Memorial to heroic defenders of Tula

A memorial complex dedicated to the heroic defenders of the hero city was opened on the 8th of May 2015as a part of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The author of the composition – is a folk artist of Russia Salavat Tscherbakov. To the right of the monument there is a bas-relief with Georgy Konstantinovitch Zhukov during the Tula defensive operation. Georgy Konstantinovitch headed the Western front (The Tula military site was a part of the Western Front). Tula and its people played an outstanding role in the defeat of the German troops under Moscow. To the left of the monument there is a bas-relief with General Arcady Nikolayevitch Yermakov. During the Tula defense he headed the 50th army, which was responsible for the defense of the Tula suburbs. Yermakov’s skillful actions did not allow Guderian to capture the city right away. The soldiers, depicted by Salavat Tcherbakov, have a submachine gun, which became a symbol of the Great Patriotic War. This is a legendary PPSH (a Shpagin’s submachine gun), which was adopted on the 21st of December 1940. By its characteristics (density, range, initial velocity of the bullet) it was better than the German machinegun MP-38. PPSH is fed by 7.62 pistole caliber cartridges from a TT pistole.