The monastery that sheltered the partisans and the church in which the militias were bandaged: a photo report from the sites of fierce battles in 1941translated

On October 3-4, 2026, photojournalist Marina Mamaeva visited unique places in the Smolensk region - where in 1941, on the distant approaches to Moscow, militia divisions fought in fierce battles with the Nazi invaders.

The trip “We remember your feat, militiamen!”, organized by the ANO “Community of descendants of the Moscow militiamen of the Great Patriotic War”, took place as part of the patriotic program “In Memory of the Moscow People’s Militia” of the Moscow City Duma with the support of the Moscow Government.

On the eve of the Day of the Moscow People's Militia, which falls on October 11 - the day of the Red Army's breakthrough from the Vyazemsky pocket in 1941, the trip participants visited the battlefields of the 6th, 8th and 9th divisions of the people's militia.

Among the participants in the trip were the direct descendants of the heroes - the granddaughters of the fighter of the 8th division of the people's militia Vasily Shanin, Irina Dorozhkina and Irina Shanina.

Representatives of the Moscow City Duma, teachers, schoolchildren and activists of the “Community of Descendants of Moscow Militia” also visited the places of military glory.

On this trip, all its participants were able to visit unique places - an Orthodox monastery and a church, which turned out to be directly...