Military love stories. Love stories in war The story of the most beautiful love in war
Love and humanity - best qualities! It would seem that talking about them when there are many military conflicts around is not relevant. However, it is in war that humanity is tested. It is the war that pulls out the worst and the best qualities from people. But today we will not talk about bad things. Today we will tell you about unusual military stories of love and humanity, almost fabulous
STORY # 1
Stavropol residents Varvara and Ivan Repin both went through the war: she was a nurse, he was a signalman.
Military love stories. In the army of General Vlasov
Ivan Repin was born in the village of Blagodarny. Since childhood, he dreamed of becoming a pilot. When I finished ten grades I went to enroll in Kharkov, but despite good exam marks, they didn’t take him. Only after many years did he find out why. His brother was convicted as an "enemy of the people" and sent to the camp. The wives of Molotov and Kalinin were also in the same camp.
After the exams, Ivan returned to his native Stavropol region and began to work as a primary school teacher.
- I remember that only young girls worked as teachers at school, - says Ivan Efremovich. - Hooligans could not cope in any way. So they gave me a prefabricated class of hooligans to guide me. Everyone straightened out. True, I have been at school for only a year.
1939 took part in the Finnish War. After her, in 1940, I nevertheless entered, but already at the Stalingrad Military School of Communications. As soon as the war began, all studies were over. I was called to the front.
Ivan Repin fought in the famous 2nd Shock Army under the command of General Vlasov. In the winter of 1942, she was tasked with breaking the blockade of Leningrad, but the army was surrounded by German forces.
Those were hard times. They ate all the horses, and then dug up their bones and ate. Then many soldiers died of hunger. True, our people helped: they dropped ammunition and crackers on planes. Sacks of breadcrumbs, while falling, tore on the branches, and their contents crumbled. One of the platoon commanders was seen picking and eating crackers. They immediately decided to shoot him. Although, as a military man, he was a hero and had already shown his best side many times. Before being shot, he was asked about his last wish. He asked for a cigarette. He was given a piece of newspaper and tobacco. When he began to roll up a cigarette, he saw a note that he had been awarded for courage. He burst into tears and, like a hero, he was pardoned ...
By that time I had already realized that we would not be able to get out of the encirclement, and asked my commander that I and 25 other people go to the breakthrough. He gave the go-ahead and handed the banner of our battalion, which one of the soldiers wrapped around his belt. Only later did I understand why it was necessary. After all, if the banner is preserved, then the battalion will seem to be alive, even if only one person remains from the battalion. We waited until darkness and set off. They walked in swamps, which were fired upon by the Germans. When they opened fire, we were almost completely submerged. Lost one. I still think that he just got cold feet and fell behind. At first, the sounds of shooting were in front, then around us, and when we were left behind, we realized that we had managed to break through. Apart from us, several other people from the entire army got out of the encirclement.
Having reached their own, Ivan and his comrades reported on the situation, and on the basis of their 709th separate line communications battalion formed a new unit. A commander was appointed, equipment and equipment were given. Varvara Makarovna was also sent to serve in the same unit.
Military love stories."We have always said: if we stay alive, we will be the happiest"
In 1942, I voluntarily went to the front, - recalled Varvara Makarovna. - All my relatives ended up in the occupation zone. And I was left all alone. So I decided to go to fight. There were five women in our military unit: doctors, a paramedic and I, a nurse. I had a difficult job: I always went into battle with the first platoon, that is, in front.
I remember once I had to run through a small forest to the wounded man, and then the Germans began to bomb. I saw a large hollow in the tree, climbed there, curled up into a ball and prayed. So she was saved. In winter we only went skiing - the snow was above the belt. The wounded were taken from the battlefield on special boats - drags.
Each soldier had a special bag on his belt that contained a sterile bandage and tourniquet. I have seen so much blood, bandaging each wounded ... The heavy ones were taken to the nearest hospital, and there only two hundred people were waiting to bandage the queue.
In the part, the girls and I brewed pine needles every morning, tk. there were no vitamins, so at least drink it. They put whole boilers in front of
everyone drank breakfast. My Ivan still winces, remembering the taste of this "tea". In general, I always treated him in a special way, we protected each other. Living in such conditions, when every day someone is killed, it is simply necessary to have a close friend. It helps a lot. At first we just met. He came to my medical unit for all sorts of little things - either his finger hurts, then he will think of some stupid thing. The girls and I even hung a sign on the door: "Do not enter idle" so that he would not bother us just like that. And then they got married in the registry office of Volkhov Leningrad region... We had certificate number 1.
When Ivan was wounded in the arm, he was taken to a hospital, and our unit was sent to the Karelian front. When I found out about this, I immediately went to fetch my husband. They did not want to discharge him, but I still persuaded the doctors. She said that I was leaving him myself. We arrived at the location of the unit, and there was no one there. We rushed to the station, and the train had already started, so we jumped on the way. Together we met Victory. Then they gave birth to two girls. So since then we have not parted. The war has married us. In the most terrible moments, we, huddled together, dreamed of surviving and said that then we would be the happiest in the world.
I wrote down the history Lilia IVASHINA
STORY # 2
This amazing love story was told by retired Major General Alexey Rapota.
Military love stories. Penpal love
In September 1941, Alexei Rapota was among the best cadets, he was early released from the aviation school and in the rank of senior sergeant was sent to the regiment of night bombers. From the end of December 1941, Rapota took part in combat missions. He ended the war with the rank of captain.
- On May 1, 1942, a festive meeting was held in our regiment. First, we were read a welcome telegram from the Military Council of the First Air Army, and at the very end we were informed that there are still congratulations from the students of the Moscow Pedagogical School.
As my wife later told me, it was the headmistress who advised them to write congratulations to the front-line soldiers. Moreover, instead of an address, they simply wrote - "To the Western Front." We thought that at least someone would get it ... However, the political department multiplied their letter and sent it to different parts.
As the secretary of the Komsomol organization, the commissar instructed me to read his answer to me. He wrote it dry and I thought, what kind of letter is this? As if some kind of newspaper propaganda - “Let's fly! We beat the enemy and we will achieve Victory! "
Then, without saying anything to anyone, I made a small note - “Girls, all of us guys are young, single, but some of our parents have remained in the occupied territory, so they simply have no one to write to. And they will be very happy if you write them the simplest kind words. " Then he listed the names of 12 of our pilots.
By the way, there were three signatures in the letter from the girls: the trade union organizer was Kiseleva, the Komsomol organizer was Makarova, and the head of the group was Tatyana Shlykova. The latter interested me, I just remembered that Count Sheremetyev had such an actress. And I decided to send a small personal note to her name: "Tanya, and you, if you can, answer me."
Soon letters began to arrive at our unit. The guys were surprised. Even the commander received one letter, for which I received a scolding from him. But the very first letter came to me from Tanya. True, she wrote it officially, addressed to "you". This is how our correspondence began in May 1942.
I must say that my friend Sashka Ilyanovich periodically ferried aircraft to replace the engine in the aircraft repair shops at the Kupavna station near Moscow. And we gave him a "spy" assignment - be sure to stop by the school and properly examine all the girls. When he returned, everyone surrounded him: “Well, how is mine? And my?" I waited until everyone was finished and asked about Tanya.
And he says to me: "You know, if you were not my friend, I would have taken it away from you!"
Then, of course, I got even more wound up, I wanted to meet with my own eyes. And soon the opportunity presented itself. In October, Sasha was again sent to overtake the plane, and he said: "Come on, let's go together!" And how to approach the commander with such a request, because the situation is difficult, every day we make 3-4 sorties? I hesitated for a long time, but Sashka convinced me: “Well, what are you worried about? It's only for 2-3 days. The motor will be replaced and immediately back. "
We went together to the regiment commander, and I said, my brother is passing through Moscow, and I really want to see him. And the commissar, the infection, knew everything. Leaves the next room and says: "And your brother, by chance, is not in a skirt ?!" Out of shame I almost fell through the ground ... But the regiment commander just laughed and let go.
I went to Moscow with certain apprehensions. I knew that Tanya's father was very strict. In general, we flew to Moscow, and Sashka immediately took me to Zagorodnaya Street, where Tanyusha lived. It turns out that on his first visit he managed to get to know her parents as well. My father saw Ilyanovich, was delighted: “Oh, Sasha!”, But there was zero attention to me. I was upset, well, I think I’m not to the court, but I should be dearer than Sasha. I've been writing letters to Tanya for six months almost every day. I imagined how we would meet with her, hug ... And here I was sitting not myself and, to be honest, I was about to leave. But then, finally, she came. Tanya then worked as a physical education instructor, and that day she and the pre-conscripts passed the obstacle course. She ran home all dirty, hungry, frozen. Mom took her to a neighbor, and there she dressed up in the best dress - after all, the groom came to the bride. Well, the groom was at least somewhere - already an officer, in a beautiful flight uniform, and even with military orders. This is how we saw each other for the first time ...
