road construction

see also

Literature

• E. N. Boravskaya. Victory Road // History of railway transport in Russia and Soviet Union. 1917-1945 - St. Petersburg: "Ivan Fedorov", 1997. - V. 2. - S. 350 - 356. - ISBN 5-85952-005-0
• Solovyov V. Hundred stories about the underground city
• Gusarov A.Yu. Monuments military glory Petersburg. - St. Petersburg, 2010. - ISBN 978-5-93437-363-5

Notes

Links

Connection of Leningrad with the mainland
The road of life	Rzhev corridor Automobile Railway Oil pipeline Ladoga flotilla
victory road	Bridges across the Neva (Low-water High-water) victory road Bridge over the Volkhov
Related articles:	Small road of life

History of the Siege of Leningrad
Developments
Personalities

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See what "Road of Victory" is in other dictionaries:

"Road of Victory"- "Road of Victory", a temporary railway line Polyana - Shlisselburg, built in 1943 after breaking the blockade of Leningrad and liberating the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts on January 18, Shlisselburg and the southern coast of Ladoga ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

Temporary railway line Shlisselburg Polyana, built in 1943 after breaking the siege of Leningrad and liberation of the city of Shlisselburg and the southern coast by the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts on January 18 Lake Ladoga(width 8 11 … St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

ROAD OF VICTORY- That was the name of the railway line laid in 1943 between Shlisselburg and the section of the Northern Railway, along which the first post-siege train arrived in Leningrad in February 1943 ... Dictionary of the Petersburger

This term has other meanings, see Road of Life (marathon). UNESCO World Heritage Site No. 540 036b ... Wikipedia

A commemorative kilometer sign on the railway line Kushelevka Piskarevka, near the Theological cemetery "Road of Life" during the Great Patriotic War, the only transport route through Lake Ladoga. During periods of water navigation, ... ... Wikipedia

The Road to Serfdom Cover of the first edition of the book ... Wikipedia

spawned many legends and famous stories. Many of them outlived the car brands themselves. One of these stories is the story of what was the original name of the car "Victory".

The origin of the project

"Victory" appeared on Soviet roads in the second half of the 40s. This project was implemented on The idea of ​​a new passenger car was born after it became clear to the designers that the old "gas" models were hopelessly outdated. Between them and the latest auto industry was a significant gap of ten years. With the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet economy finally began to recover. At the same time, resources and money were found for the creation and mass production of a new model.

The original name of the car "Victory" was discussed already at the last stage of design. But the very project of a new car of the Gorky Automobile Plant appeared back in 1943. Then the government instructed GAZ specialists to develop a new model of the middle class. Domestic craftsmen began to select structural elements and an approximate layout.

The role of Stalin in the emergence of "Victory"

Many are interested in what the original name of the Pobeda car was not to Stalin's liking. Not surprisingly, the head of the Soviet state at that time controlled all the important industrial and automotive innovations in the country. Stalin became the initiator It was he who reconfigured Soviet economy for accelerated industrialization. Including the Secretary General personally oversaw the creation of the Gorky Automobile Plant in the 30s. And in the future, Stalin paid close attention to what was happening at this important enterprise for the whole state.

In 1944, a presentation of a model of the future car was held in the Kremlin. The importance of the event was enormous. In case of success at the top of the government and permission from them to release the car was supposed to go into mass production.

Name choice

So what was the original name of the Pobeda car that Stalin did not like? The first person was told in detail about all the features of the presented car. Finally, the turn came to the name. The head of the USSR was offered the option "Motherland". Here is the original name planned for the Pobeda car. Stalin did not like this "signboard". There is a legend that he wittily answered this proposal with a question: “And how much is our Motherland now?”

After that, the name was naturally marked. Nevertheless, for government officials who oversaw the project of the future car, it was very important to choose a patriotic option. Therefore, the next proposal was the name "Victory". This option suited Stalin. "Rodina" (what the original name was planned for the "Victory" car) is the only misfire in the project.

Technical features

At the first stage of designing the car, its main stylistic and technical features were determined. The designers decided to give the car a low floor of the passenger compartment, a power unit placed above the front axle, and an independent springy front suspension. The original name of the car "Pobeda" ("Motherland") was planned to be given to the owner of a wingless with a streamlined shape. From point of view appearance and visual solutions for that time, these were the most modern ideas. According to the designers' idea, "Victory" was not just a car. She became a symbol of the prestige of the entire Soviet auto industry.

Andrey Lipgart, the chief designer of the Gorky plant, became the direct manager of the project. It was he who finally approved all the technical solutions related to the characteristics of the car. Lipgart also chose the emblem for the new model. She became the letter "M", which was a reference to the then name of the plant. In the early 1930s, it was renamed Molotovets in honor of the People's Commissar and close associate of Stalin. The stylized letter on the emblem resembled teeth and also a seagull - a symbol of the great Volga River.

The impact of the war on the car

Of course, the original name of the car "Victory" was patriotic. The second option was an even more direct allusion to success in the Great Patriotic war. During the hostilities with Nazi Germany, domestic specialists gained invaluable experience working with foreign models of automotive technology. These were cars captured from the Wehrmacht and directly in Germany. A huge number of vehicles ended up in after the war as captured equipment.

Also, a significant number of models came to the country from America. The US authorities delivered a lot of cars to the USSR under the Lend-Lease program. The experience of using this technique helped Soviet specialists to determine the technical and design solutions for the new vehicle. Therefore, it is not surprising that the original name of the car "Victory" was swept aside. The new brainchild of GAZ was to become another monument to the struggle against the troops of the Third Reich.

Start of mass production

The first Pobeda cars were produced in the summer of 1946. These models, however, were only draft versions. Specialists ran the novelty and checked it for technical faults. The analysis continued for several months. During this time, 23 cars rolled off the assembly line. All of them then became a unique collector's rarity.

The original name of the car "Victory" in the USSR was condemned by Stalin. Of course, the Secretary General was the first person to see the production model. It was produced in 1947. Stalin liked the car. After his approval, real mass production began. In February 1948, the thousandth Pobeda rolled off the assembly line.

Need for modification

"Victory" was produced in 1946-1958. During this period, she went through several modifications. This happened because by the beginning of the 50s, design flaws before the modern model became apparent. They were associated with low functionality of the body. The ceiling above the rear seat was inconvenient for passengers. The trunk could not boast of a large volume.

What was the original name of the Pobeda car considered by the designers? They wanted to give the car the name "Motherland", but Stalin changed this choice. In order for the car to become truly victorious according to its name, it had to be updated.

"Victory-NAMI"

Among the modification projects of the first generation of the famous car, Pobeda-NAMI stands out. This title was not intended. It is a reference to the state scientific center in the automotive industry. Its specialists proposed to start production of another modification of the iconic machine.

The main innovations were that the fastback sedan body was to be replaced by a conventional sedan. It was proposed to remove the front sofa in the cabin, and put separate seats with improved finishes in its place. The redevelopment would increase the usable space available for the driver and passengers. In general, the development of NAMI specialists was reduced to increasing comfort. These ideas were never implemented due to the high cost of the project.

They worked day and night, despite the frost and enemy shelling. The blockade needed food, and the front needed weapons and ammunition. On February 5, 1943, a railway appeared that connected the besieged Leningrad with the mainland. The track, which went down in history as the Victory Road, was built in just 17 days.

By decision of the State Defense Committee, on January 22, 1943, the construction of a new Shlisselburg-Polyany railway with a length of 33 kilometers with an ice overpass across the Neva began.

At the same time, about five thousand people began to work from the west and from the east: surveyors, railway workers, military men.

