News
22 November 2021

A Book about the Heroic Act of the 2nd Shock Army Presented

On the 80th anniversary of opening the Road of Life, Russian Highways State Company, together with Tavolga Foundation for the Development of Science and Culture, the I Remember portal, as well as the Russian Historical Society and the Russian Military Historical Society, presented the book "Gone Into Immortality. In Memory of the 2nd Shock Army".

The event was held at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the participation of Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chairman of the Board of Russian Highways State Company, Yury Petrov, Director of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Konstantin Mogilevsky, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Historical Society, Executive Director of Motherland History Foundation, Andrey Kartapolov, Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Artyom Drabkin, head of the  team of authors of the book "Gone Into Immortality. In Memory of the 2nd Shock Army", Damir Fattakhov, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, as well as Stanislav Shultsev, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Novgorod Region, and Mikhail Mikhalin, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation.

During preparations for the construction of the M-11 Neva Highway, the remains of more than 250 Soviet soldiers of the 2nd Combat Shock Army of the Volkhov Front were discovered in the swamps near the village of Myasnoy Bor in the Novgorod Region. Fierce battles took place there during the Great Patriotic War.

In the year of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, on the 563rd kilometer of the M-11 Neva Highway, a bronze monument "To Those Killed in the Defense of the Motherland" was erected where the soldiers had been found. The memorial forever immortalized the heroic act of the soldiers from the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front. The monument became the soul of the highway and a place of worship for people who lost their sons, fathers, and brothers to war.

At the opening of the monument, it was decided to carry out a historical study of the tragic events that took place in Myasnoy Bor in 1942. And it became the basis of the book "Gone Into Immortality. In Memory of the 2nd Shock Army".

Vyacheslav Petushenko made a speech at the book presentation. According to him, people should know history of their country. "I remember my grandmother; nothing was more important to her than living without war," the head of the State Company shared his personal story. In Vyacheslav Petushenko's opinion, the memory of those terrible events should live on. And so that they do not repeat, Russian Highways State Company created a memorial and supported the book publication.

"The fact that we can live today, study history, build roads, travel between our capitals is all owing to the fact that then, in 1941-1945, the whole country rose to defend our Motherland from invaders. Unfortunately, many did not live to see the victory. And we united to honor the memory of the soldiers," Konstantin Mogilevsky noted.

"Many famous people fought in the 2nd Shock Combat Army. Musa Cälil, the national hero of Tatarstan, was among them. His and his brothers-in-arms' actions are an example of loyalty to the military oath and civic duty," Mikhail Mikhalin pointed out.
"The Luban offensive operation, which took place from January 7 to April 30, 1942, went down in history as one of the most tragic episodes of the Battle for Leningrad," Andrey Kartapolov reminded. An attempt to break through to the besieged city ended with the encirclement of the main forces of the 2nd Shock Army near Myasny Bor. But despite the most dire circumstances, the soldiers and commanders did not stop fierce battles with the enemy until September 1942. For a long time, this feat was unknown to the general public of our country.

According to Andrey Kartapolov, the authors of the book managed to create a multidimensional picture and described in detail the course of military operations on both sides. The photographs, which clearly demonstrate the ferocity of the battles, make a great impression. But the most important thing is to show the heroism of the Red Army soldiers and commanders.

The book "Gone Into Immortality. In Memory of the 2nd Shock Army" is not only a new fundamental study of the Luban operation with the publication of documents previously unknown to a wide range of readers. First of all, it is a tribute to the heroic act of our fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, the feat of the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, who sacrificed themselves to save their Motherland.

Damir Fattakhov is sure that there are fewer and fewer real participants in the Great Patriotic War still alive, who can tell in a live dialogue about what war is and describe everything that the soldiers went through. It is very important to find new paths to the minds and hearts of young people. "In this regard, we, as a federal agency,  are open to any form of cooperation," he noted.

“The idea to create a memorial on the M-11 Neva Highway proved to be right. The recreation area in the Novgorod Region has become a point of attraction, a kind of spiritual dominant of the road," Stanislav Shultsev confirmed.

According to Vyacheslav Petushenko, Russian Highways State Company plans to develop this site as a place of memory for those who have gone into immortality.