How soldiers were entertained in World War II. Front-line life of the Red Army in the Great Patriotic War. everything behind the scenes. Factory of true Aryans

Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk during the World War

The subject of the history of the Great Patriotic War is multifaceted. For many years, the war was described in terms of political leadership, the state of the fronts in relation to "manpower" and equipment. The role of the individual in the war was highlighted as part of a gigantic mechanism. Particular attention was paid to the ability Soviet soldier fulfill the order of the commander at any cost, readiness to die for the Motherland. The prevailing image of the war was questioned during the Khrushchev "thaw". It was then that the memoirs of war veterans, notes of war correspondents, front-line letters, diaries began to be published - sources that are least affected. They raised "difficult topics", revealed "white spots". The theme of man in war came to the fore. Since this topic is vast and diverse, it is not possible to cover it within the framework of one article.

On the basis of front-line letters, memoirs, diary entries, as well as unpublished sources, the authors nevertheless try to highlight some of the problems of front-line life during the Patriotic War of 1941-1945. How a soldier lived at the front, in what conditions he fought, how he was dressed, what he ate, what he did in short breaks between battles - all these questions are important, it was the solution of these everyday problems that largely ensured victory over the enemy. At the initial stage of the war, soldiers wore a tunic with a fold-down collar, with special overlays in the elbow area. Usually these linings were made of tarpaulin. The gymnast was worn with pants that had the same canvas lining around the knees. On the feet are boots and windings. It was they who were the main grief of the soldiers, especially the infantry, since it was this kind of troops that went to them. They were uncomfortable, fragile and heavy. This type of shoe was driven by cost savings. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was published in 1939, the army of the USSR increased to 5.5 million people in two years. It was impossible to put everyone in boots.

They saved on leather, boots were sewn from the same tarpaulin 2. Until 1943, a rolling over the left shoulder was an indispensable attribute of an infantryman. This is an overcoat, which, for mobility, was rolled up and put on so that the soldier did not experience any inconvenience when shooting. In other cases, the roll gave a lot of trouble. If in the summer, during the transition, infantry was attacked by German aircraft, then because of the roll, the soldiers were visible on the ground. Because of it, it was impossible to quickly run away to the field or shelter. And in the trenches they simply threw her under her feet - it would not have been possible to turn around with her. The soldiers of the Red Army had three types of uniforms: everyday, guard and weekend, each of which had two options - summer and winter. In the period from 1935 to 1941, numerous minor changes were made to the clothes of the Red Army.

The field uniform of the 1935 model was made from matter of various shades of khaki. The main distinguishing element was the tunic, which, in cut, the same for soldiers and, resembled a Russian peasant shirt. The gymnasts were also summer and winter. Summer uniforms were made of cotton fabric of a lighter color, and winter uniforms were made of woolen fabric, which was distinguished by a richer, darker color. The officers girded themselves with a wide leather belt with a brass buckle adorned with a five-pointed star. The soldiers wore a simpler belt with an open buckle. In the field, soldiers and officers could wear two types of tunics: everyday and weekend. The output gymnast was often called French. The second main element of the uniform was trousers, also called riding breeches. Soldiers' bloomers had rhombic reinforcing stripes on their knees. As shoes, officers wore high leather boots, and soldiers wore boots with windings or tarpaulin boots. In winter, military personnel wore an overcoat made of brownish-gray cloth. The soldier's and officer's overcoats, which were identical in cut, nevertheless differed in quality. The Red Army used several types of headgear. Most of the units wore budyonovki, which had a winter and summer version. However, at the end of the 30s, the summer Budyonovka

everywhere superseded by a cap. Officers wore caps in the summer. In units stationed in Central Asia and the Far East, wide-brimmed panamas were worn instead of caps. In 1936, a new type of helmet began to be supplied to the Red Army. In 1940, significant changes were made to the design of the helmet. Officers everywhere wore caps, the cap was an attribute of officer power. Tankers wore a special helmet made of leather or canvas. In summer, a lighter version of the helmet was used, and in winter they wore a helmet with a fur lining. The equipment of Soviet soldiers was strict and simple. A common was a canvas duffel bag of the 1938 model. However, not everyone had real duffel bags, so after the start of the war, many soldiers threw away gas masks and used gas mask bags as duffel bags. According to the charter, each soldier armed with a rifle had to have two leather cartridge bags. The bag could store four clips for the Mosin rifle - 20 rounds. Cartridge bags were worn on the waist belt, one on the side.

The officers used a small bag, which was made of either leather or canvas. There were several types of such bags, some of them were worn over the shoulder, some were hung from the waist belt. On top of the bag was a small tablet. Some officers wore large leather tablets, which were hung from a waist belt under the left arm. In 1943, the Red Army adopted a new uniform, radically different from that used until then. The system of insignia has also changed. The new tunic was very similar to the one used in the tsarist army and had a stand-up collar fastened with two buttons. Shoulder straps became the main distinguishing feature of the new uniform. There were two types of shoulder straps: field and everyday. Field shoulder straps were made of khaki fabric. On shoulder straps near the buttons they wore a small gold or silver badge, indicating the type of troops. Officers wore a cap with a black leather chinstrap. The color of the band at the cap depended on the type of troops. In winter, generals and colonels of the Red Army had to wear hats, and the rest of the officers received ordinary earflaps. The rank of sergeants and foremen was determined by the number and width of the stripes on shoulder straps.

The edging of shoulder straps had the colors of the military branch. Of the small arms in the early years of the war, the legendary “three-line”, the three-line Mosin rifle of the 1891 model, enjoyed great respect and love among the soldiers. Many soldiers gave them names and considered the rifle a real comrade-in-arms that never fails in difficult combat conditions. But, for example, the SVT-40 rifle was not loved because of its capriciousness and strong recoil. Interesting information about the life and way of life of soldiers is contained in such sources of information as memoirs, front-line diaries and letters, which are least of all subject to ideological influence. For example, it was traditionally believed that soldiers lived in dugouts and pillboxes. This is not entirely true, most of the soldiers were located in the trenches, trenches, or simply in the nearest forest without any regrets. It was always very cold in the pillboxes at that time there were no autonomous heating and autonomous gas supply systems that we now use, for example, to heat the dacha, and therefore the soldiers preferred to spend the night in the trenches, throwing branches on the bottom and stretching a cape on top.

The food of the soldiers was simple “Schi and porridge is our food” - this proverb accurately characterizes the rations of soldiers' bowlers in the first months of the war and, of course, best friend a soldier's cracker, a favorite delicacy, especially in field conditions, for example, on a military march. Also, a soldier's life during short periods of rest cannot be imagined without the music of songs and books that gave birth to good mood and uplifting spirits. But still, the most important role in the victory over fascism was played by the psychology of the Russian soldier, who is able to cope with any everyday difficulties, overcome fear, survive and win. During the war, the treatment of patients consisted in the use of various ointments, and the Demyanovich method was also widespread, according to which naked patients were rubbed into the body - from top to bottom - a solution of hyposulfite, and then hydrochloric acid.

At the same time, pressure is felt on the skin, similar to rubbing with wet sand. After treatment, the patient may feel itching for another 3-5 days, as a reaction to dead ticks. At the same time, many soldiers during the war managed to get sick with these diseases dozens of times. In general, washing in the bath and undergoing sanitization, both the “old men” and the replenishment arriving in the unit, took place, mainly being in the second echelon, that is, without taking a direct part in the battles. Moreover, washing in the bath was most often timed to coincide with spring and autumn. In summer, the fighters had the opportunity to swim in rivers, streams, and collect rainwater. In winter, it was not always possible not only to find a ready-made bathhouse built by the local population, but also to build it ourselves - a temporary one. When one of the Smershev heroes in Bogomolov's famous novel "The Moment of Truth (In August 1944)" pours freshly prepared stew before an unexpected transition to another place, this is a case typical of front-line life. The relocations of units were sometimes so frequent that not only military fortifications, but also amenity premises were often abandoned shortly after they were built. In the morning, the Germans bathed in the bathhouse, in the afternoon - the Magyars, and in the evening - ours. Soldier life can be divided into several categories related to where one or another unit was located. The greatest hardships fell on people on the front line, there was no usual washing, shaving, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

There is a common cliché: they say, war is war, but lunch is on schedule. In fact, such a routine did not exist, and even more so there was no menu. I must say that at that time it was decided not to let the enemy capture collective farm cattle. They tried to bring him out, and where it was possible, they handed him over to military units. The situation near Moscow was completely different in the winter of 1941-1942, when it was forty degrees below zero. There was no talk of any dinner at that time. The soldiers either advanced or retreated, regrouped forces, and as such there was no positional war, which means that it was impossible even to somehow arrange life. Usually, once a day, the foreman brought a thermos with gruel, which was simply called "food." If this happened in the evening, then there was dinner, and in the afternoon, which happened extremely rarely, lunch. They cooked what was enough food, somewhere nearby, so that the enemy could not see the kitchen smoke. And each soldier was measured out with a ladle in a bowler hat. A loaf of bread was cut with a two-handed saw, because in the cold it turned into ice. The fighters hid their "soldering" under their overcoats in order to warm them up a little. At that time, every soldier had a spoon behind the top of his boot, as we called it, a "trench tool" aluminum stamping.

She served not only as a cutlery, but also was a kind of " calling card". The explanation for this is as follows: there was a belief that if you carry a soldier’s medallion in your trouser pocket-piston: a small black plastic pencil case, in which there should be a note with data (last name, first name, patronymic, year of birth, where you were called from), then you will definitely be killed. Therefore, most of the fighters simply did not fill out this sheet, and some even threw away the medallion itself. But all their data was scratched out on a spoon. And therefore, even now, when the search engines find the remains of soldiers who died during the Great Patriotic War, their names are established precisely by spoons. During the offensive, dry rations of crackers or biscuits, canned food were given out, but they really appeared in the diet when the Americans announced their entry into the war and began to provide Soviet Union help.

