Ushachi celebrated the 75th anniversary of the legendary breakthrough

 

Republican and regional authorities, delegations from Polotsk, Lepel, Novopolotsk, representatives of public organizations, and local residents participated in the solemn ceremony.

 

 

Ushachi was occupied on July 9, 1941. Just a month later, underground groups began to operate. In the spring of 1942, the first partisan detachments were organized, which grew into partisan brigades. By 1944, the Polotsk-Lepel partisan zone, with its center in Ushachi, controlled 3.2 thousand square kilometers of territory, which included over 1.2 thousand settlements with a population of 73.5 thousand people.

 

 

In the morning of April 11, 1944, the fascists began a punitive operation to destroy partisans and civilians. The occupying forces, numbering 60,000 men, were opposed by 17,000 partisans. Bloody unequal battles lasted for 25 days. On the night of May 5, 1944, the people's avengers decided to break through the blockade near the villages of Plino and Paperino, as a result of which they led out 15,000 civilians.

The "Breakthrough" memorial complex was opened on June 30, 1974, during the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders.