To mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the Siberian Customs Directorate, Donetsk Customs and the Central Excise Customs held a joint commemorative event dedicated to the feat at height 224.1 near the village of Rubyezhenka, Kaluga Region. Source: Central Excise Customs (CAT).
On 14 September 1943 an assault group of 18 volunteer Siberians from the 139th Rifle Division seized an unnamed height and held it at the cost of their lives. Through the night the fighters waged an unequal battle against 200 German infantrymen.
A monument was unveiled on the battlefield in 1966, and in 1980 the Nameless Height memorial complex was opened.
Central Excise Customs officers held a commemorative rally at the memorial, observed a minute of silence and laid flowers at the Flame of Glory and at the communal grave of the Siberian soldiers. Children and family members of customs staff attended, many visiting the site for the first time. Children read war poems with feeling. Distinguished customs officers received departmental awards and letters of thanks at the scene of the famous feat. General director of the Kaluga United Museum-Reserve Vitaly Bessonov and representatives of the Kuybyshevsky municipal district administration of Kaluga Region also took part and addressed the gathering. The customs delegation also toured the memorial museum.
Only two men survived that battle: Sergeant Konstantin Vlasov from Novosibirsk and Red Army soldier Gerasim Lapin from Donetsk. Vlasov was taken prisoner and escaped to join partisans; Lapin was thrown several metres by a blast wave, lost consciousness and was found by comrades under a bush in a deep crater, badly wounded. Both continued fighting until Victory and after the war returned to their home cities to work and rebuild civilian life.
Konstantin Vlasov is buried in Novosibirsk; Gerasim Lapin — in Donetsk.
Novosibirsk customs officers honoured their fellow townsman at the Heroes' Alley of the military memorial at Zayeltsovskoye Cemetery. A delegation from the Siberian Customs Directorate and Novosibirsk Customs held a ceremony with school pupils and representatives of patriotic and volunteer movements, observed a minute of silence in memory of war participants including Konstantin Vlasov, called up from Novosibirsk, and unfurled a replica of the Victory Banner at the hero's grave.
Siberian Customs Directorate head Alexander Yastrebov said the customs service was laying down a new patriotic tradition for Victory Day and that officers could say with confidence: “We remember, we are proud!”
In Donbas, Donetsk Customs officers laid flowers at the grave of the second survivor, Gerasim Lapin, and observed a minute of silence in his memory. On the same day they met his daughter Svetlana Lapina and congratulated her on the 80th anniversary of Victory.
Donetsk Customs head Vladimir Boyenko noted that each year they remember their famous fellow townsman and all heroes who gave their lives for their homeland, and that the battle became a symbol of the feats of Soviet soldiers storming enemy strongpoints on countless nameless heights during the Great Patriotic War.
Twenty years later the Siberians' feat was immortalised in the song On Nameless Height by poet Mikhail Matusovsky and composer Veniamin Basner. As part of the event, Central Excise Customs officers laid flowers at the poet's grave at Kuntsevo Cemetery in Moscow and at the composer's grave in Repino near Saint Petersburg.
Acting head of the Central Excise Customs Alexander Shvedov stressed that customs officers must not only guard the country's economic interests but also protect its historical and spiritual heritage, preserve memory of landmark events and pass that memory to the next generation. The memory of the feat on Kaluga soil lives in the hearts of customs officers in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Donetsk and other cities, he said, and that shared memory and pride in their forebears makes them stronger and more united in the face of any trial.