Born in 1923. At the front from September 1941, he was wounded in July 1942, and shell-shocked in October of the same year. He ended the war as a captain in 1945 in Berlin.
22nd of June- The first day of the war... We learned about it only in the evening. I lived on a farm. There was no television then, there was no radio. And we didn’t have a phone either. A man came to us on horseback and sent word that it had begun. I was 18 then. In September they took me to the front.
Earth— War is not only military operations, but terrible hard labor without a break. For you to stay alive, you need to crawl into the ground. In any case - whether it is frozen or swampy - you need to dig. In order to dig, in order to do all this, you also need to eat, right? And the rear, which supplied us with food, was often knocked out. And I had to not drink or eat anything for a day or two or three, but still carry out my duties. So life there is completely different. In general, during the war there was no such thing as thinking anything. Could not. Yes, no one probably could. It is impossible to think when today you are and tomorrow you are not. It was impossible to think.
Nikolai Sergeevich YavlonskyBorn in 1922, private. At the front since 1941. He was seriously wounded. In September 1942, he was discharged from the hospital and discharged due to injury.
Corpses— We drove at night to the village of Ivanovskoye, three kilometers from Volokolamsk. They brought it at night, but there was no hut there to warm up - everything was in ruins, although it was not burned. Let's go spend the night in the camp, it's in the forest. And at night it seems that there are roots under your feet, as if in a swamp. And in the morning we got up - all the dead were piled up. The whole village is littered all around, and more are being brought in. And you look at the corpses and feel nothing. The psychology there is changing.
First fight— For the first time I heard the howl of a mine... First time, but you already know how it is. She howls, and the sound is so pleasant. And then it explodes. You think the whole earth has fallen apart. And I really want to fall into this frozen ground! Every time it happens after the order “Fight!” But they didn’t hit us, but two tanks, where all the soldiers were gathered. So almost all the machine gunners remained alive. We then climbed into the trenches. Wounded - “Help!” - they moan, but how can you help if you’re in the forest? Cold. Move it from its place - even worse. And how to finish off, if there are only six people left? Very quickly we got used to the idea that there would be war all our lives. He remained alive, but how many were killed - a hundred or two - does not matter. You step over and that’s it.
Wound- How was I wounded? We cleared the minefield. They attached a drag to the tank - such a healthy rental. Two people on the tank, and three on the slab, for gravity. The tank just moved - and it hit a mine. I don't know how I stayed alive. It’s good that we haven’t gone far yet - the wounded are freezing as usual: no one will climb into the minefield to save us. Before being wounded, he fought for 36 days. This is a very long time for the front. Many had only a day.
In 1940, he was drafted into the army, into an anti-aircraft artillery regiment stationed near Leningrad. After training, he was appointed commander of a combat crew, in which position he served throughout the war.
Caliber— In May 1941, our regiment was transferred to combat positions. We constantly practiced combat drills. Then many began to think: this is not good, is war really close? Soon we were raised on alarm, which was not training. Then they were transferred to the defense of the near approaches to Leningrad. There was considerable confusion. I, a specialist in medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns, was given a small forty-five. I quickly figured it out, but then I met militias who didn’t know what to do with my anti-aircraft gun.
Volunteer“Once the commanders formed a platoon and asked if there were volunteers to defend the Nevsky patch. Only volunteers were sent there: going to the Nevsky Patch meant certain death. Everyone is silent. And I was a Komsomol organizer, I had to set an example... I went out of order, and my entire crew followed me. But we still had to get to the Nevsky patch. The Germans constantly fired at the crossing; as a rule, no more than a third of the soldiers reached the shore. This time I was unlucky: a shell hit the boat. I was taken to the hospital seriously wounded. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the guys; they probably died.
Blockade“We also found ourselves in a blockade.” They fed us almost the same as the Leningraders: they gave us three crackers and thin soup a day. The soldiers were plump from hunger, did not get up for days, rose from their bunks only when alarmed, were terribly cold: they did not have time to give us winter uniforms, they lived in drafty tents. You can't build a dugout there - it's a swamp.
Snow“There was so much snow that year that even the caterpillar tractor that was pulling the anti-aircraft gun could not get through. There was no strength to saw boards or dig snow - they placed the frozen corpses of German soldiers under the tracks of the tractor and under the wheels of the cannon.
