In December 1966, on the 25th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow, the ashes of the Unknown Soldier were transferred to the Alexander Garden from the 41st kilometer of the Leningrad Highway - the site of bloody battles.
The eternal flame of glory, escaping from the middle of the bronze military star, was lit from the flames blazing on the Field of Mars in St. Petersburg. “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal” - inscribed on the granite slab of the tombstone.
On the right, along the Kremlin wall, urns are placed in a row, where the sacred land of the hero cities is kept.
President's website
FIGHTING AT THE CROSSROADS OF LENINGRAD AND LYALOVSKY HIGHWAYS
An unusual episode of the battle in 1941 was told in 1967 to the builders of Zelenograd who were helping to build the monument with the T-34 tank, a local forester, an eyewitness to the fierce battle at the 41st kilometer: “German armored vehicles were approaching along the highway from Chashnikov... Suddenly Our tank moved towards them. Having reached the intersection, the driver jumped into a ditch while moving, and a few seconds later the tank was hit. The second tank followed. History repeated itself: the driver jumped, the enemy shot, another tank blocked the highway. This formed a kind of barricade of destroyed tanks. The Germans were forced to look for a detour to the left
An excerpt from the memoirs of the commissar of the 219th howitzer regiment, Alexei Vasilyevich Penkov (see: Proceedings of the GZIKM, issue 1. Zelenograd, 1945, pp. 65-66): “By 13 o’clock the Germans, having concentrated superior forces of infantry, tanks and aviation, broke resistance from our neighbor on the left... and through the village of Matushkino tank units entered the Moscow-Leningrad highway, semi-surrounding our rifle units and began shelling firing positions with tank gun fire. Dozens of German dive bombers hung in the air. Communication with the regiment command post was disrupted. Two divisions were deployed for all-round defense. They shot at German tanks and infantry with direct fire. Chuprunov and I and the signalmen were 300 meters from the battery firing positions on the church bell tower in the village of B. Rzhavki.
With the onset of darkness, the Nazis calmed down and became quiet. We went to see the battlefield. The picture is familiar to war, but terrible: half of the gun crews were killed, many fire platoon and gun commanders were out of action. 9 guns and 7 tractor-trailers were destroyed. The last wooden houses and barns on this western outskirts of the village were burning down...
On December 1, in the area of the village of B. Rzhavki, the enemy only occasionally fired mortars. On this day the situation stabilized...
AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER DIES HERE
Newspapers in early December 1966 reported that on December 3, Muscovites bowed their heads before one of their heroes - the Unknown Soldier, who died in the harsh days of December 1941 on the outskirts of Moscow. In particular, the Izvestia newspaper wrote: “...he was fought for the Fatherland, for his native Moscow. That's all we know about him."
On December 2, 1966, representatives of the Mossovet and a group of soldiers and officers of the Taman Division arrived at the former burial site at the 41st km of the Leningradskoye Highway around noon. Taman soldiers cleared the snow around the grave and began opening the burial. At 2:30 p.m., the remains of one of the soldiers resting in a mass grave were placed in a coffin entwined with an orange and black ribbon - a symbol of the soldier's Order of Glory; on the lid of the coffin there was a helmet of the 1941 model. A coffin containing the remains of the Unknown Soldier was placed on the pedestal. All evening, all night and the morning of the next day, changing every two hours, young soldiers with machine guns, war veterans, stood guard of honor at the coffin.
Cars passing by stopped, people came from the surrounding villages, from the village of Kryukovo, from Zelenograd. On December 3, at 11:45 a.m., the coffin was placed on an open car, which moved along the Leningradskoye Highway to Moscow. And everywhere along the way, the funeral procession was seen off by residents of the Moscow region, lining up along the highway.
In Moscow, at the entrance to the street. Gorky (now Tverskaya), the coffin was transferred from the car to an artillery carriage. The armored personnel carrier with the battle flag unfurled moved further to the sounds of the funeral march of a military brass band. He was accompanied by soldiers of the honor guard, war participants, and participants in the defense of Moscow.
