Great Patriotic war

EUGENE (YEVGENY) LANCERAY IS ONE OF THE FEW RUSSIAN ARTISTS WHO NOT ONLY EXPERIENCED BUT ALSO CAPTURED IN HIS WORK MANY EVENTS OF BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS. IN THE WINTER OF 1914-1915 HE TRAVELLED TO THE TURKISH FRONT TO PAINT LOCAL PEOPLE, COSSACKS AND EVENTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD. THAT WAR WAS CALLED THE T,REAT PATRIOTIC WAR", AND IT WAS FOLLOWED BY THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION IN 1917 AND THE CIVIL WAR. BUT FEW COULD HAVE FORESEEN THAT A NEW WORLD WAR WOULD BREAK OUT SO SOON. ON SEPTEMBER 4 1939 THE ARTIST WROTE IN HIS DIARY: "A SECOND WORLD WAR! AGAIN EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART! BUT INERTIA STILL RULES WHILE BOTH I AND EVERYBODY ELSE TALKS AND CARES ABOUT THE SUBTLETIES OF PROPORTIONS AND SHADES OF COLOURS!.. I'M THINKING ABOUT THE PARISIANS AND KOLYA." ON SEPTEMBER 9: "OLYOK IS FEELING LOW BECAUSE WAR IS LOOMING. PEOPLE SEEM TO BE BUYING UP FOOD. QUEUES EVERYWHERE. HUGE CROWDS IN THE SAVINGS BANKS." ON SEPTEMBER 24: "HISTORICAL EVENTS ARE FOLLOWING EACH OTHER IN A FLASH: THE 17TH - SOVIET TROOPS ENTER POLAND. POLAND'S ULTIMATE DEBACLE, AND YESTERDAY - ITS PARTITION; EVERYONE IS SPECULATING WHO WILL GET HOLD OF WARSAW, WHICH STRADDLES THE DIVIDE." BUT THE WAR WOULD ONLY REACH RUSSIA IN JUNE 1941.

THE GLORIOUS VICTORY OF THE SOVIET PEOPLE IN THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR (1941-1945) CROWNS THE TRAGIC AND HEROIC EPIC OF WORLD WAR II, THE BLOODIEST CONFLICT IN HUMAN HISTORY. THIS VICTORY BECAME AN EVERLASTING SYMBOL OF THE STRUGGLE AGAINST FASCISM, WHICH UNITED PEOPLES OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS, RACES AND NATIONS, CHAMPIONS OF EVERY POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL SYSTEM, FROM EUROPE AND ASIA TO NORTH AMERICA AND AFRICA. CELEBRATING THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT VICTORY, WE RECALL THE MOST MEMORABLE EVENTS OF THE DRAMATIC AND GLORIOUS HISTORY OF OUR HOMELAND, THE EXPLOITS OF OUR ANCESTORS FROM THE TIMES OF ALEXANDER NEVSKY AND DMITRY DONSKOY, PRINCE DMITRY POZHARSKY AND KUZMA MININ, ALEXANDER SUVOROV AND MIKHAIL KUTUZOV, FYODOR USHAKOV AND PAVEL NAKHIMOV, MIKHAIL SKOBELEV AND ALEXEI BRUSILOV... THEIR FEATS REFLECT THE HISTORY OF OUR NATION'S SPIRIT - A HISTORY IN WHICH NOTHING IS LOST, NOTHING VANISHES WITHOUT TRACE, BUT WHERE EVERYTHING IS PASSED DOWN FROM ONE GENERATION TO ANOTHER AS A CONSTANT ETHICAL REMINDER OF FAITH AND COURAGE, PATRIOTIC LOVE AND SACRIFICE FOR SAKE OF THE FUTURE.