Newbie“Once they sent us a very young lieutenant: unfired, just a boy.” Suddenly a furious enemy attack! At this time, I was lying in a hut after being wounded with a bandaged chest; it was painful to even breathe, let alone move. I hear that the new commander is losing the situation and making mistakes. The body hurts, but the soul is stronger - the guys are dying there! I jumped out, in the heat of the moment cursed the lieutenant, shouting to the soldiers: “Listen to my command!” And they listened...
Evgeny Tadeushevich Valitsky
Lieutenant, platoon commander of the 1985th artillery regiment of the 66th anti-aircraft division of the 3rd Belorussian Front. At the front since August 18, 1942. He ended the war on the shores of Frisch Gaff Bay (now Kaliningrad Bay).
Favorites“And in war, everything happens: there are favorites, there are dislikes.” When crossing the Neman River, the 3rd battery under the command of Captain Bykov was privileged. It’s one thing to place a detachment near the water, where you will immediately end up in a crater, and quite another thing to place it a little further, where there is a chance to stay alive.
Examination— There was a rule: to confirm that the plane was shot down, it was necessary to obtain at least three confirmations from the commanders of the infantry battalions, who allegedly saw that the plane was shot down. Our captain Garin never sent to check. He said this: “Guys, if it’s shot down, it means the plane won’t fly anymore. What is there to run around to assure? Maybe it wasn’t this battery that hit, but another one - who knows.”
Education“Ten years of school saved my life.” We were gathered near Orenburg and announced: “Whoever has 7 grades - a step forward, 8 grades - two steps, 9 - three steps, 10 - four steps.” Thus, I was sent to the officer school in Ufa, while the battle of Stalingrad was going on.
Understanding— When I went through the war, I realized that any truly honest person deserves respect.
Needles— They were allowed to send parcels from the front. Some sent entire carriages. Others got rich by transporting sewing needles to workshops: there were a lot of needles in Germany, but we didn’t have enough. And I didn’t like all these war trophies. I took only a wall clock from the apartment of a German general and a huge feather bed, half of the down from which was poured out.
Alexander Vasilievich Lipkin
Born in 1915. At the front since 1942. He went to war straight from a repression camp in Yakutia. He was wounded near Leningrad. Now lives in Cherepovets.
Traitors— In 1943 we were taken to Lake Ladoga. They gave us one rifle each. And five rounds per person. And here we have a betrayal: it turns out that the commanders were Germans - several had double documents. 43 people were arrested, but only one was killed.
Doctor“The way the plane flew and dropped the bomb, we were scattered.” I flew to the side. When I woke up, I was already in the hospital. There was a doctor nearby. Here is such a young girl. He walks next to the stretcher and says: “This one is going to the morgue!” And I listen and answer: “Girl, I’m still alive!” She took it and fell.
Stakhanovite“Everything was knocked out of me, I was crippled.” And then I was treated for three months and went to work in the mine. A slaughterer. There was a Stakhanovite - the first in Kemerovo! I only knew one thing - work. I’ll come home, eat, sleep and go back to the mine. He gave 190 tons of coal. This is where I became a member of the Stakhanovites. Then, when I was returning to Yakutia to see my family, I traveled with a Stakhanovite ID. And no one considered me an enemy anymore.
Leonid Petrovich Konovalov
Born in 1921 in Donetsk. In the army since 1939, since the beginning of the Finnish campaign. Since 1941 - senior lieutenant. In September 1942, he was shell-shocked in the battles for Stalingrad. Demobilized in April 1947.
Awards— My beloved commissar Zakharov died during the award ceremony. He made a speech, ended with his favorite phrase: “Slavs, forward!”, began to reward the fighters... An accurate hit by a German mine cut short his life. But we always remembered this phrase from him when we went on the attack.
Anatoly Mikhailovich Larin
Born in 1926. At the front since 1943. He served in the 2nd Polish Army, 1st Tank Dresden Red Banner Corps of the Order of the Cross of Grunwald. The number of awards is 26, including the Silver Cross. He was demobilized in 1950 as a junior sergeant.
Deserter“In the first years of the war, I lost my parents and brother. My younger sister and I lived together. And when I was drafted into the service in 1943, the twelve-year-old girl was left completely alone. I still don't know how she survived. As expected, I was sent to study first. I studied well, the commander promised to give me leave before service if I got A's or B's, but I never got it. I thought and thought, and then ran away to say goodbye to my sister. I’m sitting at home on the stove, playing the accordion, they come for me and say: “Well, deserter, let’s go!” What kind of deserter am I? Later, as it turned out, there were twenty of us like that. Scolded in their own way
sent to the companies.
