Six Belarusian cities have been awarded the pennant "For Courage and Resilience during the Great Patriotic War"
On April 8, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 144 "On awarding the pennant 'For courage and resilience during the Great Patriotic War'". BELTA was informed about this by the press service of the head of state.
Lukashenko awarded nine settlements of Belarus with the pennant for courage and resilience during the war
The pennant was awarded to six cities of Belarus, which are an example of feat and popular resistance shown during the Great Patriotic War. Among them are Kobryn, Rechitsa, Slonim, Senno, Slavgorod, and Smolevichi.
In these settlements, at all stages of the war, centers of armed resistance against the Nazi invaders were active, with active participation from the local party-Komsomol and patriotic underground, partisan formations, and people's militia forces that cooperated with the units of the regular Red Army.
This decree is aimed at immortalizing and preserving the historical memory of the heroic past of the Belarusian people, as well as patriotic education of the population. The awarding of pennants is planned to coincide with Victory Day. In total, 36 cities and settlements in Belarus have been honored with this award.
In the popular memory and textbooks on military art, both the widely known Battle of Senno or the Lepel counter-offensive, and the little-known but no less fierce battles on the Shchara River near Slonim will forever remain.
For almost a month, the defenders of Slonim fought their way into the city to recapture it from the enemy. The success in liberating the city in 1944 later played a decisive strategic role in the Red Army's offensive on Berlin.
For almost two months, Slavgorod changed hands several times. Rechitsa and Slavgorod formed a powerful fist of people's militia from the first days of the war, while in Kobryn and Smolevichi, partisan and party-Komsomol underground activities became widespread.
Senno and its surroundings became a partisan region with over a hundred detachments of people's avengers and a liaison airfield.
The contribution of the residents of these Belarusian cities to the successful completion of the "Rail War" operation, the preparation of the "Bagration" operation, and the defeat of the surrounded largest Wehrmacht group "Center" in the "Minsk Cauldron" is invaluable.
Thousands of patriots fought heroically against the enemy under occupation and helped the Red
The Soviet Army to bring the long-awaited liberation in the enemy rear. During the war, the Nazis destroyed a total of over 60,000 civilians in cities awarded the pennant.