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, at a cost own life won that terrible war. 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 known reasons(the surprise 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...”

Receipt new form for soldiers at the front - 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 had a very great importance 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, systematic inspections were carried out for lice. 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 Osnach Ivan Prokofievich 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 overnight stays in the forest or steppe under open air, 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: on the way, German planes flew in 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. IN daylight hours for a day I 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. Reserves drinking water soldiers were replenished 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 kind words they remember 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 front roads from the first to 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 native land and your 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, many are in newlywed status. 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 a 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 Vasilievna: “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. Sharp feeling you feel 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: blank spots remain, unknown pages, unclear fates, strange circumstances. And the topic of front-line life is the least explored in this series.

Bibliography

1. V. Kiselev. Fellow soldiers. Documentary storytelling. Publishing house "Nizhpoligraf" Nizhny Novgorod, 2005
2. IN AND. Belyaev. Fire, water and copper pipes. (Memoirs of an old soldier). Moscow, 2007
3. P. Lipatov. Uniforms of the Red Army and Navy. Encyclopedia of technology. Publishing house "Technology for Youth". Moscow, 1995
4. Fund materials of the Unecha Museum of Local Lore (front-line letters, diaries, memories of veterans).
5. Memoirs of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, recorded during personal conversations.

There were brothels for Germans in many occupied cities of North-West Russia.
During the Great Patriotic War, many cities and towns in the North-West were occupied by the Nazis. On the front line, on the outskirts of Leningrad, there were bloody battles, and in the quiet rear the Germans settled down and tried to create comfortable conditions for rest and leisure.

“A German soldier must eat, wash and relieve sexual tension on time,” many Wehrmacht commanders reasoned. To solve the latter problem, brothels were created in large occupied cities and visiting rooms in German canteens and restaurants, and free prostitution was allowed.

Girls usually didn’t take money

Mostly local Russian girls worked in the brothels. Sometimes the shortage of priestesses of love was filled from the residents of the Baltic states. The information that the Nazis were served only by purebred German women is a myth. Only the top of the Nazi party in Berlin was concerned with the problems of racial purity. But in war conditions, no one was interested in the woman’s nationality. It is also a mistake to believe that girls in brothels were forced to work only under threat of violence. Very often they were brought there by severe war famine.

Brothels in major cities North-West, as a rule, were located in small two-story houses, where 20 to 30 girls worked in shifts. One served up to several dozen military personnel per day. Brothels enjoyed unprecedented popularity among the Germans. “On some days, long lines lined up at the porch,” one Nazi wrote in his diary. Women most often received payment in kind for sexual services. For example, German clients of a bath and laundry plant in Marevo, Novgorod region, often pampered their favorite Slavic women in “brothel houses” chocolates, which was almost a gastronomic miracle back then. The girls usually didn’t take money. A loaf of bread is a much more generous payment than rapidly depreciating rubles.

German rear services monitored order in brothels; some entertainment establishments operated under the wing of German counterintelligence. The Nazis opened large reconnaissance and sabotage schools in Soltsy and Pechki. Their “graduates” were sent to the Soviet rear and partisan detachments. German intelligence officers sensibly believed that it was easiest to “stab” agents “on a woman.” Therefore, in the Soletsky brothel, all the service personnel were recruited by the Abwehr. The girls, in private conversations, asked the cadets of the intelligence school how devoted they were to the ideas of the Third Reich, and whether they were going to go over to the side of the Soviet Resistance. For such “intimate-intellectual” work, women received special fees.

And full and satisfied

Some canteens and restaurants where German soldiers dined had so-called visiting rooms. Waitresses and dishwashers, in addition to their main work in the kitchen and hall, also provided sexual services. There is an opinion that in the restaurants of the famous Faceted Chamber in the Novgorod Kremlin there was such a meeting room for the Spaniards of the Blue Division. People talked about this, but there are no official documents that would confirm this fact.

The canteen and club in the small village of Medved became famous among Wehrmacht soldiers not only for their “cultural program”, but also for the fact that striptease was shown there!

Free prostitutes

In one of the documents from 1942 we find the following: “Since the brothels available in Pskov were not enough for the Germans, they created the so-called institute of sanitary-supervised women or, more simply put, they revived free prostitutes. Periodically, they also had to appear for a medical examination and receive appropriate marks on special tickets (medical certificates).”

