‘Road of Life’ ice route across Lake Ladoga to besieged Leningrad opens 80 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Nov 22 1941)


Video: 'Road To Life: How Leningrad Held Out Against The Odds | WWII In Numbers | War Stories'

(Saturday, November 22, 1941; during the Siege of Leningrad, part of the Eastern Front of World War II) — The Road of Life, an ice road supply route built on top of Lake Ladoga’s frozen surface that saved over a million lives in the besieged city of Leningrad during World War II, began to operate as a convoy of 60 trucks with 33 tons of flour under Major V. A. Porchunov arrived tonight on the western shore.


Video: 'Eh, Ladoga - WW2 song - Lake Ladoga - Photos of the Road of Life'

They were the only Soviet winter surface routes into the city while it was besieged by the German Army Group North under Feldmarschall Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb.

Video: 'The World at War: Red Star: The Soviet Union - 1941-1943 (11 of 26)' (Nov. 22, 1941, at 13:41)