[烛光生存狂]-【卫国战争老兵回忆】舒尔茨·根纳季

http://www.iremember.ru/content/view/186/59/lang,en/

I was 17 in June 1941. On the 18th we had a graduation ceremony, and on the 22nd a football game between our district, on whose team I played, and the neighboring one. We were loosing. And then my brother comes running and shouts: "Genka, the war has started!" I say: "What war? Don't you see we're loosing!" And later that night in the club, where we watched a movie, unexpectedly the screen was pulled up and a platform rolled out. Some district committee worker addressed us with a speech that the war had started and asked all KOMSOMOL members to report to the Party district committee. We went there during the night. I wrote an application and asked to be sent to the front as a volunteer, but since I was born in '24, which wasn't due for conscription yet, they sent me to procure hay for the army instead of the front. They put me in charge of 13 girls, who couldn't do almost anything - and so I ran from one to another: "Genka, fix the scythe! Genka, my scythe is stuck in a hummock! Genka, sharpen my scythe!" I was exhausted with them.

That same summer I enrolled in the Tomsk Railway Institute. I only studied one month at the institute, and then they sent us home. In January 1942, when I had become 18, I was drafted. They sent our entire group of conscripts to Moscow, where we were put into a sorting camp, which was located in Izmailovo. When our crew arrived a sergeant major approached me and asked: "How many classes have you finished?" I said: "10" He: "Do you know trigonometry?" "Yes" "Want to become an AA gunner?" I said: "Gladly!" And so, in April 1942, I was put into a battery of small caliber anti-aircraft artillery. They said they'd be training us until August. In the beginning of June we received our AA guns - 37mm guns Model 1939 with the rate of fire of 160 rounds per minute. But in reality, after 75-100 shots they heated up so much that they jammed.

The battery commander assigned our duties and I became a range finder. As it turns out, stereoscopic perception, that is the ability to differentiate distances to objects and determine their relative distance, is particularly subjective. The test was extremely simple: the commander pointed at a tree and a pole, which were approximately 800 meters away from us, and asked which one was farther. Since I had responded correctly I became a range finder. At that time our battery consisted of four guns which were positioned as if at the vertices of a square with sides of 100-150 meters. The command post was located at the center of the square and consisted of waist high foxholes for the spotter, the range finder, and the commander. The battery commander and the guns were connected by wire communications. In reality, during battle, there was no possibility to give voice commands because of the din of salvos, that's why we developed a special system of prearranged signals.

The battery worked in the following manner. The spotter, armed with binoculars, after having located approaching enemy aircraft, determined their number. In the ideal case that was possible from five kilometers away. I, a range finder, determined the distance to the target and continually informed the commander about its change. In turn, the commander allocated targets between guns and chose the time to fire and the type of fire - single shots, short, or long bursts. Usually the fire was opened from the distance of 2000-2200 meters in short bursts. Long bursts were used against low flying targets. We shot using regular HE shells. Of course, we were also allocated AP shot, but they were rarely used and then only to fire at ground targets. A gun's crew consisted of 8 men - commander, two gunners numbers 1 and 2, range finder, spotter for the direction and velocity of target's flight, loader, and two ammo carriers (if the firing was conducted in long bursts, then one man was not able to keep up, the clips disappeared as if into a meat grinder). The Number 1 aimed the gun in the vertical until the horizontal line in the collimator overlaid the target, the Number 2 in the horizontal until the vertical line in the collimator overlaid the target, Number 3 set the distance and velocity of the target which were relayed by the battery commander, the spotter, by turning the fly-wheel, tried to guess the aircraft's direction, the commander, after having determined that the target was acquired reported to the command post and at battery commander's order the Number 2 opened fire. Although, experienced gunners usually aimed by the tracer shells. This ability was worked on during the constant training exercises between air raids or during sentry duty (one gun was always on sentry in the battery).

finish mastering the guns, when an order arrived about our transfer to the front. In the beginning of July our 241st Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, consisting of 4 batteries and 2 machine gun companies armed with DShK's, was transferred to the Voronezh Front. We were studying the guns right on the railroad cars, and once, during a training session, the gunners fired a shot which almost killed our battery commander - the shell flew over his head. At the Serebriannye Prudy station we were bombed for the first time. I jumped head first into the closest bushes and sat there shaking with fear until the planes left. And already at the Anna station we received our real baptism by fire.

Until the end of summer we kept falling back with the ground forces until the front stabilized on the river Don, on whose bank we were deployed right up to the beginning of the counteroffensive. It was a difficult time. Ammo was scarce. We were poorly fed - for the first and second course soup or porridge from whole grain wheat, or peas freshly cooked on Uzbek cotton oil, which looked like rust. And one time we didn't even have salt - that was real torture. We were fed this way for about a month.

That was the last year when the Germans tried to fight according to a schedule. They almost never bombed at night, but the raids of their aviation started in the morning. There was scorching heat - half past eight in the morning, heat, stink, the first group of bombers comes in. They bomb both us and the infantry. In 30-40 minutes, it's the second group. After the third bombing raid, if they bombed successfully, we all would be black from soot and dust.

After one such raid the regiment's komsorg (KOMSOMOL organizer - trans.) was wounded and the political department appointed me acting komsorg. Anytime I had a free minute, I visited our batteries, talked about the situation at the front, about the actions of our allies. The men were mostly illiterate - our entire battery had only two men with secondary education, and the rest either 7 years or only 4 grades. Of course you had to talk to them. After all, the Germans also conducted their own propaganda - dropped leaflets. I remember some of them well. The first one, this two page leaflet in A4 format, on chalk paper. There was a circle cut out on the first page so that the Soviet coat of arms could be seen on the third page. When you open it, there is a caption below the coat of arms: "Hammer to the left, sickle to the right, this is our Soviet coat of arms. Reap if you want, or hammer if you want, you'll still get" and three dots (To any Russian speaker, the obvious rhyme is a vulgar word for the male sexual organ, which in this case would mean "you'll get nothing" - trans.) That was low, of course. Apparently, the Germans were informed that we had shortages of paper, and that we didn't even have anything to roll a cigarette with, so the second leaflet was specially printed on cigarette paper in the hope that the soldiers would use it for cigarettes and read it at the same time. It read: "Only Timoshenko with Yids the heroes want war. You retreat only because Stalin killed 130 thousand best commanders and political officers." Or there was a leaflet showing how well some surrendered Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov lived. They were pictured sitting there, playing an accordion, smiling. I had to explain that all that was lies.