The dream of any soldier, by the way, was fragrant overseas sausages in cans. Alcohol was given only at the forefront. How did it happen? The foreman came with a can, and in it there was some kind of cloudy liquid of light coffee color. A bowler hat was poured into the compartment, and then each was measured with a cap from a 76-mm projectile: it was unscrewed before the shot, releasing the fuse. It was 100 or 50 grams and no one knew what strength. I drank, “bite” on my sleeve, that’s all the “drinking”. In addition, from the rear of the front, this alcohol-containing liquid reached the front line through many, as they say now, intermediaries, so both its volume and “degrees” decreased. Films often show that a military unit is located in a village, where living conditions are more or less human: you can wash yourself, even go to the bathhouse, sleep on the bed ... But this could only be in relation to headquarters located at some distance from the front line.

And on the most advanced conditions were completely different, the most severe. The Soviet brigades formed in Siberia had good equipment: felt boots, ordinary and flannelette footcloths, thin and warm underwear, cotton trousers, and also wadded pants, a tunic, a quilted padded jacket, an overcoat, a balaclava, a winter hat and dog fur mittens. A person can endure even the most extreme conditions. Soldiers slept, most often, in the forest: you chop spruce branches, make a bed out of them, cover yourself with these paws from above and lie down for the night. Of course, there were also frostbite. In our army, they were taken to the rear only when there was almost nothing left of the unit, except for its number, banner and a handful of fighters. Then the formations and units were sent for re-formation. And the Germans, Americans and British used the principle of change: units and subunits were not always at the forefront, they were exchanged for fresh troops. Moreover, the soldiers were given leave to travel home.

In the Red Army, out of the entire 5 millionth army, only a few received vacations for special merits. There was a problem of lice, especially in the warm season. But the sanitary services worked quite effectively in the troops. There were special "washers" cars with closed van bodies. Uniforms were loaded there and treated with hot air. But this was done in the rear. And on the front line, soldiers kindled a fire so as not to violate the rules of disguise, took off their underwear and brought it closer to the fire. Lice only cracked, burning! I would like to note that even in such harsh conditions of unsettled life in the troops there was no typhus, which is usually carried by lice. Interesting facts: 1) A special place was occupied by the use of alcohol by personnel. Almost immediately after the start of the war, alcohol was officially legalized at the highest state level and included in the daily supply of personnel.

The soldiers considered vodka not only as a means of psychological relief, but also as an indispensable medicine in the conditions of Russian frosts. Without it it was impossible, especially in winter; bombing, shelling, tank attacks had such an effect on the psyche that only vodka was saved. 2) Letters from home meant a lot to the soldiers at the front. Not all soldiers received them, and then, listening to the reading of letters sent to their comrades, everyone experienced it as if they were their own. In response, they wrote mainly about the conditions of front-line life, leisure, simple soldier entertainment, friends and commanders. 3) There were also moments of rest at the front. There was a guitar or an accordion. But the real holiday was the arrival of amateur performances. And there was no more grateful spectator than a soldier who, perhaps in a few hours, had to go to his death. It was difficult for a man in the war, it was difficult to watch a dead comrade fall nearby, it was difficult to dig hundreds of graves. But our people lived and survived in this war. The unpretentiousness of the Soviet soldier, his heroism made the victory closer every day.

Literature.

1. Abdulin M.G. 160 pages from a soldier's diary. - M .: Young Guard, 1985.

2. Great Patriotic War 1941-1945: Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1985.

3. Gribachev N.M. When you become a soldier… / N.M. Gribachev. – M.: DOSAAF USSR, 1967.

4. Lebedintsev A.Z., Mukhin Yu.I. Fathers are commanders. - M.: Yauza, EKSMO, 2004. - 225 p.

5. Lipatov P. Uniform of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht. - M .: Publishing house "Technology - youth", 1995.

6. Sinitsyn A.M. Nationwide assistance to the front / A.M. Sinitsyn. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1985. - 319 p.

7. Khrenov M.M., Konovalov I.F., Dementyuk N.V., Terovkin M.A. military clothing Armed Forces USSR and Russia (1917-1990s). - M .: Military Publishing House, 1999.

I.S. Ivanova

One generation on the shoulders?
Isn't it too much?
Trials and Contradictions
Isn't it too much?

Evgeny Dolmatovsky

Military photo and film chronicles in their best shots through the decades have conveyed to us the true image of a soldier - the main worker of the war. Not a poster fellow with a blush all over his cheek, but a simple fighter, in a shabby overcoat, a crumpled cap, in hastily wound windings, at the cost own life won that terrible war. After all, what we often see on TV can only remotely be called a war. “Soldiers and officers in bright and clean sheepskin coats, in beautiful hats with earflaps, in felt boots are moving across the screen! Their faces are as pure as morning snow. And where are the burned overcoats with the greasy left shoulder? It can’t be greasy!.. Where are the exhausted, sleepy, dirty faces?” - asks a veteran of the 217th Infantry Division Belyaev Valerian Ivanovich.

