In 1943, Lev Tolkunov, the war correspondent for the “Pravda” [“Truth”] newspaper, wrote:

The battle events are displayed in the diorama located in the Oryol Museum of Local History on Gostinaya Street. It is called “The Breakthrough of the Nazi Troops Defense in the Vicinity of the Village of Vyazhi, Novosilsky district. 1943.”

Three authors worked on the creation of the diorama: brothers Andrey and Leonid Kurnakov and Georgy Dyshlenko. All three fought on the fronts of World War II, and Dyshlenko personally participated in the liberation of the Oryol city.

The diorama is made in the oil on canvas technique. It is nine meters long and four meters high. It took about two years to create this masterpiece; the canvas was completed in 1960.

The diorama depicts the beginning of the enemy’s defense breakthrough by the strike forces of the Bryansk Front on July 11 and 12, 1934. The 3rd Army under the command of Lieutenant General Alexander Gorbatov and the 63rd Army under the command of Lieutenant General Vladimir Kolpakchi participated in the offensive. The breakthrough was carried out on the Zusha River near the village of Vyazhi, 90 kilometers to the east of Oryol.

The authors of the diorama showed the climax of the battle when Soviet troops had already stormed the first fortifications of the Nazis and hand-to-hand fighting began in the trench lines. The compositional center of the picture is the storming of the height, which was called the “Collective Farm Stable”.

The historical consultant of the painters was retired Major General Alexey Kustov. He took part in the battle and commanded a division that began to break through the Nazi defense near the village of Vyazhi on the Zusha River, fought to Oryol, and was one of the first to enter the city, liberating it from enemy forces.