WE REMEMBER…

Even in the midst of the siege, life triumphed… a maternity ward in winter…

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Editor:

Don’t forget… the Westerners haven’t changed their spots. Contemporary “conservatives” and Republicans show the same racism demonstrated by the German fascists. Sadly, all too many “liberals” and Democrats share the same noxious ideology. Racism isn’t just a “black and white” thing. It also covers Russophobia and hatred of Asians and Orientals. It also covers the Zionist attack on Palestinians (mind you, a hatred of Jews is also racism… Zionists aren’t a majority of Jews; one must bear that in mind). Racism fuelled the German Drang nach Osten. The same rancid racism propels Israeli attacks on Palestinians and American attacks on Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Russian World. It was evil in the 1940s… it’s evil today. Lest we forget…

BMD

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We Remember…

18 January 1943

Breakthrough of the Blockade of Leningrad

Every year, pseudo-historians try to deny our history. They rewrite it, in an attempt to crush our Russian soul. Yet, it’s precisely this spirit that won our victory. Each year, we see those who defame the theme of the Blockade events, who besmirch the motives and feelings of those who went through this hell. Now, we see that such sorts have made a scandalously infamous movie. Every year, some creep yelling about “victory obsession” rebukes us, telling us that “you shouldn’t trifle with our victory”. Let God judge them. Meanwhile, we remembered, we remember, and we will remember. Always. We shall pass this memory on to our children.  No doubt, we’ll prove superior to such loudmouths. Unfortunately, my uncle didn’t live to see the breakthrough in the blockade, as did so many thousands of other people.

Вечная им Память… Eternal be Their Memory

From 8 September 1941, Leningrad was under blockade, which lasted 900 days. The most severe test facing its inhabitants was hunger. On 20 November 1941, the authorities established the lowest level of bread rations… workers, engineers, and technical workers received 250 grammes, office workers, dependants, and children got 125 grammes. Frontline units, warship crews, and combat aviation formations got 500 grammes, whilst rear echelon military personnel received 300 grammes. This was the beginning of large-scale losses from starvation. Physical overexertion, cold, lack of electricity and heating, a breakdown of water and sewage systems, and the deterioration of other basic living conditions ever more weakened people’s ability to resist death by starvation. In December 1941, 53,000 died… more than 100,000 in each of January and February 1942… more than 95,000 in March 1942. The diary written by little Tanya Savicheva can’t leave anyone indifferent:

Grandmother died on 25 January … Uncle Alyosha on 10 May … Mom on 13 May at 0730. Everyone’s dead. Now, there’s only Tanya.

The losses in Leningrad during the blockade totalled up to 1 million deaths. Grief visited every family. Mothers and fathers saw their sons and daughters die; children went on without their parents. The “Road of Life” laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga brought salvation for hundreds of thousands besieged. Starting on 21 November 1941, this means brought in food and ammunition. On the return trip, the vehicles evacuated civilians, mostly women and children. Until March 1943, the ice road (useful until the summer) delivered 1.615 million tonnes of various cargoes. At the same time, its vehicles evacuated 1,376,000 Leningraders and many thousands of wounded soldiers. Some 1,750,000 people left the city during the blockade. This was the largest evacuation of civilians from a besieged city in history. There was a pipeline laid along the bottom of Lake Ladoga to transport petroleum products.

The Red Army made four attempts to break the siege. The first was in September 1941, on the third day after fascist troops cut the land communications with the city; the second occurred in October 1941, in spite of the critical state of affairs on outside Moscow; the third came in January 1942 during a general counter-offensive, which only partly achieved its objectives; and the fourth kicked off in August 1942 and lasted until January 1943, when the Wehrmacht’s main forces were in Stalingrad. This offensive (Operation Iskra (Spark)) partially lifted the blockade. A narrow strip on the southern coast of Lake Ladoga, 8-11 kilometres wide, restored land communication with the rest of the USSR. Over the next 17 days, the Soviets built new rail and road links along this corridor. January 1943 was a turning point in the siege of Leningrad.