How a soldier lived at the front, in what conditions he fought, was afraid or did not know fear, froze or was shod, dressed, warmed, survived on dry rations or was fed hot porridge from the field kitchen to the full, what he did in short breaks between battles ...

The uncomplicated front-line life, which, nevertheless, was the most important factor in the war, became the subject of my study. Indeed, according to the same Valerian Ivanovich Belyaev, “memories of my stay at the front are connected for me not only with battles, sorties to the front line, but also with trenches, rats, lice, and the death of comrades.”

Work on the topic is a tribute to the memory of the dead and missing in that war. These people dreamed of an early victory and meeting with loved ones, hoping that they would return alive and unharmed. The war took them away, leaving us letters and photographs. In the photo - girls and women, young officers and experienced soldiers. Beautiful faces, smart and kind eyes. They still do not know what will happen to them all very soon ...

Getting down to 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, their combat effectiveness, largely depended on the organization of the life of the soldiers. The supply of troops, providing them with everything necessary at the time of retreat, exit from the encirclement differed sharply from the period when the Soviet troops switched to active offensive operations.

The first weeks, months of the war, for well-known reasons (the suddenness of the attack, sluggishness, short-sightedness, and sometimes outright mediocrity of military leaders) turned out to be the most difficult for our soldiers. All the main warehouses with stocks of material resources on the eve of the war were located 30-80 km from the state border. Such 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 their evacuation, or destroyed by enemy aircraft. For a long time, the provision of troops with hot food was not established, in the newly formed units there were no camp kitchens, kettles. 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 the wounded, and there was no one and nothing to provide assistance: “The property of sanitary institutions was destroyed by fires and enemy bombardments, the sanitary institutions being formed were left without property. There is a big shortage of dressings, narcotic drugs and sera in the troops.” (from the report of the headquarters Western Front Sanitary Directorate of the Red Army of June 30, 1941).

Near Unecha in 1941, the 137th Rifle Division, which at that time was part of the first 3rd and then the 13th armies, left the encirclement. Basically, they went out in an organized manner, in full uniform, with weapons, they tried not to stoop. “... In the villages they shaved, if possible. There was one emergency: a soldier stole a piece of bacon from the locals ... He was sentenced to death, and only after crying the women were pardoned. It was difficult to feed on the road, so we ate all the horses that were with us ... ”(from the memoirs of a military paramedic of the 137th Rifle Division Bogatykh I.I.)

Those who retreated and left the encirclement had one hope for the locals: “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. Women boiled, poured into barrels ... The only time for all the surroundings they ate well. And so all the time hungry, wet from the rain. We slept on the ground, chopped up spruce branches and dozed off ... We all weakened to the extreme. Many of the legs were swollen so that they did not fit into boots ... ”(from the memoirs of Stepantsev A.P., head of the chemical service of the 771st rifle regiment 137th Rifle Division).

The autumn of 1941 was especially difficult for the soldiers: “It snowed, it was very cold at night, many of their shoes were broken. From my boots there were only tops, which were the toes out. He wrapped the shoes with rags until he found old bast shoes in one village. All of us have become overgrown like bears, even the young have become like old people ... the need forced us to go and ask for a piece of bread. It was insulting and painful that we, the Russian people, are the masters of our country, but we go stealthily through it, through forests and ravines, we sleep on the ground, and even on trees. There were days when you completely forgot the taste of bread. I had to eat raw potatoes, beets, if found in the field, or even just viburnum, but it's bitter, you can't eat a lot of it. In the villages, requests for food were increasingly refused. It happened to hear this: “How tired of you ...” (from the memoirs of R. G. Khmelnov, a military paramedic of the 409th rifle regiment of the 137th rifle division). The soldiers suffered not only physically, but also mentally. It was difficult to endure the reproaches of the inhabitants who remained 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 starvation: “The horses were so exhausted that they had to be injected with caffeine before the campaign. I had a mare - you poke her - she falls, and she can’t stand up by herself anymore, she lifted her by the tail ... Somehow a horse was killed in a burst from an airplane, after half an hour the soldiers pulled away that there were no hooves left, only a tail ... Food was tight, I had to carry food on myself for many kilometers ... Even bread from bakeries was carried for 20-30 kilometers ... ”, - Stepantsev A.P. recalls his front-line everyday life.