The cortege was approaching the Alexander Garden. Everything is ready for the rally here. On the podium among the leaders of the party and government are participants in the Battle of Moscow - Marshals of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov and K.K. Rokossovsky.
“The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the ancient walls of the Moscow Kremlin will become a monument of eternal glory to the heroes who died on the battlefield for their native land, here from now on rests the ashes of one of those who overshadowed Moscow with their breasts” - these are the words of Marshal of the Soviet Union K.K. Rokossovsky, said at the rally.
A few months later, on May 8, 1967, on the eve of Victory Day, the opening of the monument “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” took place and the Eternal Flame was lit.
IN NO OTHER COUNTRY
EMAR VILLAGE (Primorsky Territory), September 25, 2014. The head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Sergei Ivanov, supported the proposal to make December 3 the Day of the Unknown Soldier.
“Such a memorable day, if you like, a day of remembrance, could easily be made,” he said, responding to a proposal made during a meeting with the winners and participants of the competition among school search teams “Search. Finds. Opening".
Ivanov noted that this is especially important for Russia, given that no other country had such a number of missing soldiers as in the USSR. According to the head of the presidential administration, the majority of Russians will support the establishment of December 3 as the Day of the Unknown Soldier.
THE FEDERAL LAW
ON AMENDMENTS TO ARTICLE 1.1 OF THE FEDERAL LAW “ON DAYS OF MILITARY GLORY AND MEMORABLE DATES IN RUSSIA”
Introduce the following changes to Article 1.1 of the Federal Law of March 13, 1995 N 32-FZ “On the Days of Military Glory and Memorable Dates of Russia”:
1) add a new paragraph fourteen as follows:
President of Russian Federation
Consultant Plus
UNKNOWN SOLDIER
For the first time, this concept itself (as well as a memorial) appeared in France, when on November 11, 1920, in Paris, at the Arc de Triomphe, an honorary burial was made for an unknown soldier who died in the First World War. And then the inscription “Un soldat inconnu” appeared on this memorial and the Eternal Flame was solemnly lit.
Then in England, at Westminster Abbey, a memorial appeared with the inscription “Soldier of the Great War, whose name is known to God.” Later, such a memorial appeared in the United States, where the ashes of an unknown soldier were buried at Arlington Cemetery in Washington. The inscription on the tombstone: “Here lies an American soldier who gained fame and honor, whose name only God knows.”
In December 1966, on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Moscow, the ashes of an unknown soldier were transferred to the Kremlin wall from a burial site at the 41st kilometer of the Leningrad Highway. On the slab lying on the grave of the Unknown Soldier, there is an inscription: “Your name is unknown. Your feat is immortal” (the author of the words is the poet Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov).
Used: in the literal sense, as a symbol of all the fallen soldiers, whose names remained unknown.
Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. M., 2003
Material from N.F. Fedorov
In memory of the heroism of Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial was built in the Alexander Garden near the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow. On December 3, 1966, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow, the ashes of the Unknown Soldier were transferred from the mass grave at the 41st kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway - the site of bloody battles - and solemnly buried in the Alexander Garden. Then, at the burial site, a monument was built, consisting of a number of architectural elements, according to the design of architects D. Burdin, V. Klimov, Yu. Rabaev and sculptor N. Tomsky.
The tombstone of the grave-monument, made of red quartzite blocks, is topped with a bronze composition - a soldier’s helmet and a laurel branch lie on the battle flag. In front of the tombstone is a recessed platform lined with slabs of polished black labradorite and framed with red granite, in the center of which is a bronze five-pointed star. On the granite slab of the tombstone there is an inscription: “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal.” On May 8, 1967, the grand opening of the memorial architectural ensemble “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” took place at the Kremlin wall in memory of the heroes who died during the Great Patriotic War. The Eternal Flame of Glory was lit at the grave, which bursts out from the middle of the bronze star. It was lit from the flame of the Eternal Flame on the Field of Mars in St. Petersburg. The torch with fire was delivered from Leningrad to Moscow on an armored personnel carrier. Throughout the journey, thousands of people came out to meet him. The Holy Flame in Moscow was received by Hero of the Soviet Union pilot A. Maresyev and passed the torch to L. Brezhnev, who lit the Eternal Flame at the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier”.
