The Railways during the Second World War (1941 – 1945)

The Roads of Life are the Roads to Victory!

BELARUSSKY STATION, MOSCOW

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As early as the First World War, tram lines were laid to the railway tracks at Moscow’s Belorussky Station. As a result, the wounded arriving on the troop trains from the front could be transferred immediately to repurposed tram cars and taken to Moscow’s hospitals. This approach also helped to save many lives during the Great Patriotic War, all the more because the area around ​​the station now had two large tram terminals for six tram routes.

Between 1941 and 1945, troop trains left Belorussky Station for the front – and arrived again afterwards carrying the victorious soldiers. Veterans associated their most touching memories with station as loved ones, relatives and friends met them on their return. Several generations remember and love the eponymous feature film "Belorussky Station."

Every year, on 22 June, the day the Great Patriotic War began, and on 9 May, the day it ended with victory, a military band plays at Belorussky Station.

THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD

On 8 September 1941, fascist troops broke through the station at Mga, advanced to Shlisselburg and closed the siege around the city. The only way goods could be delivered to Leningrad in large volumes and people evacuated from the besieged city was across Lake Ladoga.

It was there that the construction of berths for ships began and the large Ladoga railway junction built in short order. At Lake Ladoga station, the number of tracks was increased from four to over twenty. Equipment, water supply equipment and two turning triangles for steam locomotives were brought in and installed. Workers from many stations arrived at Lake Ladoga station, which became the most important junction at October Railways. Kabotazhnaya station was built just two kilometres away. The hitherto inactive terminal Irinovskaya line was reconstructed to establish communications with Leningrad. Before the war, just three or four pairs of suburban steam trains used to run along the Irinovskaya, but in 1941 it became the only line out of besieged Leningrad. As a result, it became an important main line and transformed the formerly insignificant Lake Ladoga station into a large and major railway junction with an adjacent lake-river port.

On 12 September 1941, the first caravan of barges loaded with cargo for the besieged city approached the still unfinished berths at Ladoga despite all the bombs and shells going off. On the same day, the first trains with food left the Ladoga junction for Leningrad. On a cold October day in 1941, when the first train with food delivered by barges was being formed at Lake Ladoga station, the Nazis began their air raids, killing railway workers, port workers and river workers at their posts. But the work went on – Leningrad was waiting for food and ammunition. In 20 days in October, Ladoga delivered 848 wagons loaded with cargo to the city on the Neva and another 943 in November.

Then Lake Ladoga froze over – so a line was built across the ice between the lake’s eastern and western shores. After Soviet troops liberated Tikhvin in early December 1941, the construction of a 34-kilometre railway line began from Voybokalo station on the Volkhovstroyevskaya line to Kos station on the eastern shore of the lake.

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A convoy heads to Kobona for loading

Here, by February 1942, the large combined lake and river port of Kobona was built, which was named after a nearby fishing village. At the same time, Ladoga port was expanded and new stations built which later formed the Ladoga junction. This is how the famous rail-water-ice-road route was built between Bolshaya Zemlya and Leningrad. "Bolshaya Zemlya" means "Big Land" and during the siege was the term used to designate the territory not occupied by Nazi forces.

Ladoga’s epic lasted for over a year. Every day saw heroic feats of bravery and labour on the part of railway workers, motorists, construction workers and water workers.

In June-August 1943, Soviet troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the troops of the 18th German army at the Mga salient. The enemy was able to fire on the Victory Road from the Sinyavinsky Heights, but on 15 September soldiers from the 67th Army stormed the position. At the same time, preparations were under way for a major offensive near Leningrad and Novgorod.

On 14 January 1944, Soviet forces went on the offensive near Leningrad and Novgorod and in tough battles defeated the Nazi forces of Army Group North. By the end of February, Soviet troops had advanced 220-280 kilometres and liberated the entire Leningrad region and part of Kalinin region. A salute was given in Leningrad to commemorate the final lifting of the blockade on 27 January.

