Yelnya
Encyclopedia
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Yelninsky District
Yelninsky District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the 25 in Smolensk Oblast, Russia....
of Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its area is . Population: -Geography:The administrative center of Smolensk Oblast is the city of Smolensk. Other ancient towns include Vyazma and Dorogobuzh....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, situated on the Desna River
Desna River
Desna is a river in Russia and Ukraine, left tributary of the Dnieper. The word means "right hand" in the Old East Slavic language. Its length is , and its drainage basin covers ....
82 kilometres (51 mi) from Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
. Population:
History
The name of the town probably related to the Russian 'yelFir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
tree) or yelan
The settlement was first mentioned in the historical documents in 1150 when according to the order of knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
Rostislav of Smolensk the settlement was to pay tax of four grivnas and a fox skin.
The settlement shared the history of the Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
lands—it paid duty to the Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
, then was captured by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
. The settlement was returned to Russia with the rest of the Smolensk Voivodeship
Smolensk Voivodeship
Smolensk Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth....
at the close of the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667). In 1776, the settlement officially received town status and became a center of an uyezd
Uyezd
Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...
.
In 1804, the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
was born in the village of Novospasskoye of Yelninsky Uyezd. In 1982, the house was restored and became a museum of Glinka. The Glinka Festival is held annually in Yelninsky District.
In 1812, during the Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Yelnya became an important center of the partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
movement. Later during the counter-offensive there was the staff of Mikhail Kutuzov.
During the Great Patriotic War, Yelnya became a place of the important battles:
- On August 30, 1941, Yelnya became the place of the Yelnya OffensiveYelnya OffensiveThe Soviet Army's Yelnya Offensive operation was part of the Battle of Smolensk during the initial period of the German-Soviet War....
, the first successful offensive operation of Soviet troops in the Great Patriotic War. - In 1942, Yelninsky District became a part of the Dorogobuzh Partisan Krai. The German garrison in the town was not able to control the rural territory that were effectively under the partisanSoviet partisansThe Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....
control. In March 1942, partisans even liberated the city, killing more than a thousand German troops but in three days on March 18, 1942 they were forced to retreat back to the forests. - In August 1943, Yelnya became the key part to the Battle of Smolensk. On August 30, Germans were forced to abandon Yelnya, sustaining heavy casualties. This started a full-scale German retreat from the area. By September 3, Soviet forces reached the eastern shore of the DnieperDnieper RiverThe Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.The total length is and has a drainage basin of .The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations...
.