On August 29-31, Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk will hold festivities to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the first allied convoy "Dervish" at the port of Arkhangelsk, the press service of the Arkhangelsk Region  Governor and the local government  reports.

During World War II, the Allies supplied military freight to the USSR's northern ports to assist the Soviet Union in the fight against Nazism. The first allied convoy "Dervish" which consisted of six vessels sailing under the flags of Great Britain and the Netherlands arrived in Arkhangelsk on August 31, 1941.

The festivities in Arkhangelsk will be attended by representatives of eight countries: ambassadors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand and Australia and officials from the Polish and French diplomatic missions.

The British delegation to Arkhangelsk will be the largest including about ten veterans who provided security, along with Soviet mariners and pilots, for the convoy. The Royal Marines Band Service brass band will perform for Arkhangelsk residents and guests.

According to Keith Allan, Consul General of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, a research and practical conference called, "Land Lease and Arctic Convoys: From Regional Cooperation to Global Coalition," will be hosted by the Lomonosov Northern (Arctic) Federal University on August 30.

In all, 41 marine convoys delivered over 2 million metric tons of strategically important freight to the northern ports of the Soviet Union during World War II.