The station’s name is Partisan
Originally uploaded by Wordyeti.

Note the heroic peasant in the middle, arm upraised to inspire his comrades, other arm clutching his trusty MP-40. Every pillar in this station has an inscription in bronze of the crossed guns.

It is my guess that this, the westernmost of the subway stations in Moscow, was one of the key points in the defense of the city during the seige of 1941, when the Wehrmacht was “at the gates.” I base this on the fact that all the buildings around here are pretty new, and that there is not one old tree standing.

A deep subway tunnel like this would be a formidable way to move troops and supplies around away from the Luftwaffe. We know so little about the Russian defense of the Motherland in WWII, and so much about every little detail of our own part in the war. Which, I guess is natural, as every culture sees the world through the prism of its own self-interest.

Still, it is unsettling and a little embarrassing to see monuments to what were earth-shaking events, and to know so very little about them.