Poles— By distribution I ended up in the Polish army. It was very difficult at the beginning. I didn’t even know the language. We, Russian soldiers, did not understand what they were telling us, what they wanted from us. On the first day, the Pole commander walked around all morning and shouted: “Reveille!” We thought he was looking for something, but he commanded the rise. We went to church with the Poles and prayed in their way, in Polish, of course. They didn’t believe, but they had to pray.
Machine gun- We do what they say. They lived only by order. If they tell you to dive for weapons, we dive. And I dived. We were crossing the river just as we were approaching Germany. There were six people on the raft. The shell hit. Naturally, we were turned upside down. I was shell-shocked. I swim somehow, I have a machine gun in my hands - it’s pulling me to the bottom, so I threw it away. And when I swam to the shore, they sent me back for a machine gun.
Future— It was scary then. We sat with a friend in a trench, thinking: if only an arm or a leg was torn off, if only we could live a little, see how it would be after the war.
Tank“Death walked very close, side by side with each of us. I was a tank gunner; during one of the battles, my hand was wounded by a shrapnel, the scar remained. I could no longer control the tank, and the commander kicked me out of the tank. I left, and the tank was blown up. Everyone who was in it died.
Prisoners“War was war, but ordinary soldiers, captured Germans, felt humanly sorry.” Most of all I remember one guy. A very young boy, he came to us to surrender himself: I, they say, want to live. Well, where should we take it? Don't take it with you. And you shouldn't leave it. Shot. I still remember his beautiful eyes. There were enough prisoners then. If they couldn’t walk, they were shot right on the road.
Life of Enemies— When we were already in Germany, we were approaching Berlin, and for the first time during the war years we saw how the enemies lived. And they lived much better than ours. What can I say if they didn’t even have wooden houses? When they asked what I saw there, I answered everything as it is. Me to the authorities: “Yes, for such words you can be court-martialed!” The government then was very afraid of our truth.
Tamara Konstantinovna Romanova
Born in 1926. At the age of 16 (1943) she joined a partisan detachment operating on the territory of Belarus. In 1944 she returned home to Oryol.
girl“I was the same ordinary fighter as everyone else, there were no discounts for age. We were called, given a task and deadlines. For example, my friend and I had to go to Minsk, pass on information, get new information, return three days later and stay alive. How we will do this is our concern. Just like everyone else, she stood guard. To say that I, a girl, was scared in the forest at night is to say nothing. It seemed that under every bush there was an enemy hiding, who was about to launch an attack.
"Languages"“So we started thinking about how we could capture such a German so that he would lay out everything.” On certain days the Germans went to the village to buy food. The guys told me: you are beautiful, you speak German - go, attract the “language”. I tried to hesitate, to be shy. And to me: lure - that’s all! I was a prominent, slender girl. Everyone looked around! She dressed like a girl from a Belarusian village, met the fascists, and spoke to them. It’s easy to tell now, but back then my soul was shaking with fear! Still, she lured them to where the partisan guys were waiting. Our “languages” turned out to be very valuable, we knew the train schedule by heart and immediately told everything: we were very scared.
Evgeny Fedorovich Doilnitsyn
Born in 1918. He met the war as a private in conscript service in a tank division. Responsible for artillery support for tanks. At the front since June 1941. Now he lives in Novosibirsk Akademgorodok.
Army man“The German tanks walked during the day, and we walked along the side of the road at night and retreated. If you are alive today, that's good. They followed orders without hesitation. And it’s not a matter of “For the Motherland, for Stalin!” - it was just my upbringing. The army man did not hide anywhere: if he was told to go forward, he would go forward, if he was told to go to the fire, he would go to the fire. It was only later, when the Germans retreated and we reached the Volga, that a new replenishment of troops began. The new soldiers were already trembling. And we simply had no time to think.
Spy— They started teaching us how to insert cartridges. And since there was a shooting at the school, I began to explain to the gunners what and how. And the platoon commander overheard and asked: “How do you know this?” Like, isn't he a spy? The spy mania was such that... I said: “No, I’m not a spy, I was just interested in it at school.” The training ended, I was immediately appointed gun commander.