After the victory over Nazi Germany, women who served the Nazis during the war were subject to public censure. People called them “German bedding, skins, b...”. Some of them had their heads shaved, like the fallen women in France. However, not a single criminal case was opened regarding cohabitation with the enemy. The Soviet government turned a blind eye to this problem. In war there are special laws.

Children of love.

Sexual “cooperation” during the war left a lasting memory. Innocent babies were born from the occupiers. It is difficult to even calculate how many blond and blue-eyed children with “Aryan blood” were born. Today you can easily meet in the North-West of Russia a person of retirement age with the features of a purebred German, who was born not in Bavaria, but in some distant village in the Leningrad region.

Women did not always leave the “German” child who had taken root during the war years alive. There are known cases when a mother killed a baby with her own hands because he was “the son of the enemy.” One of the partisan memoirs describes the incident. For three years, while the Germans were “meeting” in the village, the Russian woman gave birth to three children from them. On the first day after arrival Soviet troops she carried her offspring onto the road, laid them in a row and shouted: “Death to the German occupiers!” smashed everyone's heads with a cobblestone...

Kursk.

The commandant of Kursk, Major General Marcel, issued “Instructions for regulating prostitution in Kursk”. It said:

Ҥ 1. List of prostitutes.

Only women who are on the list of prostitutes, have a control card and are regularly examined by a special doctor for sexually transmitted diseases can engage in prostitution.

Persons intending to engage in prostitution must register to be included in the list of prostitutes in the Department of the Order Service of the city of Kursk. Entry into the list of prostitutes can only occur after the relevant military doctor (sanitary officer) to whom the prostitute must be sent gives permission. Deleting from the list can also only occur with the permission of the relevant doctor.

After being included in the list of prostitutes, the latter receives a control card through the Department of the Order Service.

§ 2. When performing her trade, a prostitute must adhere to the following regulations:

A) ... to engage in her trade only in her apartment, which must be registered by her in the Housing Office and in the Department of the Law and Order Service;

B)… nail a sign to your apartment, as directed by the relevant doctor, in a visible place;

B)…has no right to leave his area of ​​the city;

D) any attraction and recruitment on the streets and in in public places prohibited;

E) the prostitute must strictly follow the instructions of the relevant doctor, in particular, regularly and accurately appear for examinations within the specified time limits;

E) sexual intercourse without rubber guards is prohibited;

G) prostitutes who have been prohibited from having sexual intercourse by the appropriate doctor must have special notices posted on their apartments by the Department of the Order Service indicating this prohibition.

§ 3. Punishments.

1. Punishable by death:

Women who infect Germans or members of the Allied Nations with a venereal disease, despite the fact that they knew about their venereal disease before sexual intercourse.

A prostitute who has intercourse with a German or a person of an allied nation without a rubber guard and infects him is subject to the same punishment.

A sexually transmitted disease is implied and always when this woman is prohibited from having sexual intercourse by the appropriate doctor.

2. The following are punishable by forced labor in a camp for up to 4 years:

Women who have sexual intercourse with Germans or persons of the Allied nations, although they themselves know or suspect that they are sick with a venereal disease.

3. The following are punishable by forced labor in a camp for a period of at least 6 months:

A) women engaged in prostitution without being included in the list of prostitutes;

B) persons who provide premises for prostitution outside the prostitute’s own apartment.

4. The following are punishable by forced labor in a camp for a period of at least 1 month:

Prostitutes who do not comply with this regulation developed for their trade.

§ 4. Entry into force.

Prostitution was regulated in a similar way in other occupied territories. However, strict penalties for contracting sexually transmitted diseases led to the fact that prostitutes preferred not to register and carried out their trade illegally. The SD assistant in Belarus, Strauch, lamented in April 1943: “First, we eliminated all the prostitutes with venereal diseases that we could detain. But it turned out that women who were previously sick and reported it themselves later went into hiding after hearing that we would treat them badly. This error has been corrected, and women suffering from venereal diseases are being cured and isolated.”