Gradually, the country and the army recovered from the sudden attack of the Nazis, the supply of food and uniforms to the front was established. All this was done by special units - the Food and Feed Supply Service. But the rear forces did not always work quickly. The commander of the communications battalion of the 137th Infantry Division Lukyanuk F.M. recalls: “We were all surrounded, and after the battle, many of my fighters put on warm German uniforms under their overcoats and changed into German boots. I built my soldiers, I look - half, like Fritz ... "

Guseletov P.I., commissar of the 3rd battery of the 137th rifle division: “I arrived in the division in April ... I selected fifteen people in the companies ... All my recruits were tired, dirty, ragged and hungry. The first step was to put them in order. I got homemade soap, found threads, needles, scissors, with which the collective farmers sheared sheep, and began to shear, shave, patch holes and sew on buttons, wash clothes, wash ... "

Receipt new form for soldiers at the front - a whole event. After all, many fell into the unit in their civilian clothes or in overcoats from someone else's shoulder. In the “Order on the call for the mobilization of citizens born in 1925 and older before 1893, living in the territory liberated from occupation” for 1943, paragraph No. spoon, socks, two pairs of underwear, as well as the surviving uniforms of the Red Army.

War veteran Belyaev Valerian Ivanovich 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 frontline life. She served as a bed, and 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 from all sides. At first it is cold - you lie and shiver, and then it becomes warm from breathing. Or almost warm.

You get up after sleep - the overcoat froze to the ground. With a shovel, you cut off a layer of earth and raise a whole overcoat along with the earth. Then the earth itself will fall off.

The whole overcoat was my pride. In addition, a non-perforated overcoat protected better from cold and rain ... On the front line, it was generally forbidden to take off an overcoat. It was only allowed to loosen the waist belt ... And the song about the overcoat was:

My overcoat is marching, it is always with me

It is always like new, the edges are cut off,

Army harsh, my dear.

At the front, soldiers, longingly remembering their home and comfort, managed to more or less tolerably get settled on the front line. Most often, the fighters were located in trenches, trenches, less often in dugouts. But without a shovel, neither a trench nor a trench can be built. There were often not enough entrenching tools for everyone: “The shovels were given to us on one of the first days of our stay in the company. But here's the problem! For a company of 96 people, only 14 shovels were received. When they were given out, there was even a small dump ... The lucky ones began to dig in ... ”(from the memoirs of Belyaev V.I.).

And then a whole ode to the shovel: “A shovel in war is life! Dug a trench for yourself and lie still. Bullets are whistling, shells are exploding, their fragments are rushing with a short screech, you don’t care. A thick layer of earth protects you ... ”But a trench is an insidious thing. During the rains, water accumulated at the bottom of the trench, reaching the soldiers to the waist, or even higher. During shelling, one had to sit in such a trench for hours. To get out of it means to die. And they sat, otherwise it’s impossible, if you want to live, be patient. There will be a lull - you will wash, dry, rest, sleep.

I must say that during the war the country had very strict hygiene rules. In the military units located in the rear, inspections for lice were systematically carried out. In order not to pronounce this dissonant term, the wording "form 20 examination" was used. To do this, the company, without tunics, lined up in two lines. The foreman commanded: "Prepare for inspection in form 20!" Those standing in the ranks took off their undershirts to the sleeves and turned them inside out. The foreman walked along the line and the fighters, who had lice on their shirts, were sent to the sanitary inspection room. War veteran Valerian Ivanovich Belyaev recalls how he himself went through one of these sanitary checkpoints: “It was a bathhouse, in which there was a so-called“ fryer ”, that is, a chamber for frying (warming up) wearable things. While we were washing in the bath, all our things were warmed up in this “roaster” at a very high temperature. When we got our things back, they were so hot that we had to wait for them to cool down ... "Fryers" were in all garrisons and military units. And at the front, they also arranged such fryers. The soldiers called lice "the second enemy after the Nazis." Front-line doctors had to fight them mercilessly. “It happened at the crossing - only a halt, even in the cold everyone throws off their tunics and, well, crush them with grenades, only there is a crack. I will never forget the picture of how the captured Germans scratched furiously ... We never had typhoid, the lice were destroyed by sanitation. Once, out of zeal, even the tunic was burned along with the lice, only the medals remained, ”recalled Piorunsky V.D., 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 it at the forefront? And we came up with one way. They found a fire hose about twenty meters long, punched ten holes in it every meter, and drowned out its end. Water was boiled in gasoline barrels and continuously poured through a funnel into a hose, it flowed through the holes, and soldiers stood under the hose, washed and oohed with pleasure. Underwear was changed, and outerwear was roasted. Then a hundred grams, a sandwich in the teeth, and into the trenches. In this way, we quickly washed the entire regiment, that even from other units they came to us for experience ... "

Rest, and above all sleep, was worth its weight in gold in war. Sleep was always lacking at the front. On the front line at night, it was generally forbidden for everyone to sleep. During the day, half of the personnel could sleep, and the other half to monitor the situation.

