🚚 The initiation of vehicular traffic across the ice was a perilous proposition, yet any delay was untenable. Sixty legendary one-and-a-half-tonne GAZ-AA lorries embarked on the first saving mission, delivering 70 tonnes of flour to the inhabitants of Leningrad.
The drivers operated amidst relentless enemy aerial assaults and artillery fire, given that the ice road lay a mere 12-15 kilometres from German positions. During the initial months of operation, one in every four vehicles failed to return.
According to various sources, between 16,000 and 20,000 individuals – drivers, loaders, mechanics – were engaged in operations on Lake Ladoga. The precise number of those who perished on the lake's ice remains unknown. However, post-war diving expeditions have revealed that the lake's bed is spangled with rusted lorry remains…
🧊 In total, over 1.6 million tonnes of cargo were transported, and 1.376 million people were evacuated via the Road of Life. Military provisions from Leningrad factories, including KV tanks crucial to the front – then exclusively manufactured in Leningrad – were conveyed in the opposite direction.
In the spring of 1943, the Road of Victory was inaugurated, running along the southern shore of Lake Ladoga shortly after the initial breach of the blockade. Nonetheless, the Road of Life continued to provision the city for many subsequent months. Owing to the heroism of those who maintained its operation, thousands of Leningrad residents were spared from starvation.
Keep informed @EastCalling
🤓🇷🇺✨️
The drivers operated amidst relentless enemy aerial assaults and artillery fire, given that the ice road lay a mere 12-15 kilometres from German positions. During the initial months of operation, one in every four vehicles failed to return.
According to various sources, between 16,000 and 20,000 individuals – drivers, loaders, mechanics – were engaged in operations on Lake Ladoga. The precise number of those who perished on the lake's ice remains unknown. However, post-war diving expeditions have revealed that the lake's bed is spangled with rusted lorry remains…
🧊 In total, over 1.6 million tonnes of cargo were transported, and 1.376 million people were evacuated via the Road of Life. Military provisions from Leningrad factories, including KV tanks crucial to the front – then exclusively manufactured in Leningrad – were conveyed in the opposite direction.
In the spring of 1943, the Road of Victory was inaugurated, running along the southern shore of Lake Ladoga shortly after the initial breach of the blockade. Nonetheless, the Road of Life continued to provision the city for many subsequent months. Owing to the heroism of those who maintained its operation, thousands of Leningrad residents were spared from starvation.
Keep informed @EastCalling
🤓🇷🇺✨️