When the Stalingrad offensive started we reached the Cossack villages of Kantimirovka and Buturlinovka[布图尔利诺夫卡]. During the offensive our life was also not too sweet - our guns were pulled by Willys jeeps which coped well on flat ground. But when driving downhill, a gun with the boxes of shells loaded on it aimed to push the car off the road. Only in 1944 we got Dodge 3/4, and then two axle Chevrolet and “Studebaker US6x6”, which usually pulled 2 guns. But back then only the Willys could get us through.

After the end of the Battle of Stalingrad I was sent to an artillery school in Tomsk[托木斯克], and then to Irkutsk[伊尔库次克], where I finished it. Already in the fall of 1943 I found myself in Leningrad. A small pre-revolutionary "ovechka" ("sheep" in Russian, comes from the locomotive's designation - "OV" - trans.) steam engine brought us, having flown at full speed through the corridor breached between Volkhov[沃尔霍夫] and Leningrad in '43. I was sent to the 32nd Division from the transfer point, where I was put in charge of a platoon (2 guns). At that time an enlargement of artillery units occurred and our 32nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division RGK (RGK - C-in-C's Reserve - trans.) had 4 regiments, of them 3 regiments (1387th, 1393rd, and our 1413th) were MZA (Small Caliber AAA) and one 1387th Regiment SZA (Medium Caliber AAA), armed with 85mm guns. The reorganization also involved the batteries - they now contained 6 artillery pieces. The guns in a position were now arrayed in a hexagon, with the distance between them of 150-200 meters. That was according to the manual, but in a combat environment we sometimes used different deployments, for example a line when guarding columns.

We struck in the month of January. Liberated Gatchina[加特契纳] and almost reached Pskov.[普斯科夫] During the offensive the regiment covered the 46th Luga Rifle Division. Already at Pskov I was appointed battery commander. I remember the day of the appointment very well. It was in the beginning of February. I had just arrived at the 4th battery, which was put under my command, and went to meet the personnel. At that time the battery, with the auxilary services, consisted of 84 men. In addition, the platoon commanders were all lieutenants, while I was a junior lieutenant. Basically, I was greeted with distrust. And then a raid happened: 30-35 Ju-87. Everyone was looking at me - to see how I was going to command. You ask if I could keep from opening fire? I could, but it was considered as cowardice among AA gunners. We had a law - while a raid continues no one, from ammo carriers to the battery commander, could even bend down. You had to keep doing your duties. The main thing was not to lose your nerve. After all, there were some who stuck their heads under the gun's carriage out of fear. So, we went through that baptism by fire successfully. We didn't shoot anything down, but we scattered the aircraft, they didn't go for a second attempt, and we saved the crossing. That's a contribution. Also, no one was killed.

Overall, from the beginning of 1944 until May 1945 my battery shot down 13 aircraft, and we were in one of the first places in the division by performance. It doesn't seem like much, right? But what is our task? Not to let the enemy bomb while aiming at the guarded objective. Sure, it's great to shoot a plane down, but that's not the main thing, the main thing was that the covered infantry, tanks, or a crossing don't get hurt from the raid. At Stalingrad our regiment shot down around 100 planes in 2 months. But those were Ju-52, which supplied the encircled 6th Army, it was easy to shoot them down. But to shoot down a Ju-87 - that was very difficult. It was the most perfidious and dangerous dive bomber the Germans had. Although not very fast, its bombing was very precise. That's why we shot at it at the moment when it climbed before the dive. It's scary for the pilot, he sees that he's being shot at. He'll drop the bomb anyway, but to make him err, drop the bomb sooner or too late - that was our task. But when we did see that we shot down a plane, we immediately sent a gun mechanic on a "Willys" to the spot of the crash, to take the factory plate as material evidence. It was also useful to get a confirmation from the guarded detachment. Of course, it happened that the plane would fall already in the enemy territory, then it was counted only if such confirmation was given. And so, for the first 5 aircraft I got the Order of the Red Star, for the next 5 - Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Degree. I was also decorated with the medals "For Defense of Leningrad", "For the Capture of Berlin", and "For Victory over Germany".

From Pskov[普斯科夫] we were transferred to Vyborg. Again we broke through the enemy defenses and advanced for a hundred kilometers without a hitch, thought that it would continue, but no - before Vyborg we ran into strong resistance and halted, and the entire army kept going under its own momentum and an accumulation of people and vehicles occurred on the Primorskoye highway[普里莫尔斯科耶]. I dispersed the battery by platoons along the column over almost 2 kilometers. The Germans didn't make us wait. During the raid bomb fragments wounded practically the entire crew of one of the guns. Then the gun commander Ermeneyev, being wounded himself, replaced a gunner and with another guy shot down 3 planes coming out of a dive, and scattered the rest, for which he was awarded and became a Hero of the Soviet Union. That was the official story. But unofficially, he did have a wound, but it was light, and he didn't shoot down all 3 - we put them down on him. The others were also firing, and the planes fell beyond the front line. But still it was a heroic feat - he didn't let them bomb the column, otherwise it would've been a mess.

We recommended him for a decoration, but not the Hero, since for the Hero you had to write a separate recommendation. In 1944 it was decided to mark the Artillery Day on the anniversary of the counteroffensive at Stalingrad, November 19th. Apparently, there was Stalin's order to recommend one or two men for a Hero of the Soviet Union from each type of artillery units. In the fall I was called to the regiment HQ and asked to write a recommendation for Ermeneyev. And thus my battery came to have a Hero.

