Petrov is the architect of the green belt of glory. Culture of the Leningrad region
Green Belt of Glory... What do these words tell you? For some it’s nothing special, but for others they remember something related to the Great Patriotic War, but for others they know more. Until recently, I was one of those who heard something, but couldn’t really say anything. In a boring winter, in anticipation of the motorcycle season, I decided to eliminate this gap and began rummaging through the Internet, studying the details and thinking through the routes of upcoming motorcycle trips. Here's a short excerpt from Wikipedia:
“Green Belt of Glory” is a complex of memorial structures on the lines of the Battle of Leningrad in 1941-1944, created in 1965-1968 with the aim of perpetuating the memory of its heroic defenders. The layout of the “Green Belt of Glory” is based on the line of defense where enemy troops were stopped in September 1941. The memorial was erected using the “people’s construction method”; residents and the largest organizations of Leningrad took part in its creation. The total length of the Green Belt of Glory is over 200 km and includes green spaces, within which there are 26 monuments. Additionally, nine monuments were installed on the Oranienbaum bridgehead and seven monuments on the Road of Life.
Further from myself. It turned out to be difficult to collect complete information about all objects of the complex. For the most part, the information is available and it was relatively easy to organize, but for some structures it was necessary to tinker with searching for their descriptions and specific locations. The “Kirovsky Val” turned out to be a very difficult object, which consists of 11 monuments located on the territory of the Kirovsky district. With regret, I learned that not all of the monuments have survived to this day - the White Island memorial was demolished in the harsh 90s and a gas station is now built in its place.
Based on the results of data collection, I received a table containing information about 38 memorials of the Green Belt of Glory, uniting a total of 50 monuments. Many of them were familiar to me, but I happened to know about some for the first time. Nevsky Piglet and Proryv were well known to me, I had studied their history for a long time, and was sufficiently aware of the events that took place during the war in the places where these memorials were installed. I saw other objects of the complex only from the window of a car passing by, and I had to learn a lot of new things about them.
Initially, the trip was planned for the first weekend following Victory Day, as the first serious out-of-town trip of the opening motorcycle season. The choice of such a date turned out to be a very correct decision, since after the holiday all the memorials were removed, put in order and strewn with flowers. The weather did not disappoint either, it was dry and relatively warm. On the first day, three of us went, on the second day we started together, and I finished alone.
It was an amazing weekend. The photos of the monuments I took on this trip can be seen in the album “Green Belt of Glory”, created on the community page “The Entire Leningrad Region on Moto” -
“Green Belt of Glory”, a complex of memorial structures on the lines of the Battle of Leningrad 1941-1944, dedicated to the steadfastness and heroism of Leningraders and soldiers of the Leningrad Front. The layout of the “Green Belt of Glory” is based on the line of defense where enemy troops were stopped in September 1941. The idea of creating a single memorial complex was born on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Victory. On February 23, 1965, the Smena newspaper published an appeal from a participant in the defense of Leningrad, poet M.A. Dudin, who, on behalf of war veterans, wrote: “Let every Leningrader, young and old, consider it a duty and honor... to plant a tree of eternal life at the death line and memory is our duty.”
The general layout project for the “Green Belt of Glory” was developed in 1958-1964 by employees of the architectural and planning department of the Leningrad City Executive Committee and the 1st workshop of the Lenproekt Institute (architects G. N. Buldakov, V. L. Gaikovich, M. A. Sementovskaya). The main role in the general scheme of the “Green Belt of Glory” was given to architectural forms, which, in combination with sculpture, memorial signs, preserved or restored defensive structures, symbolize the heroism of the defenders of Leningrad. Green spaces (parks, memorial alleys, public gardens, etc.) serve as connecting elements, connecting memorials scattered over long distances into a single artistic organism.
