Leningrad: The First Ice on Lake Ladoga

Leningrad has been encircled since 8 September 1941; the fire at the Badayev warehouses has swallowed up part of the food stocks. On 20 November, the bread ration falls to 125 grams a day for non-workers — bread cut with cellulose. Nearly 2.5 million civilians are trapped, and winter is setting in.

The only way out runs across Lake Ladoga. On 22 November 1941, the first trucks venture onto the barely formed ice: this is the "Road of Life." The crossing is deadly — the ice gives way under the weight, German aircraft strafe it, the cold kills.

For a mother, every option is a gamble: entrust her children to the perilous ice, or keep the family together in the city in the hope that the siege will be lifted.