Divers and local historians have found parts of an old bridge and mill in the Nicha River near the agro-town of Klyastitsy, Rossony District, as reported to a BELTA correspondent by Polotsk local historian Andrei Bukhovetsky.
Divers and local historians have found parts of an old bridge and mill in the Nicha River near the agro-town of Klyastitsy, Rossony District, as reported to a BELTA correspondent by Polotsk local historian Andrei Bukhovetsky.
A hydroelectric power station was built on the Nicha in Klyastitsy in 1959. At that time, the water level rose, submerging the natural riverbanks. Recently, specialists from the Vitebsk diving club "Stalker" arrived in the agro-town of Klyastitsy to conduct search operations. The club was founded in 1993 based on the "Poshuk" search detachments association. The agro-town of Klyastitsy has attracted the attention of history enthusiasts for several years.
"In 1812, near Klyastitsy, Russian troops under the command of Lieutenant General Pyotr Wittgenstein defeated superior French forces led by Marshal Oudinot in a three-day battle. It was then that the grenadiers of the 2nd Battalion of the Pavlovsky Grenadier Regiment performed their heroic feat, rushing onto the burning bridge over the Nicha River and being the first to enter the village of Klyastitsy. This halted the enemy's advance towards the capital of the Russian Empire. Marshal Oudinot was forced to retreat beyond the Western Dvina. The French offensive towards Saint Petersburg failed," explained Andrei Bukhovetsky.
Polotsk local historians Andrei and Alexei Bukhovetsky, who have been studying the history of the Battle of Klyastitsy of the War of 1812 for five years, along with divers and instructors Vitaly Elkin and Dmitry Kazakov, decided to locate the old bridge through the water at a depth of about 5 metres. Search participants clearly saw the piles of the old bridge in the ground on the sonar screen; nearby, logs and planks of the wooden structure were scattered.
"Below the bridge, further down the river at a depth of 7 metres, we discovered an old mill. Its piles and the entire wooden flooring are very well preserved. You can even make out each plank on the screen. The mill itself had been known in Klyastitsy since 1829, and the entire Rossony region came here to grind grain. The mill was blown up during the Great Patriotic War," the local historian explained.
In June 2018, Polotsk local historians the Bukhovetskys found and jointly restored a monument to the heroes of the War of 1812, placing it near the river where it had originally stood since 1912.