In the forest of Nevsky Pyatachok was some of the heaviest fighting of World War II. During the Siege of Leningrad in early September 1941 the Wehrmacht seized the bridgehead. A few weeks later the Red Army took it back. The Nazis took it again in late April, 1942, the Soviets took it back in late September. Not until May 1943 was the area secured. Almost 900 days of continued fighting. 260.000 Red Army soldiers were killed there.
They didn't clean up this battlefield too good. That's a grenade.
Russian citizens have been coming to Nevsky Pyatachok to unearth the dead and give them a proper burial.
They didn't clean up this battlefield too good. That's a grenade.
Shell
Machine gun.
Saplings grew into trees out of bullet holes in the helmets.
My favorite of these images. The sap looks like blood.
A visibly moved Vladimir Putin at the memorial in January, 2014.
