No one is forgotten. Chased and laconically, on hundreds of monuments and mass graves. On thousands of tombstones, with a list of surnames or two words - "Nameless Soldier." Majestic memorials rising on the historical sites of grandiose battles. Modest monuments, known only to local residents and relatives of soldiers who found their last refuge away from their homes. The map of Russia is dotted with designations of military graves - a cruel tribute to the two world wars of the twentieth century by the people of the country. The mass graves of the Oryol region, like a sentry on duty, guard the memory of great courage and self-sacrifice.
Kromy-Orel-Mtsensk (October 1941)
The attack of Guderian's tank group on Orel developed rapidly. After breaking through the defense line of the Bryansk Front, a direct road led the Wehrmacht to Tula, and then to Moscow. furious fights,breakthroughs and counterattacks of the Red Army met the invaders Oryol region. Mass graves are silent witnesses of that time. There are about 30 of them along the 100-kilometer section of the road from Krom to Mtsensk (today it is a segment of the M-2 highway).
Here is a military memorial near the village of First Warrior. Despite the fact that the war ended long ago, on June 30, 2015, the remains of 35 Red Army soldiers were buried here. They were discovered by employees of the water utility, who were repairing communications near the Staromoskovskoye Highway. In October 1941, the tank brigade of Colonel M. E. Katukov held back the offensive of the Nazi troops in this area for 9 days. The Oryol land can be called the birthplace of the guard formations - in November 1941, the Katukov brigade received the name of the 1st Guards.
After 74 years, the names of the dead Red Army soldiers were established and included in the lists of those buried in mass graves in the Oryol region.
From Bolkhov to Novosil (January-March 1942)
The exhausting battles of the autumn-winter of 1941 ended with the stabilization of the front along the Oka and Zusha rivers. The Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is developing a plan for the Bolkhov offensive operation, which took place from January to March 1942. The offensive was not crowned with success, the German forces were great, and the losses of the Red Army were colossal. About 30 thousand Red Army soldiers were killed or went missing. Literally in every village from Bolkhov to Novosil there are mass graves. The Oryol region happened to bury tens of thousands of soldiers in its land.
Krivtsov Memorial is a tribute to the heroism of the defenders of the Motherland. More than 20 thousand Red Army soldiers who died during the failed offensive are buried here. Memories of those days are preserved in the memory of local residents. The banks of the rivers Oka and Zusha are called the "valley of death" to this day. The memories of the war cannot be erased. Modest obelisks remind of her, looking into the sky with red stars. Bagrinovo, Fatnevo, Krivtsovo, Chegodaevo - unknown villages carefully preserve the memory of their defenders and the bloody battles that the Oryol region experienced. Mass graves are silent witnesses to this.
On Mtsensk land (1943)
In the middle of 1943, the bloody wheel of war rolled in the opposite direction. The mass graves of the Oryol region tell about the victories and losses of the Red Army. The advancing advanced units reached the Mtsensk region in mid-July. It was completely cleared of enemy troops on August 2.
Common grave in Pioneer Square in Mtsensk. In July 1943, 108 Soviet soldiers were buried here. A memorial and a granite stele, on which the names of the defenders and liberators of the city from the Nazis are immortalized. The alley along which bronze busts of the Heroes of the Soviet Union and a six-meter monument are installed - the figure of a soldier holding a dead comrade in his arms. This is what the place looks like today. And very close, outside the military cemetery, there is another mass grave - 126 families. They have different datesbirth and date of death. They are united only by the place of death and rest on the land in which they found their last refuge - the mass graves of the Oryol region.
Land of exploits
On the map of military graves, you can study the history of hostilities in the Oryol region. In every village, along the roads, at low altitudes and among the forests, modest mournful obelisks stand, under each of which is buried a personal story of broken biographies. Hundreds of surnames keep military graves on memorial plaques.
Oryol region, Pokrovsky district. The mass graves located in the regional center, by the number of dead, clearly illustrate the severity of the fighting that took place on this land during the war years. There are two memorials in the city center: near the secondary school and in Victory Park. Obelisk, Eternal Flame, stele, granite slabs and the names of the dead. Only in these two graves are the remains of 683 Red Army soldiers who liberated the village, whose population (according to the latest census) is just over 4 thousand people. And very close - mass graves in the villages of Karaulovka, Rodionovka, Andriyanovo. Terrible statistics - more people died for the liberation of these villages than live in some of them now.
Guards Orlovskaya
On August 5, 1943, Soviet troops liberated Oryol. Every piece of land was abundantly watered with blood - 50 days of the Oryol-Kursk battle collected a mournful tribute to human losses. It was later calculated that 50 people were injured in every square kilometer of the Oryol region, and another 20 died. The memory of them is preserved by the mass graves of Orlovskayaarea.
Tank Square in the city center. On August 6, 1943, the soldiers of the guards tank formation were buried here, which was later awarded the title of Orlovsky. The names of 30 dead soldiers are immortalized on a granite slab. The legendary "thirty-four" on a pedestal and the never-fading Eternal Flame framed by natural flowers are the memory and gratitude of descendants for decades of peaceful life in a flourishing city.
Search continues
In May 2016, in the Znamensky district, a search party discovered a hitherto unknown place where Soviet soldiers died. In the forest between the villages of Elenka and Peshkovo, the remains of 13 Red Army soldiers, soldiers of the 18th Guards Rifle Corps, were found. According to the surviving documents, the names and date of death were established - 1943, July 20. A plate with the names of the dead will be installed on the site of the mass grave, information about them will be entered into all databases, and another address will appear in the list of memorable places in the Oryol region - a forest near the village of Elenka. After all, the war is not over until the last dead soldier is buried.
Memory
The time that has passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War could not erase the memory of her and the names of the heroes who gave their lives. On Victory Day and the Day of the city's liberation from the Nazis, people tend to express their gratitude to the liberators and visit the mass graves of the Oryol region.
Photos and newsreel, documents, eyewitness accounts and personal belongings of the heroes are carefully stored in the Oryol museums. Soldiers' letters and worn yellowed photographs in old albums are family heirlooms, as a reminder of the difficult life of previous generations. The preservation of memory is a small price to pay for a peaceful sky and the opportunity to live on our native land.
