Video collection of Larenkov's pictures which has been put on permanent display in the Rumyantsev Mansion in St. Petersburg
"Song about Ladoga" clip - as it happens on Youtube, the clip is full of incorrect information, but at least the sound quality is good.
A piece of an American wartime documentary - they've got it wrong and trains have never crossed the pile-based railroad actross the lake. It is true that such road was designed and it was about 2/3 complete by the January 1943, but it was taken apart immediately as the land corridor was liberated.
Cartoon made of kids' drawings, based on a true story about a postman boy which took place during the siege. When cold and hunger struck, he got caught in the midst of an air raid and sought shelter under the arch of a nearby house. Fainting from hunger and exhaustion, he fell on a snowdrift to become yet another victim of the siege.
Suddenly he woke up and felt something in his mouth - a toffee candy. There was no one around to thank for this unexpected and incredible help. It was only after the end of the war when he learned who was his saviour.
A few Larenkov's pics:
Leningrad/St.Petersburg 1942/2010 Destroyed building on Moskovskiy prospekt/5th Krasnoarmeyskaya street
Leningrad,1942/ St.Petersburg,2010 Kronverkskaya street
Leningrad / St Petersburg, Arts square , Mikhailovsky Theatre. 1944/2010
Paintings from the Central Museum of Russian Armed Forces. As there's no special "Siege of Leningrad paintings thread" I'm posting them here. The first one is by Solomon Boim, a well-known Soviet water colour artist. I don't remember the names of the authors of the other two paintings.
Communists or no, it's commendable that the people of Leningrad did everything possible to survive and fight the Germans.
Honestly, when I look at the pictures, all I can think is saying to myself, "Thank God I am an American!"
You know, had Japanese fought us on the US mainland, and going through what people experienced in Leningrad, at least I would have the comfort of knowing that I was fighting for a nation that cherishes freedom and liberty for all instead of an evil tyrant like Stalin. The citizens of Leningrad didn't have that choice.
Nonetheless, the pictures are great! I sure hope you can continue posting more pictures like that.
Dan
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Major James Holden, Georgia Badgers Militia of Rainbow Regiment, American Civil War
Communists or no, it's commendable that the people of Leningrad did everything possible to survive and fight the Germans.
Honestly, when I look at the pictures, all I can think is saying to myself, "Thank God I am an American!"
You know, had Japanese fought us on the US mainland, and going through what people experienced in Leningrad, at least I would have the comfort of knowing that I was fighting for a nation that cherishes freedom and liberty for all instead of an evil tyrant like Stalin. The citizens of Leningrad didn't have that choice.
Nonetheless, the pictures are great! I sure hope you can continue posting more pictures like that.
Dan
I would disagree with you. For the absolute majority of people it was a fight for their own survival and the survival of their nation, which stood above the Communism, Stalin or anything else. As the siege progressed, the initial anger, fear and confusion changed with deep cold hatred, according to many diaries. I'm not sure the Americans would consider their liberties as the first and foremost reason to keep on fighting if they saw the heads of their friends and loved ones chopped off and lined up in neat rows like what the Japanese did in Manchuria. Ideological motivation matters when you're fighting far away from home and the goal is not too ovious. Here everybody could see what they are fighting for.
Thanks for your response, I'll post a few more new pics from some Russian sites soon.
Some pictures from today's wreath-laying event at the Piskaryovskoye cemetery:
Honour guard.
Young cadets with green-and-olive Siege of Leningrad commemorative ribbons.
Hundreds of people from different organisations and veteran groups came to the cemetery in the -18C frost to remember and honour the fallen.
V. Putin visited the ceremony today. His brother whom he had never seen, died of starvation during the siege and was probably buried at this cemetery along with the other 420 000 people.
A short speech by a sports veteran who survived the siege. The group is standing at the plaque dedicated to the athletes Leningrad who fought to defend their city and their country.
After an air raid. Location unknown, there's a grocery store in the background
Barricades next to the Kirov Metalworks
Nevsky Prospekt, 7. Sandbagged and boarded windows
Kids leaving a bomb shelter
Winter 1941/1942
Announcement of the sale of hot drinking water, no more than 1 liter per person
Water tap on a street. Note the frozen houses - public transport, electricity, heating, running water and sewers stopped functioning in the city in December 1941
Two old ladies collecting the remains of a dead horse blown to pieces by an artillery shell. The body of the man who walked with it is laying nearby.
Dead body being carried to a cemetery in spring 1942
Propaganda stand: "Fiery greetings to the glorious defenders of Leningrad! Long live Leningraders - glorious and patriotic men and women of our country!"
"The canteen is to be reopened soon. We buy plates, dinner sets, etc. for cash"
Lend-Lease aid, possibly at a pier on the coast of the Ladoga lake
"Death to childkillers!" poster and a gas holder balloon
"Kill a German! Avenge! Kill a German! This is what your mother asks you! Kill a German! This is what a baby begs you for! Kill a German - this is what your native land screams! Do not miss, do not let him escape - kill!"
Toys, balls, sleighs and other goods for sale at a street stand
Mapping the advance of the Allies into the Reich - 1944
You could at least be helpful to point out what's wrong with this. This is not another political thread after all. I know the idiom, but the dictionaries say it's used as a term for pulling something up, generally by sailors, but also by people of other professions. The original text was "Let's get the job done!", and in a way the poster's style seemed to be closer to American posters of that time than to those made in the SU. At least this is my impression.
Quote:
Great map in the street there, looks like about November of 44.
Quite possibly this is late October - the woman is holding her hand in the area of the Dukla Pass, where the fighting continued until the end of this month.
Quote:
That Gas Balloon... for propane? Wow, makes me wonder if they would shoot anyone stupid enough to be smoking around that thing.
I would.
This is a gas holder, barrage balloons looked a bit different - with pointed noses and "wings" in the rear part. They were filled with hydrogen, which was very hard to get in the besieged city. The standard raw materials couldn't be delivered in required quantities and many factories were stopped because of electricity shortages, and to produce hydrogen they poured water over superheated metal rods. The percentage of hydrogen in its mixture with air didn't have to go lower than 73%, otherwise it became hightly flammable. But because of the short supply of hydrogen, it was filled to the proportion of around 75%, and a single shell splinter would make it a balloon explode immediately (with a higher percentage the gas would either leak out or there would be some time to run). There were cases when shell explosions killed or tossed away 3 of the 4 people carrying a balloon and the only man holding it would go up in the air, holding his rope. In some cases they landed safely, in one case a guy got carried to the Gulf of Finland, landed in the water, but got killed by German machinegunners shooting from the coast near Peterhof.
German POWs on Moskovsky prospekt, January-February 1944
Gatchina (southern Imperial suburb of St. Petersburg, residence of emperor Paul I)
When the Germans captured the town on September 13, 1941, it was for some time the HQ of the 18th Army and the regional SD department responsible for implementing Nazi policies of ethnic cleansing and running concentration camps. A swastika was mounted on a 33 meter obelisk built at the order of emperor Paul I. When the town was liberated on January 26, 1944, some Soviet artillerymen wanted to use a 45mm gun to knock the Nazi symbol down as no ladders of such length were available at the moment. However, cooler heads prevailed: it was decided not to damage the monument by gunfire and a special fire truck with an extra long ladder was called from Leningrad.
Road of Life diorama in the Kokkorevo museum. That's the best I could do without a tripod. I wonder if there's any other software beside Panorama Maker allowing for more detailed adjustment like moving and editing pics while stitching each two parts together.
Edit: I've just figured out how to shrink pics in Picasa. Here you are