According to the memoirs of Belyaev V.I., a veteran of the 217th Infantry Division, “during the campaign, sleep was even worse. They were not allowed to sleep for more than three hours a day. The soldiers literally fell asleep on the go. It was possible to observe such a picture. There is a column. Suddenly, one fighter breaks down and moves for some time next to the column, gradually moving away from it. So he reached the roadside ditch, stumbled and was already lying motionless. They run up to him and see that he is fast asleep. It is very difficult to push such a person and put them in a column! .. It was considered the greatest happiness to cling to any wagon. The lucky ones who did it got good sleep on the go.” Many slept for the future, because they knew that there might not be another opportunity like this.

A soldier at the front needed not only cartridges, rifles, shells. One of the main issues of military life is the supply of food to the army. Hungry won't win much. We have already mentioned how difficult it was for the troops in the first months of the war. In the future, the supply of food to the front was debugged, because for the disruption of supplies it was possible to lose 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 herring of rather large sizes ... 7 rye crackers and 25 pieces of sugar ... It was American sugar. A mound of salt was piled on the ground and it was announced that everyone could take it. I poured salt into a canned food jar, tied it in a rag and put it in a duffel bag. No one took the salt besides me… It was clear that I would have to go hungry.” (from the memoirs of Belyaev V.I.)

It was 1943, the country actively helped the front, giving it equipment, food, and people, but still the food was very modest.

A veteran of the Great Patriotic War, artilleryman Osnach Ivan Prokofievich recalls that dry rations included sausage, bacon, sugar, sweets, and stewed meat. The products were American made. They, the gunners, were supposed to be fed 3 times, but this norm was not respected.

The composition of dry rations included shag. Almost all the men in the war were heavy smokers. Many who did not smoke before the war did not part with cigarettes at the front: “It was bad with tobacco. They gave out shag as a smoke: 50 grams for two ... A small pack in a brown package. They were issued irregularly, and smokers suffered greatly ... As a non-smoking guy, shag was useless to me, and this determined my special position in the company. Smokers jealously protected me from bullets and shrapnel. Everyone understood very well that with my departure to the next world or to the hospital, an additional ration of shag would disappear from the company ... When they brought shag, a small dump arose around me. Everyone tried to convince me that I should give my ration of shag to him ... ”(from the memoirs of Belyaev V.I.). This determined the special role of shag in the war. Simple soldier songs were composed about her:

How do you receive a letter from your beloved,

Remember the distant lands

And smoke, and with a ring of smoke

Your sadness flies!

Oh, shag, shag,

We made friends with you!

Watches vigilantly look into the distance,

We are ready to fight! We are ready to fight!

Now about the hot meals for the soldiers. Camping kitchens were in every unit, in every military unit. The hardest part is getting food to the front lines. Products were transported in special thermoses - containers.

According to the then existing orders, the foreman of the company and the clerk were engaged in the delivery of food. And they had to do this even during the battle. Sometimes one of the fighters was sent for dinner.

Very often, girls-chauffeurs on lorries were engaged in the transportation of products. War veteran Feodosia Fedoseevna Lositskaya spent the whole war at the steering wheel of a lorry. Everything was in the work: breakdowns that she, unknowingly, could not eliminate, and spending the night in the forest or steppe in the open, and shelling enemy aircraft. And how many times she cried bitterly from resentment when, having loaded food and thermoses with tea, coffee and soup onto the car, she came to the airfield to the pilots with empty containers: German planes flew in on the road and riddled with bullets all thermoses.

Her husband, military pilot Mikhail Alekseevich Lositsky, recalled that even in their flight canteen it was not always good with food: “Forty degrees of frost! Now a mug of hot tea! But in our dining room, you will not see anything other than millet porridge and dark stew.” And here are his own memories of his stay in the frontline hospital: “The stale, heavy air is densely saturated with the smell of iodine, rotten meat and smoke from tobacco. Thin stew and a crust of bread - that's the whole dinner. Occasionally they give pasta or a couple of spoons of mashed potatoes and a cup of barely sweet tea ... "

Belyaev Valerian Ivanovich recalls: “Dinner appeared at nightfall. At the forefront, meals are served twice: immediately after dark and before dawn. During daylight hours, I had to make do with five pieces 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 was carried on the back on straps, like a duffel bag. Bread was delivered in loaves. For food we sent two people: the foreman and the clerk ...

... For food, everyone gets out of the trench and sits in a circle. One day we were having lunch in this way, when suddenly a flare flared up in the sky. We are all pressed to the ground. The rocket went out, and everyone starts eating again. Suddenly one of the fighters shouts: “Brothers! Bullet!" - and takes out a German bullet from his mouth, which is stuck in bread ... "

During transitions, on the march, the enemy often destroyed camp kitchens. The fact is that the kitchen cauldron rose above the ground much higher than human height, since there was a firebox under the cauldron. Even higher rose a black chimney, from which smoke swirled. It was an excellent target for the enemy. But, despite the difficulties and danger, front-line cooks tried not to leave the fighters without hot food.

