In the Vitebsk region, the remains of 50 nameless soldiers were reburied
Excavations at the site of the death of soldiers of the rifle divisions of the 11th Guards Army, 43rd Army, and 4th Shock Army were carried out in August, and the work was complicated by the heat. "Near Zaronovo in January 1944, battles were fought for the liberation of Vitebsk. In August, we conducted excavations at the site where fierce battles took place at that time. Unfortunately, we did not find any personal items, these soldiers remained nameless. Next year, with the same team, we will return to these areas and continue excavations, as there is still a lot of work to be done here," said Valery Zagrekov, Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Regional Public Organization "Charitable Military Historical Search Club 'Memory and Reconciliation'".
Valery Zagrekov
Servicemen of the 52nd Specialized Search Battalion of the Armed Forces of Belarus, cadets from Moscow and Polotsk worked alongside Russian searchers. "For me, it was a matter of honor to take part in the excavations, as the leadership of our school selected the best of the best for the work. I remember how on the first day we found the remains of a soldier. It was a very memorable and touching moment. At the excavations, you realize how fierce the battles were during the Great Patriotic War, how many people died, at what cost Victory was achieved. This is a lesson for us, descendants. Personally, I wanted not just to find the fallen soldiers, but to learn their names, to find and tell their relatives about it," shared Vladislav Pylnikov, a cadet of the Polotsk Cadet School.
Her "colleague" from Moscow, senior cadet of school No. 760 named after A.P. Meresyev, Angelina Egorova, came to the Vitebsk region at the suggestion of her class teacher, who once helped her find information about her great-grandfathers who participated in the Great Patriotic War. After studying the combat path of her relatives, the girl became interested in search activities in general and readily responded to the offer to work at the excavation site in Zaronovo. "We lived in tents, helped extract the remains of soldiers from the ground, and also found mess kits and shell casings. This is a huge experience and a sacred cause that should not be abandoned, because it is our memory. This is the part of our history that causes pain in the hearts of every generation," noted Angelina.
At the Zaronovo memorial, where nameless soldiers found their final resting place, the remains of over 10.5 thousand Soviet Army soldiers are buried. In 2021-2022, repair work was carried out here, for which Br177 thousand were allocated from the district and regional budgets. "It was decided to carry out repairs on this mass grave not in stages, but to complete a set of works at once. Thanks to the voluntary work days, the necessary funds were raised, and the district authorities also joined the important work of perpetuating the memory of the fallen soldiers. 30.5 thousand names are inscribed on 136 memorial plaques, including over a thousand new ones," emphasized the Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, Vladimir Terentyev.
Vladimir Terentyev
Representatives of district and regional authorities, law enforcement agencies, searchers, military personnel, youth, and veterans who attended the burial ceremony honored the memory of the fallen with a minute of silence.-0-
Igor Lisovsky