The task was daunting. Firstly, the swampy and rugged terrain was very inconvenient for the construction of the railway. Secondly, the lack of roads complicated the delivery necessary materials. Thirdly, the peatlands were in close proximity to the front line - 5-6, and in some places 3-4 km. The work was carried out under constant artillery and mortar shelling.

Every day the workers risked their lives, rebuilt what had been destroyed by the enemy, and moved forward. In severe winter conditions, builders dragged heavy bags of soil, cut down trees, made sleepers and rails.

There was no soil nearby. They began to pave the road from the quarry to the embankment. - recalled the commander of the railway battalion, Major Yashchenko. - Snow to the waist, frost, and under the snow the water squishes. Cars can't get through. (…) The day was not enough, people worked at night.

In parallel with the laying of the rail track, the construction of a temporary low-water bridge across the Neva began. To select the construction site, city archives along the river were studied, as well as documents from the Baltic Shipping Company. As a result, we managed to find a place where maximum depth the river reaches 6 m. The construction of the crossing was entrusted to metro builders, to whose aid more than two thousand blockade fighters arrived from Leningrad.

So, on February 5, 1943, just 17 days after the start of construction, the railway workers and bridgemen of the western and eastern sections of the new railway line met.

The road, which went down in history as the Victory Road, received life.

Already on February 7, Leningraders at the Finlyandsky railway station greeted the first train with food with glee. The composition from the mainland was brought by the senior engineer of the Volkhovstroy depot I.P. Pirozhenko.

Later, also ahead of schedule, a permanent bridge across the Neva was built, and the low-water crossing was used as a backup route.

For the delivery of goods had to pay a high price. The Germans, who had settled on the Sinyavinsky Heights, constantly fired at the trains with cannons and mortars.

The death of machinists, the destruction of cargo, the destruction of the railway track were commonplace.

For conspiracy, the trains moved only at night, and in order to provide the city with everything necessary, they followed one after another.

“While driving the train, the driver had to keep an eye on everything that was happening ahead, so as not to crash into the tail of the train in front. At the same time, he was required to closely monitor the state of the furnace, boiler, and the operation of all mechanisms of the locomotive. - wrote in his memoirs the deputy head of the traffic service A.K. Ugryumov. “The heating of the locomotive could not be sharply forced by the use of artificial methods of increasing traction, since in this case fire would inevitably burst out of the chimney, and thereby movement would be detected in front of enemy observers.”

The machinist V.M. Eliseev said that each trip along the Victory Road is a game with death. And this was not an exaggeration.

During the period of operation of the Shlisselburg highway - until March 10, 1944 - 110 people died, another 175 were injured.

The railroad called the road "Death Road".

But it was through it that the main part of the cargo was brought to Leningrad and the exhausted blockade survivors were evacuated. Thanks to her, it became possible to provide the city with food and supply the army with sufficient equipment and ammunition. The Road of Death, or the Road of Victory, allowed the troops of the Leningrad Front to go on the offensive and liberate the long-suffering besieged city.

And served as a more effective replacement for the Road of Life for the delivery of goods to besieged Leningrad. Unlike the Road of Life, which ran along Lake Ladoga, the Road of Victory ran along the left bank of the Neva and along the southern coast of Ladoga, passing in some sections 3-4 kilometers from German artillery positions, for which it received the nickname "death corridor". It played an important strategic role in the defense of Leningrad, including the complete lifting of the blockade.

road construction

see also

Write a review on the article "Road of Victory"

Literature

• E. N. Boravskaya. Victory Road // History of Railway Transport of Russia and the Soviet Union. 1917-1945 - St. Petersburg: "Ivan Fedorov", 1997. - V. 2. - S. 350 - 356. - ISBN 5-85952-005-0.
• Solovyov V. Hundred stories about the underground city
• Gusarov A.Yu. Monuments of military glory of St. Petersburg. - St. Petersburg, 2010. - ISBN 978-5-93437-363-5.
• Vengerova S. Bridges great victory// Roads. Innovations in construction: magazine. - St. Petersburg, 2013. - No. 26.

