History 04/01/20 “Plan “D”: why did Stalin planned to blow up the Leningrad

on 8 September 1941, when Leningrad was surrounded by German and Finnish troops began a terrible 872-day period in the city’s history – blockade. Few people know that, fearing for the fate of the troops of the Leningrad front, Stalin was ready to surrender the city to the Wehrmacht – but already in ruins.

“These plans seem unbelievable”

According to the version of some researchers, army General Georgy Zhukov on the eve of the transfer to the Leningrad front received from Stalin the user manual: in the case that the Northern capital will never hold, it should blow up, and the troops – to withdraw from the environment. It was about half a million soldiers and officers of the salvation which, given the enormous losses of 1941, seemed to Rate the most important thing.

However, the bugs in “Memories and reflections” claims that he learned about such plans only on September 9, upon arrival at the blockaded city. Realizing how shocking in 1969 could be true of war, Marshal “spare the feelings of readers,” but says nothing about the details of the operation.

“in the Smolny Institute, I learned that discusses the measures that should be undertaken if it is impossible to keep Leningrad, wrote Zhukov. These measures (I’m not going to list them all) called for the destruction of major military installations. Now, a quarter century later, these plans seem incredible.”

Zhukov is clearly disingenuous, to use the phrase “military objectives” – in fact, by this was understood not only the headquarters, barracks, and defense companies.

Some commentators see the willingness of Stalin to destroy Leningrad symptom of the inveterate hatred of the leader to the “city of Kirov”, but in reality nothing special in these plans was not. Massive destruction was the city version of the tactics of “scorched earth”. Indicative in this sense, the fate of Kiev. Before the arrival of the Germans, Soviet saboteurs zaminywere incubated ancient street and he literally blew up a few days of the occupation.

“the Plan “D”

Unimplemented measures for the destruction of industry and infrastructure of the Leningrad historians call the “Plan “D”. A collection of declassified documents that shed light on this operation was published in 2005 in the series “Archives of the big house”. According to participating in the publication of historian Nikita Lomagin, the preparation of the plan for the enterprises of Leningrad began on September 15, and he remained until February 1944. The list of objects to be destroyed in the event of withdrawal of the troops, was a special “Troika” with the district committees of the CPSU (b) of Leningrad. Coordinated the work arrived from Moscow together with Zhukov, Deputy people’s Commissar of internal Affairs Vsevolod Merkulov.

In some publications the scale of the planned destruction are greatly exaggerated – says about 58 thousands of objects, including houses. In fact, as follows from the documents disclosed, by early October, a list of 380 objects (including 250 key). It featured as a major industrial plant (Izhora plant, Electrosila plant. Kirova), and less valuable for the defense (yeast plant, factory of records). It is also planned to blow up large stores (“Passage”, Leningrad House of Trade), power station, railway depot, telephone station, bridges across the Neva, etc. of the Building was supposed to fire and flooding, and the devices and assemblies in the factories – split with axes and sledgehammers. Part of the explosive devices, perhaps, as in Kiev, was to be captured after the occupation of the city by the Germans.

“If that were true, it becomes clear why the city authorities have prepared food supplies. They were busy mining,” said on “the Plan “D” the author of the Siege book by Daniil Granin.

on the one hand, in the foregoing is not unusual for those times. For example, in Moscow in the event of leaving the city had a plan for the destruction of 1,119 businesses. On the other hand,us, the fate of the civilian population of Leningrad was presented to the authorities of secondary importance. Plans total evacuation was not made, and the part of the inhabitants were doomed to be buried in the ruins of the destroyed city.

Timur Sagdiyev

Source:
© Russian Seven

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