A shell casing with soil from Beliy Island will be delivered to the main temple of the Armed forces of the Russian Federation

Russian people collected soil from burial places of soldiers for the memorial of the main temple of the Russian Armed forces, which will be constructed in Moscow region to the 75^th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The All-Russian military-patriotic action “Handful of Memory” was held in all regions of the Russian Federation on the Day of Memory and Sorrow – the 22^nd of June.

According to the information given by the first deputy head of the Main Military and Political Directorate of the Armed Forces of Russia, Major General Aleksey Tsygankov to journalists, the participants of the action collected more than 15 thousand soldiers’ tobacco pouches with soil from mass graves and also water from places of death of ships and vessels during the Great Patriotic War. He participated in the solemn ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.

In memory of those people, who had died in the Arctic, the action was held in 29 subjects, which are part of the Central military district. The soil was taken from the military burial on Beliy Island (Yamal, the Kara Sea).   

One of the most tragic events in history of the Arctic happened on Beliy Island during the Great Patriotic War. In August of 1944 in 60 nautical miles away from the island in the Kara Sea a German submarine attacked the internal polar convoy “White Sea — Dikson No. 5”. The convoy included 417 people and more than 6 thousand tonnes of food and technical cargoes. As a result of the attack almost the entire convoy was killed — the tragedy took away lives of about 360 people, including many women, old people, children. The fate of 51 people is still unknown. The rest were saved by the surviving convoy ship and aviation, which conducted the subsequent rescue operation. Found killed victims were buried on Beliy Island. Huge scientific and archival work on history of the convoy was conducted, the list of the participants was compiled, and memories of survivors of this tragedy and eyewitnesses of those events were collected. The small memorial complex was installed at the burial place in memory of the tragedy, and the names of the victims were engraved on it.  

Residents of the Amur region collected soil from 15 graves of soldiers. Large battles on the Amur land were continued till September of 1945, when peace came for the majority of the country’s inhabitants. In the Western military district the action “Handful of Memory” was held on the territory of 26 subjects of the Russian Federation, more than 9.5 thousand soldiers’ tobacco pouches were prepared.   

As part of the action at 04:00 the commander of the district troops — Hero of Russia, Colonel-General Alexander Zhuravlev went to the Gulf of Finland on the ship and lowered the wreath into the water in memory of the dead sailors. Combat swimmers of the Leningrad naval base got soil from the twelve-meter depth and water of the Gulf of Finland.  

Also the action was held in 15 regions of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Southern military district. According to the commander of the district troops, Colonel-General Alexander Dvornikov, the soil was collected from 5 thousand burial places. Handfuls of soil were taken from the places of fierce battles and military burials located in Rostov Oblast, as well as from the highest mountain military burial — the mass grave near the monument to the victims of the Great Patriotic War at the foot of Elbrus, where the remains of 225 Soviet soldiers defending the Caucasus had been buried. 

“Memory Watch — Elbrus” has been conducted for seven years in the village of Terskol under the patronage of the Ministry of defense. According to its results, the remains of 240 soldiers and many fragments of uniforms and weapons were found, extracted and transported at altitudes of more than 4 thousand meters on the glaciers Terskol, Gara-Bashi, near the Ice base and other passes. According to TASS, this year the remains of 15 red army soldiers will be buried and “Memory Watch — Elbrus 2019” will be started on the 20^th of August on this place.

The soil collected from burial places in to soldiers’ tobacco pouches will be put in casings of artillery shells. All the casings will be signed and delivered to the main temple of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.