Communication with Russian women sometimes ended very sadly for German military personnel. And it was not venereal diseases that were the main danger here. On the contrary, many Wehrmacht soldiers had nothing against catching gonorrhea or gonorrhea and spending several months in the rear - anything was better than going under the bullets of the Red Army and partisans. The result was a real combination of pleasant and not very pleasant, but useful. However, it was a meeting with a Russian girl that often ended with a partisan bullet for a German. Here is the order dated December 27, 1943 for the rear units of Army Group Center:

“Two chiefs of a convoy of one sapper battalion met two Russian girls in Mogilev, they went to the girls at their invitation and during a dance they were killed by four Russians in civilian clothes and deprived of their weapons. The investigation showed that the girls, together with Russian men, intended to join the gangs and in this way wanted to acquire weapons for themselves.”

According to Soviet sources, women and girls were often forced by the occupiers into brothels intended to serve German and allied soldiers and officers. Since it was believed that prostitution in the USSR had been ended once and for all, partisan leaders could only imagine forcibly recruiting girls into brothels. Those women and girls who were forced to cohabit with the Germans after the war to avoid persecution also claimed that they were forced to sleep with enemy soldiers and officers.

Stalino (Donetsk, Ukraine)

In the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine" for August 27, 2003 on the topic "Brothels for Germans in Donetsk." Here are excerpts: “In Stalino (Donetsk) there were 2 front-line brothels. One was called the “Italian Casino”. 18 girls and 8 servants worked only with the allies of the Germans - Italian soldiers and officers. As local historians say, this establishment was located near the current Donetsk Indoor market...The second brothel, intended for the Germans, was located in the oldest hotel in the city "Great Britain". In total, 26 people worked in the brothel (this includes girls, technical workers and management). The girls' earnings were approximately 500 rubles per week (so The ruble circulated in this territory in parallel with the stamp, the exchange rate was 10: 1. The work schedule was as follows: 6.00 - medical examination; 9.00 - breakfast (soup, dried potatoes, porridge, 200 grams of bread; 9.30-11.00 - departure to the city; 11.00-13.00 - stay in the hotel, preparation for work; 13.00-13.30 - lunch (first course, 200 grams of bread); 14.00-20.30 - customer service; 21.00 - dinner. Ladies were allowed to spend the night only in the hotel. A soldier received the commander had a corresponding coupon (within a month a private was entitled to 5-6 of them), underwent a medical examination, upon arrival at the brothel he registered the coupon, and handed over the counterfoil to the office of the military unit, washed himself (the regulations stipulated that the soldier be given a bar of soap, a small towel and 3- x condoms)... According to the surviving data in Stalino, a visit to a brothel cost a soldier 3 marks (put into the cash register) and lasted an average of 15 minutes. Brothels existed in Stalino until August 1943.

In Europe.

During the fighting in Europe, the Wehrmacht did not have the opportunity to create a brothel in every major population center. The relevant field commandant gave consent to the creation of such institutions only where sufficient numbers were stationed a large number of German soldiers and officers. In many ways, one can only guess about the real activities of these brothels. Field commandants took responsibility for the equipment of brothels, which had to meet clearly defined hygienic standards. They set prices in brothels, determined the internal regulations of brothels and made sure that there was a sufficient number of available women there at any time.
Brothels were required to have bathrooms with hot and cold water and a mandatory bathroom. Each “visiting room” had to have a poster “Sexual intercourse without contraception is strictly prohibited!” Any use of sadomasochistic paraphernalia and devices was strictly prosecuted by law. But the military authorities turned a blind eye to the trade in erotic pictures and pornographic magazines.
Not every woman was hired as a prostitute. Ministry officials carefully selected candidates for sex service for soldiers and officers. As you know, the Germans considered themselves the highest Aryan race, and peoples such as, for example, the Dutch or Finns, according to certain criteria, were related to the Aryans. Therefore, in Germany they monitored incest very strictly, and marriages between Aryans and close associates were not encouraged. There was no need to talk about non-Aryans. It was taboo. The Gestapo even had a special department for “ethnic community and health care.” His functions included control “over the seed fund of the Reich.” A German who joined sexual intercourse with a Polish or Ukrainian woman, they could be sent to a concentration camp for “criminal squandering of the Reich’s seed fund.” Rapists and revelers (unless, of course, they served in the elite SS troops) were identified and punished. The same department monitored the purity of the blood of prostitutes in field brothels, and at first the criteria were very strict. Only true German women who grew up in the internal, native German lands of Bavaria, Saxony or Silesia had the right to work in officer brothels. They had to be at least 175 cm tall, always fair-haired, with blue or light gray eyes and have good manners.
Doctors and paramedics from military units had to provide brothels not only with soap, towels and disinfectants, but also with a sufficient number of condoms. The latter, by the way, until the end of the war will be centrally supplied from the Main Sanitary Directorate in Berlin.