There, at Vyborg[维堡], we also had an unpleasant incident. During the offensive I became acquainted with a major, commander of the VNOS service (Aerial Reconnaissance, Warning, and Communication). Only girls served there, and he was in command of them. And so, they had a balloon, like a sausage, on which this major went up with a radio to maybe 800 meters to spot for artillery. And one time we saw a "messer" (Messerschmitt - trans.) coming at this balloon at extremely low height. We opened fire, so that it wouldn't break through and set the "sausage" on fire. It must be said that it's very difficult to shoot at a low flying fast target, everything depends on the coordinated work of the gunners, who intuitively select the moment to fire. And suddenly I see our shell pierce the balloon, it bursts into flames and starts falling. That guy that was in it managed to bail out and open the parachute when he was already close to the ground . "Well," I'm thinking, "that's it - court martial." And here our regiment commander comes in a "Willys" - an unpleasant man. Says: "Write a recommendation, the commander saw how you shot down a 'messer'." I say: "What 'messer'? I shot down our 'sausage'!" But he pushes his own line. I think he was hoping to get his own decoration. I sent the Willys to find out if the major's alive. They came back with him. Thank God he's alive! But he's hurt badly - arms scratched, abrasions on the face. Then he starts swearing at me! I say: "Well, you saw it yourself - we were chasing the 'messer' away." We drank a cup of alcohol with him, made up, and afterward, while the offensive was continuing, we met more than once. Of course, anything could happen during the war. Another time we fired at our own fighter. It's a good thing we didn't shoot it down. Of course, we did have an identification system, YaSS (I am Our Airplane), but it was rather primitive - various rolling of the wings during the day, and a combination of running lights during the night. The signals were changed every day, which severely complicated my job as a battery commander.

Then we advanced westward along the shore of the Bay of Riga[里加湾]. One time we were sitting on the beach, playing cards with some girls. And then the look-out shouted: "Water target!" I looked and saw three German torpedo boats approaching the shore. I called an alert and we started letting them get closer, but from 800 meters they opened fire. I saw one explosion, another. And we replied from all six guns. Basically, we chased them off and went to finish the game. Soon we liberated the city of Tartu[塔尔图]. It was a warm August night when we entered this city, and I got an impression that the war bypassed it - no shots could be heard, traces of battles were absent from the streets. We halted, and I decided to go gather some raspberries that grew in the garden in front of the house. Picking the large, tasty raspberries, I parted some bushes and saw a dead woman lying flat on the ground. This contrast between beauty and silence on one side and death on the other has imprinted itself in my memory for the rest of my life.

We crossed the border with Germany in the region of the Netze River[内切河] at Kostschin (Kostrzyn)[科斯琴]. We were driving at night over the site of yesterday's battles. Exhausted soldiers slept in the back of the truck. Suddenly I saw a plywood arch over the road and a sign on it in large black letters. I read it and my skin became covered with goose bumps: "Here it is - the criminal Germany." I called my platoon commanders. The soldiers were woken up. Here, I say, we're entering the fascist beast's lair. In the morning the regiment commander arrived. We had it set up so that a look-out watches both the air and the road, expecting superiors. If he sees a commander's "Willys" he would also command "Alert!", same as during an air raid. The commander asks: "What did you feed the soldiers today?" "Well, porridge, as always" - I reply. "Sergeant major, come here. What did you feed the soldiers?" "Porridge, Comrade Colonel." "Porridge, porridge... I was at Terekhov's battery[捷列霍夫], they already procured pork, or whatever. Take a Studebaker[史蒂倍克] or a Chevrolet[雪佛兰] and drive to a farm. Take everything they got." It must be said that beyond Netze the population in the radius of 20 km ran away, abandoning hungry farm animals. So our commanders were pushing us to pillage. Although, this ceased shortly because an order of the Front Commander Zhukov came out, saying something like: "We are a liberator army, which brought liberation to the German people, and we must treat the German people same as our own." But try to explain to simple Russian soldiers, who had relatives hanged or shot, houses destroyed, that they must forget everything at once?! It's impossible! The men were indignant: "Why am I supposed to forget what the Germans have done with my land, my relatives?" This transition was very painful. Because from the very Stalingrad to Germany's border we were advancing under the slogan: "Kill a German!" I still see Ilya Erenburg's articles in front of my eyes. You also have to keep in mind that the replacements in my battery by that time were mostly criminals, released due to amnesty. There was a case when my soldier, a criminal like that, raped a mother and daughter in a cemetery. I had to defend myself, write a report, SMERSH (stands for "Death to Spies", wartime military counter-intelligence organization - trans.) got interested, and he was put before a court martial. But there weren't any mass cases.

Well then, we captured Berlin, then Magdeburg[马格德堡], crossed Elba, and reached Stendal[施滕达尔]. There we stopped and lived for about a year. That's how the war ended.

I was 17 in June 1941. On the 18th we had a graduation ceremony, and on the 22nd a football game between our district, on whose team I played, and the neighboring one. We were loosing. And then my brother comes running and shouts: "Genka,根卡 the war has started!" I say: "What war? Don't you see we're loosing!" And later that night in the club, where we watched a movie, unexpectedly the screen was pulled up and a platform rolled out. Some district committee worker addressed us with a speech that the war had started and asked all KOMSOMOL members to report to the Party district committee. We went there during the night. I wrote an application and asked to be sent to the front as a volunteer, but since I was born in '24, which wasn't due for conscription yet, they sent me to procure hay for the army instead of the front. They put me in charge of 13 girls, who couldn't do almost anything - and so I ran from one to another: "Genka, fix the scythe! Genka, my scythe is stuck in a hummock! Genka, sharpen my scythe!" I was exhausted with them.

