The Ladoga Tragedy of September 17, 1941: Underreported Facts

Abstract

The topic of studying the history of the great Patriotic war, which is still relevant, is reflected. One of the little known pages of the besieged Leningrad is presented-the story of the death of people in the Ladoga tragedy on September 17, 1941 on barge No. 752. It considers the beginning of water evacuation from the blockaded Leningrad. Based on the memories of participants in those events and a number of documents, the paper discloses the factors that resulted in mass death of Red Navy officers, among whom were cadets and officers of the Dzerzhinsky High Navy Engineering School, Ordzhonikidze Navy Hydrographic School, graduates of the Naval Medical Academy, and their family members. The reasons of the tragedy were significant overload of the barge, underestimated unfavourable weather forecasts, lack of evacuation plan, unsuitable floating craft for transporting people, and neglected safety. Archival materials made it possible to reconstruct the barge sinking. Surge of Hitlers troop attacks in early times of the Great Patriotic War predetermined a less-than-prompt organisation of evacuation from Leningrad. This also was due to the fact that pre-war mobilisation plans did not consider mass evacuation measures and, accordingly, there were no clear tried and true plans. The authors of the article present separate archival summaries of the said events.