Thousands celebrate Victory Day in Litsa
LITSA: More than four thousand people were gathered at the memorial complex «Valley of Honor» in Litsa yesterday to commemorate the 67 anniversary of the Victory in the Second World War. See slideshow and video from Litsa.
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. During the stalemate that lasted four years, thousands perished in the tundra on both sides of the river. 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.
The first memorial in the complex that today is known as “Valley of Honor” was raised in 1950. Since then, the complex has been rebuilt and expanded several times. In 1987 the first burial of remains of Soviet soldiers took place here. Since then, nearly 3000 soldiers have been buried in the small war cemetery in Litsa. Many are buried in mass graves.
Victory Day is the largest holiday in Russia and in addition to being a day when people remember their veterans all who gave their life for their country, it is also a day for celebration and joy. After the official part of the program, celebrations continued for hours in a temporary tent camp put up close to the memorial. Here people could see reconstructions of battles that took place in the area, have a closer look at uniforms and weapons from the time and eat soldier’s porridge from field kitchens or freshly made shashlyk.