1941年6月的时候我17岁，6月18日我参加了学校的毕业典礼，22日那天我所在的州的足球队和临近的另外一支球队正在比赛。当时我们比分落后，这时候我哥哥跑过来朝我大喊：“根卡（根纳季的昵称—译者注），战争爆发了。”我说：“什么战争，你没看见我们落后呢么！”当天晚上我们在俱乐部里看电影，但没想到的是电影银幕拉了起来，上边摆上了一张讲台，州委会的官员给我们讲了话，宣布战争爆发的消息并要求所有共青团员向当地州的党委会报到。当天晚上我们就去了州党委，我还写了申请要求上前线，但是我生于1924年，还未满十八岁，因此他们没有允许我上前线，而是把我派到了后勤机构。结果我被和十三个女孩分到了一起，这些人什么都不会做—我得跑来跑去照应所有人：“根卡，你修一下这把镰刀”“根卡，我的镰刀落在小山上了”“根卡，帮我磨磨刀”我被这些家伙搞得精疲力竭。

That same summer I enrolled in the Tomsk Railway Institute. I only studied one month at the institute, and then they sent us home. In January 1942, when I had become 18, I was drafted. They sent our entire group of conscripts to Moscow, where we were put into a sorting camp, which was located in Izmailovo伊兹迈洛夫. When our crew arrived a sergeant major approached me and asked: "How many classes have you finished?" I said: "10" He: "Do you know trigonometry?" "Yes" "Want to become an AA gunner?" I said: "Gladly!" And so, in April 1942, I was put into a battery of small caliber anti-aircraft artillery. They said they'd be training us until August. In the beginning of June we received our AA guns - 37mm guns Model 1939 with the rate of fire of 160 rounds per minute. But in reality, after 75-100 shots they heated up so much that they jammed.

当年夏天我进入了托木斯克铁路学院，但是我只在那里学习了一个月，他们就把我们遣散回家了。1942年1月我已经年满是八岁了，因为可以应征入伍。上级把我们这些新兵送到了位于莫斯科附近伊兹迈洛夫的兵营，等我们这批人到的时候，一个大士把我叫过去问我：“你是几年级毕业啊？”我说：“十年级”他说：“你懂三角函数么？”“懂”“想当高射炮兵么？”我说“太好了！愿意。”就这样，1942年4月，我被分进了小口径高射炮连。他们说我们要一直训练到8月。六月的时候我们分配到了自己的高射炮—Model 1939 37毫米炮，射速达到每分钟160发。但实际上在打了75-100发以后炮管就会因为过热而卡壳。

连长给我们分配了职务，我成了一名测距手。这需要有较好的立体感，要具备判断不同目标之间距离，以及确定其距离，特别是与本方实际距离的能力。测试非常简单，指挥员给我们指出一棵树和一根柱子，离我们大约八百米远，然后问哪个物体离我们更远。因为我会答得比较准确，所以我就成了测距手。当时我们连的四门炮布置在一片开阔地的一条100-150米的边上，好像在这个广场的最高点。连部在开阔地的中心，由数个深到腰际的散兵坑组成，测距手要和连长在一个位置上。炮兵连长和各炮通过有线电话联系。但实际上，如果在战场上的话，由于炮火轰鸣震耳欲聋，电话里说什么很难听清，这就是为什么我们发明了一套特殊的信号系统。

Hands on training, May '46. Germany.

(Although the picture was taken after the war, it gives full impression of how the battery command post worked).

1946年5月，德国境内，苏联炮兵正在进行训练

（尽管是战后的训练照片，但也有助于获得苏联炮兵指挥的直观印象）

炮兵连的作战方式是这样的：配备双筒望远镜的观测手，搜寻接近的敌机并确认其数量。理想情况下应该在敌机距离五公里时就确认目标。而我作为测距手，需要估算目标距离，并不断根据距离的变化向连长报告。而连长的位置处在目标和炮组之间，他需要分配不同的炮组射击不同目标，并选择射击的时机和方式—单发射击，短点射或者长点射。一般来说在2000-2200米的距离上使用短点射。长点射一般用以射击低空飞行的目标。我们射击的时候一般使用爆破弹，当然了，也配备了穿甲弹，但是一般只会在对付地面目标的时候使用。一个炮组由八名士兵组成—炮长，一炮手，二炮手，测距手，负责确认目标方向速度的航向装定手，装填手和两名弹药手（如果是进行长点射的话，一个装填手肯定忙不过来，弹夹填进炮膛就像肉磨子一样一会就没了）

The Number 1 aimed the gun in the vertical until the horizontal line in the collimator overlaid the target, the Number 2 in the horizontal until the vertical line in the collimator overlaid the target, Number 3 set the distance and velocity of the target which were relayed by the battery commander, the spotter, by turning the fly-wheel, tried to guess the aircraft's direction, the commander, after having determined that the target was acquired reported to the command post and at battery commander's order the Number 2 opened fire. Although, experienced gunners usually aimed by the tracer shells. This ability was worked on during the constant training exercises between air raids or during sentry duty (one gun was always on sentry in the battery).

一炮手用方向瞄准具锁定目标方向，二炮手用高低瞄准具锁定目标高度，三炮手亦即测距手通过连长告知的数据确认目标距离和速度。四炮手则使用转轮来推测敌机航向，炮长在确认目标数据以后需要向指挥所报告，得到炮兵连长命令以后由二炮手射击。尽管经验丰富的炮手一般会依靠炮弹的轨迹来瞄准，但在敌机空袭或者执行警卫勤务（一门炮总会抽调一个人去连里担任哨兵）的间隙，还是要对炮兵们进行瞄准训练。

A gun crew of Sergeant Ivan Shapin

Standing from left to right: ammo carrier, range finder, loader, spotter of direction, ammo carrier, commander; sitting: 1st number, 2nd number.

(From the book by A. Grechko "Bitva za Kavkaz"; "The battle for Caucasus".)

站立者从左至右：弹药手，测距手，装点手，航向装定手，弹药手，炮长。

坐者：一炮手二炮手

So, returning to 1942, we didn't even have time to finish mastering the guns, when an order arrived about our transfer to the front. In the beginning of July our 241st Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, consisting of 4 batteries and 2 machine gun companies armed with DShK's, was transferred to the Voronezh Front. We were studying the guns right on the railroad cars, and once, during a training session, the gunners fired a shot which almost killed our battery commander - the shell flew over his head. At the Serebriannye Prudy station we were bombed for the first time. I jumped head first into the closest bushes and sat there shaking with fear until the planes left. And already at the Anna station we received our real baptism by fire.

