Road of Life
Supply trucks on their way to Leningrad on the Road of Life
(дорога жизни - doroga zhizni in
Russian) became the term for a transport route across the frozen
Lake Ladoga, which provided the only access to the besieged city of
Leningrad in the winter months during the
Great Patriotic War of
1941 to
1945. The
siege of Leningrad itself lasted for 900 days from September 1941 to January 1944, as German and Finnish forces cut off all land access to the city in order to starve its population to death. Over 1 million citizens of Leningrad died from starvation, exposure and German bombardments. Via the Road of Life, supplies could be brought into the city, and civilians evacuated to the still Soviet-controlled opposite coast. The largely defenceless truck convoys were constantly attacked by German artillery and airplanes. Some survivors therefore bitterly recall the route as a "Road of Death".
The city of Leningrad held out, however, until a Soviet offensive broke through the German lines, lifting the siege in January 1944. For the heroism of its population, Leningrad was the first city to be awarded the honorary title Hero City in 1945.