The Presidential Library’s materials present memories of participants of breaking the siege of Leningrad

 “Late in the evening, we learned that the troops of the two fronts had united, that now we would be connected with the country not only by water or ice, but also by land. Although on that day the Nazis were still not far from the Moscow outpost and from the Kirov plant, and the city was subjected to artillery fire - there were no boundaries of our joy and delight, we were all proud of this historic victory", - Matvey Frolov, journalist and founder of the All-Union Radio correspondent's office in the besieged city recalled the events of January 18, 1943.

Matvey Lvovich 40 years later, January 18, 1983, reproduced the atmosphere of the Day of Breaking the Siege of Leningrad in a radio report recorded during the ceremonial events at the Kirov Leningrad Academic Opera and Ballet Theater (today - the Mariinsky Theater). It was there that in the victorious 1945 the city was awarded the highest state award of the USSR - the Order of Lenin - "for outstanding services of the working people of Leningrad to the Motherland, for courage and heroism, discipline and stamina shown in the struggle against the German invaders in difficult conditions of the enemy siege". 

In the course of the report, which is available on the Presidential Library's portal, Matvey Frolov's interlocutor - a participant in the breakthrough of the Leningrad siege, a civil engineer, full holder of the Order of Glory, front-line intelligence officer Ivan Baranov - said: “The Nazis created strong fortified borders with an extensive system of bunkers firing points), bunkers (wood-earth firing points), minefields, anti-tank obstacles. It was necessary to cross the Neva up to 800 meters wide, under enemy fire to overcome the steep and high icy coast, but nothing could stop the offensive spirit of infantrymen and sappers, artillerymen and pilots. Our Guards Division from the Nevsky Piglet took an active part in the hot battles. On January 18, after seven days of fighting, the troops of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts united and thereby broke through the siege of Leningrad".

Ivan Baranov also noted that the victory was achieved thanks to the employees of factories and factories who provided the active army with weapons and ammunition, the assistance provided by the whole country, as well as the soldiers who showed "unparalleled stamina, courage and real military skill". 

The siege of Leningrad, the courage of the inhabitants and defenders of the besieged city, which had been in the enemy's ring since September 8, 1941, were the central themes in the activities of journalist Matvey Frolov. Thanks to its materials, the memory of those terrible and heroic days is preserved. In his radio reports, he more than once talked with the direct participants in the breakthrough of the siege. Among the heroes of Matvey Frolov's materials were Pyotr Kochetkov, the commander of the anti-aircraft battery of the 3rd anti-aircraft battalion of the 189th anti-aircraft artillery regiment; Vasily Kharitonov, fighter pilot, flight commander of the 123rd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 7th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Corps; Fedor Rumyantsev, commissar of the 61st separate light tank brigade, which was reorganized into the 30th guards tank brigade for military distinction when breaking the siege. Recordings of these radio broadcasts are available on the Presidential Library’s portal.

With the breakdown of the siege ring, the supply of the city with food and necessary things began. Already on February 5, 1943, the Victory Road began to operate - a temporary railway line Polyana - Shlisselburg, which served to deliver goods to Leningrad. Matvey Frolov tells about the launch of the first train with food and ammunition after breaking the siege in a report that presents the memoirs of a veteran railway worker, driver Georgy Fedorov.

“Now it is difficult even to imagine that in such a short time it was possible to build a thirty-kilometer highway and bridges across the Neva. The first train from Volkhov arrived in Leningrad on February 7. It was a huge holiday for all Leningraders - at last, the city got a direct connection with the mainland. On the same day, a train departed from Leningrad”, - recalls Georgy Fyodorov.

About a year remained until the complete lifting of the siege...

The details of the tragic days of the siege and liberation of the city are provided in other materials of the Presidential Library. They are presented in the special digital collection The Defence and Siege of Leningrad. It includes official documents, photographs, testimonies of participants in combat battles, personal diaries of the siege and others. Of particular value is stock footage, which captures historically significant moments: a meeting on the development of a plan for the offensive operation of the Soviet troops Iskra, thanks to which the stronghold was broken, the beginning of the breakthrough, the meeting of the soldiers of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts and much more.