Germans during the Second World War: people as they were, as people as they are. The most striking examples of ingenuity among Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War
Military history knows many cases of cruelty, deceit and betrayal.
Some cases are striking in their scale, others in their belief in absolute impunity, one thing is obvious: for some reason, some people who find themselves in harsh military conditions for some reason decide that the law is not written to them, and they have the right to control the destinies of others, making people suffer .
Below are some of the most horrifying realities that occurred during wartime.
1. Nazi Baby Factories
The photo below shows the baptism ceremony of a small child who was “bred out” by Aryan selection.
During the ceremony, one of the SS men holds a dagger over the baby, and the new mother gives it to the Nazis oath of allegiance.
It is important to note that this baby was one of tens of thousands of babies who participated in the project "Lebensborn". However, not all children were given life in this children's factory; some were kidnapped and only raised there.
Factory of true Aryans
The Nazis believed that there were few Aryans with blond hair and blue eyes in the world, which is why it was decided, by the way, by the same people who were responsible for the Holocaust, to launch the Lebensborn project, which dealt with breeding purebred Aryans, who in the future were supposed to join the Nazi ranks.
It was planned to house the children in beautiful houses that were appropriated after the mass extermination of Jews.
And it all started with the fact that after the occupation of Europe, mixing with the indigenous inhabitants was actively encouraged among the SS men. The main thing that the number of the Nordic race grew.
Pregnant unmarried girls, as part of the Lebensborn program, were placed in houses with all amenities, where they gave birth and raised their children. Thanks to such care, during the war years it was possible to raise from 16,000 to 20,000 Nazis.
But, as it later turned out, this amount was not enough, so other measures were taken. The Nazis began to forcibly take away from their mothers children who had the desired hair and eye color.
It is worth adding that many of the embezzled children were orphans. Of course, light skin color and the absence of parents are not an excuse for the activities of the Nazis, but, nevertheless, at that difficult time, children had something to eat and a roof over their heads.
Some parents gave up their children so as not to end up in the gas chamber. Those who best suited the given parameters were selected literally immediately, without unnecessary persuasion.
At the same time, no genetic examinations were carried out; children were selected based only on visual information. Those selected were included in the program, or they were sent to some German family. Those who did not fit ended their lives in concentration camps.
Poles say that because of this program, the country has lost about 200,000 children. But it is unlikely that we will ever be able to find out the exact figure, because many children have successfully settled into German families.
Cruelty during war
2. Hungarian Angels of Death
Do not think that only the Nazis committed atrocities during the war. Ordinary Hungarian women shared the pedestal of perverted military nightmares with them.
It turns out that you don’t have to serve in the army to commit crimes. These lovely guardians of the home front, having combined their efforts, sent almost three hundred people to the next world.
It all started during the First World War. It was then that many women living in the village of Nagiryov, whose husbands had gone to the front, began to become increasingly interested in the prisoners of war of the allied armies located nearby.
Women liked this kind of affair, and prisoners of war, apparently, too. But when their husbands began to return from the war, something abnormal began to happen. One by one the soldiers died. Because of this, the village received the name "murder district".
The killings began in 1911, when a midwife named Fuzekas appeared in the village. She taught women who were temporarily left without husbands get rid of the consequences of contacts with lovers.
After the soldiers began returning from the war, the midwife suggested that the wives boil sticky paper intended to kill flies to obtain arsenic, and then add it to food.
Arsenic
Thus, they were able to commit a huge number of murders, and the women remained unpunished due to the fact that the village official was the midwife's brother, and wrote “not killed” on all death certificates of the victims.
The method gained so much popularity that almost any, even the most insignificant problem, began to be solved with the help of soup with arsenic. When the neighboring settlements finally realized what was happening, fifty criminals managed to kill three hundred people, including unwanted husbands, lovers, parents, children, relatives and neighbors.
Hunting for people
3. Human body parts as trophies
It is important to say that during the war, many countries conducted propaganda among their soldiers, within the framework of which it was implanted in their brains that the enemy was not a person.
American soldiers also distinguished themselves in this regard, whose psyches were very actively influenced. Among them the so-called "hunting licenses."
One of them sounded like this: The Japanese hunting season is open! There are no restrictions! Hunters get rewarded! Free ammo and equipment! Join the ranks of the American Marine Corps!
Therefore, it is not surprising that American soldiers during the Battle of Guadalcanal, killing the Japanese, They cut off their ears and kept them as souvenirs.
Moreover, necklaces were made from the teeth of those killed, their skulls were sent home as souvenirs, and their ears were often worn around the neck or on a belt.
There are various legends about the ingenuity of Russian soldiers. It manifested itself especially clearly during the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War.
"For fear"
During the retreat of the Soviet troops in 1941, one of the KV-1 tanks (Klim Voroshilov) stalled. The crew did not dare to abandon the car - they remained in place. Soon German tanks approached and began shooting at Voroshilov. They shot all the ammunition, but only scratched the armor. Then the Nazis, with the help of two T-IIIs, decided to tow the Soviet tank to their unit. Suddenly the KV-1 engine started up, and our tankers, without thinking twice, set off towards their own, dragging two enemy tanks in tow. The German tank crews managed to jump out, but both vehicles were successfully delivered to the front line. During the defense of Odessa, twenty tanks converted from ordinary tractors lined with armor were thrown against the Romanian units. The Romanians knew nothing about this and thought that these were some of the latest impenetrable tank models. As a result, panic began among the Romanian soldiers and they began to retreat. Subsequently, such “transformer” tractors were nicknamed “NI-1,” which meant “to be frightened.”