Only air raids prevented the immediate delivery of such goods to the front. Even when supply problems began to arise in the Third Reich, and rubber was provided for certain industries on a special schedule, the Nazis never skimped on condoms for their own soldiers. In addition to the brothels themselves, soldiers could purchase condoms in buffets, kitchens and from supply officials.
But the most amazing thing about this system is not even that. It's all about the notorious German punctuality. German command could not allow soldiers to use sexual services whenever they wanted, and the priestesses of love themselves worked according to the mood. Everything was taken into account and calculated: “production standards” were established for each prostitute, and they were not taken out of thin air, but were scientifically substantiated. To begin with, German officials divided all brothels into categories: soldiers, non-commissioned officers (sergeants), sergeant majors (sergeant majors) and officers. In soldiers' brothels, the state was supposed to have prostitutes in the ratio: one per 100 soldiers. For sergeants, this figure was reduced to 75. But in the officers' quarters, one prostitute served 50 officers. In addition, a specific customer service plan was established for the priestesses of love. To receive a salary at the end of the month, a soldier's prostitute had to serve at least 600 clients per month (assuming that every soldier has the right to relax with a girl five to six times a month)!
True, such “high indicators” were assigned to bed workers in ground forces. In the aviation and navy, which in Germany were considered privileged branches of the military, the “production standards” were much lower. A prostitute who served Goering’s “iron falcons” had to receive 60 clients a month, and according to the staff in aviation field hospitals it was supposed to have
one prostitute for every 20 pilots and one for every 50 ground staff. But we still had to fight for a cushy place at the airbase.
Of all the countries and peoples who participated in the war, the Germans took the most responsible approach to sexual servicing of their soldiers.

Camp of Catherine's soldiers. Illustration by Alexander Benois for the publication “Pictures on Russian History.” 1912 Wikimedia Commons

A recruit of the 18th century, after a long journey, ended up in his regiment, which became a home for young soldiers - after all, service in the 18th century was lifelong. Only since 1793 its term was limited to 25 years. The recruit took an oath that forever separated him from his former life; received from the treasury a hat, caftan, cape, camisole with pants, tie, boots, shoes, stockings, undershirts and trousers.

“The Colonel’s Instructions for the Cavalry Regiment” of 1766 ordered that privates be taught to “clean and dry their trousers, gloves, baldric and sword belt, tie a hat, put a casket on it and put on boots, put spurs on them, graft a braid, put on a uniform, and then stand in the required a soldier’s figure, to walk simply and march... and when he gets used to all this, begin to teach rifle techniques, horse and foot exercise.” It took a lot of time to teach a peasant’s son to behave in a smart manner, “so that the peasant’s mean habit, dodging, grimacing, scratching during a conversation would be completely exterminated from him.” The soldiers had to shave, but they were allowed to grow a mustache; They wore their hair long, down to their shoulders, and on special days they powdered it with flour. In the 1930s, soldiers were ordered to wear curls and braids.

It took a lot of time “for the peasant’s mean habit, evasion, grimace, scratching during conversation to be completely exterminated from him.”

Coming to a company or squadron, yesterday's peasant community members joined their usual form of organization - a soldier's artel (“so that there were at least eight people in the mess”). In the absence of a developed supply system (and the usual shops and stores for us), Russian soldiers adapted to provide themselves with everything they needed. Old-timers trained newcomers, experienced and skillful ones purchased additional provisions with artel money, repaired ammunition themselves and sewed uniforms and shirts from government-issued cloth and linen, and efficient workers were hired to earn money at billets. Money from salaries, earnings and bonuses was transferred to the artel treasury, at the head of which the soldiers elected a sedate and authoritative “expenditer”, or company leader.

