continued to fight for their Motherland. But the ring was still closed. How long did the blockade of Leningrad last? It seems like an eternity. It is unclear what would happen to the city, if it were not for the "road of life". How would people live? What they were doing? And would this blockade be lifted altogether? But people lived, they continued to believe. In such conditions, the recognized geniuses of Russian culture continued to perform, among them Dmitri Shostakovich. His Leningrad Symphony helped people wake up from a certain hibernation, it gave them hope and faith. It became a symbol of the city and of that time. This is an indicator of the courage and heroism of the Soviet people.

The diaries of people who lived during the blockade of the city create terrible and terrible pictures: corpses lay on the corners of the streets, there was terrible cold and hunger, people died one after another, there was no warm clothes and food.

Already in the middle of January, on the 18th of 1943, the blockade of Leningrad was broken by Soviet troops, but still a year the city was cordoned off. All this time the "road of life", which runs along the Ladoga Lake , operated . Finally, a year later - on January 27 - the ring was opened and the city was liberated.

The lifting of the siege of Leningrad marked the beginning of the final stage in the Second World War. Soviet troops liberated more cities. But the main goal remained blockaded Leningrad. It's terrible to think, but for almost 900 days in the city, about 900 thousand people died, most of them children.

Modern politicians should do everything possible to prevent such world mistakes from ever happening again. In conditions of the development of nuclear weapons, the cities will not be blocked, but destroyed completely. And that is why it is forbidden to repeat the mistakes of the recent past.