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The post-war generation came to learn about the war through different sources
– some read about it in history books, some in war commanders’ memoirs,
but mostly, people got an idea about it from books and films.
But what laid bare the essence of the war to a single detail were the letters
written by those who never came back from the battlefields. The recently
published collection of such letters is called “Wait for Me. Letters from
the Front.”
It is thanks to those the letters were addressed to – wives, or, to be
more exact, widows, fiancees and children – that the letters have been
preserved and brought to the attention of the general public. The letters
survived wrapped in pieces of coarse linen, stored in ladies bags without
handles and school bags people never had the heart of throwing away as
they moved from place to place…
157 letters have been preserved, written by those of whom they said in
telegrams delivered as “fallen the death of a hero.” They were written
in trenches and dug-outs, under constant fire and falling bombs…
…This letter was written in a bullet-riddled tank, by Alexander Golikov.
“The battle is a deadly one. Our tank has been brought to a standstill
by enemy fire. Fascists are everywhere. We’ve been returning fire all throughout
the day. The street is strewn with bodies in green uniform – they are like
immovable lizards… There are two of us left in the disfigured tank – Pavel
Abramov and me… Not a drop of water. The tank shudders under enemy shells
but we’re holding out. We’re running out of ammunition. Pavel is pounding
at the enemy with aimed fire and I’m “talking” to you, as before. Your
portrait is on my knees. I know this is the last time… Through holes in
the tank I can see trees in blossom and flowers, so bright and beautiful.
I’m sure that after the war your life will be equally bright and beautiful.
For that I’m ready to die!”
The rooted tank was surrounded by scores of enemy guns but was still holding
out. And when one tank man was killed, the other carried on. When he ran
out of ammunition, he set fire to the tank and died with it. Local residents
inscribed on their tombstone: “Two tank men”. The letter, which was found
in the charred tank, by some miracle reached the addressee.
“I can’t wait to learn who we’ve had – a son or a daughter..”, begins his
letter to his wife Sergeant-Major Nikolai Glazyrin. But he didn’t
live to see his child. A few days after he sent the letter he was killed
shielding a comrade against enemy fire with his own body.
“The matter of primary concern is to rout the Hitler army as soon as possible
and liberate our Motherland,” writes Private Okhtov from infantry division
341. “Help as much as you can from the home front, mobilize everybody for
the purpose and the Red Army will crush the Nazis and we’ll then be liberated
from the invaders.
My brothers-in-arms, lay your hopes with me, like you, I’ll fight to the
last breath against the Hitler army.”
“You’re not the only people worried about us,” wrote soldier Sharaf Arnazarov
to his parents in Tajikistan. “Don’t worry for me, for the whole country
is thinking of us.
Dear brothers and sisters, help defend your country, I’m with good fellows,
have a good commander and feel well”.
The next letter bears no date. It is clear, however, that Lieutenant Pyotr
Glukhov wrote this letter to his fianc?e before December 5th, 1943, the
day he was killed. “I always write you after battle, - the letter said,
– but if you get this letter it’ll mean I’m dead fallen with the thought
of you. I’m writing the letter before going into battle so that you know
how much I loved you, how endlessly dear you were to me… I’m fighting for
you.. For me, you and my Motherland are one, I cannot separate the two.
Your eyes are the eyes of our Motherland… Good-bye! Be happy without me.
Best regards… Pyotr.”
Each letter printed in the book is followed by a short commentary, summing
up what little is known about the author. All commentaries are alike saying
that the person died the death of a hero under Stalingrad, or died in medical
and sanitary battalion from severe wounds, or went missing…
“Don’t respond to this letter…” In the book “Letters from the Front” there
are letters of last will, written by people who knew for sure they would
not come back from the next mission.
“December 5th, 1942. Hello, my dear sons, Valera and Tolya! My dear darlings!
I’m now fighting for Stalingrad, for the Volga. If I die I want you to
know that your father was commander and pilot in the Great Patriotic War
and be proud of that. Live to love your Motherland and your people and
let my creed – “Always be the first!” - be your creed too.” The author
of the letter – squadron deputy commander Sergei Smirnov – was killed in
an air battle near Stalingrad on December 8th, 1942, three days after he
wrote the letter…
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