Partisan detachments took the cities

The commemorative events dedicated to the 71st anniversary of Dorogobuzh liberation from the Nazi invaders by the partisan detachments took place in Dorogobuzh on February, 16.

This event is a unique one in the history of the Great Patriotic War: the Soviet authorities were in power for about 4 months in the liberated town located in the rear of the enemy. Dorogobuzh became the center of a vast partisan territory.

The units of the First Guards Cavalry Corps under command of General P.A. Belov, who broke through the front line, and the paratroopers of the Fourth Airborne Corps under command of General A.F. Kazankin, who were sent to the rear of the enemy, joined the partisans. On February, 16 the partisan detachments that liberated Dorogobuzh formed the partisan union named “Dedushka” under command of V.I. Voronchenko.

As part of the commemorative events the rally attended by Deputy Governor Nikolay Kuznetsov was held in Dorogobuzh, the members of the historical theatre "Porubezhie" performed a spectacular reconstruction of the battle between the partisan groups and the German invaders.

The end of the events was marked by laying flowers at the monument to the young underground fighters of Dorogobuzh shot by the Nazi on February 8, 1942.