Notes

Links

Connection of Leningrad with the mainland The road of life victory road Related articles:

An excerpt characterizing the Road of Victory

- Mavrusha, rather, dove!
- Give me a thimble from there, young lady.
– Will it be soon? - said the count, entering from behind the door. “Here are the spirits. Peronskaya was already waiting.
“It’s ready, young lady,” said the maid, lifting a hemmed smoky dress with two fingers and blowing and shaking something, expressing with this gesture the awareness of the airiness and purity of what she was holding.
Natasha began to put on a dress.
“Now, now, don’t go, papa,” she shouted to her father, who opened the door, still from under the haze of a skirt that covered her entire face. Sonya closed the door. A minute later, the count was let in. He was in a blue tailcoat, stockings and shoes, perfumed and pomaded.
- Oh, dad, you're so good, lovely! - said Natasha, standing in the middle of the room and straightening the folds of smoke.
“Excuse me, young lady, excuse me,” the girl said, kneeling, pulling at her dress and turning the pins from one side of her mouth to the other.
- Your will! - Sonya cried out with despair in her voice, looking at Natasha's dress, - your will, again long!
Natasha stepped aside to look around in the dressing-glass. The dress was long.
“By God, madam, nothing is long,” said Mavrusha, who was crawling along the floor after the young lady.
“Well, it’s a long time, so we’ll sweep it, we’ll sweep it in a minute,” said the resolute Dunyasha, taking out a needle from a handkerchief on her chest and again set to work on the floor.
At that moment, shyly, with quiet steps, the countess entered in her toque and velvet dress.
- Wow! my beauty! shouted the Count, “better than all of you!” He wanted to hug her, but she pulled away, blushing, so as not to cringe.
“Mom, more on the side of the current,” Natasha said. - I'll cut it, and rushed forward, and the girls who were hemming, who did not have time to rush after her, tore off a piece of smoke.
- My God! What is it? I don't blame her...
“Nothing, I notice, you won’t see anything,” said Dunyasha.
- Beauty, my darling! - said the nanny who came in from behind the door. - And Sonyushka, well, beauties! ...
At a quarter past eleven we finally got into the carriages and drove off. But still it was necessary to stop by the Tauride Garden.
Peronskaya was already ready. Despite her old age and ugliness, she had exactly the same thing as the Rostovs, although not with such haste (for her it was a habitual thing), but her old, ugly body was also perfumed, washed, powdered, also carefully washed behind the ears , and even, and just like at the Rostovs, the old maid enthusiastically admired the outfit of her mistress when she went into the living room in a yellow dress with a cipher. Peronskaya praised the Rostovs' toilets.
The Rostovs praised her taste and dress, and, taking care of their hair and dresses, at eleven o'clock they got into the carriages and drove off.

Natasha had not had a moment of freedom since the morning of that day, and had never had time to think about what lay ahead of her.
In the damp, cold air, in the cramped and incomplete darkness of the swaying carriage, for the first time she vividly imagined what awaited her there, at the ball, in the illuminated halls - music, flowers, dances, sovereign, all the brilliant youth of St. Petersburg. What awaited her was so wonderful that she did not even believe that it would be: it was so inconsistent with the impression of cold, crowdedness and darkness of the carriage. She understood everything that awaited her only when, having walked along the red cloth of the entrance, she entered the hallway, took off her fur coat and walked beside Sonya in front of her mother between the flowers along the illuminated stairs. Only then did she remember how she had to behave at the ball and tried to assume that majestic manner, which she considered necessary for a girl at the ball. But fortunately for her, she felt that her eyes were running wide: she could not see anything clearly, her pulse beat a hundred times a minute, and the blood began to beat at her heart. She could not adopt the manner that would have made her ridiculous, and she walked, dying from excitement and trying with all her might only to hide it. And this was the very manner that most of all went to her. In front and behind them, talking in the same low voice and also in ball gowns, the guests entered. The mirrors on the stairs reflected ladies in white, blue, pink dresses, with diamonds and pearls on their open arms and necks.
Natasha looked into the mirrors and in the reflection she could not distinguish herself from others. Everything was mixed in one brilliant procession. At the entrance to the first hall, a uniform rumble of voices, steps, greetings - deafened Natasha; the light and brilliance blinded her even more. The host and hostess, who had been standing at the front door for half an hour and saying the same words to those who came in: “charme de vous voir,” [in admiration that I see you] also met the Rostovs and Peronskaya.
Two girls in white dresses, with identical roses in their black hair, sat down in the same way, but the hostess involuntarily fixed her gaze longer on thin Natasha. She looked at her, and smiled at her alone, in addition to her master's smile. Looking at her, the hostess remembered, perhaps, her golden, irrevocable girlish time, and her first ball. The owner also looked after Natasha and asked the count, who is his daughter?

