[烛光生存狂]-【卫国战争老兵回忆】沃斯特洛夫·弗拉基米尔·鲍里索维奇

V.V. – I was borne in August of 1924 in the town of Jartsevo in the Smolensk region. I only managed to finish 8 grades of school before the war began. Five days after the invasion, our district created a “destroyer” battalion from Komsomol volunteers. The German bombing raids on the region were very heavy, and our battalion was tasked with guarding the two nearest railroad bridges, dealing with any German saboteurs and paratroopers, and patrolling the district. The battalion received one 1.5-ton truck, which provided all of our mobility.

V.V. – 1924年8月我出生在斯摩棱斯克州的亚尔采沃。战争爆发前我只读到了8年级。在德国人入侵五天后，我们区以共青团志愿者为主组建了一支“歼击”营*。德国人对我们州狂轰乱炸，我们营的任务是保护两座铁路桥，打击任何德国破坏者和伞兵，在区里巡逻。营里有一辆1.5吨卡车，这就是我们营全部的机动能力。

* 歼击营：伟大卫国战争期间苏共的地方组织为了与敌破坏分子和伞降兵作斗争而组建的苏联公民的志愿军事化组织。至1941年7月底已组建（主要在靠近前线地带）歼击营1755个，总人数达32.8万余人。此外还有30余万人参加志愿歼击营小组。随着战线的移近，大部分歼击营编入苏军部队，并在一些歼击营的基础上组建了游击队。

Our commander was a man from the town’s militsia [local police – Transl.] who had served a tour with the army before the war. We were issued one Vickers rifle and 5 rounds for it, housed in a schoolhouse and sworn in as soldiers. In July we had a battle with some German agents that had infiltrated behind the frontline, and even managed to capture one of them alive. Everyone was really surprised at how easily we dealt with the Germans then – we could hardly have known what a terrible and bloody war awaited us all. We all wanted to get to the front as fast as possible, worried that the war might end without us getting to fight. Of course, later that summer I gained a more realistic perspective on the war. The area around Jartsevo was held by professional troops, very well trained and equipped. They had an echeloned defense 30 kilometers deep, with artillery positions every 100 meters. The commanders were fond of saying things like – “we’ll fertilize the earth with German corpses!” And the Germans – they just flanked the entire defensive position…

我们营长是城里的民警，战前他曾经在军队里服过役。我们每个人都分到了一把维克斯步枪和五发子弹。平时就住在校舍里，象士兵一样宣誓。七月我们和一些从前线渗透进来的德国敌特分子交火，甚至在战斗中活捉了一个。我们都很惊讶觉得德国人并不难对付—我们不知道一场艰苦卓绝的战争正在前面等着我们。我们想尽快的上前线，担心还没到战场战争就结束了。那年夏天，我对战争有了真实的了解，亚尔采沃附近的地区由正规军控制，训练有素装备精良。梯次防御的纵深有30公里，每隔100米就有一个炮位。那些指挥员常把这样的话放在嘴边“我们要用德国人的尸体来做肥料！”德国人从侧翼发起了进攻很快就突破了全部的防御阵地…

When they did that, people started to panic…our battalion just fell apart. We waited for orders to begin an orderly evacuation of noncombatants out of the region, but never received it. I myself managed to walk 20 kilometers along country roads to the next railroad station, and rode out of the encirclement on the last freight train that had escaped the Germans.

人群开始恐慌…我们营也溃散了。我们在等组织非战斗人员撤离的命令，可是什么都没有。我就一个人沿着乡间公路走了20多公里来到了下一座火车站，赶上了最后一列货运列车从德国人的包围圈里逃了出来。

G.K. – And did your relatives manage to evacuate?

V.V. – My father was in the army by then, the next time I saw him was 1946. When I came home after being discharged, my father was waiting for me on the train platform. I walked by him twice, and he didn’t recognize me…That’s how much the war changed me.My mother wasn’t fortunate enough to escape. When my regiment liberated Jartsevo in 1943, she wasn’t in town – the civilians who’d survived the occupation were hiding in the nearby forests during the battle. Our house had been completely destroyed. Someone later told my mother that they had seen me standing over the ruins of our home. After that, for a long time she kept going to Smolensk to meet the medical trains headed east, hoping to run into me. She never did, but I actually was on one of those trains when they shipped me to a hospital in the rear areas. That’s a mother’s instinct for you…

