Description

City of Military Glory is an honorary title bestowed upon the citizenry of Russian cities, where defenders had displayed courage, steadfastness, and mass heroism in the fight for their Fatherland’s freedom and independence during the Second World War.

Velikie Luki is one of the oldest cities in Russia. The first time it was mentioned in the Novgorod chronicle as a town called Luki in 1166. Since the 12th century, it was part of the Novgorod principality, built as a fortress on the way to Novgorod and Pskov in 1211. In 1406, Luki was called Velikie (Great).

From 1478, when Ivan III conquered Novgorod, the town like all the Novgorod land became part of the Moscow principality. By the end of the 15th century, Velikie Luki was one of the fortresses in a line of defense between Smolensk and Pskov, it was an important center of concentration of Russian troops.

During the Livonian War, the headquarters of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible was located in this town (from 1558). In 1580, the fortress was captured by the Polish and Lithuanian troops of the King Stephen Bathory. In 1583, according to Yam-Zapolsky peace treaty, the town was returned to the Russian kingdom.

From 19 to 21 July 1941 and again from 25 August 1941 to 17 January 1943, Velikiye Luki was occupied by German troops. During World War II, in 1941 and 1942, intensive fighting took place in the vicinity between German and Soviet forces. During the Battle for Velikiye Luki (in late 1942), a German force of about 20,000 was surrounded in the town which had been turned into a fortress. After months of heavy fighting, the German defenders were finally defeated in January 1943. As a result of this siege, the town suffered almost total destruction. Significant part of Soviet forces consisted of Estonian mobilized to Red Army, about 6000 of them died there liberating the town.