For the next two days we walked around Moscow all the time. As a result, before leaving for the front, we decided to get married. Tanya told me that everyone asked her: “Are you really going to marry him? We saw each other only a couple of times. " And she answered like this: “I’ll go! They are decent guys! You can safely marry anyone! " Then I returned to the regiment, and just before the New Year, the commander suddenly gives me leave for a whole week - to get married.
Tanya and I went to sign on January 1, 1943. We come to the registry office, there is a woman of about thirty-five. And I don't even have a passport, only a temporary certificate. She turns it over in her hands, does not know where to put the stamp, it is quite small. Of course, the situation was funny, but still there was a place to slap the seal ...
As a result, we got married, and after us three more guys from our squadron got married according to this correspondence. In the spring of 1943, the position of a clerk was vacated at our headquarters, and I asked the commander to take Tanya. She went with our regiment to Smolensk, and in November she went home to give birth to our first son ...
After the war, Alexei Nikiforovich remained to serve in the army. In 1955 he graduated from the Air Force Academy, and in 1963 from the General Staff Academy. From 1968 to 1970 he was a senior adviser at the headquarters of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Republic of Cuba. After returning home, he was a senior lecturer at the Academy of the General Staff. For 15 years he headed the Department of Air Defense at the Academy of Armored Forces. In 1987 he went to the reserve with the rank of major general.
STORY # 3
This story was told by the pre-war mountaineering instructor Aleksey Maleinov.
In 1942, the soldiers of the army commander Tyulenev took up defensive positions on the passes of the Caucasian ridge. New Year they had to meet in the mountains. On the German side, they were opposed by a special mountain rifle corps "Edelweiss" under the command of General Lanz. For most of the German rangers of this corps, the Caucasus mountains were very familiar. Back in the 30s, many of them visited here as climbers, climbed the mountains in one bundle with Soviet athletes.
At the end of 1942, the German command conceived to conquer Elbrus, a strategically advantageous mountain point, from where control over the Baksan Gorge was exercised.
On the slopes of Elbrus, the Germans were interested in the comfortable tourist hotel "Shelter of the Eleven" and the nearby meteorological station (4250 meters above sea level).
A well-equipped detachment of German rangers under the command of Captain Groth took part in the capture operation. At that time at the meteorological station were the head of the "Shelter of Eleven" Alexander Kovalev, meteorologist, radio operator Kucherenko, as well as a group of four Red Army men.
As soon as ours began to prepare for the New Year, suddenly there was a clatter of butts and the clang of bolts. Nobody expected the Germans ... Captain Grotto was the first to enter the door. The first reaction of our fighters is to shoot. But suddenly Aleksandr Kovalev raised his hand and cried out, "Set aside!" and turning to the captain said: "Kurt, do you recognize me?". It turns out that in the German officer he recognized his partner in the ascent, which took place in the late 30s. I recognized Kovalev and Grotto. This saved the lives of our fighters: five against fifteen rangers - the forces were too unequal.
Unusual situation, suggested next steps... Away from the commanders, on New Year's Eve, the opponents turned into friends. Schnapps, German Christmas rations, bacon and alcohol were recovered from the stocks. New Year's Eve flew by in memories of past ascents.
In the morning, both groups quietly parted. The Russians left the "Shelter of Eleven", the Germans occupied it, and then carried out the order, hoisted their flags on two peaks of Elbrus. Literally a month later, these flags were removed from Elbrus by Soviet climbers led by Alexander Gusev ...
PS
In fairness, I must say that the history of the Shelter of Eleven was not quite like that, well, people who have gone through the war have the right to create legends ...
STORY # 4
My military history Love was told by a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a resident of Volokolamsk, Antonina Andreevna Smirnova. The front years became fateful for her
Military love stories. Following the front line
- By the beginning of the war I was 16 years old, and I graduated from the first year of the pedagogical school in Torzhok. I lived in the village of Berezki, Novotorzhsky District, Kalinin Region. Army hospital for lightly wounded No. 2950 came to our village, and I went there to work.
The first year I worked as a ward nurse, and then in a pharmacy. I went to the sanitary warehouse for dressings. Our hospital was located near the front line. As soon as we hear that there are battles, it means that the wounded will soon be brought. Mostly infantrymen with injured arms and legs. Let us treat them for two weeks - and again they go into battle. To me, a girl, at that time 45-year-old soldiers seemed like old people, it was a pity to send them to the front.
Where our army went, the hospital moved there. We were not located in cities, but mainly in forests and fields. We stood near Rzhev for a long time, and I met Victory in the Baltic States.
Military love stories. Loved in the Mongolian steppes
- After the war with Germany, our 10th Guards Army, and with it our hospital, was transferred to the war with Japan. Preparing for big battles, many echelons were driven east.
There was a long stop in Irkutsk, and I managed to take a picture for memory with my front-line friend, Sergeant Anna Kozlova. I save this photograph. Here I am 20 years old. On my chest is the badge "Excellence in Sanitary Service". I was in the rank of corporal, but I did not wear one badge on my shoulder straps. Somehow it was not accepted by us.
We arrived in Mongolia, and there was a meeting that changed my whole life. In the hospital, senior lieutenant Mikhail Konstantinovich Efimov was completing his leg after being wounded. He was a front-line intelligence officer and Komsomol organizer of the regiment. Although I did not treat him, we met and became friends. By birth, he is a native Muscovite.
We threw parties, he turned on the phonograph and taught me to dance. We went to the movies. He gave me bouquets of flowers, picking them from the flower bed. I talked a lot about myself, I listened with interest.
Mikhail kept his personal diary, where he wrote down everything that happened to him. Here is his entry, where for the first time it is said about me: "I met a girl the size of a 12-year-old child - small, plump." Yes, I was really small. An overcoat was sewn especially for me. In the hairdresser's, they made me curls. That was how I was - a soldier in a skirt.
Military love stories. Married to Far East
- The war with Japan ended quickly, our army did not have time to fight there. In October 1945 I was demobilized and I went home. Michael stayed on to serve.
In 1947, Mikhail sent me a call, I went to see him in Blagoveshchensk, where we got married. I left my maiden surname in marriage. When I got pregnant, Mikhail sent me to Moscow to his mother, and there I gave birth to my daughter Natalia. The husband, as a military man, was transferred from one military unit to another. I gave birth to my second child, son Vyacheslav, in Khabarovsk.
We lived in Chukotka for two years. The husband was there the head of the airport and the secretary of the regiment's party organization. I worked in the regiment as an accountant. It was the most best time! Life was good. Chukchi are kind people, simple and naive, like children of nature.
In 1956, my husband was demobilized, and we arrived in Volokolamsk. Mikhail worked as a chief engineer at a school for the blind, and I got a job as an accountant at the Mosoblselstroy-18 trust. Soon two more medals were added to my military awards - "Veteran of Labor" and "For Labor Valor."
I wrote down the history Vladislav SOLOVIEV
STORY # 5
This amazing story was told to the Guard by a retired senior lieutenant Klavdia Mikhailovna Manyuto, the only woman in the history of the Great Patriotic War who captured a German pilot along with an airplane.
Hyundai hoh
- When the Great Patriotic War began, I was 19 years old. I worked in the city of Ivanovo, in the city hospital as a medical assistant. She was an active Komsomol member. When the war began, I wrote a statement to the district committee of the Komsomol - to send me to the front. My statement was published in the regional newspaper Leninets and was soon sent to the front. This is how I ended up near Moscow, on the Kalinin front. The heaviest battles near Moscow took place in November - December 1941. Taking part in the battle for Moscow, she took out 11 wounded from the battlefield, and when she crawled for the next one, she came under shelling and received two shrapnel wounds. One in the right shin with bone fracture, the other in soft tissue. She was undergoing treatment at the evacuation hospital of the Timiryazev Academy, and after being cured she ended up on the 3rd Belorussian Front, served in the 105th Guards Aviation Regiment as a paramedic of the squadron.
We flew to the Belarusian partisans of the Batki Minai detachment. They took there ammunition, medicines, from there - wounded partisans and children. She took part in rescuing Polotsk children from an orphanage, where Germans took blood from children for their wounded soldiers. The operation to rescue them was called "Zvezdochka".
On one of these days, I was on duty at a forest airfield in a tent. The planes flew off to the partisans, and I remained on duty in the tent, waiting for the plane with the wounded. We flew mostly at night. And then suddenly in the afternoon I hear the hum of an airplane. The sound seems to be our plane, I call the starter to give a rocket - I authorize landing.
The plane landed. He drives to my tent, and suddenly I see fascist signs on the fuselage of the plane. I think: what to do? I'm alone here, and the tech guys are 300-400 meters away from me. I figured: if there is only one pilot, I will take him prisoner. And if there is also a flight engineer or navigator, then they will kill me. The plane is taxiing at low revs, and I, without thinking twice, jump on the wing and point the pistol to the cockpit and shout: "Hyundai hoh!" The pilot was confused, raised his hands. And then the guys are running and shouting: “Klava, hold on! I command the pilot: "Shnel, shnel", I show - get out. Then the regiment commander Yevgeny Klusson, the chief of staff, and others arrived and took the pilot to the headquarters.