As they retreated, Hitler’s troops destroyed railways, bridges, track superstructure, communication lines, water supply devices, locomotives and other equipment. They also mined many sections of the track and other railway facilities. Just on the line from the Dachnoe platform to Ligovo station alone Soviet sappers removed and neutralised up to 1,500 mines on every kilometre.

In the liberated areas, work began on reconstructing the railways. To restart train movement between Moscow and Leningrad along the main line, it was necessary to restore the Popovka – Lyuban – Chudovo – Dubtsy section, which had been badly destroyed, as soon as possible.

Workers had to face thirty-degrees of frost and strong blizzards. On the Popovka – Dubtsy section, more than 10,000 mines, hundreds of aerial bombs and unexploded ordnance had to be removed from deep mine wells, mines and tunnels. But in very short order, they were able to build a large bridge across the Volkhov River at Chudov and medium-sized bridges across the Rovan, Tigoda and other rivers. By the Day of the Red Army on 23 February 1944, they had completed all the reconstruction work on the Kolpino – Popovka – Dubtsy section.

The first freight train after the siege was lifted proceeded from the city on the Neva towards Moscow. On the very same day, a similar train arrived in Leningrad from the capital. At the same time, railway workers in Leningrad and Moscow were preparing the Red Arrow express for the first run after the siege.

THE ROAD OF VICTORY. The first train from Bolshaya Zemlya arrives in Leningrad after the siege on 7 February 1943

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Reconstruction dedicated to the 76th Anniversary
of the day the first train arrived in besieged Leningrad

On 7 February 1943, the first train from Bolshaya Zemlya approached the nearly destroyed Finland Station to the strains of an orchestra. The train, with its consignment of food, was driven to Leningrad by the best team of steam locomotive Eu 708-64 at the Volkhovstroy depot – the driver I. P. Pirozhenko, assistant driver V. S. Dyatlev, and fireman I. A. Antonov.

In January 1943, after achieving the breakthrough of the Leningrad blockade, the Shlisselburg – Polyany railway on the Mga – Volkhovstroy line was built along a narrow section along Lake Ladoga. Laid directly on the ice of the frozen Neva river in just 17 days while the workers were under enemy fire, this Road of Victory line was 33 km long, had three stations with track development of 6 km and three large bridges across rivers, including the Neva.

At first, only two or three pairs of trains ran on the Shlisselburg line every day – but this was not enough for the city. But then trains started running by the caravan method: one night going to Leningrad, the next night travelling in the opposite direction from Leningrad. The interval between trains was gradually reduced from 20-30 minutes to 3-5 minutes, which made it possible to run 16 to 25 trains in one direction every night. Each run along this route was seen as a heroic act as people worked under constant German shelling. No wonder that the rail workers called this line "The Corridor of Death".

Despite constant shelling, more than 6,000 trains passed along the line during the year of operation, providing Leningrad with 4,442,000 tons of necessities and essentials.

The Victory Road remained in operation until 10 March 1944.

Railway workers played an important role in evacuating Leningraders, supplying the fronts and fleets with weapons and foodstuffs, and preserving the city’s viability.

15,000 railway workers were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad."  

The BATTLE OF STALINGRAD. VOLGA ROCADE

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Stalingrad I Station after the Battle of Stalingrad.
February 1943

On 2 February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad ended. In July 1942, 556 trains hauling 27,800 wagons with military cargo arrived at the Stalingrad Front. Another 605 trains pulling 31,600 wagons with troops and military equipment came in August. During the Battle of Stalingrad’s defensive period, 4,728 wagons delivered 7.6 million shells and mines, 182 million cartridges and 2.3 million hand grenades to the front! By the end of autumn 1942, over 30 trains per day were arriving at the front section of the Ryazan-Uralskaya railway for unloading – ten times more than the pre-war level!

With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Ryazan-Ural and Stalingrad Railways were among the first to take on the transportation of military consignments. A continuous stream of military trains was dispatched to the west and the front, while trains loaded with dismantled industrial enterprises went in the opposite direction to the east to avoid them being destroyed or falling into the hands of the enemy.

