Tiraspol, June 22. / Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Citizens of Pridnestrovie joined the «Memorial Candle Lit» action. At 4 am, they lit candles in memory of the Great Patriotic War victims. It began at 3:15 (4:15 on the Soviet «decretive» period) on June 22, 1941, with raids of fascist aircraft on the Soviet cities and shelling of the Red Army boundary military facilities. According to different data, about 16–20 thousand Pridnestrovians had died during the war.
The President of the PMR Vadim Krasnoselsky with the spouse laid flowers at graves of the fallen heroes in Tiraspol. On the Memorial of Glory in Tiraspol, hundreds of candles were lit in memory of those who battled for the peace and freedom of future generations.
Among hundreds of citizens on the Memorial of Glory in the Slobodzeya district also head of the «Veteran» club Elena Svishcheva has lit a candle. She was a child when the war began. But she clearly remembers the first day of those terrible events.
Today Elena Svishcheva called not to forget about a feat of soldiers of the Great Patriotic War and defenders of Pridnestrovie.
«We also could not even think that we should ever face horrors of war again. It was mournful when in 1992 our family, friends and colleagues perished from hands of the Moldavian nationalists. I wish our children never know horrors of war», - Elena Svishcheva noted.
Early in the morning citizens of Dubossary also gathered on the Memorial of Military Glory to light the Candle of memory and once again to remember events of those of years.
«Today in Dubossary and villages of the district there live seven veterans. The Victory cost millions of lives. In the Book of Memory which is created in Pridnestrovie only by the end of war among the dead there were several thousands of Dubossary citizens. And thousands of our citizens came back home and continued the life, restored the city, built the enterprises, they left us in inheritance this city, peaceful world», - the chairman of the Dubossary Council of Veterans of War, Work and Armed forces Victor Bagnibov told.
On a memorial student of the Dubossary industrial technical school showed a performance of young people appeals in the ranks of the Red Army for protection of the Homeland against the enemy. In memory of the victims of war, a minute of silence was announced.
The Grigoriopol at 4 am was lit with hundreds of candles and warmed with gratitude of those who came in this day to a Memorial.
Citizens of Grigoriopol laid flowers at the «Grieving mother» Memorial and at busts of Heroes of the Soviet Union – natives of Grigoriopol district. Descendants of the winners remembered those who remained in lists on commemorative plaques.
The city park of Kamenka was lit up with hundreds of candles. The veteran of the Great Patriotic War Evgenia Grigoryevna Poloz is one of those for whom June morning of the 41st is not just history, but the page of the biography. She also participated in a commemorative event.
About inhuman disasters and sufferings which had befallen the Soviet people the head of the State Administration of the district Vladimir Bychkov has told.
«This war brought disasters and sufferings, grief and ruin. Human losses are irreplaceable. We still do not own exact data about the number of dead at the front, in guerrilla groups, under enemy bombings and in occupation, tortured in the death camps. But we know that each family lost someone from relatives», - Vladimir Bychkov emphasized.
2777 residents of the Kamenka district did not return from the front. Attendees observed a minute of silence for memory of the dead and laid candles and flowers at a monument to the Unknown Soldier and Memorial Plates.
The action «War — There Is No More Sad Word» devoted to the Day of remembrance and grief passed on Memorial of Glory in Rybnitsa. Citizens lit candles and laid out the word «Remember!» at the bottom of the memorial, also released into the sky of 78 white balloons.
Activists of the Republican Party Obnovlenie Youth office made a bicycle race to one of the pillboxes behind the village Malayeshty of Grigoriopolsky district.
There it was organized a meeting with the military historian Alexey Rusanov for children. He in detail told not only about a Malayeshty pillbox but also about other similar constructions and the fortified areas both defensive strips of the Great Patriotic War and fighting at the beginning of the war.
The historian reminded that Tiraspol fortified area was a part of a huge «Stalin's Line» which passed from the Baltic to the Black Sea. This system of defensive works at the border of the USSR was created in the 1930th years. At the beginning of the war, the long-term weapon emplacements (LTWE) accepted some of the first blows of the German parts, Rusanov told.
He noted that the Tiraspol strengthened district held the fort about two weeks. Germans were transported through the Dniester on July 25, 1941, and till August 8 fights were going here. Then pillboxes were left by parts of the Red Army which left on the defense of Odessa – it was more important for strategic reasons.
Alexey Rusanov considers that pillboxes had also other value: «they, in fact, gave to the country ten years of peace as the opponent all this time thought of how to break through the fortified area». Some pillboxes of the Tiraspol fortified area, according to him, were used later, in 1944.
The pillbox where the meeting took place was constructed in 1932. Alexey Rusanov says that it is a serious object of an M-2 protection class with a thickness of walls more than a meter. There were three machine guns «Maxims», the garrison made 15 people. This object did not take part in fights, but on its example, it is possible to judge other similar constructions (more than four hundred along the Dniester).
In memory of the dead in days of the Great Patriotic War children lit candles at the pillbox and laid flowers on its concrete blocks, it is reported on the website of the party.
