About three hundred people took part in the military-historical reconstruction of the battles of April - May 1942 in the area of the Red Army breakthrough in Novgorod oblast on Sunday.
The event was timed to the 72th anniversary of Luban offensive. The reconstruction is sponsored by the Russian Military History Society (RMHS). "The heroic deed of the 2nd Attack Army has deliberately been silenced for decades because of the treachery of the commander - General Vlasov” – the report of the press service of RMHS said. “The purpose of the festival is to pay tribute to the soldiers and commanders who died heroically fighting for their homeland.”
“The Luban operation was carried out exactly 72 years ago in the forests and swamps near Novgorod – it was the third attempt to break the blockade of Leningrad” - the press service reminded. It was carried out by the Volkhov Front by efforts of the 2nd Attack Army, which was surrounded by enemies as a result of the failures of the command. But the army drew a significant amount of German troops to itself and did not give the enemy the opportunity to increase pressure on Leningrad. The majority of soldiers were surrounded and killed in the area of Myasnoy Bor.
“The Luban offensive was one of the four unsuccessful attempts to break the blockade of Leningrad. The Lyuban force grouping of enemies was supposed to be destroyed by the attack of the Volkhov front troops and the 54th Army from the area of Pogostye in the general direction to Lyuban, coming to the rearward of German troops blocking Leningrad from the south. The attacks of German troops in marshy areas, in off-road conditions, in deep snow, with a shortage of automatic weapons, transport, communications, food and feed, advanced slowly, meeting with the resistance of Russians.
In addition, the offense was poorly organized. The Germans managed to regroup eleven divisions and one brigade into the band of the 18th Army, dramatically changing the balance of forces. On April 30 the Soviet troops stopped the offensive and came on to the defensive. The first military and historical festival in memory of those fights took place in 2013.
Author: Anna Dorozhkina