Original sentence: Kursk was conferred the status of “City of Military Glory” by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin on April 27, 2007, for “courage, endurance and mass heroism, exhibited by defenders of the city in the struggle for the freedom and independence of the Motherland”
Edited sentence: Kursk was conferred the status of “City of Military Glory” by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin on April 27, 2007, for “courage, endurance and mass heroism, exhibited by defenders of the city in the struggle for the freedom and independence of the Motherland” due to its role as the site of the great Battle of Kursk in 1943, in which the Red Army won overwhelmingly against the Germans in one of the greatest tank battles in the 20th century.One of the reasons for that is the role played by the personnel of the Soviet Navy's Pacific Fleet during the war (the fleet has its headquarters here)