On the Victory Day's eve, May 9, Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chairman of the Board of Avtodor State Company, and Andrey Nikitin, Governor of Novgorod Region, laid flowers to the monument of Fallen Defenders of the Motherland on the 561st kilometers of M-11 Neva Federal Highway in Novgorod Region.
“We are commemorating the May 9 for the first time at this place but we are eager to make it a tradition. The territory should be improved; people passing our great road and residents of Novgorod region should be able to come here to watch the artifacts of the Great Patriotic War with their own eyes,” stated Vyacheslav Petushenko at the solemn ceremony.
“Here, on M-11, our monument soldier keeps the memory of the deceased in Myasnoy Bor in 1942. In a year, it became a place of worship for people who lost their sons, fathers, brothers, husbands, and friends to war. On the Victory Day's eve, we bow our heads in respect to the honoured soldiers who died for us to gain Victory.
We thank our search troops who found the remains of our defenders and returned their names to the descendants,” added the Head of Avtodor State Company.
However, a lot of them are still missing. Search troops keep encountering the remains of Soviet soldiers. From September 2020, until May 2021, the search troops found 427 Red Army soldiers. 25 of them were identified by names. Currently, 11 more identification tags are under examination.
Within the interregional Spring-2021 memory shift, 364 soldiers whose remains were found in forests near Myasnoy Bor will be buried in a solemn ceremony tomorrow, on May 8. Some burials have been already conducted for soldiers found during preparation of the territory for building of M-11 Neva highway. The road crosses the places of the fiercest battles in Novgorod region. Taking this into account, the road workers made a decision to create a memorial at the 561st kilometer dedicated to the soldiers of the Second Shock Army. It was opened solemnly on June 27, 2020.
Andrey Nikitin, Governor of Novgorod Region, stated that the memorial has already became a part of M-11 highway and thanked the management of “Russian Highways” State Company for the realization of this initiative. “M-11 Neva highway is a modern complicated engineering structure. Only a large and great country may follow such an endeavor. It passes the locations of fierce battles waged almost 80 years ago. Each kilometer here screams with war. People fought in swamps, there were no roads. They fearlessly stood for every piece of Russian land. Soldiers strived to win and bring a great future for their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” emphasized Andrey Nikitin.
At the 561st kilometer of M-11, “Russian Highways” State Company, together with a constituent entity of the Russian Federation intends to create a point of attraction for travelers and develop the memorial step by step. Soon, a tourist information center will be available providing the information on sightseeing places in the region.
For the opening anniversary, the monument will be completed – bronze plates with the names of army commands and units participating in the Myasnoy Bor fights will be hanged. The sculptors of the Studio of Military Artists named after M. B. Grekov who took part in creating the monument have already molded them.
For reference:
A monument “To Those Who Died in Defense of Their Motherland” was erected on June 27, 2020. It is dedicated to the glorious deed of soldiers of the Second Shock Army fallen in 1942 near Myasnoy Bor village in Novgorod region. The memorial includes two mosaics on the road icon-case: with the images of Novgorod Our Lady of the Sign and Faithful Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky, protectors of the old Novgorod land.