The total length of the “Green Belt of Glory” is over 200 km. In accordance with the military situation in the autumn of 1941, it is divided into separate sections: the southern part of the “Great Blockade Ring” (the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland in the area of Uritsk - Pulkovo Heights - north of Pushkin - south of Kolpin - Kirovsk - the right bank of the Neva - the area of the Nevsky "patch" "on the left bank of the Neva - the western shore of Lake Ladoga), the northern part of the "Great Blockade Ring" on the Karelian Isthmus (the western shore of Lake Ladoga - the villages of Upper and Lower Nikulyasy - Vaskelovo - Lembolovo - Agalatovo - Beloostrov - the Sestra river - the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland ), "Small blockade ring" (Oranienbaum bridgehead: Petrodvorets - Gostilitskoe highway - Porozhki - Voronka river - Kernovo). In addition, the "Green Belt of Glory" also includes the western and eastern (Lednevo - Kobona - Lavrovo - Voybokalo) sections of the "Roads" life" and the Kronstadt memorial, located on Kotlin Island.
In 1965, memorial projects were exhibited in the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council, and at the beginning of 1966 - in the House of Architects. The memorial was erected using the “people’s construction method”; residents and the largest organizations of Leningrad took part in its creation. Construction of the First Stage of the “Green Belt of Glory” was completed by May 9, 1967. In the late 1960s and first half of the 1970s. construction continued. The second stage was completed by the 30th anniversary of the Victory (1975). By this time, the “Green Belt of Glory” had received clear outlines: on the former front line there were over 80 monuments, obelisks and other memorial structures, united into large memorial complexes. On the “Road of Life” route there are memorial kilometer poles along the Leningrad - shore of Lake Ladoga highway and along the Irinovskaya line of the Oktyabrskaya Railway. As independent elements, the “Green Belt of Glory” includes fraternal military cemeteries and burials, buildings and structures marked with memorial plaques (including preserved pillboxes, a memorial dugout in the village of Vaganovo, part of the Troika-1 memorial, a building in the village Borisov Griva, where evacuated Leningraders were waiting to be sent to the “Big Earth”, etc.), samples of military equipment installed in battlefields. In 1974, the “Green Belt of Glory” was accepted under state protection as a historical monument of republican significance. The symbolic center of the “Green Belt of Glory” was the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, opened on May 9, 1975 on Victory Square. Further construction of the memorial complex continued in the second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s: existing ones were improved and new memorials were created (including to the soldiers of battery “A” in the Pulkovo Heights area), the surrounding area was landscaped, and additional tree plantings were carried out. . Many memorials of the Green Belt of Glory are still traditional places for celebrations and mourning ceremonies in memory of the defenders of the Motherland. Some of them, however, are in dilapidated condition and need reconstruction.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Promproekt LLC carried out work on the restoration, restoration and improvement of four memorial complexes that are part of the “Green Belt of Glory” in the shortest possible time and with high quality. The professional work of the organization’s specialists was noted with letters of gratitude from representatives museums and municipal authorities.
- Memorial complex at the site of the battles of Soviet troops with the Nazi occupiers in 1941-1944. “Sinyavinsky Heights”, Leningrad region, Kirovsk, 8 km. east of the city.
- “Nameless Height”, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, near the village of Bolshie Porogi, on the right bank of the Neva River.
- “Nevsky Piglet” Leningrad region, Kirovsk, southern outskirts of the city, 53 km. highway St. Petersburg-Petrokrepost.”
- “Monument “Gostilitsky” on the “Oranienbaum patch”, Leningrad region, Lomonosov district, village of Gostilitsy.
Green Belt of Glory (Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address, phone number, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.
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Descendant know! In harsh years
Loyal to the people, duty and Fatherland.
Through the hummocks of the Ladoga ice,
From here we led the Road of Life.
So that life never dies.
Bronislav Kezhun
There is probably no other monument on the planet that would stretch for two hundred kilometers. Its obelisks, steles, memorial gardens and groves were erected and planted in honor of those who stood to their death at the city walls. Monuments of the Green Belt of Glory immortalized the heroism of the defenders of the Pulkovo Heights and the steadfastness of the soldiers who did not allow the enemy onto the right bank of the Neva at the Ivanovo rapids, the courage of those who fought on Nevskaya Dubrovka and stopped the enemy in the western quarters of the city. There are dozens of them, modest and majestic monuments in memory of famous and nameless heroes, sons and daughters of our Motherland.
From Rzhevka to Lake Ladoga, kilometer-long pillars lined the asphalt ribbon. Each of them is a memorial stele, on which next to the five-pointed star are the words “Road of Life.” There are forty-five of them.
