Today, near the village of Nereisha, Sennen region, excavations began at the site of the crash of the Soviet Pe-2 bomber in early July 1941.

According to the chairman of the military-historical patriotic club “Vitebsk Frontier” Nikolai Shpyrkovich, in this area, presumably from July 7 to July 9, two planes were killed during the Lepel counterattack. They were returning from a combat mission and were shot down by Messerschmitts.

In both crews, the radio operator gunners were Belarusians: Georgy Lyakhovich from Orsha and Pyotr Levshunov from the Mogilev region. The military-historical patriotic search club “Vitebsk Frontier” and the Sennen Museum of History and Local Lore studied combat logs, as well as recordings of interviews with eyewitnesses of those events, as a result of which the crash site of one of the planes was established.

Pe-2s were part of the 95th high-speed aviation bomber regiment of the Red Army Air Force and carried out combat missions to the Lepel area to bomb the advancing enemy columns. This regiment was one of the first to be equipped with the latest aircraft of this type and took part in the parade on May 1, 1941, flying over Red Square in Moscow.

The 52nd separate specialized search battalion, “Vitebsk Frontier”, the Investigative Committee, and the Forensic Expertise Committee are taking part in the excavations.

Tatyana Mysenko, a relative of Nikolai Antropov, the navigator of one of the crews, came to the excavation site from Moscow. She feels in her heart that her great-uncle died in this place.

Heavy equipment was provided by Vitebskvodokanal.

Photo by the author.