Monument opened in south-eastern Chechnya to young women who perished during the Caucasian War

On September 15, the Day of the Chechen Woman, an opening ceremony of the memorial in honour of the 46 girls who were lost in 1819 in the capture of the village of Dadi-Yurt, Chechnya, was held in the Gudermes District of the republic.

On September 14, 1819, 46 girls from the village of Dadi-Yurt, captured and ruined during the Caucasian War by Russian Empire's troops under the command of General Alexei Ermolov, were captured, but when they occurred on the bridge over the Terek River, they committed suicide by jumping into the water.

The "Dadi-Yurt" memorial complex is a large mound, on top of which a fighting Chechen tower was built; an artificial mountain range can be seen behind. The complex also includes tombstones and tall poles with a crescent moon and a star on the top; such signs are usually put on the graves of warriors who perished in the jihad – the "holy war".

Khava Sh., a schoolteacher from Grozny, said that women of the republic perceived positively the established holiday.

"Back in my childhood, I heard a lot about the heroism of the girls from Dadi-Yurt, who were captured, but when on the bridge over Terek, each of them grabbed one of the guards and jumped off the bridge, preferring death to shame – this is what our teacher of history told us," she said. "This is really an impressive story."