There are also monuments in this chain dedicated to the heroes of the Ladoga Highway, along which Leningrad maintained contact with the mainland during the years of the siege - in the summer by water, and in the winter along the ice of Lake Ladoga. From Rzhevka to Lake Ladoga, kilometer-long pillars lined the asphalt ribbon. Each of them is a memorial stele, on which next to the five-pointed star are the words “Road of Life.” There are forty-five of them.
Monuments of the Green Belt of Glory
On the borders of the blockade ring of Leningrad
Kirovsky Val
Obelisk to the defenders of the city of Leningrad. It is part of the Kirov Val memorial, which is part of the Green Belt of Glory of Leningrad. Installed in 1946. Architects: L. Yu. Galperin, D. M. Spreiser. The material from which the monument is created is granite, marble. On the front side of the base there is a marble plaque with the text: “Glory to the defenders of the city of Lenin. 1941-1944".
Pulkovo border
The memorial is part of the Green Belt of Glory. It is located at the line where the advance of the Nazi troops was stopped in September 1941. Built in 1967 on the southern slope of the Pulkovo Heights, at the 20th kilometer of the Kyiv highway. On a horizontal concrete stele 34 m long there is a mosaic panel dedicated to the military and labor exploits of Leningraders, on the sides on the southern slope of the Pulkovo Heights there are two T-34 tanks.
Militia
A complex of memorial structures on the lines of the Battle of Leningrad 1941-1944, created to perpetuate the memory of its heroic defenders. The first structure of the future complex appeared during the Second World War - this is a stele between Ligovo and Sosnovaya Polyana.
Unconquered
Memorial in memory of the defense of the city in 1941-1944. Built near the fork in the road Pushkin - Kolpino - the state farm "Detskoselsky". On an elevated platform there is a concrete stele with the image of an attacking fighter and the inscription “The front line of the defense of the Soviet troops passed here. 1941-1944" and next to it is another stele of smaller height with the inscription "To you, who defended Leningrad, eternal glory"
There is also a separate memorial sign with the inscription: “To units of the 237th Infantry Division and the Krasnogvardeisky fortified area that held back the onslaught of the fascist invaders in September 1941.”
Storm
The stele was built in memory of the feat of the soldiers of the 55th Army of the 268th Infantry Division, who fought in June 1942 on the Leningrad Front between Kolpino and Yam-Izhora. The obelisk was installed at the line where the advance of Nazi troops on Leningrad was stopped in September 1941.
Izhora ram
With three vertical pillars supporting a massive concrete beam placed forward, the monument actually resembles a battering gun used to destroy fortresses in ancient times. “Taran” indicates the line where in 1941-1944 Leningrad was defended by the militia of the Izhora plant together with frontline soldiers.
Nevsky threshold
At the top of a gentle hill there is a planned platform paved with concrete slabs. There is a 23-meter horizontal stele on it, which lies on three transversely placed blocks. The memorial inscription on the stele lists the units and formations that fought at this line in 1941-1944. The blocks are installed offset from each other and have different lengths. Next to the monument there are graven stones, on one of them there is an inscription: “Traveler, tell Leningrad that the enemy has not passed through.”
Unnamed height
One of the most majestic monuments of the Green Belt of Glory. The slopes of a 20-meter bulk hill, rising above the steep bank, resemble a pyramid. Concrete stairs lead to observation platforms made in the form of acute angled protrusions. On the upper platform there is a symbolic bronze sculptural group: figures of soldiers, whom a woman calls behind her - the personification of Victory and perseverance. Memorial inscriptions are placed on the ledges of the platforms.
Nevsky patch
The left bank bridgehead of Soviet troops fighting the Nazi occupiers in 1941-1943. The memorial includes a mass grave.
Breakthrough
The memorial was erected at the site of the breakthrough of the siege of Leningrad.
Sister
Erected in 1966 at the mouth of the Sestra River. During the war, the line of defense of the 120th fighter battalion of the 23rd Army passed along this line.
Peace Garden
The memorial is dedicated to units and formations of the 21st and 23rd armies of the Leningrad Front. The area is paved with concrete slabs, with flagpoles installed on the right side. In the background, on a raised platform, there is a wall of granite blocks with text. Anti-tank posts are installed to the right of the wall, and seven apple trees are planted to the left. A birch alley 175 meters long runs from the left side of the memorial into the field.
