Rustam Minnikhanov: The construction of the Kazan Defensive Perimeter is an example of labor feat of our countrymen

On May 11, in the Tatar State Philharmonic named after Tukay, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and the Head of the Chuvash Republic Oleg Nikolaev took part in the evening dedicated to the completion of the interregional patriotic marathon "Feat in the rear" in honor of the builders of the Kazan Defensive Perimeter and the Sur Defensive Line.

Minnikhanov congratulated all participants on the Victory Day and thanked the organizers and participants of the marathon «Feat in the rear». “By and large, we have talked very little about the Kazan Defensive Perimeter, the defensive line. Although this is a huge labor feat, committed on the territory of the three republics – Mari El, the Chuvash Republic and Tatarstan. These are the same heroes who were on the battlefields, who forged victory in the rear. We must know and remember it”, Tatarstan President said.

He emphasized that the great work carried out by specialists from the Chuvash Republic to perpetuate the memory of the builders of defense lines: books and collections of documents have been published.

In his turn, Nikolaev said that the pages on the construction of defensive lines were not sufficiently covered and understood. “This is really a great feat in the rear. Undoubtedly, it is an example of the same courage and heroism, which were committed by our ancestors”, he said

In the autumn of 1941 the dangerous situation at the front required the organization of defensive work in the rear. The construction of the Kazan Defensive Perimeter and the Sur Defensive Line was carried out in 1941-1942. The defensive lines were intended to delay Hitler’s troops on the approaches to Kazan, Kuibyshev and other major industrial centers of the country. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the large-scale work: collective farmers, workers, students. The system of engineering fortifications passed through the territory of the Tatar, Mari and Chuvash autonomous republics.