A memorial has been erected in the village of Shapursk, Belarus, to commemorate Uzbek servicemen who fell during the liberation of the Vitebsk region. This was reported by the BelTA information agency.
During the Great Patriotic War, Shapury became the scene of fierce battles. It was in this village that the German defense broke through as part of Operation Bagration, which was conducted to liberate Belarus. About 18 thousand Soviet soldiers are buried in the mass grave here, more than 700 of whom were citizens of Uzbekistan.
The ceremony of remembrance was attended by Alexander Rogozhnik, the head of the Executive Committee of the Vitebsk region, and Shuhratbek Abdurakhmonov, the governor of the Andijan region of Uzbekistan. Sergey Egorov, head of the Executive Committee of the Vitebsk district, emphasized that this is one of the largest military memorial sites in Belarus from the Great Patriotic War period.
He noted that officers and soldiers of the Red Army, who arrived from different parts of the united homeland, heroically died in bloody battles to liberate the Vitebsk region from 'malignant infection'. Among them, more than 1300 citizens of Uzbekistan remained forever in the Vitebsk region. There are 729 soldiers in Shapury, approximately 50 of whom are from the Andijan region.
Sergey Egorov stated that the unveiling of the memorial plaque is a tribute to their courage and great patience. He added that it preserves the common memory of the Great Victory thanks to the unity of peoples. Ostanakul Mirzaev, advisor to the Governor of the Andijan region for foreign economic activity, specified that this is not just a plaque on the wall, but a symbol of shared memory.
Mirzaev recalled that at the beginning of the war, the population of Uzbekistan was 6.5 million people, of whom 2 million were mobilized, accounting for one in every three people. More than 500 thousand of them died. He expressed gratitude to all who contributed to preserving the memory and historical memory, including local authorities, search and rescue groups, and volunteers. The opening of the memorial became an example of such respect for the heroism of the citizens.
At the opening ceremony, the governor of the Andijan region of Uzbekistan was presented with a capsule filled with soil from the Vitebsk region, where Belarusian and Uzbek soldiers fell during the war. Participants laid flowers at the military memorial and the new memorial plaque as a sign of deep respect and eternal memory.