G.K. – 你亲戚也撤出来了吗？

V.V. – 我父亲当时已经参军。1946年我才又看到他。当我坐火车回家的时候，父亲在站台接我。我从他面前经过两次，他都没认出我…战争改变了我很多。我的母亲没有逃离包围圈，1943年我们团解放亚尔采沃的时候，她不在城里—战斗的时候，那些在占领期间幸存的平民都躲藏在附近的树林里。我们家的房子已经完全被毁了。有人告诉我妈说曾看到我站在自家房子的废墟里。之后很长一段时间里她总是跑到斯摩棱斯克盯着那些往东开的运送伤员的列车，希望能够遇见我。可惜我们没有相遇，可是当时我确实是在其中的一列火车上被送往后方的医院。这是一个母亲的直觉…

One of my uncles, Semen Fillipovich Vostrov, tried to break out of the encirclement in a car with two of his friends. They ran into a German patrol and were killed…another uncle, Grigorij Fillipovich Vostrov, stayed behind with his wife Vera and daughter Valja. At one point, they were hiding in their house a wounded Russian pilot who’d been shot down behind enemy lines…a neighbor told the Germans, and they shot my uncle’s entire family as well as the pilot. My family lost a lot of people during that terrible war…

我的一个叔叔，西蒙·费里波维奇·沃斯特洛夫，打算和两个朋友开车冲破包围圈，在路上遇到德国巡逻队，全部遇害。另一个叔叔格里戈里·费里波维奇·沃斯特洛夫和妻子维拉和女儿瓦丽雅就呆在家里。有一次，他们藏了一个受伤的飞行员在家里。邻居向德国人告密，全家包括飞行员都被枪杀了。在这场惨烈的战争中我们家族死了很多人…

G.K. – What happened to you after you escaped from the German encirclement?

V.V. – I wound up near Moscow, worked as a garage mechanic for a while. In April of 1942 I volunteered for frontline service. I was first assigned to a reserve regiment, went through basic training, then became an infantryman on the Western Front. Towards the end of 1943 I was wounded, and after I was released from the hospital I wound up in an assault gun regiment.

G.K. – 你从德国人的包围圈里逃出来之后发生了什么事？

V.V. – 我到了莫斯科附近，在一家汽修场干了一段时间。1942年4月我志愿上前线服役。最初在预备团接受基础训练，之后作为一名步兵加入了西方面军。1943年末在战斗中负伤，伤愈后我们来到了一个自行火炮团。

* 苏军将SU-76、SU-100、ISU-152等统称为自行火炮

G.K. – Would you like to talk about your life in the infantry?

G.K. – 能谈一下你在步兵部队的经历吗？

V.V. – You know, I’ve looked at your website, and there is already a wealth of stories from regular infantrymen. I don’t think I could add anything substantial to that. The infantry was almost certain death. No-one who served escaped his fate. I was extremely lucky to last as long as I did on the frontline. I can tell you about my last infantry combat. The frontline was near Orsha. The German positions were 400 meters away from our trenches. We were deployed in defensive positions – can’t start any fires, they fed us cold stew and crackers once a day. Then suddenly they relieved us, took us back 10 kilometers behind the front. We washed up, got new uniforms. Then they formed us up and read aloud the order about a new offensive. The next morning, we attacked after an artillery preparation. We barely advanced 100 meters when the German dive bombers showed up and started plastering our lines. We couldn’t retreat, and staying put meant certain death from German bombs – and so we rushed forward. Across the barbed wire, across the minefield, under fire from German machine guns and mortars, and all the while the bombs kept whistling overhead and exploding among us. Finally, we captured the first German trenchline, and immediately the order came down – “Keep forward! Do not stop!” At that moment, my SMG jammed. I squatted down, cleared the jam, then started to run again. I only had about 50 meters to go to the next German trench when I felt a hard blow to my legs. A German mortar shell exploded just behind me, and a big fragment lodged in my left knee. But – once again – I was extremely lucky. My boots and my greatcoat were full of holes and shrapnel, but only a few fragments actually hit me. A friend dragged me off into a fresh shell hole and bandaged me up. I crawled back to the rear using my SMG as a support – not even the wounded were permitted to leave the field of battle without their weapon…Eventually, I wound up in our medical battalion, then they loaded up in carts and took us to a field hospital in the woods near Smolensk. There were many hundreds of wounded already there on the ground, waiting their turn in the surgical tents. The doctors worked as if on a factory conveyer belt. There wasn’t really any anesthetic, but our people are hardy – we just gritted our teeth until it was over. They operated on me, and then loaded the lot of us into freight cars and shipped us off to Moscow. Our train cars were usually used to transport coal, so by the end of the trip we were all black like Africans with only the teeth and the whites of our eyes showing. We arrived at the Belorussia train terminal, and then they took us by car to a hospital near the “Aviamotor” metro station. Then they operated on me again. A month and a half later they discharged me and sent me to an infantry school, but then my wound opened up again hardly a week after I got there. Another hospital, another surgery, crutches. I had two more surgery after the war. After I was discharged from that hospital, they sent me to a convalescent battalion. I had thought they’d immediately ship me off to the front with a reinforcement company, but instead I was forwarded to a tank training regiment in Petushki.