Alcohol— And in one of the cities there was a distillery, and the guys there all got drunk. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Germans cut them all down. Since then, an order was issued from the front: it was strictly forbidden to drink. And we, as guards units, were given 200 grams of vodka. Those who wanted it drank, others exchanged it for tobacco.
Joke- Sent to the Main Artillery Directorate. I go there on foot, limping: it hurt to step on my foot. A soldier is walking ahead. He is me, I give him honor. Then some captain comes - before reaching me, he salutes me, I salute him. And then some major comes and, before reaching me, takes three steps to the front line and salutes. I think: what the hell! I turn back and the general is walking behind me! There was a joke. I turn around and salute him too. He asks: “What, from the hospital?” - "Yes sir!" - "Where are you going?" - “To the artillery department!” - “And I’m going there too. Let's go together, then. When did the war start? - “Yes, from the first day, at 12 o’clock, the order was read to us - and we went into battle.” - “Oh, well then you’ll stay alive.”
Shepherd— We moved to Volosovo near Leningrad. There was an interesting incident there. I was on duty at the checkpoint that day. In the morning some guy with a dog comes up. He asks the sentry to call an officer. I go out and ask: “What’s the matter?” - “Here I brought the dog. Take her and shoot her." - “What is it?” - “I bit my wife all over.” And he told me this story: this dog was in the fascist women’s camps and was trained on women, and if someone approaches it in a skirt, it immediately growls. If he’s wearing trousers, he’ll immediately calm down. I looked - a German shepherd, a good one. I think it will serve us.
Stool“Once I sent guys to a German concentration camp: go, otherwise we don’t even have anywhere to sit, maybe you’ll find something.” And they brought two stools from there. And I wanted to see something: I turned the stool over, and four addresses were written there: “We are in such and such camps near Leningrad, I am such and such, we, paratroopers, were thrown behind German lines and taken prisoner.” One of the addresses was Leningrad. I took the soldier’s triangle, sent a letter with information, and forgot about it. Then a call comes from Strelna. They call me to the NKVD major. There I was interrogated about where the information came from. As a result, they asked to send boards with inscriptions. We talked with the major, he told me that it was a special sabotage group that had been thrown out, and no information was received from it, this was the first news - on a stool.
Allies— They helped a lot, especially at the beginning. They helped a lot with transport: the Studebakers carried everything on themselves. The food was stew, we ate so much of it at the end of the war that later we only ate the top with the jelly and threw away the rest. The gymnasts were American. The boots were also made of buffalo leather, with stitching on the soles; they were indestructible. True, they were narrow and not suitable for large Russian feet. So what did they do with them? They changed it.
Ilya Vulfovich Rudin
Born in 1926. When Ilya was little, his stepmother made a mistake in the documents with his date of birth, and in November 1943 he was drafted into the army, although in reality he was only 17 years old. He ended the war at the end of 1945 in the Far East. Now he lives in the city of Mikhailovsk, Stavropol Territory.
Far East“We were sent to the east to fight Japan. And it was happiness. Or maybe misfortune. Did I regret not going to the west? They don't ask in the army. “You belong there” - that’s all.
Vision“Afterwards, the doctor said to me: “How were you kept in the army, you don’t see anything?” My vision was minus 7. Can you imagine what minus 7 is? I wouldn't have seen the fly. But they said “it’s necessary” - that means it’s necessary.
Koreans— The Chinese greeted me well. And even better - Koreans. I do not know why. They look like us. After we captured the last city, Yangtze, we were told: now rest for a month. And we just did nothing for a month. They slept and ate. There were still boys. All are twenty years old. What else can you do? Just dating girls...
Saveliy Ilyich Chernyshev
Born in 1919. In September 1939 he graduated from military school and became a platoon commander of the 423rd artillery regiment of the 145th rifle division in the Belarusian Special Military District. The war found him at home, on vacation. He ended the war near Prague.
Parents— After the Battle of Kursk, I managed to drop by home. And I saw a picture from the song “Enemies Burnt My Own Hut”: the place where the hut was was overgrown with weeds, the mother was huddled in a stone cellar - and there had been no contact with her since 1942. I then spent the night with my neighbors in the cellar, said goodbye to my mother and went back to the front. Then, near Vinnitsa, I already received a message that my mother had died of typhus. But my father, who also went to the front, was shell-shocked and underwent treatment in Siberia, and remained there. After the war he found me, but did not live long. He lived with a widow woman who had lost her husband in the war.
