The pennant for courage and resilience during the Great Patriotic War was awarded to Surazh

On May 6, Surazh / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The pennant "For Courage and Resilience during the Great Patriotic War" and a certificate of honor were awarded today to the settlement of Surazh (Vitebsk region), BELTA correspondent reports. The awarding of the honorary award is a recognition of the courage and resilience shown by soldiers, partisans, and residents of Surazh in defense of their Motherland, it is a reminder to the young people of the great feat of the heroic generation, said Leonid Kovalev, Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, at the solemn ceremony of awarding the commemorative pennant and certificate of honor. During the war, underground district committees of the party and Komsomol operated in Surazh, and three rural councils worked for a long time. On the territory that was part of the then Surazh district, 11 partisan brigades and 5 partisan detachments operated. The name of Batka Minay - Hero of the Soviet Union Minay Filippovich Shmyrev, one of the organizers of the partisan movement in the Vitebsk region, is shrouded in legendary glory. A unique phenomenon in world military history was the famous Surazh Gate - a forty-kilometer section of the front line, formed thanks to the heroic resilience of the Soviet Army soldiers and units of the Surazh partisan zone. Through the gate, sabotage groups, weapons, ammunition, and medicines were sent to the enemy's rear, and communication with the Great Land was carried out. In the brutal struggle against the occupiers, more than 8,000 civilians of Surazh and adjacent settlements died. About 60,000 Soviet soldiers and partisans gave their lives for its liberation. By Decree of the President of Belarus of April 19, 2010, No. 189, along with Surazh, two more settlements in the Vitebsk region - the city of Lepel and the settlement of Rossony - were awarded the pennant "For Courage and Resilience during the Great Patriotic War" and a certificate of honor. Solemn award ceremonies will be held in these settlements on May 9. In the year of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi invaders, the pennant and certificate were awarded to Vitebsk, Polotsk, Orsha, Begoml, and Ushachi. -0-