Another concern at the front is water. Soldiers replenished their drinking water supplies by passing through settlements. At the same time, it was necessary to exercise caution: very often the Germans, retreating, made the wells unusable, poisoned the water in them. Therefore, the wells had to be guarded: “I was impressed by the strict procedure for providing our troops with water. As soon as we entered the village, a special military unit immediately appeared, which posted sentries at all sources of water. Usually such sources were wells, the water in which was tested. The sentries did not let them come close to 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 order guaranteed complete security for our troops in providing water ... "

Even under German fire, the sentry did not leave the post at the well.

“The Germans opened artillery shelling along the well ... We ran away from the well for quite a long distance. I look around and see that the sentry has remained at the well. Just laid down. Such was the discipline of the protection of water sources! (from the memoirs of Belyaev V.I.)

The people at the front, when solving everyday problems, showed maximum ingenuity, resourcefulness and skill. “We received only the bare minimum from the rear of the country,” A.P. Stepantsev recalls. - many have adapted to do themselves. Sledges were made, harnesses for horses were sewn, horseshoes were made - all beds and harrows were forged in the villages. They even cast the spoons themselves... Captain Nikitin, a Gorky resident, was the head of the regimental bakery - under what conditions did he have to bake bread! In the ruined villages, not a single whole oven - and after six hours they were baking, a ton a day. They even adapted their mill. Almost everything for everyday life had to be done with one’s own hands, and without an organized life, what could be the combat capability of the troops ... "

Soldiers and on the march managed to get themselves boiling water: “... Village. There were chimneys sticking out all around, but if you get off the road and get close to such a chimney, you can see the burning logs. We quickly got the hang of using them. We put a kettle 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 did not even think that our water would boil on the misfortune of people ... ”(Belyaev V.I.)

Among the fighters, who were accustomed to doing little in pre-war life, there were simply real jacks of all trades. Guseletov P.I., political officer of the 238th separate anti-tank fighter battalion of the 137th rifle division, recalls one of these craftsmen: “Our uncle Vasya Ovchinnikov was on the battery. He was originally from the Gorky region, he spoke “o” ... In May, the cook was wounded. Uncle Vasya’s name is: “Can you do it temporarily?” - "I can. Sometimes, at the mowing, they cooked everything themselves. ” Rawhide leather was required to repair ammunition - where can I get it? Again to him. - "I can. It used to be that at home they made leather and everything themselves. ” The horse has become loose in the battalion economy - where can I find a master? “I can do that too. At home, it used to be that everyone forged themselves. ” For the kitchen, buckets, basins, stoves were needed - where to get it, you won’t wait from the rear, - “Can you, Uncle Vasya?” - “I can, it used to be, at home they made iron stoves and pipes themselves.” In winter, skis were needed, but where can I get them at the front? - "I can. At home, at that time, they went to the bear, so they always made skis themselves. At the company commander's pocket watch got up - again to Uncle Vasya. - "I can watch, but I just need to look well."

But what can I say, when he got the hang of pouring spoons! A master - for any business, everything turned out so well for him, as if it was done by itself. And in the spring he baked such pancakes from rotten potatoes on a piece of rusty iron that the company commander did not disdain ... "

Many veterans of the Great Patriotic War remember the famous "People's Commissar" 100 grams with a kind word. In the signed People's Commissar of Defense I.V. The Stalin Decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR “On the introduction of vodka into the supply in the active Red Army” dated August 22, 1941 stated: “Establish, starting from September 1, 1941, the issuance of 40º vodka in the amount of 100 grams per person per person to the Red Army and the commanding staff of the first line of the existing army." This was the first and only experience of legalized issuance of alcohol in the Russian army in the 20th century.

From the memoirs of military pilot M.A. Lositsky: “Today there will be no sorties. Free evening. We are allowed to drink the prescribed 100 grams ... "And here's another:" To capture the faces of the wounded officers when they were poured 100 grams and brought along with a quarter of bread and a piece of lard.

M.P. Serebrov, commander of the 137th Infantry Division, recalls: “Having stopped the pursuit of the enemy, parts of the division began to put themselves in order. Camp kitchens approached, they began to distribute lunch and the prescribed one hundred grams of vodka from trophy reserves ... "Tereshchenko N.I., platoon commander of the 4th battery of the 17th artillery regiment of the 137th rifle division:" After a successful shooting, everyone gathered for breakfast. Placed, of course, in the trenches. Our cook, Masha, brought homemade potatoes. After the front-line hundred grams and the congratulations of the regiment commander, everyone cheered up ... "

The war continued for four difficult years. Many fighters went through the front roads from the first to the last day. Not every soldier had a happy opportunity to get a vacation and see relatives 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 of study of the Great Patriotic War, little subject to ideology. Written in a trench, a dugout, in a forest under a tree, soldiers' letters reflect the whole gamut of feelings experienced by a person who defends his homeland with weapons in his hands: anger at the enemy, pain and suffering for his native land and his loved ones. And in all the letters - faith in a quick victory over the Nazis. In these letters, a person appears naked, what he really is, because he cannot lie and be hypocritical in moments of danger either before himself or before people.

