1. The Memorial and the Cemetery of the Czechoslovak Army in DuklaVysny Komarnik The Battle of the Dukla Pass, also known as the Dukla / Carpatho-Dukla / Rzeszów-Dukla / Dukla-Prešov Offensive was the scene of bitterly contested battle for the Dukla Pass on the Eastern Front of World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September–October 1944. It was part of the Soviet East Carpathian Strategic Offensive that also included the Carpathian-Uzhgorod Offensive. The operation's primary goal to provide support for the Slovaks was not achieved, though it concluded the full liberation of the Ukraine in its modern borders by the occupation of the Subcarpathian region as a territory of the former Carpatho-Ukraine. The German resistance in the eastern Carpathian region was much harder than expected. The battle which began on 8 September would not see the Soviet... From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
All credit for this wobbly and erratic short clip go to my son :-)
The houses of Čičmany are often referred to as the gingerbread houses.
Čičmany is a beautiful little village; nestle in the stunning green valleys of North-West Slovakia.
A little history:
In the late 18th century the local residents of the small village of Čičmany started decorating their houses with lime as a way of preserving deteriorating wood.
Over time this developed into the elaborate patterns you see today.
In 1921 a fire raged through Čičmany almost completely destroying the town.
The villagers rebuilt the destroyed buildings and created new decorative designs.
After being rebuilt the village was then occupied by Nazi soldiers who set the village ablaze during World War II.
After the war, the Office for the Care of Historical Monuments in Bratislava oversaw the second massive reconstruction of the village.
The In 1979 the village was protected by the government as a cultural reservation.
The history of Čičmany has been documented as far back as 1272.