JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020 LADOGA FLOTILLA: ROAD OF LIFE AND LENINGRAD DEFENCE Mikhail A. Shlyakhtunov The Department of General Military Training, Military Training Centre, Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4 Volokolamsk Highway, Moscow, 125993, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT: The historical events always arouse close attention of the scientists all over the world. It is important not only to discover the course of history but also to study the reasons of the past events to make the tragedies not happen again. The Leningrad blockade is considered the bloodiest episodes of the World War Second and Great Patriotic War. The researches study the contribution of all the troops who put the efforts to release Leningrad from the blockade circle and supply the citizens with all the necessary things during this period. The Ladoga flotilla took part in constructing the Road of Life, its protection and further defence of the city. Taking into consideration the situation on Leningrad front, the tasks that were put to the military units were extremely difficult and demanded great courage and bravery from the defenders. The Ladoga Flotilla was created before the World War Second and also took part in Soviet-Finish War. In the period between two wars it was reorganized and since June 1941 began to resist the enemy in the area of Ladoga. Its contribution was praised by the government and all the types of the troops of flotilla were awarded with the deferent orders and medals. KEYWORDS: Leningrad blockade, Ladoga flotilla, Military council, Leningrad front, transportation, Ladoga Lake I. INTRODUCTION Ladoga Lake is located in the northwest part of Russia and is considered to be one of the largest lakes in Europe. Its surface area is 17,700 square km [1]. Ladoga Flotilla is based on the Ladoga Lake. This lake is located on the north-west of Russia and is considered to be one of the largest lakes in Europe. During the World War 2 it was a scene of the international navy powers and the frozen lake was the one and only way to supply Leningrad during blockade and that was why the way through it was also called the road of life [2; 3]. A special role in the defence of Leningrad, in particular, in arranging the supply of a blocked city, was played by the Ladoga Naval Flotilla. It was created during the period of the Soviet-Finnish war in 1939-1940. It was established on the 11th of October 1939. The flotilla was based in Shlisselburg and in New Ladoga and was considered to be the powerful combat unit [4]. After finishing the Soviet-Finnish war, the flotilla was re- based to Lahdenpohja. In the beginning of June 1941 (just before the Germany invasion into the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1941) there were based: headquarters and political advocacy division: 34 people; training ship division: 173 people; 175th anti-aircraft battery: 90 people; 148th local separate rifle platoon: 41 people; Ladoga section of MaCS (Monitoring and Communication Service): 43 people; fire brigade: 18 people; first-aid post: 8 people; weather station: 16 people. The main part of the militaries were the cadets and the flotilla combat training directed on training but not on tasks for the combat units. Mainly, it was the rear, reserve base of the Red Flag Baltic Fleet [5; 6]. The aim of the article is the analysis of the geographical and tactical characteristics of the Ladoga theatre of operations and the role of the Ladoga flotilla in Leningrad blockade, the cargo transportation and providing the security of the “road of life”. The novelty of the article is that there is specified the composition of the Ladoga flotilla and its role in the “road of life” not only for the civil people but also for the soldiers. II. LITERATURE REVIEW There is still the great interest in the events of the World War 2 and the Great Patriotic War as a part of it. This topic was the interest not only because there had been involved many countries and the loses were 2715 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020 significant for any country but also because of the fact that many documents that were interested not only for the scientists but also for the ordinary people had been lost and there were still lots of questions to be clear. This war was considered to be the most terrible because of the numerous loses of people. The total number of died during the World War2 was 55 million people and 27 million of them were Soviet Union people [7; 8]. There are a few events that are in the focus of the researchers’ attention. They are the Poland invasion (the beginning of the war), the Battle for Stalingrad (the current name of the city is Volgograd) and Leningrad blockade with its road of life, etc. [9]. The Siege of Leningrad started on the 8th of September 1941, ended on the 27th of January 1944 and lasted for 872 days. Leningrad (the current name is Saint Petersburg) was surrounded by Nazi and Finnish armies. During only 1942 there died 650 thousand of Leningrad citizens [10; 11; 12]. Hitler had long considered Leningrad a key objective in the invasion. It served as the home base of Russia’s Baltic Fleet, and its more than 600 factories made it second only to Moscow in industrial output. On the 31st of August 1941 the German army captured the town of Mga that was the last Leningrad’s railway connection. In a week later, they captured Shlisselburg and cut off the last open roadway. By September 8, a water route via nearby Lake Ladoga stood as Leningrad’s only reliable connection to the outside world. The German continued to move forward and by the end of September 1941 the Army Group North was on the suburbs of Leningrad. They did not want to conquer the city with the big population and Hitler had chosen the other plan: simply to wait for it to starve to death [13; 14; 15]. Leningrad would be conquered if the Soviet soldiers did not hold a small part of the western shore of Lake Ladoga (around 40 km) and did not give a chance to close the blockade circle. In the middle of this space was organized the Osinovets Naval Base that provided the connection of Leningrad with “main land” [16]. The fresh supplies were made across the Lake Ladoga with some food and fuel in the barges during the autumn and I the trucks and sleds during the winter when the lake was covered with ice. The Ladoga route had become to be known as the road of life [17; 18]. In January 1944 a successful Soviet offensive drove the Germans westward from the city’s outskirts, ending the siege. In 1965 Leningrad got the title of the Hero city [19]. III. METHODS The study is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. The principle of objectivity determines the desire of the researcher to the fullest possible reflection of the entire spectrum of historical judgments and estimates. The principle of historicism involves the consideration of the object in specific historical conditions. Gathering the historical information about the studying period, analyzing and comparison of the maps of the studying period and the historical and archive documents have influenced upon the disclosure of the topic and have been accepted as the main research methods. The source study method allows you to critically examine and objectively interpret the documents presented in the study. IV. RESULTS The military flotilla as part of the Soviet Navy was based on Lake Ladoga and adjacent waterways. It existed in the period 1939 − 1940 and 1941 − 1944 and participated in the Soviet-Finnish and Great Patriotic War. The contribution of Ladoga flotilla into the defence of Leningrad can be divided into two types: the help of the Ladoga fleet in supporting the road of life and the military battles. The landing operations and military transportation became very important tasks for the Ladoga sailors at the initial stage of the blockade (September – November 1941), despite the catastrophic situation with food supplies. Only on November 18, 1941 the ships of the flotilla switched mainly to the delivery of food for Leningrad. This delay was connected with the attempts to break the blockade in the fall of 1941 and restore land communications. The military flotilla carried out the following tasks: operational transportation of army units; providing the blocked city with replenishment, ammunition and equipment; transportation of military goods from Leningrad until Finland left the war on September 19, 1944. The Road of Life The road of life that was built at Ladoga Lake supplied Leningrad citizens with the food, fuel and ammunition for the city defence. Ladoga fleet did the organization of transportation of goods, road construction, repair and 2716 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 18, 2020 restoration and road maintenance activities and work, the construction of structures and operation of the ice road [20; 21; 22]. The construction of the road started in November 1941 in the southern part of the Schlusselburg Bay where the distance between the shores was only thirty kilometres. In the road fortification took part several units. The Ladoga Fleet was represented by the hydrographer Lieutenant E. Churov. Besides him there were several other men and ten sailors who watched the group from the enemy attack. The weather was extremely cold but still the lake was not totally covered with the ice and there was strong wind.