Bees against the Nazis
Non-standard moves often helped defeat the enemy. At the very beginning of the war, during the battles near Smolensk, one Soviet platoon found itself not far from a village where there were honey apiaries. A few hours later, German infantry entered the village. Since there were much more Germans than Red Army soldiers, they retreated towards the forest. There seemed to be no hope of escape. But then one of our soldiers came up with a brilliant idea: he began to turn over the hives with bees. The angry insects were forced to fly out and began to circle over the meadow. As soon as the Nazis approached, the swarm attacked them. From numerous bites, the Germans screamed and rolled on the ground, while the Soviet soldiers retreated to a safe place.
Heroes with an ax
There were amazing cases when one Soviet soldier managed to survive against an entire German unit. So, on July 13, 1941, private machine gun company Dmitry Ovcharenko was riding on a cart with ammunition. Suddenly he saw that a German detachment was moving straight towards him: fifty machine gunners, two officers and a truck with a motorcycle. The Soviet soldier was ordered to surrender and taken to one of the officers for questioning. But Ovcharenko suddenly grabbed an ax lying nearby and cut off the fascist’s head. While the Germans were recovering from the shock, Dmitry grabbed grenades that belonged to the killed German and began throwing them into the truck. After that, instead of running, he took advantage of the confusion and began swinging his ax right and left. Those around him fled in horror. And Ovcharenko also set off after the second officer and also managed to cut off his head. Left alone on the “battlefield,” he collected all the weapons and papers available there, did not forget to grab the officer’s tablets with secret documents and maps of the area, and delivered it all to headquarters. The command believed his amazing story only after seeing the scene of the incident with their own eyes. For his feat, Dmitry Ovcharenko was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. There was another interesting episode. In August 1941, the unit where Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda served was stationed near Daugavpils. Somehow Sereda remained on duty in the field kitchen. Suddenly he heard characteristic sounds and saw an approaching German tank. The soldier had only an unloaded rifle and an ax with him. We could only rely on our own ingenuity and luck. The Red Army soldier hid behind a tree and began to watch the tank. Of course, the Germans soon noticed a field kitchen deployed in the clearing and stopped the tank. As soon as they got out of the car, the cook jumped out from behind a tree and rushed towards the Nazis, waving weapons - a rifle and an ax - with a menacing look. This attack scared the Nazis so much that they immediately jumped back. Apparently, they decided that there was another whole company of Soviet soldiers nearby. Meanwhile, Ivan climbed onto the enemy tank and began hitting the roof with an ax. The Germans tried to fire back with a machine gun, but Sereda simply hit the muzzle of the machine gun with the same ax, and it bent. In addition, he began shouting loudly, allegedly calling for reinforcements. This led to the enemies surrendering, getting out of the tank and, at rifle point, obediently heading towards the direction where Sereda’s comrades were at that time. So the Nazis were captured.
One generation on the shoulders?
Is it too much?
Trials and controversies
Is it too much?
Evgeny Dolmatovsky
War photo and film chronicles, in their best frames, have brought to us through the decades the true appearance of a soldier - the main worker of the war. Not a poster-boy with a blush all over his cheek, but a simple fighter, in a shabby overcoat, a crushed cap, in hastily wound windings, won that terrible war at the cost of his own life. After all, what we are often shown on TV can only remotely be called war. “Soldiers and officers in light and clean sheepskin coats, in beautiful earflaps, and felt boots are moving across the screen! Their faces are as clear as morning snow. Where are the burnt out overcoats with the greasy left shoulder? It can’t not be greasy!.. Where are the exhausted, sleep-deprived, dirty faces?” - asks veteran of the 217th Infantry Division Belyaev Valerian Ivanovich.
How did a soldier live at the front, in what conditions did he fight, was he afraid or did not know fear, was he cold or had shoes on, was dressed, was heated, did he subsist on dry rations or was fed to his fill with hot porridge from the field kitchen, what did he do during short breaks between battles...
The simple life at the front, which was nevertheless the most important factor in the war, became the subject of my research. After all, according to the same Valerian Ivanovich Belyaev, “memories of being at the front are associated for me not only with battles, forays to the front line, but also with trenches, rats, lice, and the death of comrades.”
Working on the theme is a tribute to the memory of those killed and missing in action in that war. These people dreamed of a quick victory and a meeting with loved ones, hoping that they would return safe and sound. The war took them away, leaving us letters and photographs. In the photo there are girls and women, young officers and experienced soldiers. Beautiful faces, smart and kind eyes. They don’t yet know what will happen to them all very soon...
When starting work, we talked with many veterans, re-read their front-line letters and diaries, and rely only on eyewitness accounts.
So, the morale of the troops and their combat effectiveness largely depended on the organization of the soldiers’ everyday life. Supplying troops, providing them with everything they needed at the time of retreat, breaking out of encirclement, differed sharply from the period when Soviet troops switched to active offensive operations.
The first weeks and months of the war, for well-known reasons (suddenness of the attack, sluggishness, shortsightedness, and sometimes outright mediocrity of military leaders) turned out to be the most difficult for our soldiers. All the main warehouses with supplies of material resources on the eve of the war were located 30-80 km from the state border. This placement was a tragic miscalculation of our command. In connection with the retreat, many warehouses and bases were blown up by our troops due to the impossibility of evacuating them, or destroyed by enemy aircraft. For a long time, the supply of hot food to the troops was not established; the newly formed units did not have camp kitchens or cooking pots. Many units and formations did not receive bread and crackers for several days. There were no bakeries.
From the first days of the war there was a huge flow of wounded, and there was no one and nothing to provide assistance: “The property of sanitary institutions was destroyed by fires and enemy bombings, the sanitary institutions being formed were left without property. The troops have a great shortage of dressings, narcotic drugs and serums.” (from a report from the headquarters of the Western Front to the Sanitary Administration of the Red Army dated June 30, 1941).