咱们回到1942年，我们甚至来不及完成训练，就被上级调到了前线。7月初我们所在的第241高射炮兵团，包括四个高炮连和两个装备德什卡机枪的机枪连被调进了沃罗涅日方面军。我们就在火车车厢旁边的炮位上训练，有一次训练的时候差点把我们炮兵连长给打死—一发炮弹贴着他脑袋飞了过去。我们在谢列布利亚内博尔迪车站附近遭遇了第一次空袭。我当时一下跳进了距离最近的一片灌木丛中，在里边坐着发抖一直到敌机离开。而在安娜站附近我们则第一次向敌人真枪实弹的开火。

整个夏天我们都在跟着地面部队一路撤退，直到夏末的时候战线稳定在了顿河一线，我们就部署在顿河右岸，而后来我军正是从右岸发起了反攻。那是一段艰苦的时光。部队缺乏弹药，吃的也很差—要么吃用未脱粒的大麦做的汤或者麦片粥，要么吃用乌兹别克棉花油做的豌豆，后者看上去像铁锈似的。而且有一度甚至煤油盐吃—这真是一段痛苦的时光。这种伙食我们大概吃了一个月。

这是战争按照德国人的时间表进行的最后一年。他们从来不搞夜间轰炸，但总是在早晨发动空袭。那简直就是烈焰一般的酷热—早上八点半，炽热，恶臭，第一波轰炸机来袭。他们不分炮兵还是步兵都炸。过30-40分钟时第二波。等到第三波轰炸结束后，如果德国人的轰炸奏效的话，我们一般都会被烟火尘土弄得满面黢黑。

在一次类似的空袭过后我们团的团支部书记受伤了，政治部命令我临时代理团支书。后来只要我一有空，就会回到我们连去，跟大家讲讲前线的形势，以及盟军的动态。我们团的大多数士兵文化程度都不高。

Sergeant Gennadii Shutz, 1942

根纳季舒茨中士 1942年

- our entire battery had only two men with secondary education, and the rest either 7 years or only 4 grades. Of course you had to talk to them. After all, the Germans also conducted their own propaganda - dropped leaflets. I remember some of them well. The first one, this two page leaflet in A4 format, on chalk paper. There was a circle cut out on the first page so that the Soviet coat of arms could be seen on the third page. When you open it, there is a caption below the coat of arms: "Hammer to the left, sickle to the right, this is our Soviet coat of arms. Reap if you want, or hammer if you want, you'll still get" and three dots (To any Russian speaker, the obvious rhyme is a vulgar word for the male sexual organ, which in this case would mean "you'll get nothing" - trans.) That was low, of course. Apparently, the Germans were informed that we had shortages of paper, and that we didn't even have anything to roll a cigarette with, so the second leaflet was specially printed on cigarette paper in the hope that the soldiers would use it for cigarettes and read it at the same time. It read: "Only Timoshenko with Yids the heroes want war. You retreat only because Stalin killed 130 thousand best commanders and political officers." Or there was a leaflet showing how well some surrendered Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov lived. They were pictured sitting there, playing an accordion, smiling. I had to explain that all that was lies.

我们连只有两个人完成了中等教育，其他的人里要么是七年级毕业，要么只上到四年级。所以你得跟他们交谈，不能指望他们自己看。当然，德国人也会进行一些宣传战—撒传单。我还能记起一些德国传单的内容。有一份传单是两页纸，A4板式的纸做成的，第一页上有一个洞，这样就能直接看到第三页上的图案，是一个苏联的国徽。你打开这张传单，就能看到在国徽的下边有一行文字。内容是“锤子在左，镰刀在右，这就是我们苏联的国徽，要什么就割什么，想什么就砸什么，但你还是只会得到”后边是省略号（对于任何一个操着俄语的人来说，这段话明显是很粗俗的押韵男性生殖器官的意思，其实际意义就是“你将一无所获”—原译注）。内容很粗俗，而且很明显，德国人知道我们缺乏纸张，我军士兵们会用能找到的一切纸来卷烟抽。因此传单的第二页就特别制成了卷烟纸，希望我军士兵在抽烟的时候也能读到他们的传单。德国人写道：“只有犹太人的英雄铁木辛哥才喜欢战争，你们撤退是因为斯大林屠杀了十三万最优秀的指挥员和政治委员。”或者传单上会写上投降的伊万诺夫、彼得罗夫、西多罗夫都活得很好。传单上被俘的苏联士兵都在那里微笑着拉手风琴。我向战士们解释这些都是法西斯的欺骗宣传。

When the Stalingrad offensive started we reached the Cossack villages of Kantimirovka and Buturlinovka. During the offensive our life was also not too sweet - our guns were pulled by Willys jeeps which coped well on flat ground. But when driving downhill, a gun with the boxes of shells loaded on it aimed to push the car off the road. Only in 1944 we got Dodge 3/4, and then two axle Chevrolet and “Studebaker US6x6”, which usually pulled 2 guns. But back then only the Willys could get us through.

当我军展开斯大林格勒大反攻的时候，我们部队在哥萨克村庄坎捷米罗夫斯卡亚和布图尔利诺夫卡驻扎。在反攻期间我们的生活也不是很舒服—当然我们的炮已经用上了威利斯吉普做牵引车，这种汽车在平坦的道路上行驶很稳当，但是一旦在下坡路上开，装着弹药箱的火炮有可能把车给拽到路边去。仅在1944年我们获得了道奇3/4卡车和后来的双轴雪佛兰，以及“斯图贝克” 6x6卡车，这些车经常能拉两门炮。但在此之前我们只有威利斯可用。

After the end of the Battle of Stalingrad I was sent to an artillery school in Tomsk, and then to Irkutsk, where I finished it. Already in the fall of 1943 I found myself in Leningrad. A small pre-revolutionary "ovechka" ("sheep" in Russian, comes from the locomotive's designation - "OV" - trans.) steam engine brought us, having flown at full speed through the corridor breached between Volkhov and Leningrad in '43. I was sent to the 32nd Division from the transfer point, where I was put in charge of a platoon (2 guns). At that time an enlargement of artillery units occurred and our 32nd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division RGK (RGK - C-in-C's Reserve of high command 最高统帅部预备队- trans.) had 4 regiments, of them 3 regiments (1387th, 1393rd, and our 1413th) were MZA (Small Caliber AAA) and one 1387th Regiment SZA (Medium Caliber AAA), armed with 85mm guns. The reorganization also involved the batteries - they now contained 6 artillery pieces. The guns in a position were now arrayed in a hexagon, with the distance between them of 150-200 meters. That was according to the manual, but in a combat environment we sometimes used different deployments, for example a line when guarding columns.

