The Presidential Library's collection to spotlight the Siege of Leningrad: "Every building became a fortress of air defence"

The first air raid in Leningrad took place at night on June 23, 1941, and lasted 41 minutes. Enemy aircraft arrived at the city from the Karelian Isthmus but were met with fire. From that day on, enemy aviation launched their attempts of breaking through to Leningrad.

The number of raids and enemy aircraft advanced day by day. On one of the days of July in 1941, 21 German aircraft tried to break through to Leningrad. The result of the air battle did not favour the Nazis: having lost 10 aeroplanes, they turned back. Then the Nazis sent to Leningrad about 90 machines. Our fighters rose in the air in time and met the enemy far from the city. The antiaircrafters shot down several enemy planes and also showed their best. The raid ended with the complete defeat of the Germans: having lost nine machines, they could not break through to Leningrad.

The city air was protected by the 2nd Air Defence Corps, formed in 1937. At the beginning of the war, it had about 600 anti-aircraft guns. On November 9, 1941, the corps was reorganized into the Leningrad Corps Air Defence District under the command of Major General of the Coastal Service Gavriil Savelyevich Zashikhin. It included the 7th Air Fighter Corps. This structure of the Corps District existed until April 7, 1942, when the Leningrad Air Defence Army arose on its base. During the war, over 1,500 enemy aircraft were defeated in the city sky and about 300 were damaged.

The first massive air raid to the city took place immediately after the beginning of the Siege - on September 8 and 9, 1941. German aircraft destroyed the Badayev Warehouses and partially damaged the Moscow Railway Station. The 2nd Air Defence Corps was located in the city now. The guns were placed on the Field of Mars, near the Bronze Horseman, at the Smolny Insitute, on the University Embankment.

"Fascist monsters, meet stout resistance of the Red Army at the outskirts of Leningrad and in furious anger practice bandit attacks from the air", is written in the article "To Strengthen the City Air Defence" from the "Leningradskaya Pravda" newspaper (1941, No. 216, September 10). "Hitler's buzzards are bombing the civilian population of our city. They drop incendiary and high-explosive bombs on residential buildings, hospitals, and children's institutions. With impudent raids to Leningrad, the Nazis expect not only to cause material damage but also confusion and panic in our ranks, to break our will and decision to achieve victory over the enemy. It won't work! The enemy will never break the spirit of Leningrader residents! "

Besides the anti-aircraft artillery and aviation, the city defence involved barrage balloons, which did not allow enemy aircraft to fly low and conduct aiming fire. The importance of aircraft reconnaissance, military notification measures and communication, searchlight units was great. Efforts were made to disguise the most important objects - masterpieces of architecture, as well as factories that worked for defence. The roof of each residential building was protected.

The air defence training of the population was of great importance. The corresponding decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was approved on July 2, 1941. On the same day, it was published in the "Leningradskaya Pravda" newspaper under the title "On General Preparation of the Population for Air Defence". It applied to all citizens from 8 to 60 years old. The training was conducted at enterprises, institutions and residential buildings. There were created self-defence groups of local air defence, guided by the NKVD. A blackout regime was introduced, it was observed by residents with help of military patrols, the NKVD and civil activists. Members of the self-defence groups studied disarming of incendiary bombs, extinction of fire, providing first aid, and the use of air and chemical defenсe equipment.

The article "All self-defenсe groups are on full alert!" from "Leningradskaya Pravda" (1941, No. 174, July 23) described in detail what methods should be used to resist the enemy. "Leningrad must be ready to oppose the enemy's attack in the same organized, courageous and skilful manner as the capital of our motherland, Moscow. <…> The system of repulsing the enemy pays special attention to self-defence groups, organized at enterprises and in homes. Self-defence groups in house No. 15/17 on Rubinstein Street, on Podolskaya and Serpukhovskaya streets and in many other city locations are fully prepared to disarm incendiary bombs...".

The combat poise of self-defence groups is determined by skills, which allow quickly extinguishing the fire and ensuring strict order in the street and at the enterprise during an air attack.

...For this purpose, especially for the posts of observation and protection in attics and roofs, should be cast decisive and courageous people, because a coward will not only not solve the problem - he will infect others with his panic and worsen the danger... The current situation demands from every worker to study all the necessary means of air defence and be ready to actively defend the city and native home from enemy air attacks. Each of us should know that incendiary bombs are not dangerous if they are disarmed in time".

