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Leningrad endured a German siege of more than 800 days during World War II, during which millions of civilians died of famine and millions of Soviet soldiers died or were wounded in order to break through the blockade. However, few people know that in this battle, cats also played a vital role, and it can be said that cats were also one of the saviors of Leningrad.
The story takes place in the spring of 1943, when a rat infestation broke out in Leningrad. In the memories of the Soviet-German war, we often hear stories of dogs contributing to the war, but rarely mention the exploits of cats. However, although cats could not go into battle in person, they played a strategic role in defending the city's food supply, becoming invaluable assistants to humans in the fight against the terrible rat infestation.
The rat infestation, a hidden crisis hidden behind the world war, is rarely recorded in the history books. However, the destruction of social order and infrastructure by war usually triggers a large-scale breeding of rats, causing even greater disasters to citizens suffering from material scarcity. The sudden outbreak of a rat infestation in the siege of Leningrad is a typical case.
At the beginning of 1943, the Soviet army successfully broke the blockade of Leningrad, and a large amount of food began to enter the hungry city. However, at the same time, an unexpected catastrophe suddenly broke out in Leningrad, that is, the large-scale breeding of rats.
According to records, buildings in the city were filled with starving corpses, which were not found and buried in time, and these corpses became food for rats to survive and breed. As the rat population increased dramatically, they began to invade the warehouses and mills of Leningrad, destroying the precious food of the citizens.
It is worth noting that at that time Leningrad mainly relied on railway lines on the corridor on the southern shore of Lake Ladoga for the delivery of food, a dangerous task carried out under the threat of German artillery. Hundreds of drivers, engineers and firefighters paid with their lives to keep the food moving. However, despite the great cost, by the spring of 1943, Leningrad had only saved up a week's worth of grain. Thus, the appearance of millions of rats posed a great threat to the lives of Leningrad citizens, almost as much as the German artillery blockade.
The key reason for the sudden surge in rat numbers is the loss of their natural predators. Leningrad was originally home to a large number of pet cats and stray cats, especially stray cats, which greatly inhibited the reproduction rate of mice. However, at the beginning of 1943, all stray cats in Leningrad disappeared!
Cats disappeared for one simple reason - they were all eaten by hungry townspeople! Since the siege of Leningrad by the Germans in September 1941, external food supplies have been interrupted, the citizens have been exhausted, and the daily ration has only 150-200 grams of brown bread, sometimes even dropping to 120 grams.
In conditions of extreme hunger, the citizens of Leningrad began to hunt stray dogs, then stray cats and sparrows, and mice became one of their delicacy. Even the pet cats and dogs in the homes of citizens made sacrifices at the last moment when everyone was hungry. By the winter of 1942, almost all cats and dogs in Leningrad had been hunted and killed. Even more shocking, cat bones were even used to make a special glue that was used as carpenter's glue, and eventually even this "cat bone glue" was used as food.
In the end, only one surviving "native" cat named "Maxim" remained in the entire city. The cat belonged to the pet of the family of Volodin, a citizen of Leningrad. The family not only showed great endurance, but also fed Maxim and a parrot named "Jacques". The cat not only shows great endurance for hunger, even
Willing to spend difficult times with Jacques the parrot. Sometimes, the cat even burrows into the birdcage to rest with the parrot purely to keep each other warm. Although hunger threatens their survival, their camaraderie and mutual care are touching.
Unfortunately, although Jacques the Parrot failed to survive the siege, the strong Maxim eventually survived and even survived until 1957 at the age of 20. For a cat, a high lifespan of 20 years is rare. Therefore, the old cat Maxim became a famous mascot in the history of the siege of Leningrad, and even became a study visit for primary and secondary school students for a time, symbolizing tenacity and the power to survive.
However, even with a tenacious cat like Maxim, the mouse problem has not been solved. Rats have a strong ability to survive and reproduce, and despite large-scale hunting, some rats still hide in corners that citizens cannot find. After surviving the harsh winter of 1942, a few rats survived and began to breed en masse.
Thus, the city of Leningrad once again fell into a terrible rat infestation. Citizens said that the streets of Leningrad had almost become "rat-infested highways." Rats not only openly rob citizens of precious food, but also pose a serious threat of infectious diseases.
At that time, due to the large number of starving corpses in the city, the pressure to prevent and control infectious diseases in Leningrad was very great. In addition, chronic malnutrition keeps the immunity of citizens at its lowest point. The ravages of millions of rats made a massive plague outbreak almost inevitable.
The Leningrad city government took a series of measures to extinguish rats, but almost all methods were to no avail. Almost all the townspeople agreed that only cats would be able to save Leningrad from the rat infestation!
However, not only Leningrad, but also the nearby area left hardly many cats. During the war, people could not even guarantee food and clothing, let alone cats. However, hope finally came, and it came from Yaroslavl, 500 km away.
Good news comes from Yaroslavl, they still have a large number of smoked cats, these black-and-silver shorthair are excellent mouse hunters. The Leningrad city government urgently sent railway wagons and brought four wagons of smoked cats from Yaroslavl! This is the origin of the famous urban legend of Leningrad's "four cat cars".
These smoked cats, transported from Yaroslavl, were first distributed to the city's food warehouses, and the rest to the townspeople. Those fortunate citizens who got their hands on the cats soon brought them to the market to sell. In January 1944, a kitten was listed on the Leningrad market for 500 rubles, while the monthly salary of ordinary people at that time was only about one hundred rubles.
However, the fate of these smoky cats is tragic. They enter the food warehouse and fight to the death with rats, but the rats are too numerous. Hundreds of cats were instead surrounded by mice. Although they killed a large number of mice, most of these smoked cats ended up dying in battle.
The smoky cat, as a pioneer, suffered heavy casualties, forcing the Leningrad city government to once again send an urgent call for help to the whole country!
In response to Leningrad's plea for help, Soviet cities reached out, but the most powerful reinforcements came from Siberia. As a large rear, Siberian towns were less affected by the war and therefore had more cats.
Residents of Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen and other Siberian cities responded to the government's call to donate their pet cats. According to statistics, 238 were donated in Tyumen alone
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