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As a correspondent of the “Krasnaya Zvezda” newspaper and one of the most
popular reporters covering the war from the frontlines, Konstantin Simonov
saw a lot and his reports, poems and stories, written in a restrained,
manly manner, took the fancy of many people. His works reflected the truth
of everyday life and provided a profound insight into the inner worlds
of people who were facing death daily.
Simonov witnessed and described in his stories many crucial battles of
the war. One of his trips to the battle fields resulted in a poem,
entitled “Wait For Me”, which won widespread public acclaim and was printed
by hundreds of newspapers. In this life-asserting poem Simonov believes
in a better tomorrow and an everlasting love that sees people through the
ordeals of war.
Newspaper clips with Simonov’s poems were found in the pockets of those
killed in action. Soldiers often got the poems in letters from home and
read them before going into battle. Like volunteers, the poems made their
way into the army ranks.:
“It seemed to us in those days, the wartime writer and Hero of the Soviet
Union Vladimir Karpov says, that we all knew Simonov personally – such
was the extent to which his verse found a response in our hearts, such
was his knowledge of the front life. That’s why his poems for us were inseparable
from our Motherland, our home and family. In his works the deep patriotic
feelings of the day found expression in simple, soothing words. In fact,
that was what we were fighting for.”
“Everybody of our staff and me in particular admired the courage of correspondent
Konstantin Simonov, General David Ortenberg, the former chief editor of
“Krasnaya Zvezda” recalls. I knew him long enough and we often traveled
to the fronts together. I particularly remember our trip to Stalingrad
in September 1942, to where the Germans had managed to break through to
the Volga.”
In his reminiscences of Stalingrad in September 1942 Konstantin Simonov
wrote: “Stalingrad is besieged by the Germans. To locals the word “Stalingrad”
has come to mean far more than the city center, Lenin Street or the outskirts
– now it is being understood as the whole of the 65-kilometer strip along
the Volga and the whole of the city with its suburbs, factory compounds
and workers settlements… But this city is a far cry from the one we used
to observe from the riverboats floating across the Volga. We can see no
more of the pretty white houses happily crowding uphill, no more of the
light quays on the shore. What comes before us is a smoky and gray city,
enveloped in perpetual fire and wrapped in ashes…”
Thousands of women and children continued to live in the city finding shelter
in the ruins of buildings, basements, underground communications
and even caves they had made for themselves on the Volga slopes. Some were
hiding in shell-holes on Mamaev Hill in the very heat of the battles. Many
were killed, of course. As he first came to Stalingrad, Konstantin Simonov
was dumbfounded. “We were crossing a bridge across a pit and I’ll never
forget what I saw there: riddled with dugout caves the pit looked like
an anthill swarming with activity. The cave entrances had charred planks
and rags serving as doors. Anything that could come handy was collected
and went into use.”
Simonov wrote of the inhuman sufferings of Stalingraders, both soldiers
and civilians. But in his later works he tried to cast off any sentimental
notes. “In deadly battle tears are useless…”
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