At 4 a.m., on the day and hour of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chairman of the Board of “Russian Highways” State Company, Aleksandr Dronov, Deputy Governor of Novgorod region, and Renat Valiullin, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Tatarstan in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad region, together lit a Memory Candle near the monument “To Those Deceased in Defense of Their Motherland” on the 563rd Km of M-11 Neva Highway in Novgorod region.
“On this mournful day, we commemorate the warriors who died during the Great Patriotic War. For the first time, the Memory Candle campaign is held near this memorial which was erected only last year. This is also a new page of its history – today we present the memorial tablets with the names of military units that fought in Myasnoy Bor in 1942. We are happy to see that the monument lives on. People come here to pay their respect”, said Vyacheslav Petushenko.
In February 1942, the famous Tatar poet Musa Jalil, now Hero of the Soviet Union, was taken prisoner here. He was one of 30 thousand Red Army soldiers captured, reminded Renat Valiullin. More than 700 thousand residents of the Republic of Tatarstan went to war, and only a half returned.
The entire country united against the enemy, confirmed Aleksandr Dronov. More than 190 thousand residents of Novgorod region went off to war, and more than 120 thousand of them gave their lives on the battlefield.
On this sad anniversary, 80 years from the onset of the Great Patriotic War, “Russian Highways” State Company will hold a range of other memorial events. The State Historical Museum will host a ceremony of cancelling a postage stamp depicting the monument “To Those Deceased in Defense of Their Motherland” on M-11 Neva highway. An exhibition dedicated to federal roads built after the Victory in the Great Patriotic War will open on Strastnoy Boulevard in Moscow. At the event, Tavolga Foundation for the Development of Science and Culture will present a large scientific study of hostilities on the Volkhov Front aimed to free the besieged Leningrad in the first half of 1942.
For reference:
A monument “To Those Deceased in Defense of Their Motherland” opened on June 27, 2020. As a part of the anniversary memorial campaign, the monument has been decorated with bronze plates bearing the names of army commands and units who fought at the Myasnoy Bor. The plates, as well as the monument itself, were molded by the sculptors of the Studio of Military Artists named after M. B. Grekov.
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