The pilot turned out to be a scout, he flew around the front line, photographed our positions and recorded the German ones. He fought in France and now on the Eastern Front, he had awards. In general, he was an "ace". And then it was an accident that let him down. Before the flight, I had enough "schnapps", but it turned out that our airfields were in parallel coordinates. So he got off the route, got into our "order", where we "grabbed" him. Casual, but great. Then they sent him to Moscow along with an airplane and intelligence. They proved to be valuable and important. And then I was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
When this pilot was sent to Moscow, he asked the regiment commander to show him the girl who took him prisoner. The commander agreed. A messenger came from the headquarters for me. I came and reported, the commander explained to me that the pilot wants to see me. I looked at him - he is so handsome, young. It turns out that he was the only son of his mother. And I felt very sorry for him. I turned to the commander with a request to run to the field kitchen and bring him lunch. Evgeny Tomasovich allowed. I brought lunch to the pilot ... He ate, and I stood in front of him - a thin girl (my weight was 48 kg then), my regiment's name was Birch. Then I had a long braid and blonde hair.
It is a pity that I did not remember the name of this pilot. Surely he survived. I would like to find him ...
Battle awards of Klavdia Mikhailovna. Two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War, medals "For Military Merit", "For Courage".
Larionov A.E.
Love and war ... It would seem that what can be more opposite of these two concepts, as if denying each other. However, in reality, looking closely at the facts and episodes of the Great Patriotic War, analyzing memoirs and archival documents, one can see that love, like a song, was constantly present in Everyday life soldiers and officers of the Red Army during all four years of the struggle against Nazi Germany and its allies. What is the key to this paradox?
It has long been noted many times that war sharpens human feelings, feelings, emotions to an extraordinary degree. In addition, extreme and disastrous, or rather, the pathological nature of war for society and the individual gave rise to a reciprocal and diametrically opposite desire among the combatants - at least for some time to isolate themselves from the terrible realities of war and death, to recreate, albeit for a short moment, a corner of peaceful life , oppose life to death in one's own consciousness and everyday life, and by one's own behavior to affirm the predetermination of the victory of the first over the second. The last leitmotif can generally be regarded as a constant throughout the daily life of the Red Army during the war years.
Love between a man and a woman is precisely the brightest manifestation of life, as well as the desire for procreation, inextricably linked with it. That is why, despite the horrors of war and the threat of death, which found daily confirmation in the mass death of people, or rather, in spite of all this, love in the active army was a natural and integral part of the frontline everyday life throughout the Great Patriotic War, from its first to its last day. ...
However, love is a very capacious word that includes many semantic shades. Considering that during the years of the war about 34 million people passed through the active army, including about 800 thousand women, and adding to this contacts with the civilian population, it is easy to come to a self-evident conclusion about the extraordinary diversity of love in the real conditions of front-line everyday life ... At the same time, one should not forget about the variety of situations in which love arose and manifested itself.
Love as a memory and expectation, as a dream or longing, as the last letter before a mortal battle, from which they did not expect to come out alive, as a testament to a friend to visit the bride after the war, as a fleeting but unusually strong outburst of passion at a brief acquaintance, as a military field romance , which had different continuation after the war ... You can continue the listing indefinitely and not exhaust the whole variety of feelings.
Without even trying to do this, you can try to determine the degree of importance of love in the mentality of the military society of the USSR in 1941-1945. The question is not an insoluble riddle. It is enough to turn to such publicly available material as poems and songs of the war years. If, in relation to the Wehrmacht, the stereotype captured in the newsreel is a brave Aryan on a tank with a harmonica, then in relation to the Red Army this is a fighter with an accordion or accordion at a halt, surrounded by attentive and singing comrades. The popularity of such songs as "In the forest at the front", "In the dugout", "Dark night", "Ogonyok" ("The girl saw off the soldier to the position"), "Katyusha", "Candles of stubs are burning", etc. was huge on the part of the soldiers and officers of the Red Army. The same can be said, for example, about the poems of Konstantin Simonov "Wait for me" (later also set to music). They listened to them with pleasure, rewrote them, memorized them, sometimes supplemented them. It is noteworthy that in all the works mentioned and many others like them, one way or another, the image of a beloved girl or woman is present, or even dominates. The war appears to be nothing more than an external background, maximum - an annoying obstacle that must be eliminated in order to unite with the beloved. Even the probability of death in this context was presented in a different perspective - as the fulfillment of one's duty to a loved one to the end. In this case, we can state how the concept of love approached its Christian interpretation: “No one can have more sowing love, if anyone will lay down his soul for his friends” (John 15:13). Love acquired the meaning of selfless sacrifice, passing into the plane of absolute ideals of a metaphysical nature and archetypal scale.
Of course, in everyday life at the front, this was rarely said, excessive pretentiousness was generally alien to the front-line generation, which was brilliantly shown by E.S. Senyavskaya in her works dedicated to the wars of Russia in the twentieth century. Reality could be both simpler and cruder. However, ideals must not be forgotten either.
Memoirs and archival documents reflect everyday reality. It is to them that we will turn below. However, first, let us make a few remarks. general... While at the front, the soldiers recalled their home, wives and children waiting for their brides to return:
Where the trees are crumbling, where the trees are,
For many years, beauties have been walking without children.
Why do they need early dawns, since the guys are at war,
In Germany, in Germany, on the far side.
For others, an accidental meeting with a stranger on the roads of war, which could end with a short but hot kiss, or a fleeting romance followed by the inevitable separation, often forever, was cut into the memory of the brightest flash. At the same time, the attraction could be so strong that it pushed people to outwardly reckless acts. Artilleryman Pyotr Demidov gives a typical example from his frontline biography: “Suddenly the battalion was relocated to the village of Khotyn ... It was a pity to part with my beloved Anyuta. Nobody knew how long we would stay in Khotyn, but I suddenly wanted to see my mistress: I quickly said goodbye to her, saying only a few warm words. Began to think about how and what to go to Baratin? The car was ruled out. Bicycle! .. Soon I was knocking on Anyuta's window ... The night flew by like an hour ... The parting was touching: both understood that we would hardly see each other ever again ... ". Just imagine: an officer in the field, the commander of a rocket launcher battalion ("Katyusha"), preparing for redeployment in connection with the assigned combat mission, one night travels several kilometers away, having warned only the orderly and the deputy for combat training! In the event that he was late for the general meeting, he would have been threatened with a tribunal, but this did not frighten him. Without a doubt, there were a huge number of such examples, although not all of them ended as well as this one.
Moscow militia Vladimir Shimkevich, who survived both mortal danger in battles in the Moscow direction, and the horrors of captivity, as one of best moments, with extraordinary warmth and tenderness recalls fleeting love on the way to the front in one of the villages near Moscow. The girl promised to wait for him and asked to come back alive….
In addition to such fleeting chance encounters, romances with female military personnel were quite common. Here, however, such a situation was observed as the deliberate inequality of various categories of servicemen - both due to their official status (and, accordingly, the ability to care for women), and due to the many times less number of women in the Red Army compared to men called up to serve. Although there were exceptions due to the circumstances. The former commander of the penal battalion Mikhail Suknev recalls a typical episode in his memoirs: “As luck would have it, a battalion from a reserve for distribution stood nearby in the forest ... A COMMUNICATOR! Yes what: one is more beautiful than the other! Odessans immediately to me, they avoided Commissar Kalachev. They ask to allow them to invite the communication girls to visit, only for one evening ...
- Comrade battalion commander, we will bring you the most beautiful one! - suggested one ...
- One main condition: silence and no unnecessary libations, comrades! At midnight, so that none of the signalmen were in the battalion's position. I'm not supposed to be at your masquerade ball!
One hundred thanks to me. The night passed half merrily, but by morning everything was peaceful and quiet. Even our "Smersh" missed this ball, but Commissar Kalachev, my friend, kept silent. " In this case, we are again faced with a direct violation of the charter, this time with the collective and actual connivance of the battalion commander, who could not help but understand what he faces in the event of exposure. However, even here we can look at the situation from the other side: life turned out to be stronger than war and army regulations.
However, it is much more often that senior and senior officers in the rank of major and above could afford relations with women that overstep the boundaries of service. Even for frontline battalion commanders, romance was more often a pipe dream than a real opportunity. Such novels could be both fleeting and long-term. In the latter case, a rather derogatory expression "field-field wife" or abbreviated "PW" could be used in soldier's everyday life, especially if the officer who "twisted love" with a nurse or a signalman from the headquarters of a regiment or division already had an official family in the rear. Also in the soldier's rude humor, if the staff girl was awarded the medal "For Military Merit", then she was called "For Sexual Merit."
