Vitebsk awarded pennant for courage and resilience during the Great Patriotic War

   Five settlements of the Vitebsk region were awarded this high award - Vitebsk, Polotsk, Orsha, Begoml, Ushachi. August 14, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Vitebsk was presented with the pennant "For Courage and Resilience during the Great Patriotic War" and an honorary diploma to the pennant today, a BELTA correspondent reports. "The awarding of Vitebsk with the pennant 'For Courage and Resilience during the Great Patriotic War' is a tribute of memory and respect to our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers, thanks to whom we live under a peaceful sky and are building a strong, prosperous Belarus," said Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Alexander Kosinets at the solemn ceremony on the occasion of presenting the pennant and honorary diploma. Five settlements of the Vitebsk region were awarded this high award - Vitebsk, Polotsk, Orsha, Begoml, Ushachi. The feat of the soldiers-defenders and liberators of Vitebsk, its civilians, is impossible to forget. As early as July 5, 1941, the Nazis approached the city on the Dvina. Until July 11, the defenders of the city managed to hold back the enemy's onslaught. Throughout the occupation, Vitebsk remained a city of underground fighters and partisans. 66 underground organizations operated here, comprising about 1.5 thousand civilians. However, every third one of them died. The invaders created five death camps in Vitebsk. 12 thousand citizens were imprisoned in labor camps. During the occupation, the Nazis destroyed about 200 thousand civilians and prisoners of war in Vitebsk and its surroundings. However, the city's residents did not lose faith in victory for a moment. On June 26, 1944, during the Vitebsk-Orsha operation, the city of Vitebsk was liberated by the troops of the 43rd and 39th armies under the command of Lieutenant General Afanasy Beloborodov and Lieutenant General Ivan Ludnikov. Among the ruins of the almost completely destroyed city, only 118 of its residents met the liberators. For the liberation of Vitebsk and the breakthrough of the Vitebsk fortified region during the Vitebsk-Orsha operation of 1944, the honorary title "Vitebsk" was awarded to 62 military units and formations of the 43rd Army of the 1st Baltic Front, the 39th Army of the 3rd Belorussian Front, and the 1st Air Army by orders of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. By decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 43 military formations and units were awarded orders. 16 natives and residents of the city of Vitebsk were awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Among the full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory are 18 natives and 40 residents of the regional center. -0-