Soldier of the Revolution Monument (Orenburg)

The Soldier of the Revolution monument, also known locally as the Soviet Soldier, stands in the Salmysh Battle Memorial Square in the Dzerzhinsky district of Orenburg. The tall figure of a Red Army soldier commemorates the fighting on the Salmysh River in the spring of 1919, one of the key episodes of the Civil War in the Orenburg region.

History of the square and the monument

The Salmysh Battle Memorial Square was laid out in 1981 in the 7th microdistrict, on a plot between Salmyshskaya Street, Yunykh Lenintsev Street and Dzerzhinsky Avenue. In 1984 memorial signs were installed there, including the figure of the Soldier of the Revolution. The square's sculptures are the work of the Orenburg sculptor Nadezhda Gavrilovna Petina.

By 2023 the monument needed repair: the city was preparing its restoration, with about 700,000 roubles set aside for the work.

The Battle of Salmysh

The battle on the Salmysh River took place on 26 April 1919, during the spring offensive of Admiral Alexander Kolchak's forces towards Orenburg. On the Red Army side it involved the 20th Penza Rifle Division under A. E. Vorobyov and the 31st Turkestan Rifle Division under A. D. Malyavin. They faced the White IV Orenburg Army Corps of Major General A. S. Bakich.

The battle ended in a Red victory. According to available accounts, the Whites lost about 200 killed and up to 1,500 taken prisoner, while the Reds captured 3 guns, 20 machine guns and around 1,000 shells. The victory on the Salmysh helped hold Orenburg and prepared the Red Army's further advance in this direction. In Soviet times the battle was presented as the one that decided the struggle for the region, which is why a street and a memorial square bear its name.

What to see

The centrepiece is the Soldier of the Revolution: a tall Red Army man rendered in the laconic, generalised manner typical of 1980s monumental sculpture. The square also has a sculpture of a Grieving Mother holding her dead son. Together they form a small memorial to the participants of the Civil War and to those who died.

Getting there

The square lies in the residential 7th microdistrict of the Dzerzhinsky district, near Dzerzhinsky Avenue, one of the main streets in this part of Orenburg. Look for the junction of Salmyshskaya and Yunykh Lenintsev streets; city transport running along Dzerzhinsky Avenue gets you close.