By Vestnik Kavkaza
Today in Russia and the world the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War is being celebrated. The importance of this historical event is increasing every year. The memories of the people of the former Soviet Union about the war are supported by mutual values. The Victory Day was procured by our unity. It is an opportunity to pay tribute to all those who fought and worked on the home front during the wartime. People who led the country to the Victory were interviewed by Vestnik Kavkaza. Vasily Klimovskikh, veteran of the Great Patriotic War, shared his memories of the Battle for Stalingrad:
After graduating from Pedagogical School I was conscripted to the front. The graduation party took place on the 21st-22nd of June in 1941. On the 22nd of June in 1941, as you know, the Great Patriotic War started. Celebrating our graduation party we knew that the war had already begun. We celebrated the graduation in the city of Sarapul on the Kama River. When they came home, we were told that war had started. We agreed to meet at 10 a.m. near the military registration and enlistment office. Those who were over 18 stayed there. I did not come of age. I was sent to the elementary school in the city of Izhevsk as a teacher. I was there from 15th of August to the 15th of October. I came to the military registration and enlistment office and burst into tears, saying: "My comrades are studying, fighting, but I, instead of this, am teaching young children. Please, send me somewhere." I was sent to the Guryev Military Infantry school. We studied there for 10 months, I was given the rank of lieutenant. And then they gathered all the school – 500 people. I was a squadron leader when I studied in Saratov. We reached Saratov, and then moved to south, to Stalingrad. I participated in the Battle of Stalingrad. I was 18 years old. An echelon of young lieutenants arrived in Stalingrad. The German intelligence service worked very well, as they received the information about us, and started to bomb. It was snowy. We were given warm jackets and black cotton trousers. We were a clear target on the snow. We lost many young men who did not know what war was, what love was, and didn’t know what life was. Then we crossed the Volga. We were aligned and said: ‘‘Move by 2-3 people at a distance of 200-300 meters from each other to the ferry.’’ Planes flew over us at a height of 5-10 meters, they had no bullets or bombs, it was done to unnerve us. We crossed the Volga, there were already the so-called "merchants" who transported us to military units. I joined the 51st Army, 591st Infantry Division, 503rd Infantry Regiment as a platoon commander. I was 18 when I got to the squadron. There were soldiers aged more than 40 years, they were old enough to be my fathers. I stayed there four days, got acquainted with them. A miner from Donbas came to me and said: "Comrade Lieutenant, you're young, inexperienced. You are inexperienced both in life and here, on the front. Listen to us, we are older. We have already known what war is. If you don’t listen to us, we will die." I have remembered those words all my life. I was with him after the battle of Stalingrad - in Rostov, Taganrog and Donbas. At that time Lugansk was called Vorochilovgrad. Near Vorochilovgrad we held the defense, and then attacked. He was wounded several times, but remained alive. The war ended in Koenigsberg. We captured Koenigsberg, Palanga, reached the Baltic Sea, divided the Germany military alignment into two parts. The main part was Koenigsberg, and we were in Riga, Estonia, the Courland group. We fought against it where a lot of Germans gave up, because they felt that the war was coming to an end. The war came to an ended near Palanga. We were very glad. I was only 21, but I was already chief of staff of a battalion consisting of 500 people. A greenhorn! (Laughing)