Near Unecha in 1941, the 137th Rifle Division, which at that time was part of first the 3rd and then the 13th armies, emerged from encirclement. Mostly they went out in an organized manner, in full uniform, with weapons, and tried not to give up. “...In the villages they shaved if they could. There was one emergency: a soldier stole a piece of lard from the locals... He was sentenced to death, and only after the women cried was he pardoned. It was difficult to feed ourselves on the road, so we ate all the horses that came with us...” (from the memoirs of a military paramedic of the 137th Infantry Division Bogatykh I.I.)
Those retreating and leaving the encirclement had one hope for the local residents: “They came to the village... there were no Germans, they even found the chairman of the collective farm... they ordered cabbage soup with meat for 100 people. The women cooked it, poured it into barrels... For the only time in the whole circle they ate well. And so they are hungry all the time, wet from the rain. We slept on the ground, chopped spruce branches and dozed... We weakened everything to the extreme. Many of their feet were so swollen that they couldn’t fit into their boots...” (from the memoirs of A.P. Stepantsev, head of the chemical service of the 771st Infantry Regiment of the 137th Infantry Division).
The autumn of 1941 was especially difficult for the soldiers: “It snowed, it was very cold at night, and many of their shoes broke. All I have left of my boots are the tops and the toes facing out. I wrapped the shoes in rags until I found old bast shoes in one village. We all grew like bears, even the young ones began to look like old people... need forced us to go and ask for a piece of bread. It was a shame and pain that we, the Russian people, are the masters of our country, but we walk through it furtively, through forests and ravines, sleeping on the ground, and even in trees. There were days when we completely forgot the taste of bread. I had to eat raw potatoes, beets if they were found in the field, or even just viburnum, but it’s bitter, you can’t eat much of it. In villages, requests for food were increasingly refused. I also happened to hear this: “How tired of you we are…” (from the memoirs of R.G. Khmelnov, a military paramedic of the 409th Infantry Regiment of the 137th Infantry Division). The soldiers suffered not only physically, but also mentally. It was difficult to bear the reproaches of the inhabitants remaining in the occupied territory.
The plight of the soldiers is evidenced by the fact that in many units they had to eat horses, which, however, were no longer good for lack of food: “The horses were so exhausted that before the campaign they had to be given caffeine injections. I had a mare - if you poke her, she falls, and she can’t get up on her own, you pick her up by the tail... Once a horse was killed by a burst from an airplane, half an hour later the soldiers took it away, so that there were no hooves left, only the tail... Food was tight, I had to carry food on myself for many kilometers... Even bread from bakeries was carried for 20-30 kilometers...”, A.P. Stepantsev recalls his everyday life at the front.
Gradually, the country and the army recovered from the sudden attack of the Nazis, and the supply of food and uniforms to the front was established. All this was handled by special units - the Food and Forage Supply Service. But the rear guards did not always act promptly. Commander of the communications battalion of the 137th Infantry Division F.M. Lukyanyuk. recalls: “We were all surrounded, and after the battle, many of my fighters put on warm German uniforms under their overcoats and changed their shoes into German boots. I lined up my soldiers, and I see that half of them are like Krauts...”
Guseletov P.I., commissar of the 3rd battery of the 137th Infantry Division: “I arrived in the division in April... I selected fifteen people from the companies... All my recruits were tired, dirty, ragged and hungry. The first step was to get them in order. I got hold of homemade soap, found threads, needles, and scissors that collective farmers used to shear sheep, and they began to shear, shave, patch holes and sew on buttons, wash clothes, and wash themselves...”
Getting a new uniform for soldiers at the front is a whole event. After all, many ended up in the unit in their civilian clothes or in an overcoat from someone else’s shoulder. In the “Order on conscription for the mobilization of citizens born in 1925 and older until 1893, living in the territory liberated from occupation” for 1943, paragraph No. 3 states: “When reporting to the assembly point, have with you: ... a mug, a spoon, socks, two pairs of underwear, as well as preserved Red Army uniforms.”
War veteran Valerian Ivanovich Belyaev recalls: “...We were given new overcoats. These were not overcoats, but simply luxury, as it seemed to us. The soldier's overcoat is the hairiest... The overcoat was very important in front-line life. It served as a bed, a blanket, and a pillow... In cold weather, you lie down on your overcoat, pull your legs up to your chin, and cover yourself with the left half and tuck it in on all sides. At first it’s cold - you lie there and shiver, and then your breath becomes warm. Or almost warm.
You get up after sleep - your overcoat is frozen to the ground. With a shovel you cut away a layer of earth and lift up the intact overcoat along with the earth. Then the earth will fall off on its own.
The whole overcoat was my pride. In addition, an overcoat without holes provided better protection from cold and rain... On the front line, it was generally forbidden to take off the overcoat. All that was allowed was to loosen the waist belt... And the song about the overcoat was:
My overcoat is for traveling, it is always with me
It's always like new, the edges are cut,
The army is harsh, my dear.”
At the front, the soldiers, who longingly remembered their home and comfort, managed to settle more or less tolerably on the front line. Most often, the fighters were located in trenches, trenches, and less often in dugouts. But without a shovel you can’t build a trench or a trench. There were often not enough entrenching tools for everyone: “We were given shovels on one of the first days of our stay in the company. But here's the problem! The company, numbering 96 people, got only 14 shovels. When they were given out, there was even a small dump... The lucky ones began to dig in..." (from the memoirs of V.I. Belyaev).
And then a whole ode to the shovel: “A shovel in war is life! I dug myself a trench and lie still. Bullets whistle, shells explode, their fragments fly by with a short squeal, you don’t care at all. You are protected by a thick layer of earth...” But a trench is a treacherous thing. During rains, water accumulated at the bottom of the trench, reaching the soldiers to their waists, or even higher. During shelling, I had to sit in such a trench for hours. To get out of it means to die. And they sat, there was no other way, if you want to live, be patient. There will be a calm - you will wash, dry, rest, sleep.
It must be said that during the war, very strict hygiene rules were in effect in the country. In military units located in the rear, inspections for lice were systematically carried out. To avoid pronouncing this dissonant term, the wording “inspection according to Form 20” was used. To do this, the company, without tunics, lined up in two ranks. The sergeant-major commanded: “Prepare for inspection according to Form 20!” Those standing in the ranks took off their undershirts up to the sleeves and turned them inside out. The sergeant-major walked along the line and the soldiers who had lice on their shirt were sent to the sanitary inspection room. War veteran Valerian Ivanovich Belyaev recalls how he himself passed through one of these sanitary inspection rooms: “It was a bathhouse with a so-called “fryer,” that is, a chamber for frying (warming up) wearables. While we were washing in the bathhouse, all our things were heated in this “fryer” at a very high temperature. When we received our things back, they were so hot that we had to wait for them to cool down... There were “fryers” in all garrisons and military units. And at the front they also arranged such roasting sessions.” The soldiers called lice “the second enemy after the Nazis.” Frontline doctors had to fight them mercilessly. “It happened at the crossing - there was just a halt, even in the cold everyone took off their tunics and, well, crushed them with grenades, there was only a crash. I will never forget the picture of how the captured Germans scratched themselves furiously... We never had typhus; lice were destroyed by sanitary treatment. Once, out of zeal, they even burned their tunics along with the lice, only the medals remained,” recalled V.D. Piorunsky, a military doctor of the 409th Infantry Regiment of the 137th Infantry Division. And further from his own memoirs: “We were faced with the task of preventing lice, but how to do this at the forefront? And we came up with one way. They found a fire hose twenty meters long, punched ten holes in it every meter, and capped the end. They boiled water in gasoline barrels and continuously poured it into a hose through a funnel, it flowed through the holes, and soldiers stood under the hose, washed themselves and groaned with pleasure. Underwear was changed, and outer clothing was fried. Then a hundred grams, a sandwich in the teeth, and into the trenches. In this way, we quickly washed the entire regiment, so that even from other units they came to us for experience ... "
Rest, and above all sleep, was worth its weight in gold in war. There was always a lack of sleep at the front. On the front line, everyone was forbidden to sleep at night. During the day, half of the personnel could sleep, and the other half monitor the situation.
According to the memoirs of V.I. Belyaev, a veteran of the 217th Infantry Division, “during the campaign, sleep was even worse. They were not allowed to sleep more than three hours a day. The soldiers literally fell asleep on the move. One could observe such a picture. There is a column coming. Suddenly one fighter breaks ranks and moves next to the column for some time, gradually moving away from it. So he reached the roadside ditch, tripped and was already lying motionless. They run up to him and see that he is fast asleep. It’s very difficult to push someone like that and put him in a column!.. It was considered the greatest happiness to cling to some kind of cart. The lucky ones who succeeded got a good night's sleep while on the go.” Many slept for the future because they knew that another such opportunity might not arise.
The soldier at the front needed not only cartridges, rifles, and shells. One of the main issues of military life is the supply of food to the army. A hungry man will not fight much. We have already mentioned how difficult it was for the troops in the first months of the war. Subsequently, the supply of food to the front was streamlined, because failure to supply could result in the loss of not only shoulder straps, but also life.
Soldiers were regularly given dry rations, especially on the march: “For five days, each was given: three and a half smoked herrings of fairly large size... 7 rye crackers and 25 lumps of sugar... It was American sugar. A pile of salt was poured on the ground and it was announced that everyone could take it. I poured salt into a can, tied it in a cloth and put it in my duffel bag. No one took salt except me... It was clear that we would have to go from hand to mouth.” (from the memoirs of V.I. Belyaev)
The year was 1943, the country actively helped the front, giving it equipment, food, and people, but still the food was very modest.
Veteran of the Great Patriotic War, artilleryman Ivan Prokofyevich Osnach, recalls that the dry rations included sausage, lard, sugar, candy, and stewed meat. The products were American made. They, the artillerymen, were supposed to be fed 3 times, but this norm was not observed.
The dry ration also included shag. Almost all men in the war were heavy smokers. Many who did not smoke before the war did not part with rolled-up cigarettes at the front: “Tobacco was bad. They gave out shag as a smoke: 50 grams for two... It was a small pack in a brown package. They were issued irregularly, and smokers suffered greatly... I, a non-smoking guy, had no need for shag, and this determined my special position in the company. The smokers jealously protected me from bullets and shrapnel. Everyone understood perfectly well that with my departure to the next world or to the hospital, the additional ration of shag would disappear from the company... When they brought shag, a small dump appeared around me. Everyone tried to convince me that I should give my share of shag to him...” (from the memoirs of V.I. Belyaev). This determined the special role of shag in the war. Ingenuous soldiers' songs were written about her:
When you receive a letter from your beloved,
Remember distant lands
And you’ll smoke, and with a smoke ring
Your sadness flies away!
Eh, shag, shag,
You and I have become friends!
The patrols look vigilantly into the distance,
We are ready for battle! We are ready for battle!
Now about hot meals for soldiers. There were camp kitchens in every unit, in every military unit. The most difficult thing is to deliver food to the front line. Products were transported in special thermos containers.
According to the procedures that existed at that time, the delivery of food was carried out by the company sergeant major and the clerk. And they had to do this even during the battle. Sometimes one of the fighters was sent for lunch.
Very often, the delivery of food was carried out by female drivers in semi-trucks. War veteran Feodosia Fedoseevna Lositskaya spent the entire war behind the wheel of a lorry. There was everything in the work: breakdowns that she, out of ignorance, could not fix, and spending the night in the forest or steppe under the open sky, and shelling by enemy aircraft. And how many times did she cry bitterly from resentment when, having loaded the car with food and thermoses with tea, coffee and soup, she arrived at the airfield to the pilots with empty containers: German planes flew in on the road and riddled all the thermoses with bullets.