This arrangement of military life made Russian army XVIII century socially and nationally homogeneous. The feeling of connection in battle provided mutual assistance and supported the soldier’s morale. From the very first days, the recruit was inspired that now “he is no longer a peasant, but a soldier, who, by his name and rank, is superior to all his previous ranks, differs from them indisputably in honor and glory,” since he, “not sparing his life, ensures his fellow citizens, defends the fatherland... and thus deserves the gratitude and mercy of the Sovereign, the gratitude of fellow countrymen and the prayers of spiritual ranks.” The recruits were told the history of their regiment with mention of the battles where this regiment participated, and the names of heroes and commanders. In the army, yesterday’s “mean man” ceased to be a serf, if he had been one before. A peasant boy became a “sovereign servant” and in an era of constant wars could rise to the rank of non-commissioned officer and even, if lucky, to chief officer. "Table of Ranks" of Peter I opened the way to obtaining a noble title— in this way, approximately a quarter of the infantry officers of Peter the Great’s army “came into the public eye.” For exemplary service, a salary increase, a medal, and promotion to corporal and sergeant were provided. “Faithful and true servants of the fatherland” were transferred from the army to the guard, received medals for battles; For distinguished service, soldiers were paid “a ruble” with a glass of wine.

Having seen distant lands on campaigns, the serviceman broke with his former life forever. The regiments, consisting of former serfs, did not hesitate to suppress popular unrest, both in the 18th and 19th centuries. 19th centuries the soldier did not feel like a peasant. And in everyday practice, the soldier got used to living at the expense of ordinary people. Throughout the 18th century, the Russian army did not have barracks. In peacetime, it was billeted in the houses of rural and urban residents, who were supposed to provide the military with quarters, beds and firewood. Exemption from this duty was a rare privilege.

In everyday practice, the soldier got used to living at the expense of ordinary people.

On short days of rest from battles and campaigns, the soldiers walked with all their might. In 1708, during the difficult Northern War, the brave dragoons “became quartered in the towns. Wine and beer were collected to the wagon train. And some members of the gentry drank too much. They vilified them vehemently, and also beat them in the name of their sovereign. But fornication still appeared. They sent the shwadron gentry into the nooks and crannies of the dragoons. Those children were young and the girls and women had no way out of these whores "Nobles"- nobles (gentry) who served in the dragoon squadron (“shkvadron”). It was these young nobles who did not allow women passage.. Our colonel and worthy cavalier Mikhail Faddeich Chulishov ordered to frighten all those who are impudent and beat them to the batogs.<…>And those dragoons and granodiers who came out of small battles - they rested and drank kumiss from the Kalmyks and Tatars, flavored with vodka, and then fought with their fists with the neighboring regiment. Where we reproached, fought and lost our bellies, and where you hovered and lost our lives Svei- Swedes. were afraid. And in the distant shvadron they staggered and barked obscenely, and the colonels did not know what to do. By the sovereign's command, the most malicious were caught and broadcast and fought on goats in batogs in front of the entire front. And our two from the squadron also got dragoon Akinfiy Krask and Ivan Sofiykin. They were hanged by the neck. And Krask’s tongue fell out from being strangled, so much so that it even reached the middle of his breasts, and many were amazed at this and went to look.” “Service notes (diary) of Simeon Kurosh, captain of the Shvadron of the Dragoons, Roslavsky.”.

And in peacetime, the station of troops in any place was perceived by ordinary people as a real disaster. “He debauchs his wife, dishonors his daughter... eats his chickens, his cattle, takes his money and beats him incessantly.<…>Every month, before leaving their quarters, they must gather peasants, question them about their claims, and take away their subscriptions.<…>If the peasants are unhappy, then they are given wine, they get drunk, and they sign. If, despite all this, they refuse to sign, then they are threatened, and they end up falling silent and signing,” General Langeron described the behavior of soldiers at the post in Catherine’s time.

The soldier debauchs his wife, dishonors his daughter, eats his chickens, his cattle, robs him of his money and beats him incessantly.

