Road of Victory

Categories / Army. Navy/Blokade
ROAD OF VICTORY, a temporary 33-km long railroad from Polyany to Schlisselburg. The railroad was built from 20 January to 6 February 1943, after breaking the Siege along the southern side of Lake Ladoga, and became Leningrad's main link before the Lifting of the Siege in 1944. The railroad included a temporary 1.300 metre long bridge across the Neva. Passing 3 - 5 km from the front line, it could be seen and bombarded by enemy troops (railroad men called it the Corridor of Death), and for this reason trains ran only at night. The first train from the continent ran on the Road of Victory on the night of 7 February. The railroad started to be used regularly from 23 February, and enabled food allocation to be increased in Leningrad. From late May, the Road of Victory handled up to 32 trains per night. In 1943, 4,400,000 tons of cargo was delivered to Leningrad (two and a half times more than via the Road of Life). After the Siege was lifted, the railroad was dismantled. In 1969, the Road of Victory monument was erected near the Priladozhsky settlement.

References: Ковальчук В. М. Дорога победы осажденного Ленинграда: Ж.-д. магистраль Шлиссельбург - Поляны в 1943 г. Л., 1984.

G. V. Kalashnikov. Ковальчук В. М. Дорога победы осажденного Ленинграда: Ж.-д. магистраль Шлиссельбург - Поляны в 1943 г. Л., 1984 Breaking of the Siege (1943)
Lifting of the Siege, 1944
Road of Life
1943
1943