It can be argued that in mass consciousness soldiers and officers of the active army, there was an unwritten, but quite clear gradation love relationship... If such arose between unmarried / unmarried men and women, then they were usually perceived sympathetically, with a touch of good humor, sometimes with a slight envy. In the same case, when the officer was already married, or a selfish calculation was seen in the girl's actions, then the shade of moral condemnation in the assessments was somehow present, although it was not necessarily expressed out loud.
However, there were frequent cases in the general mass when a girl experienced pressure from her superiors, sometimes threatening to turn into moral, and even physical violence. This caused a sharply negative reaction from the majority of those around him. The girl who defended her honor, on the contrary, aroused respect, some soldiers and officers, as best they could, tried to protect her from the encroachments and harassment of annoying suitors.
Here is the story of a participant in the war, a woman sniper Zinaida Nekrutova-Kotko about one of the episodes of her non-combat life at the front: “We are in a dugout, 2 lieutenant colonels are sitting, the table is laid in a royal manner ... We sat down, ate, did not drink, stood up, said thanks and headed for the exit. I am the first. Tamara's hand. They blocked our way: "This will not work, we have to pay." What a shame! I say that we have nothing to pay with except for your honor, and the bad thing is that you are losing your officer's honor, and now I will shout so hard that all the sentries will run away. They opened the door for us and almost kicked us out. And the next day, to our delight, we were expelled to the regiment. And most importantly, my sniper rifle was returned to the regiment. It was a holiday for me! " ...
Love, even in a peaceful life, is often associated with separation and loss. What then can we say about war, where death is more natural than life. And the stronger the feelings of love, spiritual and bodily unity between loved ones were, the more acutely and bitterly the parting and death of a loved one were experienced. We find evidence of such a sad, but sublime and light love in the diary entries of the military translator of the Leningrad Front I.M.Dunaevskaya. Having met and married her husband V. Gratsiansky even before the war, she lived a year filled with happiness, and soon after the start of the war, a young candidate of biological sciences Vladimir Gratsiansky, a militia of the Leningrad militia, was killed in positions near Leningrad on September 16, 1941.
August 3, 1942 Today, as always, as every day - thoughts about Volodya, longing for him. I just can’t and I can’t be reconciled. People are so rarely bright, but Volodya was just bright, bright, not externally, but internally: the reflection of his soul in mine does not fade.
August 20, 1942 I constantly remember the last night with Volodya in the OPAB (Separate machine-gun and artillery battalion) in the open air. We hide behind his greatcoat. He whispers: “Quietly, my Mouse! Hush, my Lasochka! " It's raining, my feet are tucked into the big Volodin's duffel bag that I have sewn. Nettles all around. Everything is wet. And yet we are happy! We are together!
November 1, 1942 It is sickening to live without affection of the heart, but there is not the slightest desire to waste. The memory of Volodya is the most precious thing even now.
November 21, 1942 Thoughts about Volodya. Thinking about Volodya, with an effort of will and love, I seem to bring him back to life, to life in me, although he is not with me, my only, beloved. He is not and will not be ... And again the tears, which then I did not have ... How to believe?
December 5, 1942 I am very lonely and sad. Volodya! Dear, dear, beloved, my joy, my sun, my life ...
December 19, 1942 Volodya, dear, dear, how to believe that we are not apart, that you are not! " ...
These are just a few excerpts from an extensive diary. Comments here, as they say, are superfluous, I just want to say that thousands and millions of those who lost loved ones in the war could subscribe to these lines. But there is one more thing: this fidelity to the memory of the deceased husband, paradoxically, proves again - love was stronger than both war and death!
As already mentioned, the war inevitably sharpened the perception of the world. But it could also lead to its sharp change when a person performed acts that would have seemed inconceivable to him a little earlier. In terms of love relationships, this could lead not only to stories with a happy ending, but also to real dramas, in which many people, willingly or unwillingly, found themselves drawn. Especially such cases became more frequent at the end of the war, when the joy of happiness of some turned into tears for others. The latter refers to those moments when the officers broke the pre-war marriage bonds for the sake of their "front-line love." A trace of such dramas has been preserved in the documents of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army.
From letters to the editorial office of the newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda".
“From the wife of Captain Rybinyuk Nikolai Timofeevich - Lydia Fomovna Rybinyuk - village V. Golyaki, Korninsky district, Zhytomyr region.
Dear Editor!
Sorry to disturb you. But, dear editor, it made me fatal circumstance, which I will ask readers to share with me.
I connected my life with Rybinyuk Nikolay in February 1934. We lived happily and amicably. We have a daughter of 8 years old. But the war came and our life divided. How much grief, tears and poverty had to be endured during this time; but having received news from the front from her husband and father, all this seemed to be forgotten. Hope for the future grew, and we, the future, patiently waited.
So 4 years passed. My husband and father of my daughter told us about himself, about the conditions in which, as he wrote, he was. We, having received a letter from him, worried, watched with trepidation the situation in which he was (so we thought), mentally and soulfully asking for his well-being. He also did not forget us, he wrote letters, calling them "his own", "dear to his life." There was even a case when, at the first opportunity (as he said), in 1943. came to visit us in the autumn. At that time, my daughter and I were in evacuation in the city of Saransk (military unit 18). He called me his wife, his daughter also his. After he also wrote that in general his life depends on our well-being. He lived with the hope of ending the war again to return to his family. So the husband wrote to his wife and the father to his daughter for 4 years.
The long-awaited Day of Victory over the enemy of mankind has come ... So, the end of separation will come, may a prosperous and happy life.
May 29, 1945 letter from her husband. What a happiness for a mother when she saw her daughter with a joyful radiant smile, carrying a letter from her father, and what a grief when a sad shadow covered the face of a child who, in the letter he received, learned that his father was not a father for him, but just a familiar person, as easy to forget as last year's snow. He said that, by the way, he was married to a woman he loved very much, for whom he was ready to give his life, asking them to forget about him, "without making any noise, forget as soon as possible."
I wonder what he really thought about his family, being under a hail of bullets, or maybe the war is a fun excursion for him, during which there is time to like and fall in love?
Yes, we were wrong, we thought that he, like all honest citizens, protects the fatherland. And he, during the 4 years of the war, called us his own. What made him cheat on his family? What was his goal?
Was he not thinking about an accident or about preparing a shelter for himself in any case? Now that he remained unharmed and healthy, he wants to "live", forgetting about his loved ones, because now he can do without them.
Dear Editor! Please do not refuse my request to publish this outrageous fact in your newspaper. Let the readers know what other husbands and fathers are for children.
I am attaching copies of his last two letters. Respecting you L.F. Rybinyuk. In case of doubt, please contact the Korninsky military registration and enlistment office, Zhytomyr region.
Good afternoon, Lidochka! Good afternoon, dear daughter Taisochka!
I convey my warm greetings to both of you and inform you that while I am alive and well, I wish you a lot, a lot of happiness, and most importantly, health.
Lidochka, dear, you, of course, forgive me for everything that I will write to you, but I want to write about this.
Of course, when we were together, we loved each other; I respected you and still respect you. But no matter how sorry it is, I must nevertheless admit, sooner or later, namely: a lot of time has passed since the beginning of the Patriotic War; I didn’t write you anything, but now I decided to tell you the truth. Be aware, and I ask you not to dismiss yourself and be calm, namely: I do not want you to consider me yours anymore, since I will not return to you and only for one reason, namely, that I have a wife, which I love more than anything in the world, for which I will give everything that I have, and also she loves me more than you. Therefore, I ask you not to worry or worry about me anymore, and most importantly - not to interfere with my life and not to make any noise. Lidochka, I'm not angry with you and I'm not offended, but you must understand one thing that I can't live with you anymore, that we have been together for a long time, fell in love with each other, brought little benefit to each other in our young years, and I was forced look for a loved one, because life itself pushed for this. Further, you can ask about your daughter, then I must say that I do not refuse and that everything that will be due from me, I will pay and everything more. You can of course call me a son of a bitch. I agree with this, but I must tell you one thing, I ask you to give one answer to this letter, and I ask you not to write to me anymore and forget me faster. For the rudeness, of course, forgive me, but it's true.
I wish you happiness and health. I do not intend to write you anything more and I do not intend to. Stay happy and healthy. Kolya.
Good afternoon, Lidochka! Good afternoon, dear daughter Taisochka.
I convey to you, my relatives, the warmest front-line greetings and inform you that I am still alive, healthy and unharmed, I wish you both, my dears, good luck in your hard life. Lidochka, I was surprised why there was no letter from you for a long time. What is the reason for this?
I, dear, am in Germany. Today is the first of May, but believe me, dear, how sad, how I want to come to you and spend this day with you, together with my own daughter. But believe me, my dear, that this day will soon come, since the end of the war is already visible, and I will come to you and tell you about everything that I saw, that I went through during these years of the war.
Lidochka, write, dear, did you receive the parcels, the certificate. If you received all this, then please, let me know. Now write, dear, whether you received the certificate or not. Say hello to all your family and friends.