Her husband, military pilot Mikhail Alekseevich Lositsky, recalled that even in their flight canteen the food was not always good: “Forty-degree frost! Now I would like a mug of hot tea! But in our dining room you won’t see anything except millet porridge and dark stew.” And here are his memories of his stay in a front-line hospital: “The stuffy, heavy air is thickly saturated with the smell of iodine, rotten meat and tobacco smoke. A thin soup and a crust of bread - that's all for dinner. Occasionally they give you pasta or a couple of spoons of mashed potatoes and a cup of barely sweet tea..."
Belyaev Valerian Ivanovich recalls: “With the onset of darkness, lunch appeared. On the front line, there are two meals: immediately after it gets dark and before dawn. During daylight hours we had to make do with five lumps of sugar, which were given out daily.
Hot food was delivered to us in a green thermos the size of a bucket. This thermos was oval in shape and carried on the back on straps, like a duffel bag. Bread was delivered in loaves. We had two people go for food: the foreman and the clerk...
...To eat, everyone crawls out of the trench and sits in a circle. One day we were having lunch this way when suddenly a flare flashed in the sky. We all hug the ground. The rocket goes out and everyone starts eating again. Suddenly one of the fighters shouts: “Brothers! Bullet!" - and takes out of his mouth a German bullet that was stuck in the bread..."
During transitions, on the march, the enemy often destroyed camp kitchens. The fact is that the kitchen boiler rose above the ground much higher than human height, since there was a firebox under the boiler. A black chimney rose even higher, from which smoke billowed. It was an excellent target for the enemy. But, despite the difficulties and danger, the front-line cooks tried not to leave the soldiers without hot food.
Another concern at the front is water. Soldiers replenished their supplies of drinking water by passing through populated areas. In this case, it was necessary to be careful: very often, when the Germans retreated, they rendered the wells unusable and poisoned the water in them. Therefore, the wells had to be guarded: “I was very impressed by the strict procedure for providing our troops with water. As soon as we entered the village, a special military unit immediately appeared and posted sentries at all water sources. Typically these sources were wells whose water had been tested. The guards didn't let us get close to the other wells.
...The posts at all wells were around the clock. Troops came and went, but the sentry was always at his post. This very strict procedure guaranteed complete safety for our troops in the provision of water...”
Even under German fire, the sentry did not leave his post at the well.
“The Germans opened artillery fire on the well... We ran away from the well to a fairly large distance. I look around and see that the sentry remained at the well. Just lay down. That’s the kind of discipline the protection of water sources had!” (from the memoirs of V.I. Belyaev)
When solving everyday problems, the people at the front showed maximum ingenuity, resourcefulness and skill. “We received only the bare minimum from the rear of the country,” recalls A.P. Stepantsev. - We have adapted to do a lot ourselves. They made sleighs, sewed harnesses for horses, made horseshoes - all the beds and harrows were forged in the villages. They even cast the spoons themselves... The head of the regimental bakery was Captain Nikitin, a Gorky resident - under what conditions did he have to bake bread! In the destroyed villages there was not a single intact oven - and after six hours they baked, a ton a day. They even adapted their own mill. Almost everything for everyday life had to be done with one’s own hands, and without an organized way of life, how could the combat effectiveness of the troops be?
Even on the march, the soldiers managed to get themselves boiling water: “...Village. There were chimneys sticking out all around, but if you get off the road and approach such a chimney, you can see burning logs. We quickly got the hang of using them. We put a pot of water on these logs - one minute and the tea is ready. Of course, it was not tea, but hot water. It is not clear why we called it tea. At that time we didn’t even think that our water was boiling to the misfortune of people...” (Belyaev V.I.)
Among the fighters, who were accustomed to making do with little even in pre-war life, there were simply true jacks of all trades. One of these craftsmen is recalled by P.I. Guseletov, political officer of the 238th separate anti-tank fighter division of the 137th rifle division: “We had Uncle Vasya Ovchinnikov on the battery. He was originally from the Gorky region, spoke “o”... In May, a cook was wounded. They call Uncle Vasya: “Can you temporarily?” - "Can. Sometimes, while mowing, we cooked everything ourselves.” To repair the ammunition, rawhide leather was required - where to get it? Again to him. - "Can. It used to be that we tanned the leather at home and tanned everything ourselves.” The horse has become unfettered in the battalion farm - where can I find a master? - “I can do this too. At home, it used to be that everyone did the forging themselves.” For the kitchen we needed buckets, basins, stoves - where to get them, you can’t get them from the rear - “Can you do it, Uncle Vasya?” - “I can, I used to make iron stoves and pipes at home myself.” In winter you needed skis, but where can you get them at the front? - "Can. At home around this time we went bear hunting, so we always made our own skis.” The company commander's pocket watch stopped - again to Uncle Vasya. - “I can do the watch, I just need to take a good look.”
What can I say, when he even got the hang of casting spoons! A master at any task, everything came out so well for him, as if it was done by itself. And in the spring he baked such pancakes from rotten potatoes on a piece of rusty iron that the company commander did not disdain...”
Many veterans of the Great Patriotic War remember with kind words the famous “People’s Commissar” 100 grams. In signed by the People's Commissar of Defense I.V. Stalin's Decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR “On the introduction of vodka into supply in the active Red Army” dated August 22, 1941 stated: “To establish, starting from September 1, 1941, the distribution of 40º vodka in the amount of 100 grams per person per day to the Red Army soldiers and the commanding staff of the first line of the active army." This was the first and only experience of legalized distribution of alcohol in the Russian army in the 20th century.
From the memoirs of military pilot M.A. Lositsky: “There will be no combat missions today. Free evening. We are allowed to drink the prescribed 100 grams...” And here’s another: “I wish I could capture the faces of the wounded officers when they were poured 100 grams and brought to them along with a quarter of bread and a piece of lard.”