Lembolovskaya stronghold
On the vertical stele there are bas-reliefs of a mother and child, on two pylons there are dates of the defense of Leningrad. 1941-44 and the bas-relief “Fragment of a battle”. At this point in September 1941, units of the 23rd Army stopped the advance of the Finnish troops. The memorial also includes a monument to the Heroes of the Soviet Union, Captain S. M. Aleshin, Senior Lieutenant V. A. Goncharuk and Senior Sergeant N. A. Bobrov, who in July 1942 sent their burning plane to the position of an enemy artillery battery.
On the Road of Life
Flower of Life
The memorial was built in 1968 in the river valley. Luppa near the village of Kovalevo on the Road of Life highway in memory of the children of Leningrad who died during the siege. On an artificial hill there is a concrete flower 15 m high, around 2 rows of concrete inclined slabs. In 1984, the Alley of Friendship was planted, connecting the memorial with the Funeral Mound, on which 8 concrete slabs with the text of Tanya Savicheva’s Diary were installed.
The Road of Life was the name given during the blockade to the only road laid across Lake Ladoga, thanks to which communication was established with the besieged city.
Rumbolovskaya mountain
Memorial made of metal oak and laurel leaves, next to it is a stele with the text of a poem by O. F. Berggolts:
“Bread came to us along the road of life,
dear friendship of many to many.
They don't know on earth yet
more terrible and joyful than the road."
Katyusha
The monument was built in 1966 on a hill where anti-aircraft units covering the Road of Life were stationed in 1941-1943. 5 14-meter steel beams symbolize the famous Katyusha rocket launcher.
Broken ring
The monument consists of two reinforced concrete arches symbolizing the ring of the blockade, the gap between them is the Road of Life. On the platform under the arches there are car tread marks in the concrete. Next to the memorial there are two reinforced concrete balls, simulating searchlights and a 45 mm anti-aircraft gun.
steel path
The monument consists of a stele 8 meters high, on which there are bas-reliefs of railway workers and a memorial inscription telling about their feat in 1941-1944. Next to the stele, a steam locomotive EM-721-83 built in 1933 is installed for eternal parking.
Crossing
The monument was erected in memory of the pontoon soldiers of the 3rd pontoon-bridge brigade of the reserve of the main command, who established several crossings after breaking the siege of Leningrad in February 1943.
On the borders of the Oranienbaum bridgehead
Shore of the courageous
The monument is located on the right bank of the Voronka River at the extreme point of the western border of the Oranienbaum bridgehead. Here during the war, soldiers of the 8th Army and sailors of the Baltic Fleet held the defense. In front of the stele there is a platform with flagpoles. On the right side of the road there are anti-tank concrete gouges. On September 15, 1991, a capsule with a message to descendants was placed in the stele, which is expected to be opened on September 15, 2041. The letter ends with the words: “Remember those who did not kneel back in 1941. Be worthy of this memory." At the memorial, on the right side of the road, the veterans planted an oak tree - a symbol of perseverance and invincibility; on the left side of the road, they installed a memorial sign on the site of the village of Kernovo, which was burned during the hostilities.
Far Frontier
A memorial as part of the “Green Belt of Glory” on the territory of the Oranienbaum bridgehead, established in 1966 in the area of the war-destroyed village of Terentyevo. The monument was built in 1966 on a voluntary basis.
Gostilitsky
On the mass grave of the memorial there is an eight-meter granite obelisk with an inscription telling about the exploits of Soviet soldiers, sailors of the Baltic Fleet and militia in September 1941 and about the battles in January 1944.
January thunder
On January 14, 1944, from this line, Soviet troops went on the offensive, which ended with the destruction of the Krasnoselsko-Ropshinsky enemy group. On a natural hill there is a concrete pylon 8 m high, on the front side there is a memorial inscription and bas-relief images of the defenders of Leningrad.
Oranienbaum Bridgehead (also known as Oranienbaum Patch, Primorsky Bridgehead, Tamengont Republic, Lebyazhinskaya Republic, Malaya Zemlya) an area on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland that was cut off from the main Soviet forces.