More than a year remained to completely lift the siege of the city…

20 January 2019

Лосинка православная

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Putin’s Message at Annual Leningrad Siege Memorial: Never Again

Soviet war dead being given an honourable hero’s burial in contemporary Leningrad Oblast

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He who doesn’t learn from history is doomed to repeat it; Russians understand this fact better than any when they recall the storms of World War II and the bloody Siege of Leningrad. Russia can’t afford to forget… more than 20 million Russians perished in the Great Patriotic War, which is more than the population of several modern countries, including Romania, the Netherlands, Greece, and many more. Take a moment and imagine an entire country obliterated, that’s how great the death toll was for Russia. However, those millions of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, other Slavs, and Soviet citizens weren’t obliterated from existence. Their eternal memory and resolve gave the living strength, and with it, they endured as they always have, and they captured Berlin, ending the largest holocaust in human history.

By far one of the bloodiest battles in human history was the Siege of Leningrad (also called Petrograd and St Petersburg today). Casualties were around one million people… one million, for one city. The real number is possibly higher, as many people went missing. Bear one thing in mind when you read what President Putin said, remember it, and never forget it… his brother was amongst the dead. President Putin’s own brother, a child, died of disease during the terrible siege. TASS reported what President Putin said to veterans and celebrants at the anniversary:

We must use every occasion to remind ourselves about [the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War] so that we never forget about this so that the entire world remembers this and so that nothing like this ever happens again in the destiny of our country or in the world at large.

There’s an old Russian saying, “The only time you’ll ever see the back of a Russian soldier is when he’s dead”. In principle, Russians don’t take one step backwards. As a result, to this day they still find the remains of Russian soldiers in the thick northern swamps around St Petersburg. Their weapons always point forwards towards the enemy. President Putin commented on this:

They didn’t retreat anywhere and they died with weapons in their hands in battle as they marched forward. This attitude to the Motherland is typical of our people and this is what we must seal for long years to come for all the future generations. This is what Russia has always relied on… self-sacrifice and love for the Motherland, especially during difficult years of ordeals.

Next time you hear a Western leader scurrilously compare Putin to Hitler, remember that unlike almost all Americans, Putin’s family was under fire during one of the bloodiest battles of the bloodiest front of the bloodiest war in history. Remember that Putin’s own brother died in this conflict, buried in one of the unmarked graves of Leningrad. Just imagine what restraint it must require for him to throw those who make such comparisons across the room. Quite understandably, it’s in bad taste to make a Holocaust joke or to make light of the Jews killed. If anyone compared the Israeli Prime Minister to Hitler, the highest echelon of the Western world order would condemn such a remark. There’d be mass outrage, and rightly so! Hitler, the Nazis, and their supporters are despicable villains best left in the dustbin of human history.

The only question is, why is there no outrage when they compare Putin to Hitler? Where’s the outcry for the 20 million Russians killed? Applying a double standard to the deaths of millions is not “just” politics; there’s only one word for it… “degeneracy”. Disgracing the honoured dead makes a man just as guilty as their killers because that kind of pathetic disregard for the writing on the wall allowed such wars to happen in the first place. Should the world ever forget the horrors of the Great Patriotic War, they wouldn’t take steps to prevent another such conflict, and it’d surely repeat itself. That’s Putin’s message… we must do everything to prevent this from happening, not just for Russia, but for all humanity.

TASS also summarised the events of the Leningrad siege brilliantly. In the interest of understanding history, you may feel inclined to check it out:

Siege of Leningrad

The Siege of Leningrad started on 8 September 1941 and lasted 872 days. On 10 September, the Luftwaffe bombed and burnt the city’s warehouses, leaving Leningrad without significant food supplies. Gradually, fuel and water reserves ran out in the city, stopping electricity and heating. Hunger swept the city in the autumn of 1941. Leningrad introduced rationing in Leningrad to provide residents with food. The bread rations dwindled to 250 grammes a day for workers and to 125 grammes for the rest of the population by 20 November 1941. During the blockade, the Germans dropped over 107,000 incendiary and high-explosive bombs, they fired more than 150,000 artillery shells, destroying about 10,000 buildings and structures. Despite the blockade, over 200 enterprises continued to work in the city, including seven shipyards that built 13 submarines. The industry of besieged Leningrad produced 150 types of military products. Overall, during the years of the blockade, Leningrad enterprises produced about 10 million shells and mines, 12,000 mortars, 1,500 warplanes, and rolled out or repaired 2,000 tanks.