M.P. Serebrov, commander of the 137th Infantry Division, recalls: “Having stopped pursuing the enemy, units of the division began to put themselves in order. The camp kitchens arrived and began distributing lunch and the required hundred grams of vodka from captured reserves...” Tereshchenko N.I., platoon commander of the 4th battery of the 17th artillery regiment of the 137th Infantry Division: “After successful shooting, everyone gathered to have breakfast. We were located, of course, in the trenches. Our cook, Masha, brought…home-style potatoes. After the front-line hundred grams and congratulations from the regiment commander, everyone cheered up..."
The war lasted difficult four years. Many fighters walked the front roads from the first to the last day. Not every soldier had the fortunate opportunity to get leave and see family and friends. Many families remained in the occupied territory. For most, the only thread that connected him to home was letters. Front-line letters are a truthful, sincere source for studying the Great Patriotic War, little influenced by ideology. Written in a trench, a dugout, in the forest under a tree, soldiers' letters reflect the whole gamut of feelings experienced by a person defending his homeland with arms in hand: anger at the enemy, pain and suffering for his native land and his loved ones. And in all the letters there is faith in a quick victory over the Nazis. In these letters, a person appears naked as he really is, for he cannot lie and be a hypocrite in moments of danger, either in front of himself or in front of people.
But even in war, under bullets, next to blood and death, people tried to simply live. Even on the front lines, they were worried about everyday issues and problems common to everyone. They shared their experiences with family and friends. In almost all letters, soldiers describe their front-line life, military life: “Our weather is not very cold, but there is decent frost and especially wind. But we are dressed well now, a fur coat, felt boots, so we are not afraid of frosts, the only bad thing is that they are not sent closer to the front line...” (from a letter from Guard Captain Leonid Alekseevich Karasev to his wife Anna Vasilyevna Kiseleva in the city of Unecha dated December 4, 1944 G.). The letters sound concern and concern for loved ones who are also having a hard time. From a letter from Karasev L.A. to his wife in Unecha dated June 3, 1944: “Tell the one who wants to evict my mother that if I just come, he won’t be happy... I’ll turn his head to the side...” And here is from his letter dated December 9, 1944: “Nyurochka, I really feel sorry for you that you have to freeze. Press your bosses, let them provide you with firewood...”
From a letter from Mikhail Krivopusk, a graduate of school No. 1 in Unecha, to sister Nadezhda: “I received from you, Nadya, a letter where you write how you hid from the Germans. You write to me which of the policemen mocked you and on whose instructions the cow, bicycle and other things were taken from you, if I remain alive, I will pay them off for everything...” (dated April 20, 1943). Mikhail did not have the chance to punish the offenders of his relatives: on February 20, 1944, he died liberating Poland.
Almost every letter sounds longing for home, for family and loved ones. After all, young and handsome men went to the front, many in the status of newlyweds. Karasev Leonid Ivanovich and his wife Anna Vasilievna, who were mentioned above, got married on June 18, 1941, and four days later the war began, and the young husband went to the front. He was demobilized only at the end of 1946. The honeymoon had to be postponed for almost 6 years. In his letters to his wife there is love, tenderness, passion and inexpressible melancholy, the desire to be close to his beloved: “Beloved! I returned from headquarters, tired, and walked all night. But when I saw your letter on the table, all the fatigue went away and the anger too, and when I opened the envelope and found your card, I kissed it, but it’s paper, not you alive... Now your card is pinned to me at the head of my bed, Now I have the opportunity, no, no, and to look at you...” (dated December 18, 1944). And in another letter there’s just a cry from the heart: “Darling, I’m sitting in the dugout right now, smoking makhorka - I remembered something, and such melancholy, or rather anger, is taking over everything... Why am I so unlucky, because people get the opportunity to see their relatives and loved ones, but I’m still unlucky... Darling, believe me, I’m tired of all this writing and paper... you understand, I want to see you, I want to be with you for at least an hour, and to hell with everything else, you know, to hell, I want you - that’s all... I’m tired of this whole life of waiting and uncertainty... I now have one outcome... I’ll come to you without permission, and then I’ll go to the penal company, otherwise I won’t wait to meet you!.. If only there was vodka, Now I would get drunk..." (dated August 30, 1944).
Soldiers write in their letters about home, remember pre-war life, dream of a peaceful future, of returning from the war. From a letter from Mikhail Krivopusk to his sister Nadezhda: “If you look at those green meadows, at the trees near the shore...the girls are swimming in the sea, you think that you would throw yourself overboard and swim. But never mind, we’ll finish off the German, and then…” In many letters there is a sincere manifestation of patriotic feelings. This is how our fellow countryman Evgeniy Romanovich Dyshel writes about the death of his brother in a letter to his father: “... You should be proud of Valentin, because he died in battle honestly, went into battle fearlessly... In past battles, I avenged him... Let's meet, we'll talk in more detail...” ( dated September 27, 1944). Major tankman Dyshel never had a chance to meet his father - on January 20, 1945, he died liberating Poland.
From a letter from Leonid Alekseevich Karasev to his wife Anna Vasilyevna: “The great joy is that we are conducting an offensive along almost the entire front and quite successfully, many large cities have been taken. In general, the successes of the Red Army are unprecedented. So Hitler will soon be kaput, as the Germans themselves say” (letter dated June 6, 1944).
Thus, the soldier’s triangles with a field mail number instead of a return address and a black official stamp “Viewed by military censorship” that have miraculously survived to this day are the most sincere and reliable voices of the war. Living, authentic words that came to us from the distant “forties, fateful”, today sound with particular force. Each of the letters from the front, even the most insignificant at first glance, even if deeply personal, is a historical document of the greatest value. Each envelope contains pain and joy, hope, melancholy and suffering. You experience an acute sense of bitterness when you read these letters, knowing that the one who wrote them did not return from the war... The letters are a kind of chronicle of the Great Patriotic War...