I kiss both hard, hard.
Your Kolya, who loves you. " ...
The war also highlighted many hidden sides of the human soul, which were bright for some, and with a hefty wormhole in others. The same applies to relationships with women. In addition to a lofty and respectful attitude, or even passion, there were cases of outright licentiousness, when a person trampled on elementary moral norms, hoping that "the war will write off everything." This is also evidenced by following documents from previously unpublished archives:
TO THE HEAD OF THE MAIN POLITICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE RKKA ARMY COMMISSIONER 1st RANK comrade. MECHLISU
WESTERN FRONT POLITICAL AUTHORITY REPORT
Emergency incidents
Commissar 269obs of the 18th SD (49th Army) battalion commissar Kanyuk I.E., born in 1908, a native of the Poltava region, using his official position, forced women to cohabit. Buzzard systematically drank in the circle of women and squandered the Red Army ration. In this dirty business, Kanyuk involved the battalion commander, Captain Khudoverdov, the secretary of the party bureau, political instructor Bobkov, the secretary of the Komsomol bureau, political instructor Mokry, and deputy political instructor Mantsuev.
In November 1941, in the village of Chuprino, Kanyuk settled a woman in his apartment, with whom he drank and cohabited. To win her over, he ordered Deputy Political Officer Mantsuev to give her family a Red Army ration. In the village of Mikhailovskoye, Kanyuk lived with a teacher who, on his orders, was given a Red Army ration. During the deployment of the battalion in the village of Polotnyany Zavod, Kanyuk tried to rape a girl, the daughter of the owner of the apartment. Being in the village. Sloboda, Kanyuk, together with the secretary of the party bureau Bobkov, took food and vodka from the warehouse, went to the Polotnyany Zavod, and there they drunk with unknown women. In the village of Karmanovo, due to the lack of comfortable apartments, Kanyuk lived in an insulated car. A local girl lived with him in the car. Kanyuk ordered the head of the food warehouse to give the girl's relatives food without any restrictions. In the town of Yukhnov, Kanyuk tried to force a 17-year-old girl into cohabitation. Buzzard for moral decay and theft of food was removed from his post, expelled from the party and brought to justice by VT. The secretary of the party bureau, political instructor Bobkov, and the secretary of the Komsomol bureau, political instructor Wet, were dismissed from their jobs for moral decay and brought to party responsibility.
Head of Political Administration Zapfront
Brigade Commissioner / Makarov / ".
Among the various cases, there were also frankly funny ones, which is evident even from the style of the documents. Here is a typical excerpt:
“Major Sharykin was courting Vinogradova, the proofreader of the editorial board. As a result, Vinogradova is currently in her second month of pregnancy. Sharykin and Vinogradova disappeared from the editorial office during their official hours, which delayed proofreading. When editorial secretary Petrov called her to explain the reasons for leaving, she complained to Sharykin. Sharykin then summoned Petrov and demanded an end to the nagging at Vinogradova. In addition, Sharykin sowed squabbling among the editorial staff, advised some "to leave the editorial office before it is too late, otherwise they will survive anyway." Currently, Major Sharykin has been relieved of his post as head of the newspaper's army life department and sent to the rifle unit, where he is located in this moment» .
However, among the archival documents one can also find those that testify to truly high feelings, being in the literal sense of the word, “voices of a great era”, even though their pathos and style may not always seem clear to us. By citing such a document, I will end the citation within the framework of this article:
"MY DEAR AND FAVORITE LEADER, FRIEND, FATHER,
TEACHER AND MARSHAL TOV. STALIN!
To you - the best friend of young people, our teacher and beloved father, I turn with a big and perhaps somewhat strange, unusual request ...
For 4 years I walked the thorny roads of war: from Volkhov to Leningrad, where we stood for about two years on the defense of the city of Lenin, through Moldova, Bessarabia, Romania, liberated by us, whose troops are now fighting hand in hand with us, Hungary and, finally, Czechoslovakia ...
For 4 months I was on a business trip, in the Romanian town of Alba Iulia in a big responsible post, and in this town I met a girl ... a simple Romanian peasant woman, but what a girl! She worked as a cologne in a restaurant where we officers dined.
The daughter of poor Romanian peasants, she works in a restaurant to support the meager existence of her mother and sisters, she has no father.
We passionately, forever fell in love with each other, but I don't know if our happiness is possible after the war?
Can I bring my beloved girlfriend, my trophy for the liberation of Romania, to my homeland, to my happy, dear Moscow?
I am 31 years old, but from everything I have experienced over these 4 years, I have become almost all gray-haired ...
Have I earned my right to happiness, to a peaceful, joyful life? Yes! I gained this right by expelling the fascist bastards from my Motherland Sylvia !!!
And I ask, I beg, wise, wonderful, sensitive to everything bright, my great friend, my comrade Stalin, to allow me - a Russian, your officer - to marry a girl of the mountains. Alba Iulia by Sylvia Compianu!
I know you are busy, great, dearly beloved! But who is closer, dearer than you?
To whom, if not your greatest and most sensitive heart, should I turn with my fervent request?
Life is not sweet to me without this girl!
This marriage will be the best reward for all the services to the Motherland, it will be my dear, won trophy! I beg you for my happiness!
Lieutenant - Vladimir German.
P.S. I ask you to send your answer to the address of my sister, German Lyudmila Nikolaevna, at the address: Moscow 155, Malaya Gruzinskaya, no. 10, apt. 8. I myself am personally in the mountains of Czechoslovakia. Bratislava"
06/06/45 ...
All the documents cited here are not cited in order to purposefully condemn or discredit someone, revise the history of the Great Patriotic War, as is sometimes observed in the works of some authors, or abstractly moralize, etc. I am deeply convinced that we, the descendants and heirs of the Winners, who actually squandered our grandfather's legacy, are generally not given the right to judge those who broke the back of the most terrible military-political machine in history.
Simply, citing similar documents and facts, excerpts from uncensored memories, I would like to draw the readers' attention again to how complex and multifaceted, dramatic in various planes was the daily life of the Great Patriotic War, how it affected the lives and souls of those who at least somehow touched her.
It is obvious that front-line love was a special and one of the most intimate facets of the entire military everyday life of 1941-1945, along with the world of inner experiences and emotions of the soldiers of the great war.
Love in war was multifaceted, like all military everyday life, it seemed to be looking for the slightest opportunity to splash out of the hearts of people exhausted by war and death - that's why soldiers and officers decided on reckless actions that sometimes cost them dearly. In fact, love in front-line conditions, where “there are four steps to death”, personified its polar opposite, as if abolishing death, proving its powerlessness and even deprivation of its own essence, the absence of death in the structure of being. Thus, we can say that love, being an objective constant of everyday life at the front, in this quality oriented people towards goals higher than the destruction of the enemy in battle, towards something that lay outside the boundaries of war and could only serve as its justification. Orientation towards these goals could only give our soldiers and officers the strength to turn the tide of the war and end it in Berlin, passing through the bitterness of separation and loss and finally establishing the triumph of life.
Sources and Literature
- Glukhov A. Notes of the regimental postman. SPb., 2005.
- Demidov P.M. In the service of the god of war. There is a black cross in the sight. M., 2007.
- Dunaevskaya I.M.From Leningrad to Konigsberg. Diary of a military translator 1942-1945 M., 2010.
- Nekrutova-Kotko Z.K. My dazzling moment. / Mukhin Y. On the agenda and on the call: non-personnel soldiers of the Great Patriotic War. M., 2005.
- Suknev M.I. Notes of the commander of the penal battalion. M., 2009.
- Shimkevich V.N. The fate of the Moscow militia. M., 2008.
- TsAMO. F.32. Op. 11302. D.87. Memoirs and political reports of the fronts on the work of front-line newspapers and field mail.
- TsAMO. F.32. Op. 11302. D.286. Letters and complaints from servicemen and their correspondence.
- Http://ww2.pp.ru (date of treatment 01/31/2012).
When millions die, the happiness of two - so fragile and crystal - becomes almost unreal ...
About Great Patriotic War hundreds of thousands of books, articles have been written, and many films have been shot. All this so that we remember how terrible and destructive it can be, how easy it is to cut off a human life. It is not customary to talk about love, let alone sex in war. Like, this is not a suitable topic for discussion, "shameful" ... Nevertheless, this is also a part of our history, and you need to know your history.
This is what our old people remember….
I will never forget you
It was July forty-one. Western Belarus. And we are retreating along the entire front.
We are a five-man artillery crew. We have at our disposal a "lorry" and a "magpie" (45 caliber cannon) attached to it. There are thousands of refugees on the way. They walk, carry, carry ... From time to time Messerschmitts swoop in, bomb and machine-gun the road. Refugees rush from the road into the forest in droves.
Our commander - an elderly, compassionate man who met the third war (he went through the civil, Finnish and now the Great Patriotic War) - put women and children in our car so that it was impossible to move. They put a young girl in my arms, our gunner sits next to me with a boy in his arms ...