Anchor
The monument recreates the scene of the struggle, the marble stele is as if inscribed in part of the wall of a destroyed sea fortress, the wall is supported by an anchor. The overall composition is completed by a naval flag, emphasizing the inflexibility and immortality of the garrison, withstanding the onslaught of the enemy.
Attack
The T-34 tank, which took part in the January battles of 1944, is mounted on a 6-meter concrete pedestal. The memorial plaque mentions the units and formations that stopped the Nazi offensive in September 1941 and held the line until the offensive of Govorov’s army.
Seaside
The Primorsky Memorial Complex, also the Primorsky Memorial, is a complex of memorial structures of the Green Belt of Glory, located in Petrodvorets near the Petrodvorets Watch Factory and the English Park - at the fork in the roads to Lomonosov and Gostilitsy. This is a memorial cemetery for Soviet soldiers who died in battles and sappers who died while clearing the mines of Petrodvorets after its liberation.
On January 27, St. Petersburg celebrates the Day of the complete lifting of the siege of Leningrad. Therefore, our excursion today will be dedicated to the feat of the city’s defenders. We will go with you along the Green Belt of Glory, a complex of memorials created in the 60s on the lines of defense.
We will not cover the entire belt in one excursion, especially since some monuments related to it are located in Oranienbaum. We can say that the belt consists of three parts: the Big Ring, the Road of Life and Small Earth or the Oranienbaum bridgehead. I managed to find an excellent map on the Internet with the designation of monuments. There are a lot of maps, this one seemed to me the most clear, thanks to the unknown author.
You can view the map in a large size by clicking on it.
Today we will go along the Big Ring, along the Neva.
The first monument we will visit: “Nameless Height” on the right bank of the Neva, in the Vsevolozhsk region at the Ivanovo rapids, where the river makes a turn. It was erected one of the first, practically by popular forces, in 1965-1968. This is a man-made mound 20 meters high in the shape of a pyramid.
In the fall of 1941, after the capture of Shlisselburg, the Neva from the mouth of Tosna to Ladoga became the front line separating Soviet and enemy troops. The Germans tried to get to the right bank with any force, but the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division under the command of Colonel S.I. Donskov and the 115th Infantry Division, Major General V.F. Konkov, and artillery sailors who held the defense here thwarted all the Nazis’ attempts.
At the top of the monument there are observation platforms. On the opposite side you can see the mouth of the Tosna River.
Unfortunately, you can get to the monument either in winter, when there is a good snow path, or in summer, in very dry weather, and it is better to use an all-terrain vehicle. There is no normal road to it. Previously, all the monuments of the Belt of Glory had bosses represented by industrial enterprises of the city, but with the collapse of the Union, the bosses disappeared, and the monuments were not supported by anyone for a very long time. Only recently were they transferred to the regional department, otherwise in fact they were not on anyone’s balance sheet.
At the top of the pyramid there is a bronze tree and memorial inscriptions.
The letters of the inscriptions were originally bronze and you yourself understand what happened to them... Now they have been restored in this version.
There is a legend about the name. At first we tried the following names: “Hill of Glory”, “Pyramid of Victory”, “Hymn of Life”. But when the construction was completed, one elderly worker, a war veteran, said: “Well, it seems our nameless height is ready.”
Below, on the river bank, it was planned to make a memorial grove, but everything was limited to planting a row of pine trees. The relief resulting from the battles was also thoughtfully left: trenches, craters.
Today we will not pass through all the monuments of the Great Ring; we won’t be able to do even that in one day. Let's visit just a few.
The most famous of all is probably the Diorama “Breakthrough the Siege of Leningrad” with an exhibition of military equipment next to it.
The diorama is dedicated to Operation Iskra, which ended with the breaking of the blockade and the restoration of land communications in Leningrad. It was opened on May 7, 1985.
The picturesque canvas measuring 40 x 8 m tells about the seven-day battles of Operation Iskra in January 1943.
A close-up shows the crossing of the Neva and the meeting of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts. Real fortifications are made in front of the canvas, and they imperceptibly merge into the drawing.
In front of the diorama is an exhibition of tanks from the war, mainly those that could participate in the battles on the Leningrad front.
Only one tank is presented in two copies, the KV-1, one in regular green, the other in white. They say that the white tank may be replaced with a KV-2, since the latter has already been found in the swamps and just needs to be raised. The KV-2 weighs about 60 tons, and lifting it is not easy.
If you happen to be near the Diorama, don’t be lazy to get to the city of Kirovsk itself and visit the Exhibition Hall of the museum, where the “Breakthrough” panorama is now organized. Not to be confused with a diorama. In the exhibition hall of the "Breaking the Siege of Leningrad" museum-reserve, one of the stages of the battle to break the siege of Leningrad was recreated - the offensive of soldiers of the 45th Guards Division from the Nevsky Piglet bridgehead to the defensive German lines. The whole picture of the battle, thanks to mannequins, sound and special lighting, is embodied as realistically as possible.
Surely many of you have heard the phrase “Sinyavinsky Heights”. The Leningrad region is flat as a tablecloth, what are the heights? However, a hill of about 50 meters is formed by the old shore of Ladoga. From here the Germans fired artillery along the Road of Life. Fighting here continued throughout the blockade. In January 1944, the Sinyavinsky Heights were completely liberated from the Nazi invaders. But how many of our military units were completely killed there...
Sinyavinskoye Memorial Cemetery.
Wall of memory.
On this, not the central, alley of the city and the republic of the entire former Soviet Union they put up plaques in memory of those who died at the Sinyavinsky Heights. I saw monuments from Vologda, Dagestan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and many others. These are already modern, it seems to me.
Here they are, those same 50 m in height.
And in this place before the war there was a large prosperous village.
photo from open sources
"Nevsky Patch" The coastline is 300 meters wide and 100 meters deep. 12-16 attacks daily. 50 thousand mines, shells and air bombs per day. No one retreated.
As for the monument, it is of a later date than the “Nameless Height” and is completely different in style. 1972, the war is already moving further and further, the fighters are already portrayed as some abstract people with courageous chins, although, of course, ordinary guys fought and died here.
In 1985, the “Ghost House” monument appeared as a symbol of 38 villages and villages that were completely destroyed during the war on the territory of the modern Kirov region.
Photo from the website of the museum-reserve “Breaking the Siege of Leningrad”
I’ll finish today’s report with the poems of Olga Bergolts, the siege poetess.
Army
They will tell me - Army... I will remember the day - in winter,
January day forty-second year.
My friend was walking home with the children -
they carried bottled water from the river.
Their path was terrible, although not far.
And a man in an overcoat approached them,
looked and took out his bread ration,
three hundred grams, all icy,
and broke it and gave it to strangers' children,
and stood while they ate.
And the mother's hand is gray like smoke,
touched the sleeve of her overcoat.
She touched it without brightening her face...
The world has never seen more grateful movement!
We knew everything about the life of our armies,
who stood with us in the city, in the ring.
...They broke up. Mother went to the right
the fighter forward - through the snow and ice.
He went to the front, beyond the Narva outpost,
swaying from hunger as you walk.
He went to the front, painfully burning
the shame of a father, a man and a soldier:
a huge city was dying behind him
in the gray rays of the January sunset.
He went to the front, overcome by delirium,
all the time remembering - no, not remembering - knowing
that the woman is looking after him,
thanking him without reproaching him.
He swallowed snow, he felt with annoyance,
that the machine gun is too heavy,
made it to the front and was ambushed
to exterminate enemy soldiers...
...Now you understand why
There is no more beloved Army in all the land,
there is no one more devoted to her people,
more generous and invincible!
Green Belt of Glory The monuments of the Great Blockade Ring are the lines closest to Leningrad where the fascist troops were stopped. On the Great Blockade Ring, which is about 220 kilometers long, there are 25 monuments, on Malaya Zemlya - 60 kilometers long - 9 and on the Road of Life - 7 monuments.
Pulkovo border is the heart of the Green Belt of Glory. Here, on January 15, 1944, battles began for the complete liberation of Leningrad from the enemy blockade. Here, not far from the city of Pushkin, near the small, inconspicuous river Kuzminka, bloody battles took place. Today a memorial complex has been built on this site.
The monument to valor and glory resembles an unfurled banner. At the bottom of it is a bas-relief depicting a soldier, a sailor, a militiaman and a machine gunner girl fighting the enemy. The height of the monument is 12 meters. It is installed on an area of 1550 square meters, made of reinforced concrete slabs.
The memorial complex "Unconquered" is located at the crossroads of the Pushkin - Kolpino roads. It consists of three parts: the general composition, the main monument and military weapons installed in two places. The base of the main monument, the obelisk, symbolizes a section of defended native land. The intensity of the lines of the front edge of the base emphasizes the nature of the fighting at this point. On the obelisk is carved: “The front line of defense of the Soviet troops passed here.” Next to the obelisk there is a wall, which is a truncated pyramid 7.5 meters high, with its tip facing west. Its protrusion seems to indicate a breakthrough in the front line. On the southern edge of the pyramid is an image of a Soviet soldier directed at the enemy.
At the 29th kilometer of the Moscow Highway, where the enemy failed to advance a single step, military units erected an obelisk made of gray granite. A few kilometers further, in the village of Yam-Izhora, a second monument was erected. It was built to commemorate the victory of the troops of the Leningrad Front in the Kolpino sector, which was heavily fortified by the Nazi occupiers. The seven-meter stele is made of concrete. The Order of the Patriotic War is depicted in relief. There are shells at the base of the monument.
The monument to the militiamen of the Izhora plant is a powerful ram on three vertical supports, directed towards the enemy. The composition includes a vase with a rose hip bush and an 86-mm anti-aircraft gun. The powerful horizontal part of the ram with three supports of different heights and its asymmetrical arrangement remind us of the difficulty of fighting on this section of the front. A blooming rosehip bush in a vase symbolizes the triumph of life, the triumph of victory.
This is the very threshold that the fascist troops could not cross. Thousands of people gave their lives for this. At the 34th kilometer of the Murmansk highway, at the top of a gentle hill, a 23-meter horizontal pillar-beam was installed. On it there is an inscription with a dedication made of applied metal letters; The units of the Soviet Army and Navy that fought at this line are listed.
A few tens of meters from the “Neva Threshold” on a steep cliff of the Neva bank there is another monument - a modest obelisk in a military cemetery, erected in memory of those who participated on August 19, 1942 in fierce battles during the liberation of the village of Ust-Tosno from the enemy.
On the night of September 18-19, 1941 and for many months afterwards, the soldiers of Leningrad held this piece of land, and no matter how the Nazis raged, no matter how much their command ordered to liquidate the “patch,” they could not do anything. This piece of land has been preserved as a memorial. Traces of the war have not been destroyed on it: craters, trenches and communication passages. The obelisk was erected on the mass grave of heroically fallen soldiers.
At the site of the breakthrough of the blockade at the historical crossroads, where on January 18, 1943 at 11:35 a.m. soldiers of the advanced units of the 136th and 18th rifle divisions met, a powerful T-34 tank was installed. At the pedestal of the tank-monument there are daisies and bells. And the trenches, dugouts, overgrown, covered.
The battles for the Karelian Isthmus began from these same lines in June 1944. The memorial ensemble “Lembolovskaya Stronghold” is dedicated to the memory of the defenders of the Lembolovsky Heights. Located on a gentle slope of the hill on the northern bank of the Muratovka River, which flows into Lake Lembolovskoye, to the right of the Leningrad-Priozersk road.
On the Primorskoye Highway, a small sandy hill on which an enemy anti-tank gun stood is still visible. She fired direct fire along the highway at any target that appeared. In the summer of 1944, the height was taken by an assault group. Today, a polished granite slab is laid here, and a red granite monolith is installed on top.
The composition of the Green Belt of Glory is completed by monuments in the hero city of Kronstadt. Kronstadt is the sea gate of St. Petersburg; during the war, it reliably covered the approaches to the city from the sea. There are three monuments in the city as symbols of respect for fallen fellow countrymen. One of them is a monument dedicated to the workers of the Marine Plant.
During the war, the city of Lomonosov, called Oranienbaum until 1948, became the center of a small bridgehead, from which on January 14, 1944, Soviet troops launched an offensive, beginning the defeat of the enemy hordes near Leningrad. ...On the western outskirts of Petrodvorets, where the highway, as if diving into a ravine, then rises steeply, green monuments appeared. To the right, along the slope of the ravine, young thujas stand in orderly rows, like ranks of soldiers. There are three hundred and fifty of them. At these lines, the Baltic sailors in close chains launched a bayonet attack on the enemy...