22:35 — REGNUM The breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad by Soviet troops in January 1943 had a clear military-political goal: to connect the besieged city with the “mainland” by land, in addition to the Road of Life along Lake Ladoga, in order to deliver food and fuel to Leningrad and save hundreds of thousands of people whom the enemy starved, fired upon and bombed, as well as to ensure the transfer of troops to strengthen the Leningrad Front.

This goal was achieved by the creation in an incredibly short time of the railway near the southern shore of Lake Ladoga and the crossing of the Neva. Later this path will be called Victory Road. But those who, under shelling and bombing, built and operated the railway line, called it the "corridor of death." Almost all trains were attacked by the enemy. The exact number of sacrifices made for the creation and operation of this track is still unknown. The temporary railway ceased to function only after the complete liberation of Leningrad from the blockade.

Breakthrough for the road

The breakthrough of the blockade by the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts as a result of Operation Iskra occurred on January 18, 1943 in the area of ​​workers' settlements near the Sinyavin Heights. On the same day, the city of Shlisselburg at the source of the Neva was liberated from the enemy, and the southern coast of Ladoga came under the control of Soviet troops - but only its narrow strip, on which there were no communications.

Simultaneously with the breaking of the blockade State Committee Defense decided to immediately build a railway line on the liberated territory to supply Leningrad. It was supposed to connect the Polyana platform on the existing Leningrad-Volkhovstroy line with Shlisselburg. The trains had to be transported over a bridge that did not exist at that time to the right bank of the Neva, from where they could reach Leningrad along the existing tracks.

The route was supposed to pass through forests, swamps and places of pre-war peat extraction, which were considered completely unsuitable for rail traffic. There were no roads for the transport of building materials, people and equipment. But in abundance - unexploded shells, bombs, minefields left by the enemy.

The task was most complicated by the fact that the entire route of the proposed route passed in the front line, covered by Nazi aircraft, artillery fire, even mortars, and the German command did everything possible to prevent the construction and launch of a railway connection with blockaded Leningrad. And the Soviet troops did not yet have the strength to push the enemy further.

The construction of the railway began just four days after the blockade was broken, on January 22, 1943, by the forces of the Department of Military Restoration Works, railway troops and special forces of the People's Commissariat of Railways - about five thousand people in total. Like the breakthrough itself, it came simultaneously from the west and from the east. Of course, there was no opportunity to build in compliance with peacetime standards, but the Russian winter came to the aid of the railway workers.

“I had to lay the track, that is, sleepers and rails, right on the snow. Well-frozen swampy soil - that was the basis of the path along which trains with heavy steam locomotives were to be launched., - recalled the head of the track service of the October Railway during the war years Alexey Kananin.

To speed up the work, it was possible to use an abandoned narrow-gauge railway line built during the years of pre-war peat extraction, but most of the way still went through impassable swampy places.

