NINA ERDMAN, Sergeant
Medic: Some older soldier had dug himself
a small hole and was sitting in it. He said, "What are you crawling
for? Jump in here!" I jumped. I could not sit there for too long!
I sat for a little. I said, "I can't stay any longer!" I crawled
forward, got a wounded soldier, and started crawling back. I crawled back
to the trench, but there was a chunk missing from the soldier's head.
Cavalryman: The hardest thing was when we had to march 100 kilometers in one night. Trot - gallop, trot - gallop. Endless commands: "Don't spare the horses! Don't spare the horses!" Because by morning we had to be in another place. In a non-combat situation you could've been court-martialed for a horse ridden to death, but in this case you had to push the horse to the utmost of its ability. Time! Time! People fell asleep and dropped from horses. And horses collapsed with a ruptured heart. I must mention, I pity the horses more than people. People can lie down, hide themselves. They have the ability to avoid a tragic situation. You are the one in charge sitting in the saddle, but a horse can't do any of that.
Interview: "Sergeant major, our unit commander is an asshole. I want to run away, but I don't want to get caught. That's why we'll make a deal -- you send me to the front, but don't note anywhere that I left, and I'll give you a bottle of "Tarhun" vodka and a block of "Kazbek" cigarettes". The hardest thing was when we had to march 100 kilometers in one night. Trot - gallop, trot - gallop. Endless commands: "Don't spare the horses! Don't spare the horses!" Because by morning we had to be in another place. In a non-combat situation you could've been court-martialed for a horse ridden to death, but in this case you had to push the horse to the utmost of its ability. Time! Time! People fell asleep and dropped from horses. And horses collapsed with a ruptured heart. I must mention, I pity the horses more than people. People can lie down, hide themselves. They have the ability to avoid a tragic situation. You are the one in charge sitting in the saddle, but a horse can't do any of that.
MARIANA MILUTINA, Senior Lieutenant
The story: On June 22 we had an exam. Well, when I heard on the radio that the war had begun, I thought: "That's good, maybe they'll at least give me a passing mark!"
NATALIA PESHKOVA, Guards Senior Lieutenant
Interview:They didn't even curse around me at the front. These were normal, regular soldiers, and not some kind of intelligentsia. There weren't any affairs at the front.
On to the West: Natasha Peshkova's glory was born in battles, in peril, in the lethal singing of tracer bullets and shells.
VIKTOR LEONOV
I spoke to the Germans in Russian: The Germans were in a hurry to finish the job before darkness, as one of the marines, which knew German, heard. Marines were running out of ammo. One of them, shouting, "That’s it! We can’t make it out of here!" - blew himself up with a hand grenade.
