Ringo
Platinum Member
November 22, 1941 — the opening day of the “Road of Life”
On this day, traffic began on the ice road out of Leningrad, which was surrounded by nazi forces. It was the only transport route across Lake Ladoga connecting besieged Leningrad with the rest of the country. Officially, it was called Military Highway No. 101.
In addition to motorized and horse-drawn transport, the “Road of Life” also used sailing platforms on runners called buers, which proved to be highly effective.
The actual effectiveness of the buoys impressed the military command. It turned out that a huge water area could be easily controlled by two or three buoy patrols, and coastal guard battalions could be replaced by mobile counter-sabotage groups, which could be transported on buoys if necessary.
But the buoy men were to play a very special role during the Great Patriotic War. In early winter 1941, when land communication with the city had already been cut off by the enemy, two buoy detachments of 100 men each were formed. One detachment was armed with 19 buoys, the second with 16. The combat crew consisted of a machine gun crew and a helmsman who had experience in sailing a yacht.
These were mainly heavy russian-type buoys, built according to the drawings of designer N.Y. Lyudevig. (The engineer-patriot himself died in besieged Leningrad in 1942.) Each of the buoys carried sails with an area of up to sixty square meters. Six to ten machine gunners were stationed on a lattice platform, forming a firepower unit that could be quickly moved to the desired point in the ice-covered water area where the threat of enemy invasion originated.
At the beginning of winter 1941, two teams of 100 people each were formed. These guys performed reconnaissance, patrol, and transport functions. The lattice platform could hold up to 600 kg of flour. With a good wind, one buoy operator could make four to six trips a day, bringing in about three and a half tons of flour, which is seven thousand loaves of bread and twenty-eight thousand people fed according to blockade standards.
In addition, the buoyists transported emaciated women and children out of besieged Leningrad. The 35 km along the road of life were covered in just 20 minutes, but when people found themselves on the other side, they did not believe that it was all over; they thought they were going to be abandoned in the middle of the lake.
But they were taken to a house where it was warm and bread was waiting for them. Painted white and with white sails, the buers provided good camouflage, and their high speed prevented any accurate fire from being opened. Not a single buer was shot down during such evacuation flights throughout the entire war. This was a small victory on a single section of the front.
Moreover, according to Admiral Panteleev's recollections, a separate front had to be created to protect the ice “Road of Life.” It was not marked on any maps, but after patrols detected increased activity by small german groups on the lake, it became clear that the road required extra attention.
Considerable forces were mobilized for its defense—about 37,000 soldiers and commanders united in the Internal City Guard., the city's internal security force. It was made up of riflemen's work brigades, sailors from the Leningrad naval base, and the city police.
However, keeping the units under constant fire on bare ice, where there was nowhere to hide or dig in, was tantamount to killing thousands of people. “They remembered our ice yachts again,” Panteleev writes in his memoirs. A detachment of 18 buoy men was part of the base's OVRA, while another detachment of 19 buoy men was part of the air defense corps.
As I have already mentioned, the buoy teams consisted of Leningrad athletes, including well-known yachtsmen Senior Lieutenant I.P. Matveev (now a Merited Master of Sports), Junior Lieutenant B.P. Dmitriev, and Petty Officer 1st Class N.E. Astratov.
The buoys were equipped with light machine guns, but their main advantage was their speed, which made them less vulnerable to the enemy. At the beginning of winter, the ice resembled a mirror, and the buoys immediately began to conduct reconnaissance of the Sea Channel area and the entire “ice front.” They also maintained contact with four air defense barges frozen into the ice of the Neva Bay.
A german sabotage group was discovered during the first ice search. After firing at the enemy with machine guns, the ice patrol immediately fled, and a few minutes later, the stunned germans were hit by artillery fire.
In the war between the boers and the german fire correctors and saboteurs, which lasted almost the entire time the ice road was in operation, victory remained ours. There were clashes every day, the situation was extremely tense, and it even came to hand-to-hand combat. The patrols had to monitor the situation constantly. When visibility deteriorated and snow fell, they switched from skates to skis and continued their work."
BTW, the film companies "Master's Workshop" and "Central Partnership" are shooting a film about the buerists on the Road of Life, "Angels of Ladoga", which is scheduled for release in 2026.