Operation“When I was wounded, I did a somersault in the air and ended up in a ditch. My right arm, leg and speech immediately began to fail. The Germans are advancing, and there are three of us wounded. And so the intelligence officer and I were pulled out by the signalman and the intelligence chief - with his left hand. Then I was sent to an army field hospital in Przemysl. There they performed surgery on the skull, without anesthesia. They tied me with belts, the surgeon talked to me, and the pain was inhuman, sparks were flying from my eyes. When they took out the fragment, they put it in my hand, and I lost consciousness.
Sergey Alexandrovich Chertkov
Born in 1925. At the front since 1942. He worked at the special purpose field communications center (OSNAZ), which ensured the exchange of information between Zhukov’s headquarters and army units. Provided communications during the signing of the act of surrender of Germany.
Surrender— The signing of the act took place in a dilapidated school building in the suburbs of Berlin. The German capital itself was in ruins. On the German side, the document was signed by representatives of the ground forces, aviation and navy - Field Marshal Keitel, Air Force General Stumpf and Admiral Friedenburg, and from the Soviet Union - Marshal Zhukov.
Boris Alekseevich Pankin
Born in 1927. Drafted into the army in November 1944. Sergeant. Didn't make it to the front.
Victory— The school for non-commissioned officers was in Bologoe. It's already 1945. May 9th was given a special welcome. On the eighth they went to bed - everything was fine, but on the ninth they said: “The war is over. World! World!" What happened is impossible to tell! All the pillows flew to the ceiling for about twenty to thirty minutes - it’s inexplicable what happened. Our commanders were strict, but very decent. They reassured us and said: there would be no exercise, water treatments and then breakfast. They said that there would be no classes today, there would be a drill review. Then, out of the blue, they announced that we would go to the railway to guard it: a delegation led by Stalin was going to Berlin, and troops were guarding the entire road from Moscow to Berlin. This time we got caught too. This was in the month of August 1945. Although the month was the hottest, it was cold - we were freezing...
Project participants: Inna Bugaeva, Alina Desyatnichenko, Valeria Zhelezova, Yulia Demina, Daria Klimasheva, Natalya Kuznetsova, Elena Maslova, Elena Negodina, Nikita Peshkov, Elena Smorodinova, Valentin Chichaev, Ksenia Shevchenko, Evgenia Yakimova
Project coordinators: Vladimir Shpak, Grigory Tarasevich
Russian hero, oblique fathom - this is what colleagues said about Lieutenant Vladimir Rubinsky. It seemed that he could handle everything. Reckless, he rose to the occasion: he was not afraid of either death or the commander. He was able to escape from captivity when several guards were sitting opposite him with machine guns at the ready in the back of a cargo ship, and even single-handedly captured... a German tank!
It was like this: while the opponents were collecting trophies, Rubinsky simply stole the car from under their noses, frightening his entire crew when he appeared on the horizon in a tank with crosses.
And not only in battles - and at headquarters he was “with his sword at the ready”: he was not afraid of either death or the commander. When Rubinsky’s nomination for the Hero’s Star for crossing the Dnieper was being prepared, he almost lost all his existing awards for his words: “Why are the soldiers hungry and lousy?” — fearlessly demanded an answer from his superiors. Ardent blood, “he climbed where he shouldn’t, he climbed everywhere”... And he was alive.
Vladimir explained his luck by the fact that no one was waiting for him. “Neither my children nor my beloved, that’s why I wasn’t afraid,” the veteran is now trying to understand that military recklessness. “He himself encouraged his boys, sending them into battle: “There is no death, guys!” Their self-control and hope increased from these words. I didn’t think whether I would return on my own or not, I simply couldn’t imagine that someone would trample on my land. The worst thing in the war for me was not death—the worst thing was not following orders.”
He, who did not take care of himself, survived. Survived being shot four times. The skull was fractured. He survived when he swam across the Dnieper and saw how our guns and hundreds of fellow soldiers sank. He swam out, and when he took off his helmet on the other side, he found strands of red hair flying around in it... And he still received his Hero star.
Based on one of his exploits, they wrote a script and filmed the film “No Death, Guys!”, in which Lieutenant Rubinsky was played by Evgeny Zharikov.
Vasily Korneev: dreamed of dancing, ended up in the war
Vasily Korneev went to the front immediately after graduating from the choreographic school.
Vasya was 10 years old when he began studying at the Bolshoi Theater choreographic school. And since then I could no longer imagine myself without ballet. Even on the most difficult days, the young dancers did not stop practicing. And after them, he returned to his native Lefortovo and extinguished lighter bombs with his peers.
In 1942, he graduated from college and immediately received a summons from the military registration and enlistment office. So he changed his ballet shoes to soldier's boots. But throughout the war, soldier Korneev carried ballet shoes in his duffel bag.
However, the first big performance in his life took place on the occasion of the Victory - in May 1945 in Berlin. Then they decided to organize a concert for the allies. They were looking for talent. And Korneev has ballet shoes in his duffel bag. He decided to show a dance from the ballet “Red Poppy”, which he danced at the final exam at the school. He was given three machine gunners for security, and they went to the opera house. We found a red silk shirt and tights in the costume room. I haven’t danced for almost three years, and the training conditions are military: just a couple of rehearsals and I’ll be on stage.
But Korneev did not lose his skills. And he danced so fervently that even Marshal Rokossovsky himself ran onto the stage and hugged him.
Abykasym Karymshakov: Kyrgyz mechanic defeated Goering’s aces
A new flight, a new attack, and again an attack by German fighters, whose pilots were becoming more and more desperate at the end of the war. Air gunner on the Il-2 Abdykasym, aka Andrei, as the Russian soldiers nicknamed him, repels attack after attack, but the Germans continue to press. And then after the next shot there is silence. The onboard Ila machine gun ran out of ammunition.
The German, who noticed this, began to go to the tail, intending to finish off the Russian plane for sure.
Adbykasym looked at the approaching enemy, clenching his fists with impotent hatred. And then my gaze fell on a captured machine gun, picked up in one of the battles. Sticking the barrel into the opening for the machine gun, he fired a long burst in the direction of the Messerschmitt.
What did he expect? No matter what. So the soldiers shoot with a pistol at an approaching tank, not wanting to surrender to the inevitable death.
The German MP-40 assault rifle, of course, is not intended for air combat, and in 999 cases out of 1000 it was not capable of harming the Messer.
But it was with Abdykasym Karymshakov that the only case out of 1000 occurred. A bullet from a machine gun hit the only weakly protected place of the fighter in the bow - the crack in the oil radiator, after which the Messer began to smoke and sharply went down.
The IL-2 returned safely to the airfield.
Abdykasym Karymshakov from Kyrgyzstan fearlessly fought with enemy planes in the sky, but never became a Hero of the Soviet Union.
The story of Abdykasym Karymshakov
http://www.site/society/people/1359124
Stanislav Lapin: his scores with Hitler
“I went to the front, and my Sonechka went to nursing courses. Then also to the front. And now, after the battle, I’m sitting at a rest stop. I see a cart, and on it is my Sonechka. As soon as she saw me, she rushed to me and started kissing me like never before. Our soldiers couldn’t stop looking at us both out of envy and joy. And suddenly... a shot - my Sonechka shuddered and began to crawl over me in my arms. I screamed terribly, and the guys rushed into the forest where the shot came from. And there they saw a German in felt boots and a Russian fur coat. He tried to escape. One of ours caught up with him and stabbed him with a bayonet. The other Germans who were there didn’t have time to do anything - they were also finished. Our guys had such hatred. Only I sat and held my Sonechka. And I also felt her kisses.”
Veteran of the Belorussian Front Stanislav Vasilyevich Lapin firmly decided to take revenge. He went through the entire war, received three wounds, two medals “For Courage”, several orders.
For his military exploits, he was awarded the right to participate in the first Victory Parade. “My place in the parade was different from most other places. My comrades and I were sitting in the back of a ZIS-5 car. We were warned not to turn our heads towards it when passing the Mausoleum. But how could we not turn them back when Stalin and Zhukov were there?!” - recalls the veteran.
Anatoly Artemenko: pilot “from the other world”
Military instructor Anatoly Artemenko wanted to go to the front so much that he secretly snuck onto the plane and flew away with the regiment. For this act they wanted to arrest Artemenko and put him on trial.
And he began to fight. First, the flight commander. Here the convoy turns to dust. There the train is downhill. The strategic bridge was destroyed so that they would go neither here nor there... Before the Kursk Bulge, the commander even started talking about a reward.
