China honors memory of Soviet pilots

 05.05.2017, China.

A wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial of pilots who perished during the Second Sino-Japanese War, was held in Nanjing, TASS News Agency reported on May 4.

Diplomatic staff of the Russian and Belarussian Consulates General in Shanghai attended the ceremony.

It has become a tradition to lay wreaths at the Memorial every year at the eve of May 9.

The memorial is dedicated to pilots who died in the war of the Chinese people against militaristic Japan in 1937–1945. The memorial immortalized the names of 3055 heroes. Among those names there are 236 volunteer pilots from the Soviet Union.

The USSR was the first country to help China, which was attacked by the Japanese in 1937. The USSR granted China a loan of $250 million. About a thousand Soviet aircraft were delivered to China. More than five thousand Soviet volunteers fought side by side with the Chinese people against the militarist invaders, about two thousand of them were pilots.

In 2007, Russia co-financed the creation of the Nanjing Museum of Aviation. It is meant to commemorate the fallen during the war of Liberation from the Japanese invaders. The Museum became a part of the Memorial which is dedicated to the heroes,  who fought for the freedom of the country.

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

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