Together with war veterans, the President laid a wreath at a monument to the Panfilovtsy heroes – soldiers in the 316th rifles division, who fought to the death in November 1941, holding back an enemy force much superior in number. The division’s commander, General Ivan Panfilov, was killed in battle on November 18, 1941.
Mr Medvedev visited the museum dedicated to the heroes, which displays objects found by members of military-patriotic clubs. One of these clubs’ main activities is searching for wartime objects at the scenes of battles in the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War, and also finding the remains and establishing the names of soldiers killed in these battles.
The President noted the importance of this work that has helped to fill in various pages in the history of the Great Patriotic War and establish fate of many people.
The meeting took place in the village of Nelidovo, near Volokolamsk. Volokolamsk was recently honoured with the title of City of Military Glory by Presidential Executive Order.