Only the colonel, the former chief of instructor Artemenko, did not let up - he bombed with coded messages. Threatened the new bosses with a tribunal. It gave up: “We’ll have to go back, Tolya...” And then Artemenko suggested: “And you will tell me that I died.” They were surprised at such “resourcefulness”, but did so. The encryption has stopped. And they began to forget about what happened.
One day the division commander saw him, who was attacked by telegrams from that same colonel and who was informed that he had died... He saw him and stopped breathing: “Are you... from the other world? Well… I’ll resurrect you!”
Anatoly was sure that he would be shot. But instead of execution, Artemenko received the Order of the Red Banner of Battle, the rank of lieutenant and was appointed deputy squadron commander.
Georgy Sinyakov: a captured concentration camp doctor saved thousands of soldiers
Chelyabinsk surgeon Georgy Sinyakov was captured near Kiev. He went through two concentration camps, Boryspil and Darnitsa, until he ended up in the Küstrin concentration camp, ninety kilometers from Berlin. Sinyakov did not leave the operating table. He operated on wounded soldiers 24 hours a day, and helped thousands of them escape from fascist captivity.
Nothing was known about the doctor’s feat for almost 15 years, until Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot Anna Egorova, spoke about her miraculous rescue from the Küstrin concentration camp in 1961. “I owe a lot to the wonderful Russian doctor Georgiy Fedorovich Sinyakov,” she said. “It was he who saved me from death.”
How did the ordinary doctor Sinyakov manage to deceive the Germans and save Russian soldiers, and why was his feat forgotten for so many years?
On other pages of the military ID and their fragments:
“The draft commission at the Proletarsky District Military Commissariat of Moscow” recognized him as “fit for military service”, “called up for active military service and sent to a unit on July 22, 1941”;
"1134 page regiment", "scout";
“On May 20, 1955, on the basis of a period from extended service, he was discharged (demobilized) to the reserve and sent to the Proletarsky RVK of Moscow.” 
Copies of three certificates, one of which was received during the Soviet period, and the other two in the present time, indicating that Lev Aleksandrovich Gitsevich “is a disabled person of the second group and has the right to benefits and advantages established by the current legislation of the Russian Federation for disabled people of the Patriotic War”: 
By the way, WWII veteran Gitsevich personally restored several surviving ancient tombstones near the Church of All Saints on Sokol. Moreover, most of the Orthodox Crosses and symbolic tombstones for the heroes and victims of the First World War and the Civil War, including the “Cossacks” slab, were also erected with the personal participation of Lev Gitsevich: 
TBILISI. May 5 – Sputnik. It was hard for a soldier at the front, but it was doubly hard for women. In the name of their children, husbands, and families, participants in the Great Patriotic War often hid that they had gone through the crucible of war.
Military field wife - such a harsh label was hung on everyone indiscriminately, which even Victory could not wash away. Only years later, women veterans tell how they brought the jubilant May closer. Among them is Corporal Nafisya Agisheva, who, by the will of fate, ended up in Karaganda after the front, reports IA Novosti Kazakhstan.
After graduating from seven classes at a rural school, Nafisya dreamed of becoming a teacher, getting married and living a quiet family life. A summons from the district military registration and enlistment office and stern words: “You may go to the front and not return!” will remain in your memory for the rest of your life. Having exchanged her village bast shoes for Hurricanes, the very young and dreamy Nina went to the front...
Today, a cheerful and good-natured grandmother Nafisya Agisheva (Sevkaeva) lives in a warm and cozy apartment in Karaganda. Now she is 94 years old, although she talks about the war calmly, her excitement is palpable.
“I was born in 1922 in Mordovia. I had no intention of leaving anywhere. I lived with my mother, sister and brother,” says the veteran. “I dreamed of becoming a teacher, and it never occurred to me that I might end up at the front. I had no idea what war was like.” , what hardships and difficulties are to be experienced.”
War came into the life of a twenty-year-old girl in 1942. At that time, Nina (as she was called then) worked in her native village of Penzyatka, Lyambersky district of Mordovia. Men were sent to the front, women worked from dawn to dusk, building the road to Kuibyshev and airports. “We were building a road to Moscow through Saransk and Kuibyshev. There were a lot of people building it, everyone came from different directions. The work was hard,” recalls grandmother Nafisya.