The front-line writer Konstantin Simonov wrote the following words: “War is not a continuous danger, the expectation of death and thoughts about it. If this were so, then not a single person would be able to withstand its weight... War is a combination of mortal danger, the constant possibility of being killed, chance and all the features and details of everyday life that are always present in our lives... A person at the front is busy with an endless number of things , about which he constantly needs to think and because of which he does not have time to think about his safety at all...” It was everyday everyday activities, to which he had to be distracted all the time, that helped the soldiers overcome fear and gave the soldiers psychological stability.
65 years have passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War, but the end to its study has not yet been set: there remain blank spots, unknown pages, unclear destinies, strange circumstances. And the topic of front-line life is the least explored in this series.
Bibliography
- V. Kiselev. Fellow soldiers. Documentary storytelling. Publishing house "Nizhpolygraph", Nizhny Novgorod, 2005.
- IN AND. Belyaev. Fire, water and copper pipes. (Memoirs of an old soldier). Moscow, 2007
- P. Lipatov. Uniforms of the Red Army and Navy. Encyclopedia of technology. Publishing house "Technology for Youth". Moscow, 1995
- Fund materials of the Unecha Museum of Local Lore (front-line letters, diaries, memories of veterans).
- Memoirs of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, recorded during personal conversations.
) and I’m posting interesting photos for you from 1941-45
Today I found a disk with photos from satellite fishing. I saw this folder about how the Germans had fun during the war, after the battles. The funny shots will surprise you, I think. Of course, there are photographs that many will think: well, he showed this here on the forum... But I think history is not a shame or falsehood, history should be impartial, the same as captured by the photographer of that time!
By the way, what is satellite fishing? It's free to rob from a satellite. I did this for a while, I got carried away. Someone is downloading this via satellite Internet, and I wedge myself into the stream and download it for myself too! I set catch jepeg, avi, dvd from zero to infinity (file size catch). It was great, but tiring... During the night I “stole” 15-20 gigs in total. It took an hour and a half to sort and look. You quickly get fed up with pleasure... Someday I will tell you here what satellite fishing is and what you need to do at home in order to download for free from any satellites.
I reduced the photos for you and posted them here in this thread. Photos of fascists having fun after battles, laughing, making fun of their friends - it’s so interesting to see all this 60 years later! Of course, Germans are people too, and all people tend to joke and have fun in their free moments from fighting. After all, to survive and enjoy every day when you are alive is immeasurable happiness...
Take me for a ride, buddy! A fascist sits on a baby stroller, barely able to fit his seat
The German is trying something, apparently the cook. And his friends grin when they see his sour expression
Interesting photo shoot of naked Wehrmacht soldiers! Helmets, machine guns in hand and grins, like we can’t do that yet...
Like a Hercules with a cigarette in his mouth at war!
Apollo, your mother, covered the most secret things with a “fig leaf” (burdock). A knife-bayonet on the side, always ready for battle...
The hunt was a success... Apparently, north. Perhaps where is Murmansk or where is the Kola Peninsula.
And we don’t care about military service! Long and short. The photographer clearly makes it known that it is an honor to serve in the German army. And after more than 60 years, this is funny to us. Imagine for a moment, the trench dug by the tall soldier on the right is too big for the short one? How to get out of it in battle and run into the attack with everyone???? Imagine for a moment his attempts to get out of a deep hole?
And now it’s the other way around! Fat and skinny! At first I thought that Hitler was standing on the right as a child) But I saw the insignia, this is clearly a soldier wearing a mustache ala Fuhrer Hitler! Imitates, so to speak. A covert parody of the opposites in the German army. Do you think this photo shows us the essence?
Russian bear and the German conquerors. Please note - the sign shows that Leningrad is 70 km away
It's time... A fascist shitting with a cigarette in his mouth) The photographer caught a good moment from the wrong side of the war...
Cultural performance for the Germans after the battle...
Soon this little pig will go into the pan and feed all the German pilots...
Faithful friends
Touching the squirrel
We must drink to the successful invasion... The soldier is clearly posing with a bottle in his hand, sitting astride a bust of Stalin.
Eh, horse racing))) On Russian carts in the steppes of Ukraine or in the Kuban region
If you look closely at this military beauty, you can imagine its teeth, and the gaps filled with human meat. Yes, that’s how it was: any military beauty is human death.
(Total 45 photos)
1. Defensive line "Siegfried" on the western border of Germany. A very powerful and beautiful line. The Americans stormed the line for more than six months. We dealt with the lines much faster - it’s a well-known fact: we weren’t behind the price.
2. A German soldier with children in an occupied Soviet village. The two smallest boys are tarring cigarettes. The German, as a distinctly kind person, was embarrassed by his kindness
3. Irma Hedwig Silke, employee of the Abwehr cipher department. Beautiful perky girl. A man of any nationality would be happy. And it looks like!!! ...If I had kissed you, I would have closed my eyes.
4. German mountain rangers in the Narvik area in Norway. 1940 Brave soldiers, they really saw death. Without combat experience, we “never dreamed of” their knowledge, no matter how much we read. However, they have not changed. Maybe not for long, the new experience did not have time to settle into the changes recorded in the wrinkles, but here they are, they have survived and are looking at us from there, from their own. The easiest way to dismiss it is “fascists.” But they are fascists - secondly, or even fourthly (like the commander of "Count von Spee", who bought the lives of his people at the cost of his life) - firstly, they are people who just survived and won. And others lay down forever. And we can only borrow from this experience. And it’s good that we only borrow and not receive. Because... - it’s clear.
5. The crew of the twin-engine Messer - 110E Zerstörer after returning from a combat mission. We are happy, not because we are alive, but because we are very young.
6. Eric Hartmann himself. Eric drifted on the first flight, lost the leader, was attacked by a Soviet fighter, barely got away and finally landed the car in a field, on its belly - it ran out of fuel. He was attentive and careful, this pilot. and learned quickly. That's all. Why didn't we have these? Because we were flying on crap, and we weren’t allowed to study, only to die.