V.V. – 恩，我看过你弄得网站，里面已经有很多普通步兵的回忆了。我没什么补充的。对步兵来说，除非你有足够的运气，否则阵亡是迟早得事。能呆在前线那么长时间完全是因为我运气好。那我就来谈下自己作为步兵参加的最后一场战斗吧。当时德国人的阵地离我们只有大约400米远，我们呆在防御阵地里—不能生火，每天只能吃冷的炖食和薄饼。一天我们接到换防通知，被送到离前线十公里的后方。洗了澡换了新军装。之后集结接受发起一轮新攻势的命令。第二天清晨，在炮火准备后我们发起了冲锋。刚跑出100米，德国人的俯冲轰炸机就开始在投弹了，我们没有退缩，继续往前跑—呆在原地就意味着被炸弹炸死。在德国人机枪和迫击炮的火力打击下，我们跨过铁丝网，穿过地雷阵，不是有炸弹从空中落下在四周爆炸。终于我们攻占了德军的第一道防线。还没等喘口气，命令就来了—“不能停下，继续前进！”这时我们的冲锋枪卡壳了。我俯下身子解决枪械问题后继续往前跑。就在离德国下一道防线大约五十米的地方，我感到自己的腿部被什么东西打了一下。一大快炮弹碎片嵌进了我的左膝。一枚德国迫击炮在我身后爆炸。幸运再次降临，我的靴子和大衣被炮弹碎片戳得全是洞，但只有很少部分的碎片伤到了我。一个战友把我拖进了一个刚形成的弹坑里为我包扎。弄完后抱着自己的冲锋枪开始往回爬—就算是受伤了也不允许在战场上丢弃自己的武器…最后，我到了医疗营。他们把我们抬上了车送到斯摩棱斯克附近森林里的一家野战医院。那里已经挤满了几百名等待手术的伤员。医生们就像工厂里流水线上的操作员一样不停得工作着。我们的人都很勇敢—咬咬牙就忍过去了。帮我动完手术后他们用列车把伤员送到了莫斯科。坐得列车原先是运煤炭的货车，所以下车的时候我们浑身黑得好象非洲人，只有牙齿还是白的。我们抵达了终点站—白俄罗斯车站。然后坐车到了“Aviamotor”地铁站附近的一所医院。他们给我又动了次手术。半个月后我康复出院，被送到了一所步兵学校，可就在我到了那里一个星期后伤口开裂了，又接受了一次手术。等我从医院出来后，他们把我送到了一个康复营。我觉得自己会立刻被送回战场，可事实上我被转到了别图什基的一个坦克训练团。

G.K. – Was it difficult to think about going back to the front after all the things you’d experienced in the infantry and the hospitals?

G.K. –从医院康复后，再回到前线从思想上有困难吗？

V.V. – No, there wasn’t any fear or anxiety at all. I was ready to fight again, to fulfill my patriotic duty – I wasn’t looking for an easy way out. But I did see how hard it was for some soldiers to go back to face death. In the hospital, the guy in the bed next to mine was a senior NCO named Kapustin, one of the professional soldiers from before the war – that was the sixth time he had been wounded! He once confided to me that he just didn’t have any strength to go back into the meat grinder on the frontlines…

V.V. – 没有，既不感到害怕也不觉得担忧。我已经做好准备投入新的战斗，以此来旅行自己保家卫国的责任——我没有找到比这个更简单的办法。不过我也见过一些战士因为怕死害怕返回战场。住院的时候，邻床住着个士官，名字叫Kapustin。他是个老兵战前就已经参军了——这次是他第六次负伤！有一天他告诉我，自己已经丧失回到那个“张着血盆大口”的前线的勇气了。

G.K. – Did you want to become a tanker?

V.V. – When I was with the infantry, we all envied the tankers – they had fewer things to lug around, don’t have to sleep out in the open, in the mud, in the swamps, for months on end. But no-one had really wanted to become a tanker. The prospect of being burned to death wasn’t exactly inspiring.

G.K. –你想成为一名坦克手吗？

V.V. –在我还是名步兵的时候，我们非常羡慕那些坦克手——他们很少被周遭的环境拖住前进的脚步，不用在开阔地或者沼泽地睡上一个月或者更久。可是没有人真得愿意成为一名坦克手，坦克爆炸起火燃烧的画面，谁都不会忘记。

G.K. – What was the reserve training regiment like? How would you “grade” the training that you received?