The provision of military transport for Stalingrad’s defenders fell on the shoulders of the workforce at Ryazan-Ural and South-Eastern railways, which simultaneously supplied several fronts: Stalingrad itself as well as the South-West and South-East fronts and partly Voronezh.

The Povorino – Kachalino and Urbakh – Baskunchak – Astrakhan lines played decisive roles in the defensive actions at Stalingrad, where 20 new sidings were built in a month in order to increase the throughput capacity. At the same time, the Akhtuba – Paromnaya section, which also had a connection to the Volga, was completed and put into operation, bypasses around the Verkhne-Baskunchak hub were built, and tracks strengthened. All the work was done under continuous bombardment.

In this direction, the caravan method was again used, with trains running day and night in the same direction, towards the front, at intervals of 10 minutes. In order to maintain manoeuvrability, the rolling stock was simply removed from the rails once unloaded.

In January 1942, a decree was signed on the construction of the Volga Rocade – the Syzran - Saratov – Stalingrad railway line. The new 992-km long railway line from Ilovlya station to Sviyazhsk station via Saratov, Syzran and Ulyanovsk was built in only six months. Rails from dismantled sections of the Baikal-Amur Main Line were used in the line’s construction. During the most intensive fighting during the Battle of the Volga from July 1942 to 1 January 1943, more than 200,000 cars carrying various cargos were delivered to the front.

Astrakhan railway workers laid the Astrakhan-Kizlyar line by the "people’s construction" method, along which more than 16,000 fuel tanks were dispatched to the battlefield areas on the Volga from August to October alone.

The battle on the Volga lasted more than six months. During this period, 300,000 wagons carrying military equipment and ammunition were delivered along the front-line railways.

In August and September, 26,000 wagons of valuable equipment and 480 steam locomotives were pulled out of the combat zone. In an extremely short time, the railway workers of the Donskaya station shipped out 66,000 tons of bread from the station.

Railway workers showed the highest levels of courage and determination. In July they moved into barracks. With each new day, their work was complicated by the increasing frequency of the bombing.

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Diorama "Enemy Aircraft Raid on Stalingrad I Station"

During the Battle of Stalingrad, enemy aircraft made 60,000 raids on railway facilities on the approaches to Stalingrad.

In November, enemy aircraft sought to disable the Astrakhan-Stalingrad line, which delivered fuel from the oil fields of the Caucasus.

On 19 November, Soviet troops launched a counteroffensive and on the 23rd closed a ring around the grouping of 330,000 enemy troops that was besieging the city.

The ring around the divisions encircled at Stalingrad was tightened, but it took a lot of effort to force the enemy to surrender. On 31 January 1943, the Southern Group was eliminated, and on 2 February, the remnants of the Northern Group of German fascist troops surrendered. From the 506th kilometre of the Ilovlya – Belushkino stretch, a special train delivered a large group of captured Nazi generals headed by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus.

That was the end of the Battle of Stalingrad.

The railway suffered huge losses as a result of the hostilities, with 737 kilometres of main and 500 kilometres of station tracks and 340 artificial structures destroyed, as well as residential buildings with a total area of ​​82,000 square metres.

In February and March 1943, the destroyed sections of the Stalingrad junction were restored and put into operation. On 14 March 1943, a Moscow – Stalingrad passenger train arrived at the destroyed station building.

Railway workers had distinguished themselves both on the labour front and in combat. During the war, six railwaymen were awarded the high title of Hero of Socialist Labour, 12 railway workers drafted into the Soviet Army became Heroes of the Soviet Union and 370 rail workers were awarded the medal "For the Defense of Stalingrad" for their exemplary performance in carrying out their command assignments.

THE BATTLE OF KURSK. THE ROAD OF COURAGE

To ensure the supply of troops in the Battle of Kursk, a new line, the Road of Courage between Stary Oskol – Rzhava was built in 1 month and 4 days. In record time from 15 June to 19 July 1943, railway workers and the local population built the 95-km railway line, erected 10 bridges, and carried out 800,000 cubic metres of earthworks. The commissioning of this line made it possible to ensure the supply of 300,000 cars during the Battle of Kursk.