On 12 January 1943, Soviet troops of the Volkhov and Leningrad Fronts launched Operation Iskra, aimed at routing the German forces south of Lake Ladoga and restoring Leningrad’s land connection with the rest of the country. On 18 January 1943, the Volkhov and Leningrad Fronts broke the city’s encirclement with the support of the Baltic Fleet and restored its land connection with the rest of the country. On the same day, the Soviet troops liberated the Shlisselburg fortress and drove the enemy away from Lake Ladoga’s entire southern coastline. Within 17 days, the Soviets built new rail lines and highways across the resulting corridor; on 7 February, the first goods train arrived in Leningrad. On 14 January 1944, the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts, together with the 2 Baltic Front, launched the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive. The lifting of the siege happened on 27 January 1944. A salute of 24 salvos from 324 artillery guns in the city honoured this victory.

No more than 800,000 residents remained in the city by the end of the blockade out of the 3 million people that were in Leningrad and its suburbs before the blockade. According to various estimates, from 641,000 to 1 million Leningraders died in the siege from hunger, bombing, and artillery shelling. Almost 340,000 people were wounded, 716,000 residents were left without shelter, and 1.7 million were evacuated across the Road of Life and by air during 1941-42.

26 January 2018

Nick Ivanov

Russia Feed

http://russiafeed.com/putins-message-annual-leningrad-siege-ww2-memorial-never/

22 January 2018. Lest We Forget… The Bravery of Leningrad in the Siege

V V Putin’s elder brother was one of the dead… the war still resonates in Russian hearts

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This vid has English subtitles

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Americans think that they defeated the fascists. That’s moonshine. The end of the beginning was in December 1941, when the counteroffensive opened outside Moscow… the beginning of the end was in January 1943, when Paulus surrendered at Stalingrad. Both of these events occurred before any American forces landed in Europe. That is, the Wehrmacht was on the run before the USA even landed troops in Europe! At best, the USA shortened the war in Europe… it didn’t play a major role in the defeat of the fascists… how could it when 85 percent of the fascist casualties were on the Russian front? The Germans were bled out by the time the Yanks came in. History is what it is…

BMD

10 July 2017. Stirrings of a Renaissance of the Soviet Legacy… as seen in Song

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Recently, there’ve been signs of a new appreciation of the Soviet legacy in Russia. During the Victory Day Parade, General Shoigu and many others wore the 1945 dress uniform with the high collar instead of the Western-style jacket-and-tie. Songs of the Stalin era resurface, such as this one about one of the naval infantrymen fighting in Leningrad. No… the USSR isn’t coming back, but the Soviet legacy is embraced for what it is. In like manner, there’s not going to be a restoration of the monarchy, but Russians embrace the imperial legacy for what it is.

The USA is attempting to strangle this renaissance in its cradle. I confide that the arrogant Anglo toddlers will fail… God willing, without a torrent of blood…

BMD

Штурвальный с “Марата”

Где воздух изранен полётом снаряда,
где бомбами поле изрыто кругом,
за русскую землю,
за честь Ленинграда морская пехота
дерётся с врагом.
за русскую землю, за честь Ленинграда
морская пехота дерётся с врагом.

Трава на поляне железом примята,
за танком пехота ползет по земле.
В разбитом окопе штурвальный с “Марата”
остался один на прибрежной скале.
В разбитом окопе штурвальный с “Марата”
остался один на прибрежной скале.

И насмерть дерётся штурвальный с “Марата”
как знамя, подняв бескозырку свою.
Врага поражая последней гранатой,
он смерть принимает в неравном бою.
Врага поражая последней гранатой,
он смерть принимает в неравном бою.

Но танкам навстречу торопится рота,
и пушки под пулями катят вперед
Друзья-комендоры, морская пехота,
Балтийские люди, железный народ!
Друзья-комендоры, морская пехота,
Балтийские люди, железный народ!

The Helmsman of the Marat

When the bullet’s flight pierced the air,

When the shells ringed the field,

The Leningrad Naval Infantry fought

For the Russian land, for honour.

The Leningrad Naval Infantry fought

For the Russian land, for honour.

The enemy infantry and tanks

Trampled the meadow with iron tracks,

The helmsman of the “Marat” sat in a trench

Alone amongst the rocks by the shore.

The helmsman of the “Marat” sat in a trench

Alone amongst the rocks by the shore.

The helmsman of the “Marat” fought to the death,

Holding his sailor’s cap like a banner.

Hitting the foe with his last grenade,

He accepted death in unequal battle.

Hitting the foe with his last grenade,

He accepted death in unequal battle.

The tanks sped to meet the company,

Wheeling forward amidst the guns and bullets,

Comrades and Commanders, the Baltic Naval Infantry,

Men of iron and steel.

Comrades and Commanders, the Baltic Naval Infantry,

Men of iron and steel.