G.K. – 预备训练团怎么样？你从那里学到了什么？

V.V. – The reserve training regiment was formed on the basis of a tank regiment destroyed near Khar’kov. We arrived in literally the middle of nowhere, and had to build out our housing bunkers and the training grounds ourselves while we trained. The training went for 12 hours a day, every day, though a meaningful portion of that time was spent on construction work. Hunger…we lived in huge 250-man earthen bunkers with 2-story wooden bed frames. Our “beds” were our greatcoats stretched out on the logs. But we weren’t complaining – by that time, we’d all forgotten what a warm bed was like after two plus years of the war…The regiment was preparing crews for T-34s, T-70s, T-60s and SU-76 assault guns. I wound up in a training company for tank gunners – they taught me how to shoot reasonably well. They actually offered me a chance to stay on as one of the instructors, but by that time I’d had enough of the regiment’s osobist [Special Department Representative – an officer of the NKVD’s counter-intelligence department, later reformed as “SMERSH”, responsible for “moral and political health” of his unit as well as for uncovering “traitors, saboteurs and anti-Soviet agitators”; generally disliked by regular troops. Transl.]. So I went off to the front the first chance I got.

V.V. – 训练团是以一个在哈尔科夫附近被歼灭的坦克团为基础组建的。我们到的真不是时候…什么都没有，我们只能边训练边动手造营房和训练场地。每天训练时间都在12个小时左右，还要完成各类建筑工程，太饿了…我们住在可以容纳250人的土制营房里，屋里挤满了二层的木质板床。我们的“床”就是把军大衣铺在木头上，我们没有任何埋怨——经历了两年多的战争，我们早就忘了温床的感觉了…团里主要是负责训练T-34, T-70, T-60和SU-76的乘员。我进的这个连主要是负责训练炮长。他们教我如何射击。实际上我有机会留在那里担任名教官，可那时候我受够了内务部特别处在团里的代表。我也因此第一次有机会去前线了。

G.K. – What’s the story with the regiment’s osobist?

V.V. – Well, during the winter a few men from the regiment were sent to pick up some supplies for the regimental kitchen in a Studebaker truck. On the way back, we were all dead tired – I was sitting in a folding seat in the back of the truck, and the soldier next to me happened to have been a starover [a sect that had split off from the Russian Orthodox Church in mid-17th century – Transl.] who had previously served in the long range artillery. The snow was really coming down. I dozed off, and when I woke up at the regiment the starover had disappeared. Apparently he jumped off somewhere along the way and deserted. Well, after that the osobist kept bringing me in for questioning almost every night and accusing me of being in on the whole thing – “you’re the one who sat next to him and so you must have seen everything,” “it’s your fault that he deserted,” “you two thought this up together” and so forth…I just couldn’t deal with that anymore, and so was very happy to finally wind up somewhere else – the assault gun training brigade in Mytischi.

G.K. – Were the assault gun crews put together in Mytischi（莫斯科州梅季希）?

V.V. – Yes, we picked up our assault guns straight from the factory at Mytischi. There was a very similar factory in the city of Gor’kij. After we picked up our vehicles, we had a 100-kilometer training run with firing trials, and then sent off as replacements to the 1433rd Separate “Novgorod” Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment in the High Command Reserve. Soon afterwards, the unit became the 423rd Guards Separate Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment. We arrived at the regiment in our own assault guns, and all the crews were the same as back in the training brigade.

V.V. – 是的，我们接收的突击炮是从莫斯科州梅季希的工厂直接开出来的。在Gor’kij城里有一个简易的工厂。在我们接收完车辆后，会经历一个100公里的行驶训练和实弹射击。训练完成后我们以补充兵的身份被送到了作为统帅部预备队的第1433“诺夫哥罗德”自行火炮团。部队番号后来改为第423近卫独立自行火炮团。我们开着自己的车，带着从训练旅出来的车组到火炮团报到。

G.K. – What was the regiment’s organizational structure?

V.V. – The regiment was a part of the 6th Mechanized Corps in the 4th Tank Army. Since the regiment was designated as “separate”, its organization was a little different from line assault gun regiments. The regiment had 4 batteries of 4 assault guns, plus a company of T-34 tanks – on average, we had 25-27 machines in service before going into battle. We also had an antitank rifle company. Sometimes they attached a motorcycle platoon and a reconnaissance platoon on APCs.

