Road of Life

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Supply trucks on their way to Leningrad on the Road of Life

The Road of Life (Russian: Доро́га жи́зни, doroga zhizni) was the ice road transport route across the frozen Lake Ladoga, which provided the only access to the besieged city of Leningrad in the winter months during 1941–1944 while the perimeter in the Siege of Leningrad was maintained by the Army Group North and the Finnish forces. The road today forms part of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.

The Siege of Leningrad lasted for 29 months from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944. The Nazi forces encircled the city together with the Finnish forces. Over one million citizens of Leningrad died from starvation, stress, exposure and bombardments.^[1]

Marker noting the 17th kilometer along the Road

The Road of Life began to operate on November 20, 1941 when the first convoy of horse-pulled sleighs brought supplies to the city. Shortly thereafter, the ice road began receiving truck traffic. Via the Road of Life, supplies could be brought into the city, and civilians evacuated to the still Soviet-controlled opposite coast.^[1] During the winter 1941–42 the ice line of "Road of Life" operated for 152 days, until April 24.^[2]

About 514,000 city inhabitants, 35,000 wounded soldiers, industrial equipment of 86 plants and factories, and also some art and museum collections were evacuated from Leningrad during the first winter of the blockade.^[3] While the road was protected by anti-aircraft artillery on the ice and fighter planes in the air, truck convoys were constantly attacked by German artillery and airplanes, making travel dangerous.^[1] Some survivors therefore bitterly recall the route as a "Road of Death".

The total number of people evacuated from the siege of Leningrad through the Road of Life was about 1.3 million, mostly women and children who walked by foot.

During 1942 an oil pipeline ("Artery of Life") via Ladoga lake was built: its length was 29 km,^[3] of which 21 km ran under water at depth of 12.5 m.

The steam locomotive at Petrokrepost railway station established in memory of a railwayman of the Road of Life

During the following winter of 1942–1943, the Road of Life began to operate once again,^[4] starting with the horse traffic on December 20, 1942. Motor vehicles began to operate on December 24, 1942. Construction of the pile and ice railway of 30 km long also began in December 1942.

Operation Spark — a full-scale offensive of troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts — started in the morning of January 12, 1943. After heavy and fierce battles, the Red Army units overcame the powerful German fortified zones to the South of Lake Ladoga, and on January 18, 1943 the two fronts met, opening a land corridor to the besieged city.^[3] Almost immediately, both truck and rail traffic began to bring supplies to Leningrad.

The city of Leningrad was still subject to at least a partial siege, as well as air and artillery bombardment, until a Soviet offensive broke through the German lines, lifting the siege on January 27, 1944.

For the heroic resistance of the citizens, Leningrad was the first city awarded the honorary title Hero City in 1945.

Volume of transported goods

The Road of Life was used to transport:

• January 1942: approximately 53-54,000 tonnes of various goods,
• February 1942: over 86,000 tonnes,
• March 1942: over 118,000 tonnes.

In total the ice road was used to ship more than 360,000 tonnes of goods, mostly rations and fodder, into Leningrad.

In the first winter of the siege the ice road operated until 24 April 1942. The last shipment was made via ice floes, and in places it was necessary to unload and reload by hand. In that time, around 32,000 tonnes of ammunition and almost 35,000 tonnes of fuels and lubricants destined for the front and naval fleet were shipped out of Leningrad.

On the 19 November a transport route opened across Ladoga, named 'the Road of Life'. However, in three weeks it was closed, and remained so until the middle of January.

After the siege

In the summer, with the start of the navigable period, deliveries to the city continued thanks to the Ladoga Military Flotilla. In 1943 the Road of Life was replaced by the Road of Victory - a railway, laid on the narrow path beaten out by German troops from Leningrad to Volkhov. Now the Road of Life, within the limits of Saint Petersburg, is often referred to as Ryabovskoe Chausée (Highway), but within Vsevolozhsk, the Road of Life is the official name.

Monuments and memorials

In total there are seven monuments along the Road of Life, 46 memorial poles along the road, and 56 memorial poles along the railway. All of these are part of the Green Zone of Glory («Зелёный пояс славы»).

• The memorial complex "The Flower of Life" («Цветок жизни»), at the 3rd km of the Road of Life, consists of a monument, erected in 1968, by the architects A. D. Levyenkov and P. I. Melnikov, and eight tablets (representing pages from the diary of the Leningrad schoolgirl Tanya Savicheva), erected in 1975 by the architects A. D. Levyenkov and G. G. Fetisov, and the engineer M. V. Koman.
• The "Rumbolovsk Hill" («Румболовская гора») memorial complex , at the 10th km, in Vsevolozhsk, erected by the architects P. F. Kozlov and V. N. Polukhin. It consists of metallic oak and laurel leaves, symbolising life and glory, and a tablet with a verse by the poet Olga Berggolts.
• The "Katyusha" («Катюша») monument, at the 17th km, near the village of Kornevo, erected in 1966 by the architects A. D. Levyenkov, P. I. Melnikov, L. V. Chulkevich and the designers G. I. Ivanov and L. V. Izyurov.
• Fifty-six memorial kilometre posts along the Finland Station - Lake Ladoga railway line. Erected 1970 by the architects M. N. Meisel' and I. G. Yavein.
• Forty-six memorial kilometre posts on the highway from Rzhevka railway station, on the edge of Saint Petersburg, to Lake Ladoga. Erected in 1967 by the architect M. N. Meisel'.
• A memorial consisting of a steam locomotive, which had operated on the Road of Life, erected at the station Lake Ladoga in 1974 by the architect V. I. Kuznetsov.
• The memorial complex "The Broken Ring" («Прорванное кольцо»), at the 40th km of the Road of Life, on the shore of Lake Ladoga near the village of Kokkorevo. Consists of a statue of an anti-aircraft cannon (1966, architect V. G. Fillipov, sculptor K. M. Simun, engineer I. A. Rybin).
• "The Crossing" («Переправа») monument, near the hamlet of Morozova, dedicated to the memory of the soldier-pontooneers (1970, architect L. M. Drexler, engineer E. N. Lutsko).
• The "Steel Way" («Стальной путь») plaque in the Petrokrepost railway station, dedicated to the memory of the heroic railway workers on the Road of Life (1972, architects N. M. Meisel' and I. G. Yavein, sculptor G. D. Glinman). On the same site stands a memorial steam locomotive (1975).
• The "Kobona" («Кобона») plaque in the hamlet of Kobona, dedicated to the Road of Life (1964, architects M. N. Meisel'. A. A. Yakovlev).
• The memorial autmobile "The Legendary One-and-a-Half-Tonne" («Легендарная полуторка») at the 103rd km of the Petrozavodsk highway, at the turn-off for Voibokalo (1974, architect A. D. Levyenkov, artist V. V. Fomyenko).
• The "Voibokalo" («Войбокало») plaque at the Voibokalo railway station, commemorating the Road of Life (1975, architect S. S. Natonin).

References

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External links

• Details about the pipeline

Coordinates: 59°56′N 30°20′E / 59.933°N 30.333°E / 59.933; 30.333