Two defense lines of Leningrad recalled at the Presidential library

“According to the theory of generations, in the time that has passed since the Great Patriotic War and the Leningrad blockade, three generations have changed. However, public interest in this topic is not weakening”, - noted participants of the video lecture “Leningrad Front in 1941”, held on November 28, 2018 in the Presidential Library.

At the meeting, the captain of the first rank in retirement, a member of the Admiralty Coordination Council of Veterans of the Russian Navy, the head of the Leningrad Folk Militia group on the social network VKontakte Viktor Dunayev disclosed little-known facts about the Luga defensive line. It is a system of fortifications with a length of about 300 kilometers from the Narva Bay to Novgorod Region, built in June-August 1941. With the help of this obstacle, Soviet troops until the middle of September 1941 held the attacking group of German armies "Sever".

“Memory of the Great Victory” collection contains a book by Victor Dunaev “The Great Patriotic War. Harbingers of Victory”. It describes the initial period of the war, and especially the events at the Luga defensive line, gives some little-known facts to the general public. For example, that the Leningrad metro-builders were sent to the construction of the fortifications of the line. Although the underground did not exist in the city on the Neva before the war.

This paradox is explained as follows. The decision to build the underground in Leningrad was made in January 1941. For these purposes, about 5 thousand people were recruited, who half a year before the German attack on the USSR managed to dig a number of mines. But with the beginning of the war, most of them were sent to perform military tasks. In particular, they built defenses in Pargolovo, then near Vyborg, then on the line Luga - Kingisepp - Petergof - Krasnoye Selo.

The little-known attempt to break through the blockade of Leningrad is reflected by the authors of another book - “Schlusselburg paratroopers. November 28, 1941": independent researcher Valery Shagin and employee of the research department of JSC Center for Exhibition and Museum Projects, graduate student of the Institute of History, St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Vyacheslav Mosunov.

In September 1941, Wehrmacht troops reached the left bank of the Neva, forming the Schlusselburg-Sinyavinskiy protrusion, or “bottle throat,” a 12-km wide bridgehead, which rests against Ladoga between Schlusselburg and the village of Lipki. The fascists turned the narrow strip of the area separating Leningrad from the mainland into a powerful fortified area.

In November 1941, the command of the Leningrad Front decided to take advantage of the early appearance of ice on Lake Ladoga and attack the "bottle throat" by the forces of the rifle division and the ski regiment of the sailors of the Baltic Fleet. This was the Schlusselburg landing. However, the operation for several reasons failed miserably.

By the way, one of those present at the video lecture in the Presidential Library pushed this interest to the topic. Valery Shagin admitted that he learned about the fate of his grandfather and one of the participants of the landing party Pavel Shagin about three years ago.

At first, of all the documents, there was only a “funeral” for the grandfather, which indicated that he died on November 28, 1941 in the village of Lipki. But gradually, and in collaboration with professional researcher Vyacheslav Mosunov, the descendant of the front-line soldier learned more and more. But in the end there was enough materials for the whole book.

“We gathered at the Presidential Library at a remarkable time”, - the meeting participants added. - November 27 is the Day of the Marine Corps. November 28 is the anniversary of the Schlusselburg landing, when the ski regiment of the marines, or naval soldiers, as they were called before the revolution of 1917, was thrown into battle to break the blockade”.

Additionally, the electronic collections of the Presidential Library, which number more than 650,000 items, include a separate collection dedicated to the military operations of 1941, as well as to the defense and blockade of Leningrad.