G.K. –突击炮团的战斗序列是怎样的？

V.V. –我们团属于第4坦克集团群第6机械化军。因为被惯以“独立”的名称所以编制方面和普通的突击炮团有所不同。团里由4个连（每连4门突击炮）和一个T34坦克连组成，在战斗前我们团会有25-27辆各型车辆。我们还配有一个反坦克枪连，有时候他们还会加强给我们一个摩托车排和一个乘坐装甲人员输送车的侦察排。

G.K. – I know that you didn’t really want to recall the war, and that the local veterans’ group had barely convinced you to agree to this meeting. That’s completely understandable – even today, very few veterans are eager to talk about those terrible days. Even so…could you at least talk a little bit about those battles that were most memorable?

G.K. – 我知道您其实并不想回忆起这场战争，当地老兵协会是费了很大的劲才说服您同意本次会面。这是完全可以理解的—即使在今天，数量不多的退伍军人都不希望再回忆起这些可怕的日子。即便如此...您是否至少能谈一下那些战斗最让人难忘的部分吗？

V.V. – In all honesty, I don’t really want to drag up those memories again…Fine…In February of 1945, the assault by our 1st Ukranian Front exhausted itself about 80 kilometers from Berlin. What remained of the regiment didn’t even have fuel or ammunition. The dirt roads turned into rivers of viscous mud. In the beginning of March, the 4th Tank Army’s commander, Leljushenko, arrived at our regiment and told us that we were going to be entrusted with a “special” operation. They lined up all of the regiment’s soldiers, and then the “theater” began. Leljushenko kept asking – “Who had already been in combat? Who had been wounded and still did not receive any commendations? Who had been recommended for a medal and still did not receive one? Does anyone have any requests?” Meanwhile, his adjutants were walking up and down the line noting down the names of the soldiers who replied to any of the questions. What did all this mean?

Our losses during a typical “special” operation ran at about 50%. In this particular case, however, we understood that we were about to be sent on a suicide mission. Why else would Leljushenko himself be trying so hard to raise our spirits…Anyway, after all the theater, they ordered us to take a small German village, saying that only our “all-terrain” assault guns could get to it through all the mud…

So here we were, sitting in our vehicles, waiting for the order to attack. There was a minefield between our positions and the village. They sent in 5 T-34 tanks with mine-clearing attachments ahead of us. The mine-clearing tanks are pretty slow, and the Germans immediately destroyed three of them…seeing this, we all rushed forward, hoping to get lucky…the minefield was made up of massive anti-tank mines, each with 100-200 kilograms of explosives. Any crew that drove over one of these went straight to heaven, their assault guns just disintegrated. A third of our assault guns blew up then and there…After fifteen minutes we reached the now-empty German village. Aside from those who died in the minefields, we had no losses. Most of the crews dismounted and began scavenging for “trophies”, but my guys stayed in the assault gun. I always thought it was a bad omen to take something that doesn’t belong to you. All of a sudden I saw a friend of mine named Topkasov carrying a new pair of leather boots, and instantly got the feeling that something bad was about to happen…

我们呆在自己的车里等待着进攻命令。我们的阵地和村子中间是一大片雷区。5辆挂着扫雷器的T-34走在队伍最前面，扫雷坦克走得很慢，德国人立刻击毁了其中的三辆。我们开始加速往前冲，祈求着好运气…雷场密布着反坦克地雷，每个都装有100-200公斤的爆炸物。只要压到其中的一颗，坦克乘员立马上天堂，突击炮也一起四分五裂。三分之一的突击炮在行进土中爆炸起火。十五分钟后，我们到了已经空无一人的村庄。除了地雷造成的伤亡外，我们没有任何损失。大部分车上的乘员都下车去搜寻“战利品”。但我们车里的人都还在车里没下来。我总觉得如果拿了不属于自己的东西会带来厄运。我看到一个朋友，名字叫Topkasov拿了一双崭新的皮靴，立刻就感觉到会有什么坏事发生…

And then it did. A counterattack by German tanks! Topkasov’s assault gun was hit right in the fuel tank. You can imagine what happens when 200 liters of aviation gasoline light up, especially if the vehicle is carrying a full combat load of 80 shells…All that was left of my friend was one leg in a new leather boot…We managed to repel the German counterattack with great difficulties, but the regiment was bled dry in the process.

真的来了。德国坦克的反击！Topkasov突击炮的右侧油箱被打中了，你可以想象一下装有200公升的航空汽油被点燃，更糟糕的是车里还带着一个战斗基数的80枚炮弹…一切都化为了乌有，我的朋友只留下了一条还套在新皮靴里的腿。最终我们打退了德国人的反扑，但是突击炮团也为此流干了血。

G.K. – Did you believe in omens?