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To the right of the grave, on a granite pedestal along the Kremlin wall, there are blocks of dark red porphyry, under which the sacred soil of hero cities from the sites of the bloody battles of the Great Patriotic War is stored in capsules. On each block is the name of the hero city and an embossed image of the Gold Star medal. To the left of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the inscription is carved on the granite wall: “1941 TO THE FALL FOR THE HOMELAND 1945.” Since December 12, 1997, in accordance with the decree of the President of Russia, a permanent honor guard post No. 1 was established at the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The guard is carried out by soldiers of the Presidential Regiment. In November 2009, the monument was given the status of a National Military Glory Memorial. In accordance with the document, the entire architectural ensemble was included in the list of “especially valuable cultural heritage sites” of the country. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial in Moscow is a place for laying wreaths and flowers on various holidays, and is visited by numerous delegations, including heads of foreign states and governments. Traditionally, the memorial is a place visited by tourists and newlyweds. Every year on May 9, celebrating Victory Day, the whole country honors the memory of the victims with a minute of silence, and flowers are laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
By presidential decree of November 4, 2014, another Day of Military Glory was established - December 3, the Day of the Unknown Soldier.
- N.F. Fedorov. .
- N.F. Fedorov. .
Historically, during wars, many soldiers died and their remains were not or could not be identified.
In the 20th century, after the end of the bloody First World War, a tradition began to emerge in which nations and states erected monuments to the Unknown Soldier, symbolizing memory, gratitude and respect to all fallen soldiers whose remains were never identified.
The first monument to the unknown soldier appeared in London in 1920. Typically, such monuments are placed on a grave containing the remains of a deceased soldier, whose identity is unknown and is considered impossible to establish.
And it is these monuments that are the most revered.
Türkiye.
Erected in memory of the unknown martyrs of the Canakkale front who died during the Dardanelles operation of the First World War. Opened on August 20, 1960.
Bulgaria, Haskovo.
Monument to the warrior Ignorance.
Spain Madrid.
Built in 1840, it contains the remains of unknown fighters who died in the May Second Uprising.
Greece. Constitution Square, Athens.
Finland. Hietaniemi War Cemetery, Helsinki.
Tower of Peace. Built in 1970 in the city of Tondabayashi (Japan) by followers of the Ideal Free Church. Is a symbol of peace throughout the world; Unidentified remains of people are buried inside, and a constantly updated list of those killed in military operations, regardless of nationality, religion and race.
Stella of the Unknown Soldier in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Romania. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Karol Park, Bucharest.
Egypt. Cairo: Includes the tomb of President Anwar Sadat.
Russia. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Alexander Garden, Moscow.
Serbia. Monument to the Unknown Hero (since 1938), Mount Avala, Belgrade.
Estonia. "Bronze Soldier", Military Cemetery, Tallinn.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Carabobo, Venezuela.
Canada. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Confederation Square, Ottawa.
Indonesia. Field of Honor, Bandung
Memorial to the Unknown Soldier, next to the Tomb of the Unknown Sailor at the Kembang Kuning War Cemetery in Surabaya.
Belgium. Congress Column, Brussels: The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located at the base of the column.
Syria. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Damascus.
Hungary. Heroes' Square, Budapest.
Ukraine. Park of Eternal Glory, Kyiv
The Monument of Eternal Glory, opened on November 6, 1957, is an obelisk 27 meters high. At the foot of the obelisk, on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Eternal Flame burns. The Alley of Fallen Heroes leads to the obelisk. On both sides there are tombstones over the graves of 34 heroic warriors.
Czech Republic. National Memorial on Žižkov (Vítkov) Hill, Prague.
Argentina. Cathedral, Buenos Aires: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of Independence.
Israel. "Garden of the Missing", Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.
Memorial of Heroes. Zimbabwe, Harare.
Germany. Unter den Linden, Berlin
In the 19th century guardhouse (Neue Wache).
Brazil. National Monument to those killed in World War II, Rio de Janeiro.
Lithuania. Kaunas, Vienybes square
The grave of Nezinomas kareivis, with the remains of a soldier killed during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence in 1919.