“We got a swampy area, there was no soil nearby. They began to pave the road from the quarry to the embankment - recalled the former commander of the 57th railway battalion, Major Yaschenko. — Snow to the waist, frost, and under the snow the water squelches. Cars can't get through. In the course went trophy bags. Soil was poured into them in a quarry and dragged on their shoulders to the canvas. They carried the earth on sleds. Even some kind of German rubber-wheeled carriage was adapted for transporting soil. They made an embankment, and it began to settle into the swamp. I had to first make sleighs on peat, and only then pour the earth. The day was not enough, people worked at night.”

The enemy positions were located only 4-6 kilometers from the highway, and daily shelling led to the fact that it was necessary to constantly restore the already built canvas. From the Sinyavino heights, which were still occupied by the Germans, batteries and aircraft fired on the builders of the road. Nevertheless, by February 5, 33 kilometers of the main route, from Shlisselburg to Polyany, were ready to receive trains with cargo and people.

Two bridges in two months

But in order to break through railway track to Leningrad, it was necessary to cross the Neva in the area of ​​the newly liberated Shlisselburg. Here, a full-flowing river flows out of Lake Ladoga, and at the source of the Neva, water masses accelerate to two meters per second, which in itself makes building on the water in this place an extremely difficult task.

More recently, the tanks of the attacking Soviet troops passed through the thick Neva ice, but a bridge is needed for the movement of freight and wagons. Moreover, such that it could withstand the spring ice drift and could be operated in summer time. And it was necessary to direct it in just a few days, again, under enemy shells and bombs.

It was decided to build a low-water bridge on piles driven into the bottom of the river, without navigation passages. Moreover, in order to more successfully resist the current, it was necessary to bend the bridge in an arc towards Ladoga, and also make an ascent from the right bank to the higher left. The width of the Neva at the chosen construction site, at the beginning of the Staraya Ladoga Canal, exceeded 1 kilometer, the depth reached 6.5 meters.

The construction of the bridge began on January 24, 1943, it was built by both the military and civilians, among the latter were mostly women. About the superhuman efforts with which the bridge was built is described, in particular, in the collection of memoirs and documents "There was a front city, there was a blockade"(Leningrad, 1984).

“Each type of work has its own rules. For pile drivers, for example, they are supposed to drive 20 piles in one working day. This is the norm in peacetime. When building a bridge across the Neva, the pile drivers drove 85 piles a day! The sappers pierced the “windows” in the ice shell of the river with heavy checkers. Explosion! - and the "window" is ready. Immediately, the fighters of the pile drivers drag a 20-meter pile towards him. Crossbars are laid on the piles driven into the bottom, longitudinal bars are laid on them, and sleepers and rails were strengthened only on the second layer of the longitudinal bars.

To build the bridge, it was necessary to drive 2,650 piles and process 3,000 cubic meters of timber. For 12 days, during which the work did not stop day or night, a bridge 1300 meters long was built. On February 2, 1943, the first train with building materials passed through it.

Thus, the railway communication between Leningrad and the rest of the territory of the USSR, not occupied by the fascist invaders, was restored. On a temporary, extremely dangerous track, on a bridge that zigzags from the current and ice floes, the trains could still move to the exhausted city.

It should be noted that an outstanding engineer supervised the construction of the Shlisselburg-Polyany railway line and the pile-ice crossing across Ladoga. Ivan Zubkov. Before the war, he led the construction of the first line of the Leningrad Metro, which was completed only after the war, in the 1950s. But Ivan Zubkov did not return to Lenmetrostroy - he died in the summer of 1944 at the age of 39.

On February 5, the Shlisselburg highway was put into temporary operation, and on the morning of February 7, 1943, after a 17-month break, the first freight train with food arrived in Leningrad at the Finland Station. He was pulled by a steam locomotive under the control of a machinist Ivan Pirozhenko. The slogan “Greetings to the heroic defenders of Leningrad!” was reinforced on the locomotive, and the Leningraders greeted the train with a rally and a brass band. On the same day, a freight train set off from the railway station to the "mainland", which was loaded with gun barrel castings - this is how labor Leningrad contributed to the fight against the enemy on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War.