V.V. – Yes – for instance, it was very important for me never to take any “trophies”. Our regiment commander used to be the director of a textile factory in Ivanovo before the war. A good officer, and a good manager. When the army allowed soldiers to send packages back to the Soviet Union, he ordered that every soldier in the regiment receive a “gift package” from things that we’ve scavenged to send back. I refused to accept mine, but then someone secretly sneaked a new suit into my assault gun. Two days later my assault gun burned up, along with the new suit.

G.K. – Did you ever pray before an attack?

V.V. – Well, sometimes you remembered God, but I was brought up as an atheist, and so didn’t pray or cross myself or anything like that.

G.K. – You were wounded again in Germany. How did that happen?

V.V. – The battles on the approaches to Berlin were very bloody and inhumanly savage.

We’d just driven back to the rear from the battlefield. I was looking to replace my driver, who had been killed in that combat. Practically no fuel and very little engine oil left by that time. Just then, the regiment’s second-in-command comes up and orders two assault guns to make a combat reconnaissance, basically move towards the enemy lines and draw the fire of his guns so that our spotters could locate them. Then he attached two T-34s with tank riders for support. I told him, “Comrade Captain, we don’t have any fuel!” He only replied: “No talking – I want you to move out in five minutes!” And so we turned back towards the German positions. It was quiet, at first, there weren’t any Germans to shoot at us for several kilometers. Then we saw a German village, and some defensive positions just behind it. There was infantry, of course, plus at least one gun battery and some mortars. And then…we managed to sneak right up to the German positions, then suddenly burst into them firing at point blank range. I could see the terrified faces of the enemy soldiers the moment before they were crushed by the tracks of my vehicle. The Germans ran. We really massacred them!..and then, the German artillery came alive all along the frontline. There was tremendous shelling, they were firing indiscriminately on us and on their own men. We barely managed to avoid the enemy fire – I drove into the village, rammed an iron gate with my assault gun and took cover in the courtyard of a stone house. Later on, with incredible difficulty we made it back to our lines, all under enemy fire. And the next day they told us – “yesterday’s mission was only partially fulfilled. We’re going to have to do another combat reconnaissance today!” I just sat down at the driver’s station and told the guys who were staying behind: “write to my mother about how her son had died…” The feeling was that we were doomed…the Germans were waiting for us. The moment we moved out they destroyed one of the T-34s…I don’t know how, but we almost made it back to the village. At that point, we were the only ones left, every other machine that went in with us was already burning…About 100 meters away from the village, we were ordered back to the starting positions. The German fire was so dense that I could only think – enough, kill me already! The ground shook from explosions, and on the way back we were finally hit…The assault gun began to burn, but we had enough time to bail out and take cover in a nearby ditch…then I felt something hit me in the leg. Shrapnel…we wound up crawling the two kilometers back to our lines under incessant enemy fire.

G.K. – As a SU-76 gunner, you have personally destroyed 12 German tanks and assault guns. What does a gunner feel during a meeting engagement with German tanks?

G.K. – 作为一名SU-76的炮长，你的个人战绩是12辆德国坦克和突击炮。能谈下一名炮长在和德国坦克交手时的感受吗？

V.V. – Well, there was this episode in the beginning of 1945. We were supporting some infantry, shelling the Germans for about an hour. There was an escarpment about 150 meters to our right. Suddenly, we saw our infantry running from that direction. Tanks!..So we turned around to face the escarpment and waited. The first tank appeared – well, first his gun barrel, and only then the rest of him. I aimed the gun and took him out with a sub-caliber shell. There was just this sigh of relief…and then the second enemy tank crawled out into sight. It was a duel – who will manage to fire first? There was so much adrenaline in the bloodstream then…you can’t think of death, you don’t even have time to get scared. I just aimed and fired. Got him. And then the infantry finished off the enemy crews with a squad machine gun. After a fight like this, you’re just glad that you got lucky again…

V.V. – 好的，这是1945年初的一次战斗，我们为步兵提供炮火支援，炮击德国人持续了将近一个多小时。在我们右侧大约150米的地方是一处悬崖。忽然我们看到步兵们从这个方向往回跑。敌人坦克！..我们把炮口对准悬崖方向开始等待。第一辆坦克出现了—先露出了一截炮管，接着整个都出现在我的瞄准镜里，我发射了一枚次口径炮弹，刚舒了一口气，第二辆敌军坦克又爬进了我的镜头里。这是一场决斗—谁能先发制人？肾上腺素带动着血液飞速的流传，你不会想到死亡，甚至没时间感到害怕。瞄准射击，又干掉了一辆。之后步兵们用一挺班用机枪把从坦克残骸里爬出来的敌人坦克兵都突突了。战斗结束，你很高兴自己又得到了好运气。

G.K. – What were the losses in your regiment?

