Their feat is immortal

Together with all Soviet people, citizens of the Moldavian SSR too were actively involved in the struggle against the fascist aggressors. Moldovans tried to fight honestly and selflessly, many of them committed feats that have immortalized their names. Let us remember some of these names.

Already in the first weeks of the war, 150 Moldovans received state awards for their deeds in battles with German and Romanian aggressors. Among them are S.Lvovsky, resident of Kishinev, I.Kiritsa from Tiraspol, and N.Andrienko from Taraclia. And a resident of Kishinev, a pilot A.Sokolov, on June 22, 1941 was the first in Red Army Air Force who opened the scoring of Nazis' planes shot down in the Soviet skies.

During the defense of Odessa, Maria Motynga, a machine gun woman, destroyed 300 enemy soldiers and officers, and Lyudmila Pavlicenco, a sniper from Chisinau, 300. Near Uman, a resident of Orhei, commander of the 16th Panzer Division, Colonel M.Myndru died like a hero. And general N.Lebedenko, born in the Krihana Noua of Cahul County, D.Kelerash, air regiment commander, a native of Otaci, P.Scherbinko and S.Poletsky, residents of Tiraspol, distinguished themselves in the battles of Moscow.

During the defense of Leningrad, a fighter pilot, Moldovan Peter Bonar proved himself a hero by forcing a German pilot to land on Soviet airfields. For excellence in this fight, his companions in arms named Bonar "host of heaven".

During the defense of Sevastopol, Afanasy and Lukerya Repida distinguished themselves; for their courage and bravery in the battles of Stalingrad, state awards were conferred to natives of Moldavia M.Diordide, L.Dioride, Y.Kutaovetsky, Z.Kiroshke, A.Lazarev and other. Near Stalingrad, a daughter of the Gagauz people, a native of Ceadar-Lungi, M.Slavioglo performed a feat by carrying from the battlefield a seriously wounded Ruben Ibarruri - the future Hero of the Soviet Union and the national hero of the Spanish people.

A striking example of the Soviet peoples' friendship in the battle on the Volga was the feat of two gunners ? a Russian Mikhail Nachinkin and Moldavian Yurko Tarakul. They two for several days held a house of strategic importance. Both in battle were fatally wounded, but did not let the enemy pass.

On the Kursk Bulge, a Hero of the Soviet Union became a pilot Stepan Kolesnychenko, resident of the Hirtop village of Dubasari district. By September 1943, he had shot down 20 enemy aircraft. The glorious son of the Moldovan people died a hero's death in the skies over Ukraine in 1943. For their feats during the forced crossing of the Dnieper, Russian M.Pavlotsky, Moldovan I.Koval, Ukrainian P.Shcherbinko, all the three being natives of Moldova, became Heroes of the Soviet Union.

The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to the native of the Bardar village of Hyngesh district Mikhail Plugarev. He started the war as a private soldier and ended as a guard captain.

On February 11, 1945 during the storming of Luisenthal, Germany, a glorious son of the Moldovan people, Ion Soltyk, who was only 19 years old, repeated the immortal feat of Alexander Matrosov.

An outstanding feat of heroism was made by the famous submariner Alexander Ivanovich Marinesku (known to the world under the name of Marinesko) - a native of Cahul, Moldavian on the father's side and Ukrainian on the mother's. On January 30, 1945, an S-13 submarine under command of the captain III rank, Alexander Marinesko sank in the Bay of Danzig in the Baltic Sea a German superliner with a displacement of more than 25,000 tons, with 918 cadet submariners on board. The title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to A.Mrinesko in 1990 (posthumously).

For the deeds committed during World War II, 18 natives of Moldova were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 250,000 officers, soldiers and partisans of Moldova were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union.

Today, certain forces in the Republic of Moldova are trying to slander the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany, to suggest an idea to the Moldovan people that Moldova in this war did not win but lost, and for this reason the Victory Day should not be celebrated in Moldova. Today in Moldova the heroic liberators from fascism are equated with the occupants, instead the war criminals, Nazi collaborators are praised. The purpose of this policy is to destroy the friendship between the Russian and Moldovan peoples, to erase from the national memory the great importance, of which Russia has been to Moldova for centuries.

But time and dishonest perversion of history are powerless to weaken the memory of the heroism, the Moldovan people's indomitable resistance in the Great Patriotic War, who in the fraternal family of peoples of the USSR made a contribution to the Great Victory over Nazi and Romanian occupiers.

Dear and respected veterans, congratulations on the 68th anniversary of Great Victory!