A powerful tank stands on a 6-meter pedestal. It is no coincidence that this is a wartime car left here. This T-34 tank, which fought here. The combat vehicle, soaring furiously into the air, froze in a powerful rush for a decisive attack. On the pedestal of the monument there is an inscription: “Here was the line of defense of the Oranienbaum bridgehead during the years of the heroic defense of Leningrad”
In January 1944, the 131st Infantry Division advanced in the Gostilitsky direction. In a section three and a half kilometers long, it broke through the enemy’s defenses and occupied the village of Porozhki, which contributed to the advancement of our troops. The inscription on the obelisk reads: “To the soldiers of the Soviet army and the Leningrad Front who fell in battles with the German invaders during the lifting of the siege of Leningrad in 1944 during the Great Patriotic War.”
On the bank of the small river Ruditsa there is a monument made of gray concrete. Inscribed on the stone: “Here in 1941, Baltic sailors stopped the fascist troops.” For years, this area was used by the Oranienbaum partisan headquarters to transfer personnel behind enemy lines, as well as from the occupied zone to the territory of the “patch”
On September 8, 1941, our troops left Shlisselburg. In the enemy blockade of Leningrad, only one window remained: part of the shore of Lake Ladoga. An ice road was built here, which played a huge role in saving the city’s population during the bitter winter of 1941/42. The road of life originated on land in the present Kalinin region. From the Revolution Highway it walked along the Ryabovskoye Highway to Rzhevka. Then it ran through Vsevolozhsk, near the village of Kornevo, through the villages of Rakhya, Borisova Griva and Vaganovo. Then - along Lake Ladoga to Cape Osinovets. The length of the entire route from Leningrad to the mainland was a little more than 100 kilometers. At the place where the Road of Life immediately began stands the first marble pillar.
The first monument on the Road of Life is located at its 3rd kilometer. The monument was erected by the Leningrad Pionerstroy in memory of the children who died during the siege of Leningrad. The “Flower of Life” breaks through the stones and rushes upward. A stem stretches from the petals - 10 meters high, weighing 20 tons. It bears the main part of the flower - the corolla, measuring 4.6 meters in diameter. On the corolla are the words carved in a child’s hand: “May there always be sunshine!” And next to it is the smiling face of a boy. The composition - huge metal leaves are directed upward, next to it is a stele, on which trucks are depicted. The backdrop for the monument is the slope of a high sandy mountain. We read the inscription: “Bread came to us along the path of life, along the path of friendship from many to many. A more terrible and joyful road has not yet been known on earth.”
A 14-meter structure is directed into the blue sky. During the days of the blockade, an anti-aircraft battery stood at this place, which protected the Leningrad sky and the only thread connecting the besieged city with the mainland. The inscription on the marble stele at the monument: “remember these terrible years, the road of life passed here through the courage of the brave, Leningrad was saved to the fallen heroes - immortal glory
March 1943. The blockade of Leningrad has already been broken. However, there is no way yet to transport food to the city, ammunition and equipment to the troops, and transport the wounded. The Leningrad Road of Life ceased to exist. Lake Ladoga has opened up from ice. A temporary pontoon crossing was built at this site. The stela stands on the site of the former crossing. On the left is the legendary Oreshek, straight ahead is the city, and all around is the boundless expanse of Lake Ladoga and the primordially Russian, Leningrad lands
Memorial pillars were installed along the entire length of the railway track - in memory of the Road of Life that passed here during the war. A star and bas-reliefs of railroad warriors are carved on the eight-meter stele. And as symbols of their struggle with the enemy on the steel tracks - a hammer, an adjustable wrench. The words are inscribed on the stele: “To the heroes of the railway workers for their valiant work and feat on the Road of Life during the harsh years of the defense of Leningrad”
On the territory of the Petrokrepost station, a monument of eternal glory to those who gave their lives for their homeland was erected. A star and bas-reliefs of railroad warriors are carved on the 8-meter stele. The words are inscribed on the stele: “To the heroic railway workers for their valiant work and feat on the Road of Life during the harsh years of the defense of Leningrad.”