Poland. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Marshal Piłsudski Square, Warsaw
Built as an arcade of the Saxon Palace, destroyed in 1944. The remains of soldiers killed between 1918 and 1920 are located.
Portugal. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Batalha Monastery.
Italy. Tomb of the Milite Ignoto as part of the Vittoriano complex. Rome, Piazza Venezia.
"Tomb of the Unknowns", Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, United States of America.
France. Under the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.
Great Britain. "The Unknown Warrior", Westminster Abbey, London.
India. "Amar Jawan Jyoti (Flame of the Immortal Warrior)", India Gate, New Delhi.
Australia. Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
Monument to fallen soldiers in the fight for freedom. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Austria. Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square), Vienna.
Peru. Plaza Bolivar (Bolivar Square), Lima: contains the remains of a soldier killed in 1881 during the Second Pacific War.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
at the Kremlin wall in Moscow.
I know it's not my fault
The fact is that others did not come back from the war.
The fact that they - some older, some younger,
We stayed there. And it’s not about the same thing,
That I could and could not save them.
That's not what it's about. But still, still still...
(A. T. Tvardovsky, 1966)
The memory of the heroism of Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War is immortalized by many memorial buildings, including the graves of the Unknown Soldier in a number of cities across the country.
In Moscow, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial was built in the Alexander Garden near the Kremlin wall.
In December 1966, on the days of the 25th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow, the ashes of the Unknown Soldier were solemnly buried under the Kremlin wall from a mass grave located 41 kilometers from Moscow, in places of bloody battles, to the Alexander Garden.
The Eternal Flame of Glory was lit at the grave.
Fire bursts from the center of a bronze star, placed in the center of a mirror-polished black square of labradorite, framed by a platform of red granite.
The torch was delivered from Leningrad, where it was lit from the Eternal Flame on the Field of Mars. “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal,” is inscribed on the granite slab of the tombstone.
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Next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on a low granite pedestal along the Kremlin wall, blocks of dark red stone are placed in a row; under them, in urns, the sacred land of the hero cities is stored - Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Volgograd, Sevastopol, Odessa, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Murmansk , Brest Fortress, Tula and Smolensk.
On each block there is the name of the city and an embossed image of the Gold Star medal. The tombstone of the grave-monument is topped with a voluminous bronze composition - a soldier's helmet and a laurel branch lying on a battle flag.
At the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a permanent post of honor guard from the Presidential Regiment has been established - post No. 1 of Russia.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial in Moscow is a place for laying wreaths on holidays, and is visited by numerous delegations, including heads of foreign states and governments arriving in Moscow on official visits.
They buried him in the globe,
And he was just a soldier,
In total, friends, a simple soldier,
No titles or awards.
The earth is like a mausoleum to him -
For a million centuries,
And the Milky Ways are gathering dust
Around him from the sides.
The clouds sleep on the red slopes,
Blizzards are sweeping,
Heavy thunder roars,
The winds are taking off.
The battle ended a long time ago...
By the hands of all friends
The guy is placed in the globe,
It's like being in a mausoleum...
This poem was written by front-line poet Sergei Orlov in June 1944, many years before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier appeared in Moscow. However, the poet was able to express the main essence and meaning of what has become one of the greatest shrines of our Fatherland, personifying the memory of those who fell on the path to Victory.
Military cunning of Nikolai Egorychev
The idea of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier first appeared in France at the end of the First World War, where they decided to honor the memory of all the fallen heroes of the Fatherland. In the Soviet Union, a similar idea appeared 20 years after the Great Patriotic War, when May 9 was declared a day off, and state celebrations in honor of Victory Day became regular.
In December 1966, Moscow was preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the battle under the walls of the capital. At the first secretary of the Moscow city party committee Nikolai Egorychev the idea of creating a monument to ordinary soldiers who died in the battle for Moscow appeared. Gradually, the head of the capital came to the conclusion that the monument should be dedicated not only to the heroes of the Battle of Moscow, but also to all those who fell during the Great Patriotic War.