在斯大林格勒战役结束以后我被送往位于托木斯克的炮兵学校学习，后来又到了伊尔库茨克，并在那里毕业。1943年秋天我被调往列宁格勒。我们乘坐着一台战前生产的机车“ovechka”（俄语意为“羊”，来源于机车的名称—原译注）牵引的列车，以全速飞越沃尔霍夫和列宁格勒之间的狭窄走廊。我从转车的车站被派到了第32师，在那里我被任命为排长（指挥两门火炮）。当时炮兵部队已经进行了扩编，我们第32高炮师是最高统帅部预备队，下辖有四个团，其中三个团（第1387团，第1393团河我们第1413团）是小口径高射炮团，而1387团是中口径高射炮团，装备着85毫米高射炮。而连级编制也是如此—每个连六门火炮。炮兵连的阵地约为一个六角形，各炮之间的距离大约为150-200米。这是条令中的标准布置，但在实际操作中我们经常会用不同的阵地配置，比如说在掩护纵队的时候炮兵连会布置成一条线。

We struck in the month of January. Liberated Gatchina and almost reached Pskov. During the offensive the regiment covered the 46th Luga Rifle Division. Already at Pskov I was appointed battery commander. I remember the day of the appointment very well. It was in the beginning of February. I had just arrived at the 4th battery, which was put under my command, and went to meet the personnel. At that time the battery, with the auxilary services, consisted of 84 men. In addition, the platoon commanders were all lieutenants, while I was a junior lieutenant. Basically, I was greeted with distrust. And then a raid happened: 30-35 Ju-87. Everyone was looking at me - to see how I was going to command. You ask if I could keep from opening fire? I could, but it was considered as cowardice among AA gunners. We had a law - while a raid continues no one, from ammo carriers to the battery commander, could even bend down. You had to keep doing your duties. The main thing was not to lose your nerve. After all, there were some who stuck their heads under the gun's carriage out of fear. So, we went through that baptism by fire successfully. We didn't shoot anything down, but we scattered the aircraft, they didn't go for a second attempt, and we saved the crossing. That's a contribution. Also, no one was killed.

我军在一月发起了进攻，解放了加特契纳并逼近普斯科夫。在进攻中我们团负责为第46“里加”步兵师提供掩护。而在普斯科夫的时候我已经被任命为连长了。我记得下达任命的那天天气很不错。那是二月的头一天，我刚刚到4连赴任，准备和连队的官兵们见面。当时这个连正在进行整补，全连有八十四人。另外，所有排长都是中尉，当时我的军衔是上尉。当时连队官兵对我这个连长并不信任，正在此时我们遭遇了敌机空袭：大约有30-35架JU-87轰炸机。每个人都看着我，战士们想看看我是怎么指挥的。你问我连长是不是可以不亲临火线？当然可以，但这在一个高射炮手看来是怯懦的表现。当时我们有一个不成文的规定—只要是敌机的空袭还没有结束，那么下至弹药手上至连长，连卧倒都不可以。一个军人必须坚守在自己的岗位上，一定不能让自己丧失勇气。当然，总是会有一些人因为恐惧而把脑袋埋到炮车下边。不过我们就此完成了战火的洗礼，尽管一架敌机也未能击落，但我们将敌机驱散了，他们没法接近目标，我们掩护了交通要道。这就是我们的战绩，而且没有官兵牺牲。

总的来看，从1944年初到1945年5月我的连队总共击落了13架敌机，同时我们的成绩在全师也是最好的连队之一。这个成绩看上去好像并不那么出色，对么？但你想想我们的任务是什么呢？是不让敌人的轰炸机能瞄准其地面目标。当然，能打下敌机固然可喜，但是这不是主要的任务，我们的主要任务是为了掩护步兵、坦克或者是交通路口免遭敌机轰炸。在斯大林格勒我们团在两个月的时间里击落了大约100架敌机。但那些基本都是向被包围的第六集团军空运补给的JU-52，那种飞机很容易被击落。但击落一架JU-87可就不那么容易了。这是德国人拥有的最出色而危险的俯冲轰炸机。尽管其速度不太快，但是轰炸的精确度很高。当然这也是我们选择在其俯冲之前向其射击的原因。这样能够威吓地籍飞行员，让他亲眼看到自己正在被敌炮射击，然后就可能胡乱丢下炸弹。迫使敌机飞行员犯错误，过早或者过晚的丢下炸弹—这就是我们的任务。但是当我们看到击落敌机的时候，就会马上派出火炮机械师乘坐威利斯吉普赶往坠机地点，取回敌机残骸上的零部件作为证据。从地面部队那里获得的证词也是有效的。当然，如果敌机坠入敌方控制区域的话，那只能依靠证词来确认战果了。前五架战果使我获得了“红星”勋章，而此后五架战果使我获得了“二级卫国战争”勋章。我也获得了“保卫列宁格勒”奖章和“攻克柏林”以及“伟大卫国战争战胜德国”奖章。

From Pskov we were transferred to Vyborg. Again we broke through the enemy defenses and advanced for a hundred kilometers without a hitch, thought that it would continue, but no - before Vyborg we ran into strong resistance and halted, and the entire army kept going under its own momentum and an accumulation of people and vehicles occurred on the Primorskoye highway. I dispersed the battery by platoons along the column over almost 2 kilometers. The Germans didn't make us wait. During the raid bomb fragments wounded practically the entire crew of one of the guns. Then the gun commander Ermeneyev, being wounded himself, replaced a gunner and with another guy shot down 3 planes coming out of a dive, and scattered the rest, for which he was awarded and became a Hero of the Soviet Union. That was the official story. But unofficially, he did have a wound, but it was light, and he didn't shoot down all 3 - we put them down on him. The others were also firing, and the planes fell beyond the front line. But still it was a heroic feat - he didn't let them bomb the column, otherwise it would've been a mess.

