The relative stabilization of the Leningrad Front began in September 1941, when, at the direction of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army G. K. Zhukov held events that ensured the stop of the Nazis at the walls of the city. The possibility of destroying the city's enterprises and the ships of the Baltic Fleet in case of the surrender of Leningrad to the Nazis were also prevented. Orders for these events were sent to G. K. Zhukov to the archives, and the former commander of the Leningrad Front K. E. Voroshilov flew to the headquarters of the supreme commander in Moscow. The new command of the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts were looking for methods of destroying the enemy's manpower and equipment. One has only to remember that one of the first radar stations, created with the participation of Leningrad scientists, timely recorded and notified on September 21 of the star raid of 386 Nazi bombers on the city to destroy the ships of the Baltic Fleet. The fleet was saved, and the Nazis lost 78 of their bombers in three days of raids. Three months later, Leningrad scientists were able to create circular indicators for assessing the air situation at the front air defense headquarters. Now the radar operators did not need to estimate the intensity of the raids and to count the Nazi planes in the airspace of the city. Air defense officers began to carry out this task. In Leningrad, since 1925, wired radio communications have been operating. Loudspeakers worked in the apartments of Leningraders, through which residents of the city could listen to radio broadcasts. Loudspeakers were also installed on the buildings of the city. But with the onset of the Nazis, the city radio network worked intermittently due to damage. Broadcast radio station "RV-53", operating in the long-wavelength range of waves, was destroyed as a result of artillery shelling by the Nazis. The station was located in the Kolpino area, and in September the front passed no more than three hundred meters from it.
The city leadership and the front command decided to restore this radio station. In accordance with the order of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front dated June 30, 1942, the work was entrusted to the Komintern plant and the 18th Separate Reconstructive Communications Detachment (180В0С). It was necessary to quickly dismantle and remove the remaining equipment of the RV-53 station to a safe place. The detachment included specialists from the Vector Research Institute, which was part of the Komintern plant. This group was headed by S. V. Spirov, head of the design bureau of the Research Institute. The soldiers of the detachment and the specialists of the research institute worked at the destroyed station "RV-53" only at night, being careful of the aimed shelling of the fascists. As a result, we managed to take out all the remaining equipment in our hands. Cars were driven to the destroyed station from the rear for the removal of equipment only at night, while provoking the Nazis with their shelling so that the noise of the engine of the departing vehicle with the equipment would not be heard. As a result of the work performed by the specialists of the Research Institute "Vector" and 180В0С, a new radio station was created. At the disposal of the Military Council of the Leningrad Front, it was listed as "Object 46". The station was located in the building of a Buddhist temple on Primorsky Avenue, at 91.
The first service in this temple was held on February 21, 1913 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, and since 1940 the temple was empty, so it was allocated for the commissioning of Object 46. The specialists of the Research Institute "Vector" and the soldiers of 180В0С were careful when installing the station equipment. The command warned: "The temple is the artistic value of the USSR, it is necessary to ensure the safety of the architecture of the building and the interiors of all rooms." The order was carried out. Object 46 was commissioned not on September 1, 1942, but on August 28, 1942. This was achieved by solving the following technical and organizational problems:
- the location of the station in a finished building on the bank of the river, the water of which could be used to cool powerful radio tubes;
- application of open mounting of equipment of powerful cascades and antenna circuit;
- the use of ready-made units and equipment left over from the RV-53 radio station, as well as the possibility of using ready-made units supplied according to the list from the radio factories remaining and operating in the city.
Specialists headed by S. V. The Spirovs also found an original solution for the antenna arrangement of the station. In peacetime, everything was done according to proven technology: a metal mast was built; raised the antenna to a height of 100 meters. This decision was not suitable for the besieged city. The radio mast could be a good target for the Nazi artillerymen and a landmark. But without a high-altitude antenna, there is no radio station. The solution was suggested after some discussion: the antenna was suspended from a barrage balloon. The air defense forces of Leningrad included 3 regiments of barrage balloons: these are 350 balloons, of which 160 are double. Balloons, taking into account the experience of the defense of the city, were installed according to instructions: 10 units for 6-10 km of the front. The calculation of the specialists was justified, the Nazis did not guess that the balloons, in addition to the barrage function, began to play the role of an antenna system. As a result, the country and the world heard the voice of Leningrad. The signal was confidently received at a distance of up to 1000 km during the day, and up to 2000 km at night. In Nazi Germany and Finland, they now heard Leningrad, the voice of announcers, including Olga Fedorovna Bergholts. And also special programs in German and Finnish for the inhabitants of these countries and their armies. The fascists were furious: the city lives, fights and broadcasts to the whole world about the determination to break the neck of the fascist beast. Such people cannot be defeated.
Leningraders on the streets of their city were going to listen to the radio.
For the creation of this long-wave station in besieged Leningrad, the commander of the Leningrad Front, Leonid Alexandrovich Govorov, by his order dated September 30, 1942, to all the specialists of the Research Institute "Vector" and the soldiers of 180VOS announced gratitude, they were also presented with valuable gifts. A number of specialists from the Research Institute "Vector" and soldiers of 180VOS were awarded orders and medals. S. V. Spirov and the director of the Komintern plant M. Ye. Chervyakov was awarded the Order of the "Red Star". The successful decision to create a long-wave station was taken into account by the USSR government. The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, by a decision of April 5, 1943, decided to build a short-wave station in Leningrad with a commissioning date of November 1, 1943. The station was listed as "Object 57", the task was completed.
On December 22, 1942, the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" was instituted. The city lived a difficult, but its own fighting life. In 1942, 12, 5 thousand babies were born in Leningrad, a football match took place between Leningrad teams, performances were staged in theaters. The specialists of the "Comintern" plant N. Gurevich and S. Spirov were able to find a way to influence the transmission of German radio, on the frequency channels that the inhabitants of Germany listened to on their national receivers. They inserted news from Leningrad, prisoners of the Nazis often spoke to the Germans, who were specially brought to the radio studio. They read prepared texts. This was done in order to be able to broadcast in a purely German language. The effect was amazing. Particularly valuable for the Germans in Germany were "metronome" broadcasts, as the Front's Political Administration considered. The announcer in German announced that the metronome was counting the seconds, but when there was a pause, it meant that one fascist had been killed on the Leningrad front. Later this type of radio transmission for Paulus's troops was transferred to Stalingrad. One fascist officer wrote to Germany: “The metronome freezes at the 7th second, now we know that every 7 seconds a German dies. Why did we come here? Russians are angrier than watchdogs.