One day, a summons from the district military registration and enlistment office was brought to Nina’s house. She was called upon to repay her debt to her homeland at the front, and not in the rear. “I came to the district military registration and enlistment office. I couldn’t believe my eyes that I had to go to war. I was literate, I had seven years of education. I wanted to become a teacher, but then they ordered me to fight,” grandmother Nina plunged into memories.
The fearsome words of the military commissar were engraved in her memory for the rest of her life: “You can go to the front, and one of you will not return from there!” And only years later she fully understood their meaning... After all, she is one of the few who returned alive to their native land.
Together with Nina, two more girls from their native Penzyatka then went to the front. Looking ahead to his story, Nafisya-apa says that all three girlfriends returned alive. The first military training took place in Samara. She exchanged her chintz dress for a men's tunic, and her bast sandals for huge boots. The front echelon went to hell - to Kamyshin.
Upon arrival in Kamyshin, the girls were distributed to various military units. Nina ended up in the air surveillance service. They were trained daily to shoot, communicate, and identify all types of aircraft - both friendly and enemy. First they studied the silhouettes of airplanes in albums, then in the air; during the day - with binoculars, at night - by the noise of engines. The girls were not supposed to let a single enemy plane through, the information of which was to be immediately transmitted to the main air defense department.
“They dressed us like boys and gave us huge men’s boots - “Hurricanes,” they were called in honor of the English fighter. They were very heavy, but there was nowhere to go. And they cut off my braids, they were so long and beautiful. It was a great pity for my hair. I was proud of them!” the interlocutor sighs.
After Kamyshin, air defense troops were transported along the Volga River to the very center of the war - to Stalingrad. The warrior girl had never seen a more terrible sight. Burnt houses, heaps of ash and the overwhelming smell of decay... There Nina Sevkaeva was transferred to an artillery battalion, and she was assigned to observers. In the terrible year of 1943, Nafisa received bitter news from her native Penzyatka - her mother died. The pain of loss and grief does not leave us to this day; Nina’s mother never found out that her daughter returned from the war alive, and her son went missing on the battlefields. Nafisya-apa still does not know about the fate of his older brother.
“There was a 37-mm anti-aircraft gun on the fifth floor of a house in Kaunas. We fired at the planes with direct fire,” says the front-line soldier.
One day, while standing at an observation and identification post, Nina heard the noise of a motor. An airplane was flying somewhere nearby. Only Nina was able to identify the plane as a Soviet one. Anti-aircraft crews had already opened fire on the LAGG-3 bomber, but she managed to report to the platoon commander of the artillery regiment, Krikun, and he gave up. For her perseverance and exemplary service, Corporal Nafisya Sevkaeva was awarded the medal “Excellence in Air Defense.”
Nafisya heard the long-awaited news of victory from Major Krikun. At this time, she was standing on duty, watching the sky, when a cry was heard from below: “Doll, get down! The war is over! Victory!”
Having devoted three years to serving the Motherland, Nina returned to her native village. She lived with her sister for some time, and then decided to find her father, who left them in childhood. She heard from her mother that her father got married and was among the migrants who were sent to Karaganda. Having saved up some money, she left for distant Kazakhstan.
“I found my father in Karaganda. I started working and kept thinking that I would return to Mordovia. I didn’t like it here. But my father once met some Tatars at the market and said that I was getting married,” Nafisya-apa recalls her distant youth. “The guy was also a front-line soldier, he was captured and returned home wounded. They married him.”
In 1948, Nina married Shakir Agishev. In 1949 he began working at a state bank as a cashier. Nafisya Agisheva worked in the banking sector for 30 years and retired from there. Nafisya-apa is reluctant to talk about her awards from the front.
“In the post-war period, it was a shame to say that we fought. We weren’t considered girls then and might not get married. When men came out on the train platforms, they were greeted as heroes, but for us... it was bad. Those were harsh times. That’s why I gave them all my awards and I gave it away. I was ashamed,” she notes bitterly. “I didn’t tell anyone about the fact that I fought for a long time. Only on Victory Day did they congratulate me, and then only those who knew about it.”
Having told about her military journey, Great Patriotic War veteran Nafisya Agisheva wished all Kazakhstanis not to know what war is and long life and health.
In the chronicles of the Great Patriotic War there are many women's names awarded for services to the Motherland. Snipers, scouts, pilots, nurses, observers and many others. They leave, they leave quietly, unnoticed... they leave forever. Therefore, we, who were born after the war, must say words of gratitude to them, pay attention, and express our admiration for their courage and exploits.