But even in the war, under bullets, next to blood and death, people tried to simply live. Even at the forefront, they were worried about everyday questions and problems common to all. They shared their experiences with family and friends. In almost all letters, soldiers describe their front-line life, military life: “The weather here is not very cold, but the frost is decent and especially the wind. But we are now well dressed, a fur coat, felt boots, so that we are not afraid of frost, one thing is bad that they are not sent closer to the front line ... ”(from a letter from the guard captain Leonid Alekseevich Karasev to his wife Anna Vasilyevna Kiseleva in the city of Unecha dated December 4, 1944 G.). The letters express 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 come, he won’t do well ... I’ll turn his head on one side ...” But from his own letter dated December 9, 1944: “Nyurochka, I’m very sorry for you that you have to freeze. Press on your superiors, let them provide firewood ... "

From a letter from Mikhail Krivopusk, a graduate of school No. 1 in Unecha, to his sister Nadezhda: “I received a letter from you, Nadya, where you write how you hid from the Germans. You write to me which of the policemen mocked you and on whose instructions a cow, a bicycle and other things were taken from you, if I stay alive, I will pay them for everything ... ”(dated April 20, 1943). Mikhail did not have a chance to punish the offenders of his relatives: on February 20, 1944, he died liberating Poland.

Almost every letter contains longing for home, relatives and loved ones. After all, young and handsome men went to the front, many in the status of newlyweds. Karasev Leonid Ivanovich and his wife Anna Vasilievna, who were mentioned above, got married on June 18, 1941, and four days later the war began, and the young husband went to the front. He was demobilized only at the end of 1946. The honeymoon had to be postponed for almost 6 years. In his letters to his wife, love, tenderness, passion and inexpressible longing, the desire to be close to his beloved: “Beloved! I returned from the headquarters, I was tired, I walked at night. But when I saw your letter on the table, all fatigue and anger went away, and when I opened the envelope and found your card, I kissed it, but this is paper, and you are not alive ... Now your card is pinned to me at the head of my bed, now I have the opportunity, no, no, and even look at you ... ”(dated December 18, 1944). And in another letter, it’s just a cry from the heart: “Honey, I’m sitting in a dugout now, smoking makhorka - I remembered something, and such longing, or rather, evil takes everything for this ... Why am I so unlucky, because people get the opportunity to see their relatives and loved ones, but I’m not lucky ... Darling, believe me, I’m tired of all this scribble and paper ... you understand, I want to see you, I want to be with you for at least an hour, and everything else to hell, you know, to hell, I want you - that's all ... I'm tired of this whole life in anticipation and uncertainty ... I now have one outcome ... I will come to you without permission, and then I will go to the penal company, otherwise I will not wait to meet you! .. If there was vodka, now I would get drunk drunk ... ”(dated August 30, 1944).

Soldiers write in their letters about the house, remember the 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, then you think that you would throw yourself overboard and swim. But nothing, we will finish off the German, and only then ... ”Many letters contain a sincere manifestation of patriotic feelings. This is how our countryman Dyshel Yevgeny Romanovich writes about the death of his brother in a letter to his father: “... Valentin should be proud, 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 tanker Dyshel did not have to meet his father - on January 20, 1945, he died liberating Poland.

From a letter from Karasev Leonid Alekseevich to his wife Anna Vasilievna: “It is a great joy that we are conducting an offensive almost along the entire front and quite successfully, a lot has been taken big cities. In general, the successes of the Red Army are unprecedented. So soon Hitler will be kaput, as the Germans themselves say ”(letter dated June 6, 1944).

Thus, miraculously preserved to this day, soldier's triangles with a field mail number instead of a return address and a black government stamp “Viewed by military censorship” are the most sincere and reliable voices of the war. Living, genuine words that came to us from the distant "forties, fatal" today sound with special power. Each of the front-line letters, the most insignificant at first glance, albeit deeply personal - historical document the greatest value. Each envelope contains pain and joy, hope, longing and suffering. You feel an acute feeling of bitterness when you read these letters, knowing that the one who wrote them did not return from the war ... Letters are a kind of chronicle of the Great Patriotic War ...

The front-line writer Konstantin Simonov owns 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 have endured its severity ... 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 life ... A person at the front is busy with an infinite number of things , which he constantly needs to think about and because of which he does not have time to think about his safety at all ... ”It was everyday everyday activities that had to be distracted all the time, helped the soldiers overcome fear, gave the soldiers psychological stability.

65 years have passed since the end of the Great Patriotic War, but the end of its study has not yet been set: there are blank spots, unknown pages, unexplained 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. (Memories of an old soldier). Moscow, 2007
3. P. Lipatov. Uniform of the Red Army and Navy. Encyclopedia of technology. Publishing house "Tekhnika-molodezhi". Moscow, 1995
4. Stock materials of the Unecha Museum of Local Lore (front-line letters, diaries, memoirs of veterans).
5. Memoirs of veterans of the Great Patriotic War, recorded during personal conversations.