A memorial date was established in Sevastopol in honor of the heroic event of 1942

In Sevastopol, they decided to include March 24 in the city’s calendar of memorable dates - the second military parade in the history of the Great Patriotic War, from which military personnel went to the front line.

In memory of this, the military-historical festival “Martynovsky Ravine” is held at the site of the parade, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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Presenting the bill on the memorable date in the Legislative Assembly of Sevastopol, deputy Vyacheslav Gorelov recalled that on March 24, 1942, soldiers of the 25th Red Banner Chapaev Order of Lenin Rifle Division went to the front straight from the parade formation.

“An extremely important date in the history of the city of Sevastopol. And by and large, in the history of our country. Because it concerns the legendary 25th Chapaev Division, which was formed in 1918. The legendary division commander Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev took direct part in the formation of the division. And after Chapaev’s death, she received his name,” Gorelov explained.

The 25th Chapaev Division met the beginning of the Great Patriotic War on the banks of the Danube, then retreated to Odessa, and by the end of 1941 it ended up in Sevastopol. In March 1942, the 25th Chapaev Division celebrated the 24th anniversary of its creation, and the Martynovsky ravine, where the field command post was located, was chosen as the location for the festive parade. On March 24 such a parade took place. The front line ran one and a half kilometers from the Martynovsky ravine, where the fighters went immediately after the procession.

Defending Sevastopol, the division ceased to exist. Its veterans continued to gather in the Martynovsky ravine every year in March, and after the reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia, the museum of the heroic defense and liberation of Sevastopol began to hold the military-historical festival “Martynovsky ravine”.

“During this festival, two reconstructions take place: a reconstruction of the parade itself and a reconstruction of the battle for the defense of Sevastopol. The Museum of Heroic Defense is visiting, exhibiting stands dedicated to the 25th Chapaev Division, and exhibiting unique materials from its collections. And now there is a proposal to include such a date in the list of memorable dates in the city of Sevastopol.

At the same time, I would like to note that we have at our disposal the conclusion of the museum historian of the memorial complex “35 Coastal Battery” and a letter from the museum of heroic defense, which is quite long, but I will read the following phrase: “during the years of the Great Patriotic War, only two parades were held in a combat situation – in November 1941 on Red Square and in March 1942 in Sevastopol,” Gorelov emphasized.

He added that on the territory of the Martynovsky ravine there is also a burial place of heroes of the first defense of Sevastopol and a monument to the chief of the engineering troops of the Primorsky Army, Gabriel Kedrinsky.

“In general, when the idea arose to place glampings there, it caused absolutely natural indignation among the residents of Sevastopol, and now an agreement has been reached to create a cultural heritage site - a landmark, a monument to military history in 1854-55, 1941-1942 Martynovsky ravine, so that no one would have the desire to place any other leisure facilities there,” Gorelov concluded.

Let us remind you that Sevprirodnadzor decided to lease the Martynovsky ravine for 20 years to organize a tourist zone without capital construction - tent camps, camping sites, glamping sites.