Belgrade Liberators Cemetery

The cemetery covers an area of ​​1.12 ha ^[1] . The entrance to the cemetery is located on the street of Milliy Kovachevich, exactly opposite the entrance to the New cemetery. Throughout almost the entire left side of the cemetery, there is a wall separating it from the Jewish cemetery. A small part falls into the courtyard of the Little Prince kindergarten ( Serbian. Mali Prince ), which is part of the Bosko Bukh preschool educational institution. On the reverse side of the cemetery is the courtyard of the Belgrade Liberators Elementary School, on the right side is Preradovic Street. The cemetery is located on the border of the urban areas of Palilul and Zvezdar, dividing the street of Miye Kovachevich. Belgrade and Jewish cemeteries, therefore, belong to Palilula, the New Cemetery - to Zvezdar.

Belgrade operation

The operation to liberate Belgrade from the Nazi invaders lasted from October 10 to 22, 1944 and was carried out by the forces of the Yugoslav and Soviet troops. The 1st Army Group of the NOAU, under the command of General Peko Dapchevich , was ordered in the second half of 1944 to take Belgrade. The Yugoslav grouping of troops was supported by the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps of General V.I. Zhdanov. The defense of Belgrade was carried out from 40 to 50 Wehrmacht infantry battalions, 4 Wehrmacht tank battalions and from 12 to 16 artillery divisions. From October 10 to 14, the combined forces of the Red Army and the NOAU broke through the German defenses on the outskirts of the city and entered its borders. From October 14 to 20, battles were fought on the territory of the city: during the battles, the Smederevskaya group of the Wehrmacht near Avala was destroyed while trying to come to the rescue of the Belgrade garrison.

On October 20, Belgrade was finally liberated from German troops, and on October 22, Zemun was also cleared. The Germans lost 16,800 killed and 8739 captured. The 1st Army Group of the NLAU lost 2,944 killed and 3,379 wounded, the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps lost 960 people killed. As a result of the defeat of the Smederevskaya group, among various trophies were 1,500 different cars, 80 tanks and 200 artillery pieces. The liberation of Belgrade prevented the German forces from trying to stay in the Balkans and blocked the most important highway of Thessaloniki - Belgrade - Budapest. After the liberation of Central Serbia , Army Group E , which left Greece and Albania, tried to make their way through their territories with poor roads, but only lost even more personnel.

First funeral

After the liberation of Belgrade, a discussion began on the choice of the place where the dead soldiers would be buried. On October 27, 1944, a group of dead Soviet soldiers was buried at Theater Square (now Republic Square), Lieutenant General of the 4th Guards Mechanized Corps Vladimir Zhdanov and Lieutenant General of the 1st Army Group of the NOAU Peko Dapchevich were buried. By December, 18 large and 84 small monuments to Soviet soldiers were unveiled: in addition to the Theater Square, the monuments were erected in Slavia, at the monument to Vuk Karadzic, at the Student House, in Old Saimiste. In the 1950s, these monuments were demolished, and the remains were transferred to the New Belgrade Cemetery - not only because of the cooling of Soviet-Yugoslav relations, but also because of the reluctance to see graves scattered throughout the city.

Memorial Complex

In 1954, a memorial complex was built in memory of those killed in the battles for Belgrade. The author of the idea was the architect Branko Bon, engineer Alexander Krstic was responsible for the internal structure of the memorial complex and the cemetery, the author of the stone bas-reliefs at the entrance was Radeta Stankovic, and the author of the sculpture “The Red Army Man” located inside the complex was Antun Augustinichich. Of the 2944 soldiers of the NOAU and 961 soldiers of the Red Army who died in the battles for Belgrade from October 12 to 20, 1944, 1,386 Yugoslav and 711 Soviet soldiers were buried in this cemetery, respectively.

Above the entrance to the cemetery there is a stone gate with the inscription “To the Liberators of Belgrade 1944” ( Serb Oslobodiotsima Beograd 1944. ), on the left and right sides of the gate there are bas-reliefs made of Brac marble. The left bas-relief depicts Soviet and Yugoslav soldiers fighting against the Germans, the right bas-relief depicts a meeting of Soviet and Yugoslav soldiers with local residents (including workers and peasants) after the liberation of the city. The following inscriptions are shown on the inside:

For the liberation of Belgrade from the fascist occupiers, they gave their lives to 2944 Fighters of the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and 961 soldiers of the Red Army * At this cemetery of the burial of 1386-liberators

IN THE BATTLES FOR THE LIBERATION OF BELGRADE IN OCTOBER 1944 PARTICIPATED THE 1st PROLETARIAN * 6TH PROLETARIAN LIKSKAYA * 21 AND 23rd SERBIAN * 11th BOSNIAN * 5TH KRASINSKAYA * 16 AND 36TH WOIVES DIVESINS PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY OF YUGOSLAVIA AND IV MOTO-MECHANIZED BODY OF THE RED ARMY

Original text (Serb.)

FOR OSLOBOЂEЊE Beograd OD FASHISTICHKIH OKUPATORA DALY SU SVOЈE ABDOMINAL 2944 wrestlers PEOPLE OSLOBODILACHKE VOЈSKE ЈUGOSLAVIЈE 961 Borac and Crvena ARMIЈE * AT ew GROBЉU SAHRAЊENO ЈE 1386 Borac PEOPLE OSLOBODILACHKE VOЈSKE ЈUGOSLAVIЈE and 711 Borac Crvena ARMIЈE

At BORBAMA FOR OSLOBOЂEЊE Beograd 1944 OKTOBRA Godin UCHESTVOVALE SU 1 PROLETESKA PROLETERSKA lichku * 6 * 21 and 23 * 11 Srpska Bosanskiy KRAЈISHKA * 5 * 16 36 and 28 VOЈVOЂANSKA Slavosnki DIVIZIЈA PEOPLE AND OSLOBODILACHKE VOЈSKE ЈUGOSLAVIЈE IV MOTO MEHANIZOVANI BODY Crvena ARMIЈE

The Belgrade Liberators Cemetery was inaugurated on October 20, 1954, on the 10th anniversary of the liberation of the city. The opening ceremony was attended by:

• Mosha Piyade , Chairman of the Union of the People's Assembly
• Alexander Rankovich , Deputy Chairman of the Union Executive Council
• Petar Stambolic , Chairman of the National Assembly of Serbia
• Juro Salai , Chairman of the Central Council of the Union of Syndicates of Yugoslavia
• Colonel General Dapchevich Peko , Chief of the General Staff of the JNA
• Djurica Joykic , Chairman of the People's Committee of the City of Belgrade
• Vasily Valkov , Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to Yugoslavia
• other senior officials of the FRNY and NR of Serbia, representatives of the organization of the Union of Veterans, numerous citizens and family members of the dead soldiers

On May 9, 1988, on Victory Day , in front of the memorial complex, Colonel General Peko Dapchevich, the monument "Partisans in Eternal Guard" by Radet Stankovich was inaugurated. The monument, 2.8 m high, is a victorious partisan with a rifle lowered down, symbolizing the onset of peace and a tribute to fallen soldiers. On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade and the visit of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev in October 2009, the entire memorial complex was carefully restored.

Among 1386 soldiers of the NOAU and 711 soldiers of the Red Army, some were awarded the titles of Heroes of the Soviet Union and People's Heroes of Yugoslavia . Among the top honors:

• Spomen brotherly srtsu (Serb.)
• Where do you grow ora ju (Serb.)
• Republikki plant for the protection of the spomenica culture - Beograd
• Leaf spomenica (Serb.)
• Republikki zavod for the protection of the spomenika kulture-Beograd / Base of the unprincipled kulturny dobara (Serb.)
• 59. BEOGRADSKY INTERNATIONAL SAЈAM KЊIGA (Serb.)
• Stolen messingana of the word sa ulaznog zida (Serb.)