后来我们从普斯科夫调到了维堡。我军再次突破了敌军的防御，并未受阻碍的突入纵深达一百公里，按理说攻势应该继续，但实际上却停了下来—在维堡之前我们遭到了敌军顽强的抵抗并停了下来，而部队由于前进的势头一直没有停下来，在普里莫尔斯卡亚的高速公路上拥挤着大批人员和车辆。我把连队以排为单位沿着公路呈两公里纵队展开。德国人并没有让我们等多久。在此后的空袭中，有一门火炮的几乎所有炮班成员都被弹片击伤。炮长叶列缅耶夫在替下了一名受伤的炮手以后也战伤了，和另外一个小伙子一起击落了三架正在俯冲的敌机，并驱散了其余敌机，叶列缅耶夫因此荣获了苏联英雄金星勋章。当然，这是官方的说法。而非官方的说法则是，他确实受伤了，但伤得并不重，他也没有击落全部三架敌机—而是我们把战果算在了他头上。其他炮班也开火了，被击中的敌机坠落在了战线的另外一侧。但即使如此叶列缅耶夫的行为也配得上英雄称号—他打乱了敌机的编队，否则我军肯定要被敌机炸个乱七八糟。

Hero of the Soviet Union

Viktor Ermeneyev

苏联英雄维克托叶列缅耶夫

On the other side of the photo were writen:

"Comrade senior lieutenant, remember and don't forget your Hero. Viktor Ermeneyev. A gift to remember me to the battery commander Sr. Lt. Gennadiy Shutz. Stendal (Germany) 7.10.45 (October 7, 1945)

在照片的另一面写着：“赠上尉同志留念。维克多叶列缅耶夫。赠予我的连长根纳季舒茨上尉。于施滕达尔（德国境内）” 1945年10月7日

我们推荐叶列缅耶夫授勋，但并不是苏联英雄勋章，因为如果要申请苏联英雄的话要写特别申请。1944年，我记得很清楚是11月19日，那是斯大林格勒大反击时候实施炮火准备那天的周年纪念。很显然，是斯大林下达了指示，从不同种类的炮兵部队里挑选一到两名官兵授予苏联英雄称号。因此我被交到了团部，要求我为叶列缅耶夫写一份推荐信。就这样我的连队里就有了一名苏联英雄。

There, at Vyborg, we also had an unpleasant incident. During the offensive I became acquainted with a major, commander of the VNOS service (Aerial Reconnaissance, Warning, and Communication). Only girls served there, and he was in command of them. And so, they had a balloon, like a sausage, on which this major went up with a radio to maybe 800 meters to spot for artillery. And one time we saw a "messer" (Messerschmitt - trans.) coming at this balloon at extremely low height. We opened fire, so that it wouldn't break through and set the "sausage" on fire.

当然我们在维堡也遭遇了一次未曾预料到的事故。那是在进攻阶段，我当然和一位少校结识，他是航空侦察预警通信部门的首长。在他那个部门手下只有女兵，而他就只会这么一批娘子军。另外他们有一个气球，样子有点像一根香肠，少校就得坐着这个气球带着无线电，升到800米左右的高度为炮兵教正弹道。有一次我们看到一架梅塞施密特战斗机从极低的高度偷袭炮兵观测气球，我们朝来敌开火，保护了观测气球，驱走了敌机。

It must be said that it's very difficult to shoot at a low flying fast target, everything depends on the coordinated work of the gunners, who intuitively select the moment to fire. And suddenly I see our shell pierce the balloon, it bursts into flames and starts falling. That guy that was in it managed to bail out and open the parachute when he was already close to the ground . "Well," I'm thinking, "that's it - court martial." And here our regiment commander comes in a "Willys" - an unpleasant man. Says: "Write a recommendation, the commander saw how you shot down a 'messer'." I say: "What 'messer'? I shot down our 'sausage'!" But he pushes his own line. I think he was hoping to get his own decoration. I sent the Willys to find out if the major's alive. They came back with him. Thank God he's alive! But he's hurt badly - arms scratched, abrasions on the face. Then he starts swearing at me! I say: "Well, you saw it yourself - we were chasing the 'messer' away." We drank a cup of alcohol with him, made up, and afterward, while the offensive was continuing, we met more than once. Of course, anything could happen during the war. Another time we fired at our own fighter. It's a good thing we didn't shoot it down. Of course, we did have an identification system, YaSS (I am Our Airplane), but it was rather primitive - various rolling of the wings during the day, and a combination of running lights during the night. The signals were changed every day, which severely complicated my job as a battery commander.

必须得说的是，击落低空快速飞行的目标是很困难的，成功的关键要取决于全体炮组成员的紧密配合，炮手要依靠直觉选择开火时机。但是我突然看见我们的炮弹打中了自己的气球，那个气球开始着火坠落，里边的成员设法跳了出来，但是还没来得及打开降落伞就摔倒了地上。“好吧”我当时想：“这下估计得上军事法庭了”。过了一会团长开着威利斯赶到了我们连—他是个让人讨厌的军官。团长跟我说：“写一个申请吧，上级指挥员目睹了你击落梅塞施密特的过程。”我说：“什么梅塞施密特？我把自己人的“香肠”给打下来了！”但是团长仍然坚持自己的意见，我估计他是想要给自己捞点勋章。我看着威利斯开走去找那个少校，希望他还活着。谢天谢地，他们居然把他带回来了，真的活着！当然受伤不轻—胳膊和脸都刮伤了。他看见我以后开始骂我。我回答说：“你也看到了，我们是打算把梅塞施密特打下来。”我和那个少校喝了一顿酒，算是赔礼道歉，而从此以后，在接下来的攻势中，我们又经常见面了。当然，没有再发生类似的事情了。还有一次我们朝自己的战斗机开火，不过好在没有把它给打下来。当然，我们也有一套敌我识别系统，但非常的原始—白天靠飞机摇摆机翼，晚上则靠一套灯光信号。这些识别信号每天都在变化，所以我这个连长的工作其实非常复杂。

Then we advanced westward along the shore of the Bay of Riga. One time we were sitting on the beach, playing cards with some girls. And then the look-out shouted: "Water target!" I looked and saw three German torpedo boats approaching the shore. I called an alert and we started letting them get closer, but from 800 meters they opened fire. I saw one explosion, another. And we replied from all six guns. Basically, we chased them off and went to finish the game. Soon we liberated the city of Tartu. It was a warm August night when we entered this city, and I got an impression that the war bypassed it - no shots could be heard, traces of battles were absent from the streets. We halted, and I decided to go gather some raspberries that grew in the garden in front of the house. Picking the large, tasty raspberries, I parted some bushes and saw a dead woman lying flat on the ground. This contrast between beauty and silence on one side and death on the other has imprinted itself in my memory for the rest of my life.