Officers had the opportunity for more refined leisure, especially abroad. “...All the other officers of our regiment, not only young but also elderly, were engaged in completely different matters and concerns. Almost all of them, the zealous desire to be in Konigsberg stemmed from a completely different source than mine. They had heard enough that Koenigsberg is a city that is filled with everything that can satisfy and satiate the passions of the young and those who spend their lives in luxury and debauchery, namely: that there were a great many taverns and billiards and other places of entertainment in it; that you can get anything you want in it, and most of all, that the female sex in it is too susceptible to lust and that there is a great many young women practicing dishonest needlework and selling their honor and chastity for money.
<…>Before even two weeks had passed, to my great surprise, I heard that there was not a single tavern, not a single wine cellar, not a single billiard room and not a single obscene house left in the city that was no longer known to our gentlemen officers. but that not only are they all on the list, but quite a few have already made close acquaintance partly with their mistresses, partly with other local residents, and have already taken some of them into their household and to support them, and all of them have already drowned in all the luxuries and debauchery “,” recalled former lieutenant of the Arkhangelsk infantry regiment Andrei Bolotov about his stay in Koenigsberg, conquered by Russian troops in 1758.

If “insolence” was allowed towards the peasants, then in the “front” discipline was demanded from the soldiers. Soldiers' poems from that era truthfully describe everyday drill:

You go on guard - so woe,
And when you come home, it will be doubled
On guard we suffer,
And when you change, it’s learning!..
The guards are holding their suspenders,
Expect stretching during training.
Stand straight and stretch
Don't chase the pokes,
Slaps and kicks
Take it like pancakes.

Violators of the “Military Article” were subject to punishment, which depended on the degree of the offense and was determined by a military court. “Witchcraft” was punishable by burning, and desecration of icons was punishable by beheading. The most common punishment in the army was the “spitzruten chase,” when the offender was marched with his hands tied to a gun between two ranks of soldiers, who struck him on the back with thick rods. Those who committed an offense for the first time were led through the entire regiment 6 times, those who committed an offense again - 12 times. They were strictly questioned for poor maintenance of weapons, for deliberate damage to them, or for “leaving a gun in the field”; Sellers and buyers were punished for selling or losing their uniforms. For repeating this offense three times, the perpetrator was sentenced to death. Common crimes for servicemen were theft, drunkenness and fights. Punishment followed for “inattention in formation”, for “being late in formation”. Anyone who is late for the first time “will be taken on guard or for two hours, three fuzes each.” Fusee- smoothbore flintlock gun. on the shoulder". Those who were late for the second time were subject to arrest for two days or “six muskets per shoulder.” Whoever was late for the third time was punished with spitzrutens. Talking in the ranks was punishable by “deprivation of salary.” For negligent guard duty in peacetime, a soldier faced “serious punishment”, and in wartime - the death penalty.

“Witchcraft” was punishable by burning, and desecration of icons was punishable by beheading.

Escape was especially severely punished. Back in 1705, a decree was issued according to which, of the three fugitives caught, one was executed by lot, and the other two were sent to eternal hard labor. The execution took place in the regiment from which the soldier fled. Flight from the army was widespread, and the government had to issue special appeals to deserters with a promise of forgiveness for those who voluntarily returned to duty. In the 1730s, the situation of soldiers worsened, leading to an increase in the number of fugitives, especially among recruits. Punishment measures were also increased. The fugitives faced either execution or hard labor. One of the decrees of the Senate in 1730 reads: “Which recruits learn to run abroad and are caught, then from the first breeders, for fear of others, be executed by death, hanged; and for the rest, who are not factory owners themselves, to inflict political death and exile to Siberia to do government work.”

A common joy in a soldier's life was receiving a salary. It was different and depended on the type of troops. The soldiers of the internal garrisons were paid the least - their salary in the 60s of the 18th century was 7 rubles. 63 kopecks in year; and the cavalrymen received the most - 21 rubles. 88 kop. If you consider that, for example, a horse cost 12 rubles, then this was not so little, but the soldiers did not see this money. Some went to debts or into the hands of resourceful sutlers, and some went into the artel cash register. It also happened that the colonel appropriated these soldiers' pennies for himself, forcing the rest of the regiment officers to steal, since they all had to sign the expense items.