The restored connection with the "mainland" was not slow to affect the food supply of the starving city. From February 22, 1943, workers and engineers of hot shops and defense factories began to receive 700 grams of bread, at other enterprises - 600 grams, employees - 500 grams. For comparison: in February 1942, the norms for issuing bread were: workers - 500 grams; employees - 400 grams; dependents and children - 300 grams.

Trains over water and in water

Meanwhile, in Shlisselburg, 500 meters downstream of the Neva from the low bridge, the construction of another, this time a high-water railway bridge across the Neva, had already begun. The bridge was supposed to replace the first crossing, small ships were supposed to pass freely under its spans, and a draw span was provided for large ships and ships.

The bridge, 852 meters long and more than 8 meters high, was built under enemy fire by railway soldiers and about a thousand people from among the local population. The bridge was opened to traffic on the morning of March 19, 1943. But they decided not to dismantle the old crossing: due to constant damage from shells and bombs, the new bridge failed, and then the trains were sent to the first understudy bridge.

“Only in the period of March 18-April 1, 1943, the Nazis fired thousands of shells on the bridges, damaging more than 250 piles. On March 25, as a result of direct hits of shells, one of the pillars of the permanent bridge was completely destroyed, two metal spans were damaged and collapsed into the water, individual elements on many pillars were broken, - recalled the former head of the political department railway troops Leningrad Front Yakov Mayorov. — The movement of trains was transferred to the preserved pile-ice overpass, which had greater survivability due to the small size of the spans and the simplicity of the design. There were, of course, damage here, but they were quickly repaired. And after 15 days, the railroad soldiers restored the permanent bridge.”

With the advent of the spring of 1943, the railway line, laid in the winter through swamps and streams, was in danger of flooding. Melt and swamp water eroded the way, making the movement of trains along it almost impossible. But each time the railway track was restored, contrary to the forces of nature and the evil will of the enemy.

“For many weeks, and in some sections and during the entire period of operation of the route, the rails were flooded with water. This meant that the conventional way of observing rails, joints and sleepers was not possible here. The lineman could not inspect the rail and the joint, could not detect the crack by ordinary tapping. The linemen walked along the canvas on the water. In the water, they changed bolts, put linings under the rails, checked the gaps, etc. The work of these people was incredibly difficult, requiring great physical exertion, ” - recalled the head of the Oktyabrskaya road service, already mentioned by us, Alexei Kananin.

“Trains ran like amphibians. According to no technical conditions, it is impossible for the train wheels to be touched by water. But we had no other way, no choice. The war dictated its terms. The trains ran straight on the water.", - the Mir TV channel quoted the words of the custodian of the funds of the Victory Road memorial museum Lyudmila Frantsuzova.

During the year that the Victory Road worked, more than a thousand damage was inflicted by the enemy, one and a half thousand units of rolling stock were shot down and burned. But each time the damage was repaired, and the drivers again and again drove trains with food and fuel to Leningrad, taking out the evacuees and military products of the Leningrad factories on the return flight.

Quote from the movie "Corridor of Immortality". Dir. Fedor Popov. 2017. Russia

The locomotive driver, Hero of Socialist Labor later recalled how it was possible to break through the shelling Vasily Eliseev:

“We have learned to disguise ourselves, to deceive the enemy, to emerge victorious from the most difficult situations. Departing from Polyany station in the direction of Shlisselburg, we knew that we would reach the 30th kilometer safely: the line here stretched among a tall forest. But at the 30th kilometer, the saving forest ended and a clearing overgrown with small bushes began. We acted as follows: following through the forest, we picked up high speed, and upon reaching an open area, we closed the regulator. During this time, the coal in the furnace was burned so that there was no smoke. Without smoke and steam, the locomotive went to the next kilometer, where the slope began, and the train raced several kilometers by inertia. Then I had to open steam. Seeing him, the Nazis immediately opened fire. Again it was necessary to strongly accelerate the train, close the regulator again and follow the inertia for some distance. The Nazis, having lost their landmark, ceased fire until they again found the target. And the driver tirelessly repeated his maneuver, playing with death.