G.K. – 你所在的团的损失情况如何？

V.V. – During the last year of the war, less than 25% of our crewmen survived. You see, assault guns – they’re really designed to provide artillery support for the infantry. And instead, we were often used in frontal assaults. A light assault gun just doesn’t have the armored protection, and its gun traverse is very limited. Plus, by the end of the war tanks as a whole became much more vulnerable. But – no-one ever spared us. Who has ever spared the common soldier?

V.V. – 在战争的最后几年里，团里只有不到25%的坦克兵还活着。你明白突击炮—他们是设计用来作为步兵提供炮火支援的。可实际上，我们经常被用作正面突破。轻型突击炮的装甲很薄，火炮的射界也很有限。

G.K. – What is your view of the quality of German tankers?

G.K. – 从你的角度出发觉得德国坦克手们的水平如何？

V.V. – Their training was very thorough. The Germans were a very serious opponent. To be honest, their equipment was also a lot better. The German tank guns had a higher muzzle velocity and much better sights, which of course had very unfortunate consequences for us. But by the end of the war, the Germans didn’t really take risks very often. This one night we were parked in a column of march, in a single file, actually, with all the motors shut off. Suddenly, several German Panther tanks rushed past us at high speed. We never understood why they didn’t just shoot up our column at point blank range, we wouldn’t have had any time to turn our guns towards them…

V.V. – 他们的训练非常全面。德国是个很有威胁的对手。老实说，他们的装备要更好一些，德国的坦克炮有着更高的初速和更好的观瞄设备，相比而言，我们的就糟糕了点。到了战争末期，德国人似乎不在那么富有冒险精神了。一天夜里，我们的车队呈一路纵队停在路边，大部分车辆的发送机已经关闭了。突然几辆德国黑豹以极高的车速向我们驶来，我们永远都无法理解为什么他们不在近距离向我们射击，要知道当时我们根本就没时间把炮口对准他们…

G.K. – Were there any restrictions in ammunition use?

V.V. – A third of a combat load was considered to be a “last ditch reserve”, and we could only use it with the direct permission of the regiment’s commander. Of course, in the heat of battle we often shot off our entire combat load. No-one is going to physically count their shells in combat. One time we broke through to a German divisional headquarters, and only then realized that we had no ammunition left with which to blow it away. Command made such a fuss about that!..An analogous situation arose in another battle in Germany. The regiment’s commander was given the order to attack after we’d already gone through most of our ammunition. All we could scrounge up was a single combat load for two assault guns. These two machines went forward, while the logistics chief grabbed three Studebaker trucks and rushed off to find some shells for the rest of the regiment.

G.K. – What personal weapons did assault gun crews carry?

V.V. – We were all issued a revolver. Each assault gun always had 20 grenades and 1-2 PPSh submachine guns for the crew. Everyone also usually stuffed two-three grenades into their coat pockets, some of us had German SMGs. You could salvage a whole arsenal from the battlefield, no-one really ever paid attention to what we were carrying around in our vehicle. By the end of the war, we were driving around with captured Panzerfausts.

G.K. – 突击炮乘员的个人武器是什么？

V.V. – 每个人都配了一支左轮手枪。每辆突击炮总带有20枚手榴弹和1-2把冲锋枪。通常每个人都会在大衣口袋里塞上2到3枚手榴弹，有时候我们也用德国人的冲锋枪。没人会对我们车上带着什么感兴趣。战争末期，我们车上还带着缴获的铁拳。

G.K. – Were the German “Panzerfausters” especially bothersome?

G.K. –德国人的铁拳是不是很麻烦？

V.V. – The German Panzerfaust detachments were very active against us from February to April of 1945. These were mainly put together from German penal units and Vlasov’s men [Russian defectors who fought on the German side under General Andrei Vlasov, who had been captured in 1942 – Transl.]. One time, they destroyed an IS-2 tank standing a few dozen meters away right before my eyes. Our regiment was lucky enough to enter Berlin from the Potsdam side, and we never had to fight through the center of the city, where the Panzerfausters were just running wild…

V.V. – 1945年2月到4月德国人的反坦克小组非常的活跃。有一次他们就在我的眼前几秒钟就摧毁了一辆IS-2坦克。我们团很幸运是从波兹坦进入柏林。我们没有参与城中心的战斗，那里铁拳如雨。

G.K. – How did your regiment treat the German civilians?

