International commemorative rally to mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WWI in Smorgon

On 1 August 2014, Smorgon marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. This Belarusian city was on the line of the Russian-German front from September 1915 to February 1918. Smorgon held ground for 810 days; tens of thousands of soldiers and officers died here. The 16,000-strong city was destroyed during the war. As few as about 150 people returned there after the war. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of one of the most tragic and large-scale confrontations in the history of mankind, the city dedicated a memorial that honors the victims of the First World War.