Excavations have begun in the Senno district at the crash site of a Soviet Pe-2 bomber
As reported by Nikolai Shpyirkovich, chairman of the military-historical patriotic club "Vitebsk Rubesh", two aircraft crashed in this area, presumably from July 7 to 9, during the Lepel counteroffensive. They were returning from a combat mission and were shot down by "Messerschmitts".
In both crews, the gunner-radio operators were Belarusians: Georgy Lyakhovich from Orsha and Pyotr Levshunov from the Mogilev region.
The military-historical patriotic search club "Vitebsk Rubesh" and the Senno Historical and Local Lore Museum studied the combat logs, as well as records of interviews with eyewitnesses of those events, which led to the determination of the crash site of one of the aircraft.
The Pe-2s were part of the 95th High-Speed Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Red Army Air Force and carried out combat missions in the Lepel area to bomb advancing enemy columns. This regiment was one of the first to be equipped with the latest aircraft of this type and participated in the parade on May 1, 1941, flying over Red Square in Moscow.
The excavations involve the 52nd Separate Specialized Search Battalion, "Vitebsk Rubesh", the Investigative Committee, and the Committee for Forensic Examinations.
Tatyana Mysenko, a relative of Nikolai Antropov, the navigator of one of the crews, came to the excavation site from Moscow. She feels in her heart that her second cousin died at this spot.
Heavy equipment was provided by "Vitebskvodokanal".