During the annual period of work of the Victory Road, only from among the railway workers, according to incomplete data, 110 people died and 175 people were injured. How many military railway workers, soldiers and officers from the air defense and security units accompanying the cargo, evacuated civilians died is still not known exactly.

In the essay "Unconquered Leningrad", published in 1985, cites such facts, giving some idea of ​​the extent of the losses of just a few days in March 1943.

“On March 3, as a result of the shelling of train No. 931 on the Lipki – Mesopotamia section, at 11:30, the enemy destroyed 41 wagons with ammunition, 2 passenger cars, 4 wagons with food and 4 wagons with coal<…>The driver and one person from the train escort were wounded, 2 people were missing. Restoration work was carried out by laying a detour with a length of 750 running meters. They were carried out under enemy shelling, as a result of which 15 people were killed.<…>On March 16, at 10:20, as a result of shelling on the same stretch, the enemy destroyed 41 wagons with ammunition and 3 wagons with oats, several wagons were badly damaged. For 350 m, the railway track was destroyed. As a result of shelling, 18 people were killed and wounded during the restoration work.”

In total, at least 1,200 damages to the railway were recorded. And each time, repair brigades went out to eliminate them under enemy fire. Specially created air defense units shot down 102 German aircraft. And the counter-battery fire of the Soviet artillerymen forced the Nazis to give up the idea of ​​completely stopping railway to Leningrad.

In the shadow of the Road of Life

From February 1943 to January 27, 1944, when the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted, 4,729 trains passed along the Victory Road and the bridges built across the Neva, and over 6,000 trains during the entire period of work. The temporary railway operated until March 10, 1944, until the usual railway was restored. communication of Leningrad with the whole country. And the bridges in Shlisselburg were dismantled after the war.

According to historians, after the start of the work of the Victory Road, about 75% of the cargo delivered to Leningrad fell on this particular railway line, and the rest - on the much more famous Road of Life, laid by trucks (in winter) and barges (in summer) along the waters of Lake Ladoga .

However, in the post-war years, the unprecedented feat of those who created and protected the railway along the Ladoga coast, drove trains along it, risking their lives daily, was undeservedly pushed into the shadows. The Road of Life has become a symbol of the resilience and courage of the people of Leningrad and the defenders of the city on the Neva, but the Road of Victory has no less right to do so.

Fortunately, her memory is carefully preserved in the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg. The steam locomotive Em 721−83, which brought the first train to Leningrad after the blockade was broken, has been permanently parked at the Petrokrepost station and is part of the museum complex of the October Railway.

Alexey Zatonsky

In the building of the Petrokrepost station in 1995, the Victory Road Museum was opened, dedicated to the history of construction and the builders of this road, the railway workers who worked as part of the 48th locomotive column of the special reserve of the People's Commissariat of Railways. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the first train, the museum held a large-scale re-exposition, updated exhibition equipment, and installed multimedia equipment.

Finally, on January 18, 2018, on the day of the 75th anniversary of the breaking of the blockade, the Central Museum of Railway Transport of the Russian Federation hosted the premiere of a new film "Corridor of Immortality", completely dedicated to the feat of the Victory Road. The main character of the picture was a Leningrad girl who worked as a train conductor on this road. The film was filmed for several years, the money for its completion was collected with the help of public donations. The tape should be released in the near future.

Every year at the Finlyandsky railway station in St. Petersburg, another anniversary of the arrival of the first train from " mainland» along the Shlisselburg-Polyany railway line. A steam locomotive of the same series arrives at the station, which brought hope to the city in February 1943.