The "Leningradskaya Pravda" newspaper (July 22, 1941, No. 174, July 23) published order of Colonel Lagutkin, the Chief of the Leningrad Local Air Defence, and Major Tregubov, the Chief of the Headquarters the Leningrad Local Air Defence. It contained simple but effective measures to resist shelling and mortal danger from the sky: "All heads of enterprises, institutions, organizations and households in the city of Leningrad should immediately demolish wooden fences, sheds and other wooden buildings adjacent to wooden structures, which may serve as points of outbreak of fire.

Fire passages in streets and yards must be clean. Attics, stairwells, yards, streets and every house should have barrels of water, a stock of sand and a sufficient number of shovels and other fire-fighting equipment.

From noon of July 23, this year, the roofs and attics of buildings must be protected by round-the-clock duty posts. They should include the object teams of self-defence groups and active members of air defence units of houses to disarm incendiary bombs".

Residents stood up to defend their beloved Leningrad, their homes. Since the first bombing of the city, the forces of the Air Defence Forces have shown wholehearted devotion and a high level of training.

"Here, for example, is the group of house No. 2 A on Rentgen Street, whose head is the housewife comrade Polenova. The group and the tenants are on full alert. Everyone knows how to use the means of the Local Air Defence. Sentries are on duty at all posts. Everything is ready for eliminating the consequences of enemy air raids. Sand, fire fighting tools, water are available everywhere: in attics, on stairs, in apartments. The bomb shelter and the dressing station are well equipped", reports the "Leningradskaya Pravda" newspaper (1941, No. 185, August 5) in the article "Air Defence is a People's Business".

The situation was so serious that leaders negligent in work were criticized in the press and also removed from their posts. The same issue of the newspaper informs: "There are still lots of houses in Leningrad, which, as a result of the carelessness of their leaders, are poorly prepared. Today we publish a message about house managers Dysin and Egorov who were put on trial for disrupting preparations for air defence and the collapse of defence work in households". There is another example, published in "Leningradskaya Pravda" newspaper (1941, No. 243, October 11): "One day... Comrade Novikova took a pillow to the post and settled down for a nap for an hour or two. Her careless attitude was criticized. She was assigned an extraordinary watch. <...> Disregard of the watch duties after an air raid alarm, disobedience to orders of the head of the air defence unit require proper penalties".

Media publish articles with stories of members of self-defence groups; information about the structure and principle of disarming of incendiary bombs; the rules of conduct during air raids. Newspapers from issue to issue called Leningrad residents for good organization and set exemplary self-defence groups as an example.

The article "Repulse" from the "Leningradskaya Pravda" newspaper (1941, No. 216, September 10) illustrates how difficult and dangerous this work was: "At this terrible hour, a great squad of ordinary but selfless people raised to defend the city. Thousands and thousands. They stood on the rooftops, waiting for the buzzards attacks, ready to extinguish the fire immediately. So it was on every roof, so it was on the roof of one of the houses where the worker, painter Alexei Mikhailovich Krylov and the worker of the machine-building plant Mikhail Efimovich Mikhailov performed their duty. Suddenly they saw how four incendiary bombs fell to the roof one after another. A small but powerful thermal flame flared up before their eyes. It was all they happened to see. And in the next instant, hands fearlessly grabbed one bomb after another, and luminous lumps flew down onto the asphalt of the yard. Next moment the bombs were dropped from the roof and were extinguished with sand. Fifty-year-old textile worker Nadezhda Viktorovna Messun, housewife Natalya Dmitrievna Sergeeva, specialist Valentina Ivanovna Orekhova disarmed the bombs quietly as if they were simple firebrands. They protected their home from fire. They were ready to defend it against a new attack...

At night, a new predator expected to see the city of blazing bonfires. He saw a city in the dark - a city alert and calm, full of determination to defend itself".

During the Siege, about 150 thousand shells were fired in Leningrad, 107 thousand bombs were dropped. It caused almost 17 thousand deaths and more than 7 thousand damages to buildings. But heroic actions of the air defence army fighters and Leningrad residents prevented the greater losses.