26/02/2013
The official launch of the project will take place on 23 February 2013, and will be devoted to one of the most tragic and significant dates in the history of the Russian people – the Breaking of the Siege of Leningrad, the 70th anniversary of which is being marked this year. The events of those terrible days did not just change the course of Russian history, they have remained in the national consciousness as one of the most tragic and devastatingly fatal periods in the whole of the country.
More than 400 of the leading historical reenactment enthusiasts from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic countries will gather in the town of Kirovsk for one day to recreate the scene of the historic events on the very spot where the real-life fighting of the winter of 1943 took place. The force of the offensive will be demonstrated, as well as the counter-attacks by the still-strong enemy, together with the great losses of lives and military equipment.
Authentic military apparatus and planes dating back to World War II will be used in the reenactment, along with other historical aspects and pyrotechnical special effects. Authenticity will also be enhanced by the historical landscape, which has been preserved together with trench lines and shell craters, and by the recreated defence stronghold of the enemy: lines of barbed wire barriers, earth-and-timber emplacements, front line positions, and the imitation remains of villages in which German units entrenched themselves.
On this day, spectators will not only be able to watch a war battle that changed the course of history, they will be immersed in the atmosphere of that wartime era: a military field kitchen will be set up on the site, along with an exhibition of military equipment, and footage of the war years will be shown on a large screen.