And the "lorry" is thrown from side to side, tosses it on bumps ... And the girl sitting in my arms crawls over me so that I can’t at all be able to ... A light chintz dress served as a bad insulator, and panties at that time, and even in village, no one wore. I spoke to her, asked her name, she said that her name was Olesya and that she was 17 years old. I said that my name was Ivan and that I was 20 ... I need to understand my condition, and I began to persuade her ...
And if, - I say, - now there is a raid, a direct hit and nothing will be left of us ?! But she doesn't agree to any. She clung to her dress, pulls it on her knees and only trembles all over. And suddenly - a powerful explosion behind the car. In the darkness, the "lorry" was thrown to the left. The woman screamed. The beam of our gunner's flashlight slid towards the wounded woman, women helped her ... And then Olesya touched my hand and I realized that she agreed ...
She let go of her dress, I clasped my hands on her stomach and began to slowly act.
It's good that the soldier's pants have only one top button. And so we did it. After the first shock, she calmed down, I realized that she was getting into a rage, she even began to help me on the sly ... And ... a strong explosion on the starboard side. The car was thrown to the left, and I felt that Olesya began to slide off me, but somehow strange. Not in my own voice, I shouted to the gunner to light the lantern. The beam slid across the girl's face.
A black trickle trickled down to his chin. The shard hit right in the temple. Her death was instantaneous.
That was the time. No one knew where and how death would have to be met ...
The story of the front-line soldier was recorded by a physical education teacher at secondary school No. 7 in Pyatigorsk
Vladimir Vasilievich DENISOV.
The end of Frau Elsa
My fellow countryman, Pavel Matyunin returned from the front as a hero. When he walked along the village street in chrome boots polished to a shine, in breeches stretched like a string, in a tunic hung with orders and medals and a harness tied, girls and young widows leaned out the windows to their waist and frankly admired the handsome officer. It seemed that the entire female half of the village was head over heels in love with the front-line hero.
We boys accompanied Paul in a gang. Each of us strove to touch his awards, try on a cap with a shiny cockade, walk side by side with the hero.
And how happy I was when Uncle Pavel came to visit us to talk over a glass of moonshine with my father, a front-line soldier! At the very beginning, my father was seriously injured, remained disabled and knew the whole truth about the war only by hearsay. And Uncle Pavel reached Berlin, and he had something to tell about. I listened to him with bated breath and was convinced once again that Uncle Pavel is a real hero. But once, having got drunk, my idol told my father the following story.
It was 1945. Victory was already close. The rifle regiment, in which Lieutenant Matyunin served, crossed the Elbe River, and occupied the city of Dresden with battles. The platoon commander with a group of submachine gunners decided to check the mansion on the outskirts of the city - weren't the Nazis hiding there? The owner of the mansion, a young German woman, came out to knock. She was so beautiful that the officer was speechless. Noticing Pavel's confusion, the girl melodiously said: “Their Frau Elsa. Bitte in house ”- and with a gesture she invited the guests into the house.
Having come to his senses, Pavel instructed the submachine gunners to check the outbuildings and wait for him in the courtyard, and he himself entered the hostess's apartment. She immediately set the table: set the schnapps and appetizers and cordially invited the Russian officer to the table.
Further events developed with catastrophic speed. The drunken hostess clung to the handsome officer and Pavel, who had missed female affection during the long years of the war, could not resist. Taking the beautiful Elsa in his arms, he carried her into the bedroom, where he showed her all his valiant prowess.
When it was all over, and it was time for Pavel to leave, the insatiable mistress did not want to part with the frantic Russian. Taking the initiative into her own hands, the German woman suddenly switched to oral sex. It is known that at that time sex was considered something shameful in our country. For a country boy, such a display of passion was something unheard of and wild. Shocked Pavel took a pistol out of his holster and fired at the beautiful German woman ...
When the story was over, the father, without uttering a word, somehow looked disapprovingly at the interlocutor and lowered his head. Noticing his reaction, Uncle Pavel suggested drinking one more. And I ran out into the street, huddled in a haystack and cried.
Petr Petrovich KUZNETSOV, Bryansk region.
Wartime romance
When the war began, I was only 14 years old, but despite my age, my peers and I already worked on the collective farm on a par with adults. Of course, they didn't pay us money, but they gave us food, and that meant a lot back then. There were few literate people in the village, and I finished six classes, so they put me as an accountant in the first field-crop brigade. It was also my duty to read the newspaper with the reports of the Sovinformburo to the brigade. Almost in every newspaper there were appeals from soldiers asking the girls to write letters to them and get acquainted ...
And we have only women in the brigade, I read to them, and they cry. All of them were married before the war. But the husbands, as they went to the front, so immediately disappeared - who died, who went missing ... There were ten-year-old children and hundred-year-olds ... Well, I suggested: “Do not grieve, women, let's all write to the field mail address, where my friend serves, maybe there will be suitors there ”... And I have long been in correspondence with my friend's brother. What kind letters Petya wrote to me! He confessed his love, promised that he would drive away the Fritzes, he would immediately call me to marry ”...
We wrote a collective letter, they say: "Hello, comrades, fighters, with greetings to you, girls ...", and everyone signed up to it. And everyone got the answers ... Thus, I have a new friend, senior lieutenant Alexander Ivanovich Ionin. We started a brisk correspondence with him, and he asked me for a photo. I also sent ... one to Ionin, and the other to Petya. I wanted to support the morale of the guys. But it turned out the other way around ... Petya sent me a letter with the words: “We serve as Sasha in one unit.
Did you think we didn't know each other? Do you know how sick I felt when he showed me a photo of "his girlfriend"? Apparently, you, Ninochka, wanted an extra star ... After all, I am a lieutenant, and he is a senior lieutenant ... Well, consider that you got it ... "
No matter how much I wrote to Peter, trying to explain everything, he did not forgive me. And then they killed him. So I lost a person dear to my heart ... And the correspondence with Ionin continued, until the very end of the war. I felt that he was deeply in love with me. And in me, too, something awakened ... began to consider him my fiancé.
Moreover, he introduced me to his relatives in absentia ... His sister and nephew (Volodya) and I often wrote to each other. (They lived in the village of Berezanskaya in the Kuban). Finally, the long-awaited message: he is coming! Volodya invites you to visit. I went ... He met me and said ... So, they say, and so, Sasha is married, and got married before the war. But he doesn't like his wife, so ... As I heard this, everything floated in my eyes. I realized that this was my retribution for Petya's betrayal. I refused to go to Sasha (although I wanted to see him more than anything else), I returned home. I did not even think that it was possible to love a married man - I was brought up in such a way that I considered it impossible.
And in the end I got married only at the age of 32 ... Unmarried men after the war were a great rarity ... Now I am alone again, I buried my husband ... And I often remember my lieutenants and reflect on our failed love. I console myself with one ... All four years, while Sasha fought on the front line, I was waiting for him and warmed his soul with affectionate letters. Once he said that only thanks to this he remained unharmed - because he wanted to return to his beloved girl. I don’t know if he’s alive? Now he must be 88 years old ...
Nina Savelyevna BORODANOVA (nee CHEKHONINA), Krasnodar.
Looking at you from the sky
The dusty war summer of 1943. Red Army prisoners are wandering along the central street of the village of Ilskaya. Exhausted by the long march, hungry. The sun is blinding, the sweat is covering my eyes. The thirst becomes unbearable, like pain. The German escorts were also tired: after five hours of a tedious march, their boots became heavy, and the straps of machine guns crash painfully into the shoulders. Near some wattle fence, under a shady mulberry tree, there is a well.
- Halt! - commanded by the corporal.
The Red Army soldiers fall in withered grass. The well gate creaks, the prisoners watch with envy as they pour cold water Germans. When their turn comes to them, they arrange a scuffle around the bucket of water. Having got drunk, they sat down who where. The Germans are in no hurry. Uncorked cans of stewed meat. In the ensuing silence, the Fritz spoons clink and the bellies of prisoners of war hum.
The gloomy aunt, watching what was happening from behind the wattle fence, spat in frustration and disappeared into the hut. A minute later she brought out a loaf of bread, pinching off small pieces, tried to treat everyone. Hands reached out to her from all sides, there was not enough bread. The aunt brushed aside a tear and, muttering angrily, went into the hut.
You! - are full, and therefore the kinder guard nodded to the young lieutenant. - Stand up! Go! - Kicked open the gate and let the prisoner forward.
The hostess ordered to give the guy more food, otherwise "the hungry Rusish won't get it." And in the house, after the advance units of the invaders had passed through the village, even though they were rolling.
The cow was stolen, everything was taken out of the cellar clean, ”the aunt shook her head, and the lieutenant did not take his eyes off her beautiful black-browed daughter. Having received a poke in the stomach with an iron barrel, he did not even frown, but as he left, he carefully looked at the house number.
