The three Russian soldiers who fell during the First World War were buried in the Russian necropolis of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand (Marne). In the geopolitical context of the war between Russia and Ukraine, interventions were very limited at the ceremony held last Friday. An Orthodox priest was present to bless the crosses installed on the graves of the three Russian servicemen. "It is an act of remembrance due to all the soldiers who fell on the French battlefields during the fighting, regardless of their nationality," said the representative of the Marne prefecture.
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They had recaptured the village from the Germans on April 16, 1917
The coffins of Korotkoff Yakoff Vasilyevich, Yakov Michailovich and an unknown soldier were deposited with their brothers in arms. Their bodies were found on September 20 thanks to the report of the discovery of a military helmet in a field in the commune of Courcy, very close to Reims. During the excavations carried out by the DRAC Grand-Est and the National Office for Veterans, six remains of soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army were discovered. Parts of uniforms, boots and a helmet were all clues to identify their countries of origin. The soldiers had retaken the village of Courcy from the Germans on 16 April 1917 at the cost of many wounded and dead. The national necropolis of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand now houses 919 graves of Russian soldiers engaged in Champagne during the Great War.