Today is the 32nd anniversary of the March Offensive Operation.

On March 15-16, 1993, the Armed Forces of Abkhazia launched an operation to liberate the town of Sukhum from Georgian troops.

The Abkhazian Armed Forces crossed the Gumista River, captured strategic heights near Sukhum, but following bloody battles on March 17 and 18, were forced to retreat to their original positions.

In the March Offensive, 222 soldiers of the Abkhazian army perished, several hundred people were wounded, 23 people went missing.

These were some of the most difficult and bloody days of the Patriotic War of the People of Abkhazia in 1992-1993.

In memory of those tragic events, flowers are laid every year throughout the republic at memorials and graves of fallen soldiers.