A few days later, our units freed the prisoners and the lieutenant visited the inhabitants of the coveted house. Ivan had catastrophically little time - he only declared his love, and it's time ...
A string of letters “with a secret” stretched from heart to heart - inside each message Masha found a dried flower. The girl was waiting for the victory, and with it - for the funny lieutenant. But one day the postman, instead of a letter, brought a notice to receive money.
As many as two thousand! And who is this money from? - the mother rejoiced.
And Masha's eyes came up with a line from Vanya's last letter: “If I come back, I will give you flowers every day, and if they kill me, they will send you money, at least occasionally buy the bouquets yourself. There is nothing more beautiful in this world than a beautiful girl with flowers. And I will look at you from the sky and smile. "
The story of her aunt's unfulfilled love was told by Valentina Gavrilovna Shastina from the village of Ilskiy, Krasnodar Territory.
Favorite guest
This story began in 1942, when a 25-year-old fighter, shell-shocked and wounded in the leg, was returning home from the hospital. Somehow I got to Pskov, and there the station was bombed and the trains run very badly. And there are thousands of kilometers to the house. What is a soldier to do? He turned into a street near the station, knocked on the first house he came across and asked to spend the night. The hostess with her daughter (the girl was 13 years old), greeted the guest cordially.
And the mistress of the house, her name was Grunya, turned 32 years old, the very juice ... Her husband was killed in 41st. It’s not sweet for a woman alone ... But the soldier is fine: tall, black-haired, mustachioed, with blue eyes ... And he also yearned without a woman ... In general, everything was settled on the very first night ... Grunya invited Nikolai to stay, he stayed.
The wounds bothered him, but Nikolai helped Grunya with the housework as best he could: he would chop wood, bring water, cook dinner ... All the women envied Gruny happiness: such a prominent man, and he came to the house himself! So they lived for about three years, and then Nikolai suddenly noticed that Grunin's daughter had turned into a beautiful girl. Nikolai did not even notice how he fell in love. And Tonya, still a girl, looked at him ... A secret love broke out between them. But can you hide your shining eyes?
When everything was revealed, Grunya cried bitterly, cursing Nikolai and Tonya ... And as if she brought trouble into the house: less than a week later, Nikolai fell ill in delirium and fever - battle wounds made themselves felt. The doctors said that Nikolai was hopeless. Tonya looked after him and cried softly. And Grunya roared in a voice ... They buried Nikolai. And Tonya gave birth to a girl from him three months later. She brought her from the hospital and left who knows where. Olesya has grown all into a father, the same beauty. Grunya raised her ... Olesya still does not know who her real mother is.
Olga V. MELENCHUK, Pskov.
Gypsy
It was, I think, in the 42nd. And we lived in Altai, in a village near the famous resort of Belokurikha. All the sanatoriums were then filled with seriously wounded soldiers, and the evacuees were housed in almost every house. All local men went to the front, and 14-16-year-old boys fled there. Only old people and children remained. I was 13 then. Mom is on the collective farm from morning till night, and I manage the house ...
I planted a vegetable garden, milked a cow, cooked food, and even looked after my brothers and sisters - I was the oldest. Life was hard for everyone. But life is life, a living person always wants something ... They also found time for entertainment. Gather, there were girls with women, and well, tease each other. One evacuee stood out in particular. She was very beautiful, dark-skinned, like a gypsy girl ... and so lively ... She says: “Mitka rushes after me, does not give a pass. Says: "If you do not agree, I will kill you!" Ha ha ha! Girls! If he kills, bury me on the Krasniy Yar, please (as we called the cemetery), but closer to the edge ... so that I could see you fucking around here! Ha ha ha! "
And Mitka is still a fruit. He had three wives, and each had children. Why they didn’t take him to the front - I don’t know ... He worked as an electrician at the resort, and Tsyganochka worked as a nurse. Both lived in Bear Log (the street was called that). The road there is winding, on one side the mountain is steep, and on the other - a river .... Every morning to the river, on a horse drawn to a cart with a barrel, our water carrier came to fetch some water. And then he drives off to the river and sees something strange to the side. He stopped the horse, comes up, and these are panties hanging on a bush! Before he had time to be surprised, he saw - and under a bush a woman was killed! And next to her is a man! He did not even remember about water, rather to the village council ...
They identified, of course, Tsyganochka. It was already cold. And Mitka is still alive. After all, he did catch him ... At first, apparently, he knocked well, and then he dragged him into the bushes and raped. And he himself got poisoned after all, he drank acid. Of course, they began to save him. Hurry to rinse the stomach, give medicine ... and he shouts: “I don’t want to live without her, don’t save !!!”. They took him to the hospital, and we, the kids, followed. The curious ... all looked through the window of the ward. And in the evening they told us that he had died.
The whole village saw off Tsyganochka on her last journey. The old women howled - could be heard far away. And her husband was released from the front to the funeral. I remember that he was very handsome, a military officer ... He loved his wife, apparently, very much, cried at the cemetery ... And Mitka was buried later, and there were also a lot of people. His three wives followed the coffin with their children, and everyone wept. Apparently, they also loved ...
Alexandra Alekseevna POPRUGA, veteran of the labor front, veteran of labor. Sovetskaya Gavan, Khabarovsk Territory.
Letters were read by Svetlana Lazebnaya
And then one day in the division, where Elizabeth served as a nurse, appointed a new major... He was handsome, smart, but very stern and gloomy. At first, Elizabeth found him too demanding and meticulous. Then she was told it history and she understood the reason for this particular frown... In addition to the fact that there was a war all around, which was a national tragedy, the major also had a personal tragedy. On the territory of Belarus his family died: wife and little son, who went to visit relatives in the village just before the war. And now, quite recently, I reached the major tragic message that the village where his wife's parents lived and where she should have been at that time, the Nazis burned to the ground. Valery Ivanovich's grief, as he was called, was enormous and inconsolable. Elizabeth was very sorry for him, and soon she realized that fell in love with him.
Their rapprochement took place gradually. It's just that one day they were left alone, and her hand with a mother's affection slid over his head, where the black pitch of hair was intertwined with merciless gray hair. And let them say that war is not a place for love. But does the real feeling choose the time and place ?! Isn't it doubly valuable a minute of kindness and tenderness, when everything around dies and is in poverty, when grief and pain multiply around ?!
Valery Ivanovich treated Elizabeth very respectfully and carefully. Everyone around knew that between Valery Ivanovich and Elizabeth - true love... And everyone around them, to the best of their ability, cherished this feeling. No he did not forget his wife and son... He just took revenge on the fascists. But now in his heart - which did not become callous (according to Elizabeth, he was an infinitely kind person), but simply was crippled by grief and hardened in battles - again there was hope and faith that there will be a peaceful life ahead and that it is possible, if not happiness, then the pacification of inner pain. Elizabeth made him happy.
March 1, 1945 was one of the happiest days of her life- on this day they took place wedding... It was in Hungary. And the colleagues, who loved both of them very much, decided to arrange for them holiday... It was a real surprise for them: that evening a whole table was laid in their honor and everyone danced. Although, of course, it was not a real wedding and they decided to sign after the war, when they would finally defeat the fascists, when they return to their native lands, when a peaceful and happy life will come. They made plans ... They gave each other their word: if death from a fascist bullet does not separate them, then nothing and no one will be able to do this ...
And then there was Victory! It was May 8, 1945. The joy was great! Imagine: shouting, noise, shooting. Everyone around was crying, kissing, hugging, rejoicing. It is impossible to convey what it was. It was glad that there would be no more shooting, and everyone could now return home. And then ... another good news came. It turned out that by some miracle, a real miracle, Valery Dmitrievich's family was saved... And you will not wish anyone to experience the confusion of feelings that he experienced at this news, which at the same moment and infinitely pleases the soul, and breaks the heart with the need to make a titanically difficult choice ...
Elizabeth all my life loved him, but he certainly returned to his wife and son. I wrote to her, and she wrote to him. But then the correspondence was cut off - it was still too painful, and he didn’t want to hurt his relatives either ... Valery Ivanovich told everything to his wife, who forgave and understood everything. His wife also loved him very much ... Elizabeth, seven years after the end of the war, got married and moved to her homeland to her husband - to Latgale. She has always been a good wife and mother. And then, when Valery Ivanovich was dying, already in the 70s, his wife wrote to Elizabeth and she even managed to say goodbye to him before his death ... And now, at 84 years old, when she feels the end of her life path, she found the strength and went to Valery Ivanovich's grave. Probably for the last time ...
Agree, the story is extremely strong, emotional and causes a storm of conflicting feelings and emotions. God forbid, someone should be faced with such a choice, but it seems to me that Valery Ivanovich showed courage and acted like a real man. This story gave me the idea that love- this is exactly the feeling that supported in difficult minutes our soldiers, inspired them and made them do great things. For this feeling for love, I want to live.
And in conclusion, I want to congratulate everyone on the holiday, on Victory Day!
N.V. Ruchinskaya
“... And where did so much power come from?
