Monument to Red Army soldiers killed by US aircraft unveiled in Serbia

Unveiling of the monument to the Red Army soldiers who died during the US air raid in the suburb of Nis in the south of SerbiaNIS (Serbia), 8 May.In the suburb of Nis in southern Serbia, a monument was opened to the soldiers and officers of the Red Army who died during an air raid by US aircraft in 1944, RIA Novosti correspondent reports. of the year by American aviation on the column of the 6th Guards Rifle Corps of the Red Army. The initiators of the installation of the monument were the Russian Center for Science and Culture «Russian House» in Belgrade and the Russian Embassy in Serbia. The project was supported by the administration of the city of Nis and the Society of Russian-Serbian Friendship and Russian Compatriots «Naisus». The opening ceremony on Sunday was attended by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia Alexander Vulin, employees of the Russian Embassy, ​​headed by Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, head of the Rossotrudnichestvo office Evgeny Baranov and colleagues , management of the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center in Nis, representatives of local authorities and public organizations.China recalled the bombing of its embassy in Belgrade by NATO aircraft. The ceremony began with the performance of the national anthems of Serbia and Russia. «Now, at the moment, taking into account all the events in Europe, what we are doing today says more than long and short speeches. I want to say that now for the whole of Europe this is an exceptional event that shows and proves in the best and strongest way that we are together, together we preserve our common values ​​​​and they cannot be taken away — first of all, the memory of the heroes and the joint struggle against Nazism,» he said. On the day of the celebration of the October Revolution on November 7, 1944, a convoy of Soviet troops on the road between the cities of Nis and Aleksinac was attacked by a group of American P-38 Lightning fighters. Soviet anti-aircraft artillery opened fire on the attacking aircraft, and fighter jets took off to intercept. There was an air battle with losses on both sides. Dozens of soldiers and officers of the Red Army, led by Lieutenant General Grigory Kotov, were killed or injured. The US command explained the attack as a mistake by the pilots, who allegedly «mixed up the cities.» The date of the liberation of Serbia from the Nazis in World War II is associated with the end of the Belgrade operation on October 20, 1944. Fighters of the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts under the command of Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin participated in the battles for the then capital of Yugoslavia, units of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito fought their way towards them. 940 soldiers and officers of the Red Army. The Eternal Flame burns in it, there are monuments to Soviet and Yugoslav soldiers and mass graves. According to post-war estimates by the authorities of Yugoslavia, more than seven thousand dead soldiers of the Red Army were buried on its territory. Yugoslavia's participation in World War II, according to official data in 1945, cost over 1.7 million human lives. world war