It was then that Yegorychev remembered the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris. While he was thinking about the possibility of creating an analogue of this memorial in Moscow, the head of government Alexei Kosygin approached him. As it turned out, Kosygin was worried about the same question. He asked: why is there such a memorial in Poland, but not in the USSR?
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Having gained support Kosygina, Egorychev turned to the specialists who created the first sketches of the monument.
The final “go-ahead” had to be given by the leader of the country, Leonid Brezhnev. However, he did not like the original project. He considered that the Alexander Garden was not suitable for such a memorial, and suggested finding another place.
The problem was also that where the Eternal Flame is now located, there was an obelisk for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, which then became a monument to revolutionary thinkers. To implement the project, the obelisk had to be moved.
Egorychev turned out to be a decisive man - he carried out the transfer of the obelisk with his own authority. Then, seeing that Brezhnev was not making a decision on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, he went for a tactical maneuver. Before the ceremonial meeting in the Kremlin on November 6, 1966, dedicated to the anniversary of the October Revolution, he placed all the sketches and models of the monument in the recreation room of the Politburo members. When members of the Politburo got acquainted with the project and approved it, Yegorychev actually put Brezhnev in a position where he could no longer refuse to give the go-ahead. As a result, the project for the Moscow Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was approved.
The hero was found near Zelenograd
But one more important question remained - where to look for the remains of the soldier who was forever destined to become the Unknown Soldier?
Fate decided everything for Yegorychev. At this moment, during construction in Zelenograd, near Moscow, workers came across a mass grave of soldiers who died in battles near Moscow.
Transfer of the ashes of an unknown soldier, Moscow December 3, 1966. Photographer Boris Vdovenko, Commons.wikimedia.org
The requirements were strict, excluding any possibility of accident. The grave chosen to take the ashes from was located in a place where the Germans did not reach, which means that the soldiers certainly did not die in captivity. One of the soldiers was wearing a well-preserved uniform with the insignia of a private - The Unknown Soldier was supposed to be a simple soldier. Another subtle point - the deceased should not have been a deserter or a person who committed another military crime and was shot for it. But before the execution, the criminal’s belt was removed, but the fighter from the grave near Zelenograd had the belt in place.
The chosen soldier had no documents and nothing that could indicate his identity - he fell like an unknown hero. Now he became the Unknown Soldier for the entire large country.
On December 2, 1966, at 2:30 p.m., the soldier’s remains were placed in a coffin, in front of which a military guard was posted every two hours. On December 3 at 11:45 the coffin was placed on a gun carriage, after which the procession headed to Moscow.
The Unknown Soldier was seen off on his final journey by thousands of Muscovites who lined the streets along which the procession moved.
A funeral meeting took place on Manezhnaya Square, after which party leaders and Marshal Rokossovsky carried the coffin in their arms to the burial place. Under artillery salvoes, the Unknown Soldier found peace in the Alexander Garden.
One for all
The architectural ensemble "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier", created according to the architects' project Dmitry Burdin, Vladimir Klimov, Yuri Rabaeva and sculptor Nikolai Tomsky, was opened on May 8, 1967. The author of the famous epitaph “Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal” was the poet Sergey Mikhalkov.
On the day of the opening of the memorial, the fire lit in Leningrad from the memorial on the Champ de Mars was delivered to Moscow on an armored personnel carrier. The solemn funeral relay of the torch was accepted by the head of the USSR. Leonid Brezhnev. The Soviet General Secretary, himself a war veteran, lit the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
On December 12, 1997, by decree of the President of Russia, honor guard post number 1 was established at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was extinguished only once, in 2009, when the memorial was being reconstructed. At this time, the Eternal Flame was moved to Poklonnaya Hill, to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. On February 23, 2010, after the completion of reconstruction, the Eternal Flame returned to its rightful place.
The unknown soldier will never have a first and last name. For all those whose loved ones fell on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, for all those who never knew where their brothers, fathers, and grandfathers laid their heads, the Unknown Soldier will forever remain that same loved one who sacrificed his life for the future of his descendants, for the future of his homeland.
He gave his life, he lost his name, but became dear to everyone who lives and will live in our huge country.
Your name is unknown, your feat is immortal.