Even in the weakest of us? ..
What to guess! - Was and is in Russia
Eternal strength eternal supply ... "
Julia Drunina
Love story of two wonderful people: honest, kind, fair, passionately in love with each other and their homeland, worthy of memory, respect and attention.
These are my husband's parents: Stanislavov Ivanovich Ruchinskiy (1911-1998) and Alexandra Konstantinovna (1918-2004). They were direct witnesses and active participants in those distant war years of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. They lived a hard life, raised worthy children and wonderful grandchildren. Through their family happiness, betrayed love, the war went like a black stripe, with inhuman trials, scorching and tempering their hearts.
The war destroyed their peaceful life, destroyed their plans and took the life of their eldest daughter Svetlana in infancy during the siege of Leningrad.
I am also a witness to their lives and the memories of these respected people, my father-in-law and mother-in-law. I have lived with them for almost 30 years. And only now, in adulthood, when they have not been around for more than 10 years, I was able to truly appreciate what they were and write about them.
Stanislav Ivanovich and Alexandra Konstantinovna were born into poor peasant families. A young Red Army officer, a Ukrainian and a Russian girl met before the war in 1940 in Leningrad. He is a career officer in the Red Army, a platoon commander. Behind him was the Finnish campaign, participation in military battles in Karelian Isthmus, severe injury and contusion.
She is a second year student at the First Leningrad Institute foreign languages, who as a seventeen-year-old girl, after leaving school, came to Leningrad. She entered to work at the Electrosila plant, studied at the Rabfak for two years, and then entered the institute.
Stanislav immediately drew attention to beautiful girl, short in stature, with a long dark blond braid and cheerful brown eyes. Fell in love with her at first sight and, like an adult, a military man, made her a marriage proposal. Stanislav wrote a report to the commander of the unit where he served, and went to woo Shura's parents. In a ceremonial uniform with a cavalry saber, everyone in the village liked the gallant officer. He was a simple, kind guy, a soul for plowing. In two days, he managed to fix the roof, chop wood, and mow hay for the cow. In general, the guy did not sit idle. Mother was happy, the guy is good, you will not be lost for such a thing. Maria Vasilievna sent an urgent telegram to her daughter in Leningrad: "Come, I am ill." Shura arrived and the issue was resolved. Their mother blessed them.
They got married in August 1940. The wedding was modest: a dinner in a hostel among the girlfriends of Shura and two of his friends. Stanislav with joy and love began to "dress" his Shura. I bought boots, a fur coat, a dress, and shoes. He so wanted his beloved wife to be warmly and beautifully dressed, but there was no money left for the rings.
Stanislav served in the Leningrad Region, while Shura studied in Leningrad. In the barracks, the young were given a room, the furnishings were army: two bedside tables and a single soldier's bed. They were happy!
Stanislav Ivanovich left for the war on June 22, 1941 as the commander of a motorized rifle company, leaving his pregnant wife in Leningrad. The institute where Shura studied was evacuated, and doctors forbade her to leave Leningrad, at the end of September she had to give birth to their child.
07/24/1941 in the area of the state farm Depart on the North-Western Front
Stanislav Ivanovich was seriously wounded in his left arm, and on September 24, 1941, he was wounded by a shrapnel in the neck on the Leningrad front. From the medical battalion, he immediately returned to duty. On October 20, a "state of siege" was declared in Moscow, Stanislav Ivanovich was appointed deputy battalion commander.
Bloody, exhausting battles continued near Moscow. During the battle near Sloboda, the battalion commander was seriously wounded. The battalion was commanded by S.I. Ruchinsky. The battalion has completed the mission. In this battle, Stanislav Ivanovich was seriously wounded in his right leg, which turned into a bloody mess. From a great loss of blood, he could have died, if not for the soldiers of his battalion. They carried their commander out of the battlefield in their arms. The nurse's surgeon wanted to amputate his leg because of the initial signs of gangrene. S.I. Ruchinsky flatly refused. He spent nine months in military hospitals, and doctors managed to save his wounded leg.
In early October 1941, in besieged Leningrad, Alexandra Konstantinovna gave birth to a daughter, Svetlana. Next to her was her older sister with her 2-year-old son. Together, the women endured difficulties. The onset of the most severe December frosts, hunger and cold took away their last strength. Emaciated, weak, exhausted by hunger, they had to fight for the lives of their children. Without food, water and heat, every day was heroic. The Nazis constantly carried out air raids on the city day and night. The women were very exhausted by the air raids and going to the bomb shelter. Due to severe frosts, the central heating, water supply and sewer networks... They installed a stove - "potbelly stove", which had to be heated instead of wood with furniture and books. And for water they went to the Neva. On February 3, 1942, Alexandra Konstantinovna bravely survived the death of her four-month-old daughter Svetlana by starvation. She, swollen with hunger, was seriously ill. Only her a strong character and resilience helped her survive.
Once Alexandra Konstantinovna's sister traded a small piece of frozen horse meat at the market. Two women with difficulty rolled a piece of meat through a meat grinder, tired and hesitated. No sooner had they looked back than his sister's two-year-old son, Yura, ate all the raw minced meat. A neighbor helped save the boy. And in my head - a terrible thought: "Today we could have lost our second child."
In March 1942, Alexandra Konstantinovna, together with her sister and nephew Yura, managed to leave the besieged Leningrad, along the ice Ladoga road - the road of Life. In front of Alexandra Konstantinovna's eyes, the car following them went under the ice. Seeing how people die in icy water, they could do nothing to help them. And their life at that moment was hanging by a thread. This was another shock for them. This road was the last for many people. Sick, exhausted, ragged, swollen from hunger, they got to their parents in the village. When they appeared on the threshold of their house, Maria Vasilievna did not recognize them, skin and bones. Little by little coming to their senses, they began to work on the collective farm for the front. Alexandra Konstantinovna worked as an accountant, acted as deputy chairman of the collective farm. There was a lot of work on the collective farm, there were not enough hands, only women and children. After the hardest work from early morning until late at night, women still had time to knit socks and mittens for the front.
After surgical operations, Stanislav Ivanovich's disfigured leg could hardly fit into a boot. Overcoming the pain, he learned to walk again.
Stanislav Ivanovich understood that if he came to the medical examination on crutches, he would be immediately dismissed from the army. Therefore, he came to the commission, leaning on a stick, which he left outside the door of the office of the commission. Overcoming the pain, he entered the office. "What are your complaints?" - asked the military doctor. “The left hand aches a little after being wounded. But this will not prevent me from hitting the fascists. Please send me to the front! ”- Stanislav Ivanovich answered. He deceived the doctors and was placed at the disposal of the Command.
In September 1942, after undergoing treatment in the hospital, the deputy battalion commander S.I. short-term leave was granted. He went to his wife's homeland.
The meeting with my wife was joyful and bitter. They have not seen each other for more than a year, and how many have experienced, as if half their lives had passed. He did not recognize his beloved Shurochka with sad brown eyes, in which there was longing and grief. But once she was the first laughing girl among her friends. He also changed, became more silent, did not smile at all. His eyes were filled with pain and suffering. They embraced, his big, warm arms wrapped around her. Shura burst into tears, a groan escaped from her chest. A piercing pain took possession of her again, memories coming back to life. How long she endured this pain and only now, next to him, she gave vent to her feelings. After all, since the death of her daughter, she has not shed a single tear, as if she had turned to stone, and now this pain has escaped from within. She felt guilty before her husband for not saving their daughter. Burying her face in his tunic, she could not say a word, but he only held her closer to him. They sat there for a very long time. The death of their daughter was an irreparable loss for them.
His love and care brought his wife back to life. She worked, came home very tired. Limping on one leg, he tried to help with everything around the house. The happy days of Stanislav Ivanovich's vacation flew by quickly. At the end of September, he left for the war. A little light he gathered his duffel bag, kissed his wife, took a stick and walked along the road, it was five kilometers to the city.
Stanislav Ivanovich continued to serve in the Red Army, first as a deputy commander and then as a battalion commander. He sent his wife warm letters that warmed her soul. From the letters of Alexandra Konstantinovna, he learned that she was expecting a baby. This news made him very happy, although it excited him. He loved his wife very much and was worried about her health.
In June 1943, Alexandra Konstantinovna gave birth to a son. Her childbirth began so quickly and unplanned that she had to give birth right at a meeting of the Board of the collective farm. The name was chosen by the entire Board of the collective farm, and the baby was named Valery in honor of Valery Chkalov.
For the performance of the combat missions of the Command on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, shown at the same time valor and courage, Stanislav Ivanovich Ruchinsky was awarded: an honorary badge "Guard", two Orders of the Patriotic War of the first degree, two Orders of the Red Star, medals: "For Military Merit", For the Defense of Leningrad, For the Defense of Moscow, For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
Alexandra Konstantinovna - home front worker, was awarded the honorary badge "Resident of the besieged Leningrad", the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", jubilee medals, certificates of honor and diplomas.
