October 6 marks the day when the Czechoslovak Army finally crossed the Slovak-Polish border during the fiercest operation of the Eastern Front in WWII. In Slovakia, it's considered to be the day when the liberation of the country from Nazi German troops began.
The Carpatho-Dukla offensive involved the biggest and bloodiest battle of the eastern front on Slovak territory. Troops of the Red Army and the Czechoslovak Army encountered strong resistance from the Germans. The offensive operation was aimed at uniting the rebel forces of the Slovak National Uprising with Soviet troops. The soldiers got to the eastern Slovak town of Prešov in 4 months instead of 6 days. The Battle of Dukla Pass lasted from September 8 to October 28, 1944. The troops entered the territory of what was then Czechoslovakia on October 6. Both sides suffered from great losses amounting to 70,000 casualties. The symbolic cemetery and the memorial at the Dukla border crossing were built in 1949. The memorial was declared a national cultural monument in 1961.
Slovakia's top officials attended a commemorative event marking the 72nd anniversary of the Carpatho-Dukla operation in the north-eastern Slovak-Polish border. The event is organised annually to pay tribute to the victims and soldiers who laid down their lives in the nearby woods during some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War.
On this occasion, Prime Minister Robert Fico said that he sees Dukla as a place of great courage but also an example of what a rampaging war can bring. "We have an interest in good and friendly relations with every state in this world. We have an interest in good and friendly relations with the Russian Federation," he said. According to Slovak Prime Minister, it's a big mistake to try to make an enemy of someone at all costs. The premier noted that nobody will ever change the historical fact that it was Soviet soldiers who liberated Slovakia, Bohemia and Moravia. Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš, also present at the commemoration event, named the Carpatho-Dukla operation one of the toughest and most important operations in our history. He also noted that mainly the younger generation should commemorate these events, as they're forgetting about how difficult it was to ensure freedom and how many lives and blood it cost. The commemoration service at Dukla was also attended by representatives of the Slovak Armed Forces, guests from neighbouring countries and eye-witnesses of the Carpatho-Dukla operation.
