Road of Life

For the 1956 Mexican film, see The Road of Life.

The Road of Life (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 was maintained by the German Army Group North and the Finnish Defence Forces. The siege lasted for 29 months from 8 September 1941, to 27 January 1944. Over one million citizens of Leningrad died from starvation, stress, exposure and bombardments. The road today forms part of the World Heritage Site.

Marker noting the 17th kilometer along the Road

Establishment

US propaganda film showing the Road of Life.

The Road of Life began to operate on 20 November 1941 when the first convoy of horse-drawn 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. During the winter of 1941–42 the ice corridor of the "Road of Life" operated for 152 days, until 24 April.

About 514,000 city inhabitants, 35,000 wounded soldiers, industrial equipment from 86 plants and factories, and also some art and museum collections were evacuated from Leningrad during the first winter of the blockade. 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.

Finland's role in the siege is under dispute. Some historians hold that Finnish divisions tried to but could not push forward across Lake Ladoga to cut the well-known route and complete the siege; another argument maintains that Finnish forces intentionally left the supply route open in tacit defiance of Germany's requests. The latter argument further divides into a view supporting a high-level decision and another supporting only low-level common sense by the unit commanders on location. Regardless of the motivation, in the end the Finns did not complete the siege and cut the supply, nor did they employ artillery against Leningrad or the Road of Life.

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 made the journey on foot.

During 1942 the "Artery of Life", a 29 km (18 mi) long oil pipeline via Lake Ladoga was built of which 21 km (13 mi) ran under water at depth of 12.5 metres (41 ft).

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, starting with horse traffic on 20 December 1942. Motor vehicles began to operate on 24 December 1942. Construction of the 30 km (19 mi) long railway over piles and ice also began in December 1942.

Operation Spark — a full-scale offensive of troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts — started in the morning of 12 January 1943. After heavy and fierce battles, the Red Army units overcame the powerful German fortified zones to the South of Lake Ladoga, and on 18 January 1943 the two fronts met, opening a land corridor to the besieged city. 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 27 January 1944.

For the heroic resistance of its citizens, Leningrad was the first city awarded the honorary title of 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 Lake Ladoga, named 'the Road of Life'. However, three weeks later 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 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 Belt 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.

Memorial element The "Broken Circle", 1966

The "Broken Circle", 1966

• The memorial complex "Broken Circle" ("Разорванное 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 automobile "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).

See also

• Ice road

External links

• Details about the pipeline