From September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944, Leningrad was under blockade for 872 days. Many people told about this terrible period, and the facts that my grandfather defended Leningrad, as well as the fact that my mother and grandmother were in a besieged city until the year of 42, also matter only to me. Harrison Salisbury wrote “900 days” best of all.
Nevsky Piglet is a small bridgehead near Moscow Dubrovka. Located 12 kilometers downstream from Lake Ladoga. In this place, the Neva forms and has a width of only 270-350 meters. Therefore, they fought for that bridgehead.
The figure of 200,000 soldiers was first made public in the 1960s . And according to the calculation of the committee of Leningrad veterans, published in 2001, the irretrievable losses of Soviet troops in the battles for the bridgehead amounted to 50,000 people.
The losses of the Soviet troops in the battles for the bridgehead are approximate. The losses of German troops in the battles in the Nevsky Piglet area are also not known. According to rough estimates, they amounted to from 10,000 to 35,000 - 40,000 soldiers and officers killed.
Somehow Sanka with whom we then flew suggested that we go to Nevsky Piglet. I agreed. Sanka knew those places well. We've arrived. Half a century has already passed since then. We went away only 50 meters of a side.
I put my hand in the sand, pulled out two cartridges. And next to the bag with cartridges was a hand, the remains were holding it. I put those cartridges on the shelf with aircraft in 1941. Even gunpowder spilled out of one cartridge ... The water in the Neva was red from blood!
And yesterday, on the day the blockade was lifted, the last, now, fighter from Nevsky Piglet performed. He is already 95!
He also said that the water in the Neva was red from blood. He spoke so well about the coming generation and his speech was like that of a very young man! Someone asked him about the Germans. And he replied that this is a good nation! It is amazing. I talked with my wife's father, who fled to the front at the age of 17. He didn't say anything bad about the Germans either! There was no hatred or malice!