7. ...How easy it is to distinguish the best fighter even among military professionals. Find here Dietrich Hrabak, the Hauptmann who shot down 109 planes on the Eastern Front and another 16 on the Western Front, as if he had enough to remember for the rest of his life. In this photo, taken in 1941, on the tail of his car (Me 109) there are only 24 coffins - signs of victory.
8. The radio operator of the German submarine U-124 writes something in the telegram log. U-124 is a German Type IXB submarine. Such a small, very strong and deadly vessel. During 11 campaigns, she sank 46 transports with a total tonnage. 219,178 tons, and 2 warships with a total displacement of 5775 tons. The people in it were very lucky and those with whom she met were unlucky: death at sea is a cruel death. But the future for the submariners would not have been any more pleasant - their fate would have just been a little different. It’s strange that we, looking at this photo, can still say anything about them. One can only remain silent about those who survived there, behind the “100” mark, hiding from depth charges. They lived, and, oddly enough, they were saved. Others died, and their victims - well, that was the war.
9. Arrival of the German submarine U-604 at the base of the 9th submarine flotilla in Brest. The pennants on the deckhouse show the number of ships sunk - there were three. In the foreground on the right is the commander of the 9th flotilla, captain-lieutenant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, a well-fed, cheerful man who knows his job well. Very accurate and very difficult. And - deadly.
10. Germans in a Soviet village. It's warm, but the soldiers in the cars are not relaxing. After all, they can be killed, and almost all of them were killed. Tea is not the Western Front.
12. German and dead horses. A soldier's smile is a habit of death. But how could it be otherwise when such a terrible war was going on?
15. German soldiers in the Balkans play snowballs. Beginning of 1944. In the background is a Soviet T-34-76 tank covered with snow. -Which of them needs it now? And does anyone remember now, while kicking the ball, that each of them killed?
16. Soldiers of the “Greater Germany” division sincerely support their football team. 1943-1944. Just people. This is the leaven from peaceful life
18. German units, which include captured Soviet T-34-76 tanks, are preparing for an attack during the Battle of Kursk. I posted this photo because it shows better than many that only madmen are on the thrones, and the badges on the armor indicated the polar poles. A stencil phrase, but here, stencil Soviet tanks, under other icons drawn on a stencil, are ready to go to war with their brothers with other icons from other stencils. Everything is done for a sweet soul. It is not managed by people in iron boxes, but by others, and hardly by people at all.
19. Soldiers of the SS regiment “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” rest during a rest near the road towards Pabianice (Poland). The Scharführer on the right is armed with an MP-28 assault rifle, although it makes no difference what the soldier is armed with. The main thing is that he is a soldier and agreed to kill.
20. German paratrooper with a Flammenwerfer 41 backpack flamethrower with horizontal tanks. Summer 1944. Cruel people, terrible things they do. Is there a difference with a machine gunner or a marksman? Don't know. Perhaps the matter would have been decided by the tendency to finish off burning and rushing enemies from service weapons? So as not to suffer. After all, you must admit, it is not the duty of the flamethrower to use a tarpaulin to knock down the flames and save them. But finishing the shot is more merciful. Seems.
21. Look, what a thick-footed guy. ...A good man, a hard worker, - my wife couldn’t be happier. A tank driver means a mechanic, the family’s hope. If he survived, and most likely he did, the photo was taken in the Balkans, then after the war the modern giant of Germany rose.
22. Gunner-motorcyclist of the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf". 1941 Totenkopf - Death's Head. The SS soldiers actually fought better than regular units. And officers of any level were not told “Mr.” Just a position: “Scharführer...”, or “Gruppenführer...” The German Social Democratic Party emphasized that it was a party of equals.
23. And they fell equally on the ice. (soldiers of the police battalion)
24. Homemade and tireless pommel of an officer’s dirk, made during a military campaign. They had time under water. They fired and - time. ...Or there are screws on top and - right away there is nothing.
25. My favorite, one of the humane generals of World War II, one of the best generals then who preserved humanity in the war, is Erwin Rommel. Whatever one may say, namely that he is a seasoned human being.
26. And also Rommel. With a knight's cross, somewhere in France. The tank stalled, and the general was right there. Rommel was famous for his unexpected trips through the troops, where even the staff rats lost him, but Erwin Rommel did not get lost and again and again overthrew the enemy defenses, being next to his soldiers.
27. Adored by them. ...Subsequently, Field Marshal General Erwin Rommel was forced to die, since he participated in the assassination attempt on Hitler and the poison he took was the price of the Gestapo abandoning his family.
28. ...At work. It was their job, just like our soldiers - the same. The teeth that were knocked out or, under a fixation, were also showing. War is hard work with an increased mortality rate for those involved.
29. Brave. Before the start of the Western Campaign, SS Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Security Police and SD, completed flight training and participated in air combat in France as a fighter pilot in his Messerschmitt Bf109. And after the fall of France, Heydrich made reconnaissance flights over England and Scotland on a Messerschmitt Bf110. During his service in the Air Force, Heydrich shot down three enemy aircraft (already on the Eastern Front), received the rank of major in the Luftwaffe reserve and earned the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st classes, the Pilot Observer Badge and the Fighter Badge in silver.
30. German cavalrymen in training before World War II. Showing off, 99 percent showing off, however, characterizes “their Kuban people.” This must be something common among horsemen of any tribe, to be proud and to prance. We... They... Is there a difference? Isn't the difference limited to just one direction of the gun's muzzle?
31. English soldiers captured in Dunkirk, in the city square. Later, these soldiers received assistance through the International Red Cross. The USSR abandoned the Geneva Convention, declaring its prisoners of war traitors. After the war, Soviet soldiers who survived German concentration camps ended up in our camps. Where they didn't get out. "Okay, rush about..."