The soldier squandered the rest of his salary in a tavern, where sometimes, in a dashing spirit, he could “scold everyone obscenely and call himself a king” or argue: with whom exactly is Empress Anna Ioannovna “living fornicating” - with Duke Biron or with General Minikh? The drinking buddies, as expected, immediately informed, and the chatterbox had to justify himself with the usual “immense drunkenness” in such matters. IN best case scenario the matter ended with “persecution of spitsruten” in the native regiment, in the worst case - with a whip and exile to distant garrisons.

The soldier could argue with whom exactly Empress Anna Ioannovna is “living fornicatingly”—with Duke Biron or with General Minich?

Bored at the garrison service, the young soldier Semyon Efremov once shared with a colleague: “Pray to God that the Turk rises up, then we’ll get out of here.” He escaped punishment only by explaining his desire to start a war by saying that “while he’s young, he can serve.” The old servicemen, who had already smelled gunpowder, thought not only about exploits - among the “material evidence” in the files of the Secret Chancellery, the conspiracies confiscated from them were preserved: “Strengthen, Lord, in the army and in battle and in every place from the Tatars and from the various faithful and of unfaithful tongues and from all kinds of military weapons... but make me, your servant Michael, like a leftist by force.” Others were driven by melancholy and drill, like private Semyon Popov, to terrible blasphemy: the soldier wrote with his blood a “letter of apostasy,” in which he “called upon the devil to come to him and demanded wealth from him... so that through that wealth he could leave military service.”

And yet the war gave a chance to the lucky ones. Suvorov, who knew the psychology of a soldier very well, in his instruction “The Science of Victory” mentioned not only speed, pressure and bayonet attack, but also “holy booty” - and told how in Izmail, which was taken by a brutal assault under his command, soldiers “divided gold and silver by the handful " True, not everyone was so lucky. To the rest, “whoever remained alive - to him honor and glory!” — the same “Science of Victory” promised.

However, the army suffered the greatest losses not from the enemy, but from illness and lack of doctors and medicines. “Walking around the camp at sunset, I saw some regimental soldiers digging holes for their dead brethren, others already burying, and others completely buried. In the army, many people suffer from diarrhea and putrid fevers; when officers settle into the kingdom of the dead, for whom during their illness they are certainly better looked after, and for money doctors use their own medicines, then how can soldiers not die, left in illness to the mercy of fate and for which medicines are either dissatisfied or Not available in other regiments at all. Diseases are born from the fact that the army stands in a square, a quadrangle, that excreted feces, even though the wind blows a little, spreads a very bad smell through the air, that the estuary water, being used raw, is very unhealthy, and vinegar is not shared with the soldiers, which On the shore, dead corpses are visible everywhere, drowned in the estuary in the three battles that took place there,” this is how army official Roman Tsebrikov described the siege of the Turkish fortress of Ochakov in 1788.

The majority suffered the usual soldier’s fate: endless marches across the steppe or mountains in the heat or mud, bivouacs and overnight stays in the open air, long evenings in “winter apartments” in peasant huts.

If you look closely at this military beauty, you can imagine its teeth, and the gaps filled with human flesh. 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 They play snowballs in the Balkans. 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 tanks T-34-76, are preparing for an attack during 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, as 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, also showed. 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 took part in air battles in France as a fighter pilot on 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, survivors of German concentration camps ended up in our camps. Where they didn't get out. "Okay, rush about..."

32. The wedding of the SS Unterscharführer from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler takes place in the open air (possibly an airfield), because SS men did not get married in church. Behind him are friends from his native Luftwaffe

33. A German in a captured Belgian wedge. Very, very happy to ride. Like any of us.

34. "Tiger" fell into an icy drainage ditch near Leningrad, February 19, 1943. The man doesn't seem to come to his senses. Of course, it’s just that there was no one stronger than him; there was no one within the aimed shot radius of the 88-mm cannon. And suddenly... Poor guy.

43. but, in a word, because of a few. Instead of shooting at each other, they would learn to distinguish between their people, high-ranking scoundrels. But the unfortunate poor things don't know how

44. - everyone, everyone can’t do it, equally. Just know, they are dragging each other because of the Ural or Krupp armor: