Last Saturday in Soave (VR), the commemoration ceremony of the 79th anniversary of the battle of Nikolajewka took place, one of the most painful - but also the most heroic in history - of so many young people who, in extreme conditions, on 26 January 1943 , after the collapse of the Italian front on the Don River, they bravely managed to break the encirclement of the Soviet Army and retreat, coming out of the grip of the Red Army.
In front of the National Monument dedicated to the Fallen of all Countries in the Russian Campaign, the Councilor for Education, Training, Work and Equal Opportunities of the Veneto Region Elena Donazzan, the Army Corps General Massimo Scala, Commander of the Forces Operative Terrestrial Support (COMFOTER di Support), the chief of staff of the prefect, Dr. Daniela Chemi, the mayor of Soave Gaetano Tebaldi, the president of the Province Manuel Scalzotto, the president of ASSOARMA, ten. Roberto Pellegrini, together with numerous civil and military authorities and the Combat and Weapon Associations, recalled, moved, the over 40 thousand fallen who, in January 79 years ago, fought valiantly near the then Russian city of Nikolajewka, today Livenka , on the border with Ukraine.
The commemoration began with the flag-raising ceremony where, together with the "Song of the Italians", the national anthems of Germany, Romania, Russia and Hungary, the nations involved in that bloody battle, were played. Subsequently, the Votive Lamp was lit at the foot of the Monument which reproduces the Nikolajewka railway underpass, the scene of the massacre and the starting point of the historic retreat.
General Scala, in his speech, retraced the historical episodes of the Russian campaign, starting from September 1942 with the battle of Stalingrad, passing through the retreat of the Armir in the terrible Russian winter up to the dramatic battle of Nikolajewka.
The commemoration held in Soave, a city that paid one of the highest tributes in human lives, allowed these tragic events to be relived, as a warning and commitment to current and future generations.
