Memorial celebrations in Litsa
LITSA: The final of the celebrations in Murmansk Oblast commemorating the 65 anniversary of the victory in World War II was held by the Valley of Honor war memorial assembly, close to the frontline between Soviet and Nazi troops in 1941-1944.
See slide show from the celebrations in Litsa
Around six thousand people had taken the trip to Litsa, some 100 km west of Murmansk, to take part in the official memorial meeting and place flowers on the graves and monuments that make up the large memorial assembly.
After the official part of the program, celebrations continued in a temporary tent camp put up close to the memorial. Here people could see exhibitions of pictures, uniforms and weapons from WWII, eat soldier’s porridge from field kitchens or freshly made shashlyk, talk to war veterans and brush shoulders with the top regional politicians and commanders of regional military units.
The celebrations in Litsa are focused around local war history. Litsa marks the boundary where German troops were stopped by Soviet forces in their march towards Murmansk in 1941. The area was fortified on both sides until the Soviet offensive of October 1944. The hills and fields around the mouth of the Zapadnaya Litsa are still full of traces of fighting, and the remains of many fallen soldiers are every summer being recovered and buried at the war memorial.
