Replica Victory Banner to lead May 9 march in Vitebsk

For the first time a replica of the Victory Banner, the official symbol of the victory of the Soviet nation in the Great Patriotic War, will lead the solemn march of veterans, labour and educational collectives, and general public dedicated to the Victory Day in Vitebsk on May 9. It will be the main peculiarity of celebrating the 63rd anniversary of the victory in Vitebsk, said chairman of the oblast council of the public association of veterans Gennady Gerasimovich. The Victory Banner is an assault banner of the 150th Kutuzov Order 2nd degree Idritsk Rifle Division erected above the Reichstag in Berlin on May 1, 1945. Its status is regulated by a federal Russian law to immortalise the deed of the nation committed during the Great Patriotic War, to commemorate merits of the Soviet soldiers and the gratitude of descendants to those, who triumphed over the Nazi invaders. The replica Victory Banner was handed over to the Vitebsk Oblast Veteran Organisation on July 1, 2007 by official representatives of the Pskov oblast administration and the Pskov Oblast Veteran Organisation during festivities in the Friendship Mound in the Verkhnedvinsk region, specified Gennady Gerasimovich. Now the replica will be used in all solemn events connected with the Great Patriotic War.