On this day, traffic began on the ice road out of Leningrad, which was surrounded by nazi forces. It was the only transport route across Lake Ladoga connecting besieged Leningrad with the rest of the country. Officially, it was called Military Highway No. 101.
In addition to motorized and horse-drawn transport, the “Road of Life” also used sailing platforms on runners called buers, which proved to be highly effective.
The actual effectiveness of the buoys impressed the military command. It turned out that a huge water area could be easily controlled by two or three buoy patrols, and coastal guard battalions could be replaced by mobile counter-sabotage groups, which could be transported on buoys if necessary.
But the buoy men were to play a very special role during the Great Patriotic War. In early winter 1941, when land communication with the city had already been cut off by the enemy, two buoy detachments of 100 men each were formed. One detachment was armed with 19 buoys, the second with 16. The combat crew consisted of a machine gun crew and a helmsman who had experience in sailing a yacht.
These were mainly heavy russian-type buoys, built according to the drawings of designer N.Y. Lyudevig. (The engineer-patriot himself died in besieged Leningrad in 1942.) Each of the buoys carried sails with an area of up to sixty square meters. Six to ten machine gunners were stationed on a lattice platform, forming a firepower unit that could be quickly moved to the desired point in the ice-covered water area where the threat of enemy invasion originated.
At the beginning of winter 1941, two teams of 100 people each were formed. These guys performed reconnaissance, patrol, and transport functions. The lattice platform could hold up to 600 kg of flour. With a good wind, one buoy operator could make four to six trips a day, bringing in about three and a half tons of flour, which is seven thousand loaves of bread and twenty-eight thousand people fed according to blockade standards.
In addition, the buoyists transported emaciated women and children out of besieged Leningrad. The 35 km along the road of life were covered in just 20 minutes, but when people found themselves on the other side, they did not believe that it was all over; they thought they were going to be abandoned in the middle of the lake.
But they were taken to a house where it was warm and bread was waiting for them. Painted white and with white sails, the buers provided good camouflage, and their high speed prevented any accurate fire from being opened. Not a single buer was shot down during such evacuation flights throughout the entire war. This was a small victory on a single section of the front.
Moreover, according to Admiral Panteleev's recollections, a separate front had to be created to protect the ice “Road of Life.” It was not marked on any maps, but after patrols detected increased activity by small german groups on the lake, it became clear that the road required extra attention.
Considerable forces were mobilized for its defense—about 37,000 soldiers and commanders united in the Internal City Guard., the city's internal security force. It was made up of riflemen's work brigades, sailors from the Leningrad naval base, and the city police.
However, keeping the units under constant fire on bare ice, where there was nowhere to hide or dig in, was tantamount to killing thousands of people. “They remembered our ice yachts again,” Panteleev writes in his memoirs. A detachment of 18 buoy men was part of the base's OVRA, while another detachment of 19 buoy men was part of the air defense corps.
As I have already mentioned, the buoy teams consisted of Leningrad athletes, including well-known yachtsmen Senior Lieutenant I.P. Matveev (now a Merited Master of Sports), Junior Lieutenant B.P. Dmitriev, and Petty Officer 1st Class N.E. Astratov.
The buoys were equipped with light machine guns, but their main advantage was their speed, which made them less vulnerable to the enemy. At the beginning of winter, the ice resembled a mirror, and the buoys immediately began to conduct reconnaissance of the Sea Channel area and the entire “ice front.” They also maintained contact with four air defense barges frozen into the ice of the Neva Bay.
A german sabotage group was discovered during the first ice search. After firing at the enemy with machine guns, the ice patrol immediately fled, and a few minutes later, the stunned germans were hit by artillery fire.
In the war between the boers and the german fire correctors and saboteurs, which lasted almost the entire time the ice road was in operation, victory remained ours. There were clashes every day, the situation was extremely tense, and it even came to hand-to-hand combat. The patrols had to monitor the situation constantly. When visibility deteriorated and snow fell, they switched from skates to skis and continued their work."
BTW, the film companies "Master's Workshop" and "Central Partnership" are shooting a film about the buerists on the Road of Life, "Angels of Ladoga", which is scheduled for release in 2026.
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