9 May is a great holiday. But for many people, for example for my grandmother, this is a very sad day. Day when her father didn't return home from the war.
My parents tried to find the place where my great-grandfather Andrey died for many years. Finally, they succeeded and we reached this place.
This place is called Meat Forest, somebody told that this name would be improved and he was right. Nowadays this place is called Death Valley. On 15 November of 1942, my great-grandfather was killed while he was crossing cold and fast river Volkhov. There wasn't artillery, soldiers stayed without weapons - command wanted to clear the bar until 7 November, the day of the Great October Revolution, that's why they didn't prepare for the attack.
The bank of the Russian army was absolutely flat, and the German side was hilly. That's why Nazi machine gunners shot down about 10000 of people like cannon-fodder just for 1 hour.
But the bar was cleared. Our heroic command knew one secret - there is a limit to cartridges. Russian succeeded in this offensive only when Nazi soldiers exhausted all of their cartridges. We learnt from memories of the participants of this battle that one of Nazi machine gunners went mad because he saw thousand of people run towards him without any guns and he shot and shot at them.
On both of banks you can still find cases and cartridges. Inhabitants refuse to walk in these place because they are afraid of mines. The matter is that earlier there was a country Zvanka which belonged to the Russian poet Derjavin. So the 'cultural layer' of this area can't be broken by excavations. That's why there are still weapons, cartridges and unburied people, lying in the ground.
But some people try to recollect the names of killed, to find their bodies and to bury. This memorial is established there to commemorate people, killed in the Meat Forest, on the river Volkhov and during the Lyuban Offensive Operation.
Blessed memory to the people who sacrificed themselves to give us an opportunity to live.
My parents tried to find the place where my great-grandfather Andrey died for many years. Finally, they succeeded and we reached this place.
This place is called Meat Forest, somebody told that this name would be improved and he was right. Nowadays this place is called Death Valley. On 15 November of 1942, my great-grandfather was killed while he was crossing cold and fast river Volkhov. There wasn't artillery, soldiers stayed without weapons - command wanted to clear the bar until 7 November, the day of the Great October Revolution, that's why they didn't prepare for the attack.
The bank of the Russian army was absolutely flat, and the German side was hilly. That's why Nazi machine gunners shot down about 10000 of people like cannon-fodder just for 1 hour.
But the bar was cleared. Our heroic command knew one secret - there is a limit to cartridges. Russian succeeded in this offensive only when Nazi soldiers exhausted all of their cartridges. We learnt from memories of the participants of this battle that one of Nazi machine gunners went mad because he saw thousand of people run towards him without any guns and he shot and shot at them.
On both of banks you can still find cases and cartridges. Inhabitants refuse to walk in these place because they are afraid of mines. The matter is that earlier there was a country Zvanka which belonged to the Russian poet Derjavin. So the 'cultural layer' of this area can't be broken by excavations. That's why there are still weapons, cartridges and unburied people, lying in the ground.
But some people try to recollect the names of killed, to find their bodies and to bury. This memorial is established there to commemorate people, killed in the Meat Forest, on the river Volkhov and during the Lyuban Offensive Operation.
Blessed memory to the people who sacrificed themselves to give us an opportunity to live.
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