此后我们沿着里加湾海岸向西进攻，有一次我们正坐在海边和几个姑娘玩牌，突然听到有人大喊：“水面目标！”我立即抬头寻找，看见三艘德国鱼雷艇正在接近海岸。我立即发布战斗警报，并且命令要把敌人放得近一点再打，但德军在八百米的距离上就开火了。我看到敌艇连续不断的开火，而我们则用全部六门炮回击。最后我们还是把他们打跑了，然后重新坐下来打牌。此后我军很快就解放了塔尔图市。我们进入这座城市的时候当时正好是一个温暖的八月夏夜，我当时在这里产生了一种错觉，忘记了战争—耳边不再是枪炮轰鸣，街道上无处寻觅战争的痕迹。我们在这里暂时扎营，我打算从前边房子的花园里弄点种在里边的树莓吃。我摘了一大堆美味的树莓，当我扒拉开一丛灌木的时候，看到一具妇女的尸体躺在地上。一边是和平美丽的景象，而一边是死亡的尸体，这种长列对比此后一直深深烙在我的记忆中。

We crossed the border with Germany in the region of the Netze River at Kostschin (Kostrzyn). We were driving at night over the site of yesterday's battles. Exhausted soldiers slept in the back of the truck. Suddenly I saw a plywood arch over the road and a sign on it in large black letters. I read it and my skin became covered with goose bumps: "Here it is - the criminal Germany." I called my platoon commanders. The soldiers were woken up. Here, I say, we're entering the fascist beast's lair. In the morning the regiment commander arrived. We had it set up so that a look-out watches both the air and the road, expecting superiors. If he sees a commander's "Willys" he would also command "Alert!", same as during an air raid. The commander asks: "What did you feed the soldiers today?" "Well, porridge, as always" - I reply. "Sergeant major, come here. What did you feed the soldiers?" "Porridge, Comrade Colonel." "Porridge, porridge... I was at Terekhov's battery, they already procured pork, or whatever.

我们从内策河畔的科斯琴进入德国境内。我们在夜间渡河，抵达昨日友军激战后夺取的桥头堡阵地。筋疲力尽的士兵们躺在卡车后边呼呼大睡。突然我在路边看到了一个用胶合板做成的拱门，上边有一行巨大的黑字。读完上边写着的字，我不禁起了一身鸡皮疙瘩—“这里就是恶贯满盈的德国。”我叫来一个排长。士兵们当时都醒了。“这里”我说“我们已经进入了法西斯野兽的老巢了。”早上团长也过来了，我们在那里不但得盯着天上，还得盯着地下，特别是要注意有没有上级首长。要是他看到了一个坐着威利斯过来的大首长，就会高喊：“警报！”，弄得跟敌机来袭似的。团长问我：“你们连的战士今天吃的是什么？”“和往常一样，麦片粥。”我回答。“大士，过来，告诉我你今天给战士们吃的是什么？”“麦片粥，上校同志”“麦片粥，麦片粥…我在捷列霍夫的连，他们经常会搞点肉什么的吃。”

Take a Studebaker or a Chevrolet and drive to a farm. Take everything they got." It must be said that beyond Netze the population in the radius of 20 km ran away, abandoning hungry farm animals. So our commanders were pushing us to pillage. Although, this ceased shortly because an order of the Front Commander Zhukov came out, saying something like: "We are a liberator army, which brought liberation to the German people, and we must treat the German people same as our own." But try to explain to simple Russian soldiers, who had relatives hanged or shot, houses destroyed, that they must forget everything at once?! It's impossible! The men were indignant: "Why am I supposed to forget what the Germans have done with my land, my relatives?" This transition was very painful. Because from the very Stalingrad to Germany's border we were advancing under the slogan: "Kill a German!" I still see Ilya Erenburg's articles in front of my eyes. You also have to keep in mind that the replacements in my battery by that time were mostly criminals, released due to amnesty. There was a case when my soldier, a criminal like that, raped a mother and daughter in a cemetery. I had to defend myself, write a report, SMERSH (stands for "Death to Spies", wartime military counter-intelligence organization - trans.) got interested, and he was put before a court martial. But there weren't any mass cases.

“找辆斯图贝克或者雪佛兰，到这附近去找个农场，从德国人那找点吃的”必须得说的是，内茨河周边方圆二十公里的范围内的人都跑光了，到处都是没人管的家畜。所以我们团长派我们出去抢点吃的东西。但这种行动很快就停止了，因为方面军司令员朱可夫下达了命令，内容如下：“我们是做为解放者来这里解放德国人民的，我们必须像对待同胞一样对待德国人民。”但是要怎么向俄罗斯士兵们解释呢？让他们一夜之间忘掉被绞死或者被枪毙的亲人，被烧毁的房屋么？这绝不可能！战士们非常愤慨：“为什么要我忘记德国人对我的家乡，我的亲人所做的一切？”这种工作是很难做的。因为从斯大林格勒到德国边境，一路反攻的口号是：“杀死德国佬！”我还记得在前线看到的伊利亚爱伦堡（苏联作家—译者注）的作品。而且必须也要加以注意的是，当时我们连里补充来的新兵大多数都是被特赦到前线来当兵的罪犯。曾经有一次，我连里的一个被释放的罪犯，这个士兵在一片墓地里强暴了一个母亲和她的女儿。我作为连长要为自己辩护，所以写了一份报告，锄奸处对这个案件很有兴趣，后来那个士兵被送上了军事法庭。但这种事情只是个别现象。

Well then, we captured Berlin, then Magdeburg, crossed Elba, and reached Stendal. There we stopped and lived for about a year. That's how the war ended.

在此以后，我们攻克了柏林，再往后是马格德堡，传过埃尔宾，抵达了施滕达尔。我们在那里驻扎了大约一年时间。战争就这么结束了。

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