Ziga: It's Duty to Commemorate Bloodiest Battle on Territory of Slovakia

Vysny Komarnik, October 6 (TASR) - It is our duty to commemorate the hardest fought military victory in our modern history and the bloodiest battle on the territory of Slovakia, Parliamentary Vice-Chair Peter Ziga (Voice-SD), who has been temporarily entrusted with the powers of the House chair, said in his address on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Carpathian-Dukla operation. "Our Slovakia is a free country, although sometimes it seems as if we don't appreciate it and take it for granted. But we had to redeem our freedom dearly with the lives of our soldiers and our allies," said Ziga at the Memorial to the Czechoslovak Army Corps at Dukla, pointing to the horrors of war, the suffering and the many wasted lives. Ziga stated that freedom, peace, ordinary human happiness and a contented life - these were the values for which the soldiers fought in 1944 and for which it is still worth fighting today. The acting House chair said that after the Second World War we've lived in such a long era of prosperity that we can't imagine a shortage of everything, food rationing and living literally from hand to mouth. "Friends, let's appreciate that we have peace and democracy, that we can speak our minds freely and defend the values that matter to us. Let's cherish that we exist as a nation and have our statehood. Let's remind ourselves that these are by no means things to be taken for granted, especially at this time when we hear the thunder of guns in the distance," he concluded. The battle of the Dukla Pass began on September 8, 1944 and was expected to last only a couple of days, but due to stiff opposition the Soviet forces weren't able to reach the other side of the pass until October 6. The operation, which ended up lasting a total of 80 days, claimed over 70,000 casualties. Subsequently, one of the valleys in the pass came to be known as the Valley of Death. am