V.V. – Well, all sorts of different things happened in the spring of 1945. But you know, the tank forces generally recruited people who were educated and mostly very conscientious. I can’t remember anyone from my regiment doing anything particularly notable, although I would say that no-one who was there at the time would ever answer that question with 100% honesty.

And if anyone does answer honestly, you might want to think ten times before publishing it. I remember, near Berlin we had captured a large mansion – the garage alone was built for twenty cars. My assault gun commander was a Jew from Odessa who had worked as a teacher before the war and whose German was excellent. He was our translator. Turned out that the people hiding in the mansion were the cast of the Berlin Opera – they told us, they were very glad that they were captured by tankers and not the infantry…

G.K. – Did the crews in your regiment trust or respect the unit commissars?

V.V. – All of our commissars had been combat officers promoted out of the ranks. My own political officer, Vysotskij, for example, had himself commanded an assault gun before being transferred to do political work. People like that could be trusted.

G.K. – How did the crews view the regiment’s command?

V.V. – I don’t like to talk about this subject. We really disliked “tenure” officers, people sent over from the academies or some rear-area training school to get some frontline experience. These generally liked to order people around, and all wanted to get a medal as soon as possible. We had a second-in-command like that, he really knew how to make a mess of things…

G.K. – Another “extraneous” question. For your frontline service you have been awarded the Orders of the Red Banner, Patriotic War, Red Star, Glory 3rd Class. Any desire to talk about any of these medals?

V.V. – Not in the slightest. Only the staff officers care about medals. I was fighting for the Motherland, not for some award. I would say this, however – each of my Orders was awarded for a particular combat episode.

G.K. – Where were you when you found out the war had come to an end?

V.V. – We were driving towards Prague through Sudetenland. Hadn’t slept for three days – incessant skirmishes with the Germans, mined roads with trees cut down on both sides for ambushes, the German antiaircraft guns firing at us from the hills. One night, we made a rest stop – and then, suddenly, there were shouts everywhere: “Victory! Hurrah! The war is over!” The soldiers are all so happy they’re crying, everyone is firing guns in the air. My first thought was: “What do you mean the war is over?! I still have a full combat load?!” For better or worse, I did get a chance to shoot off that combat load. Our regiments kept fighting in the Czech mountains for five more days after Germany’s capitulation was announced. A few of our guys died after victory had been declared…My last battle was on May 14, 1945. After it was over I said to myself: “Well, now you’re done shooting for sure…Can’t wait to get home…”

完成！为了保持完整性，我把之前蓝色马蹄莲翻译过的部分也一起贴出来，请大家阅读的时候注意。

G.K. – And did your relatives manage to evacuate?

G.K. – 你亲戚也撤出来了吗？

我的一个叔叔，西蒙•费里波维奇•沃斯特洛夫，打算和两个朋友开车冲破包围圈，在路上遇到德国巡逻队，全部遇害。另一个叔叔格里戈里•费里波维奇•沃斯特洛夫和妻子维拉和女儿瓦丽娅就呆在家里。有一次，他们藏了一个受伤的飞行员在家里。邻居向德国人告密，全家包括飞行员都被枪杀了。在这场惨烈的战争中我们家族死了很多人…

G.K. – What happened to you after you escaped from the German encirclement?

G.K. – 你从德国人的包围圈里逃出来之后发生了什么事？

* 苏军将SU-76、SU-100、ISU-152等统称为自行火炮

G.K. – Would you like to talk about your life in the infantry?

G.K. – 能谈一下你在步兵部队的经历吗？

G.K. – Was it difficult to think about going back to the front after all the things you’d experienced in the infantry and the hospitals?

G.K. –从医院康复后，再回到前线从思想上有困难吗？

V.V. – 没有，既不感到害怕也不觉得担忧。我已经做好准备投入新的战斗，以此来旅行自己保家卫国的责任——我没有找到比这个更简单的办法。不过我也见过一些战士因为怕死害怕返回战场。住院的时候，邻床住着个士官，名字叫卡普斯京Kapustin。他是个老兵，战前就已经参军了——这次是他第六次负伤！有一天他告诉我，自己已经丧失回到那个“张着血盆大口”的前线的勇气了。

G.K. – Did you want to become a tanker?

G.K. –你想成为一名坦克手吗？

G.K. – What was the reserve training regiment like? How would you “grade” the training that you received?

G.K. – 预备训练团怎么样？你从那里学到了什么？

V.V. – 训练团是以一个在哈尔科夫附近被歼灭的坦克团为基础组建的。我们到的真不是时候…什么都没有，我们只能边训练边动手造营房和训练场地。每天训练时间都在12个小时左右，还要完成各类建筑工程，太饿了…我们住在可以容纳250人的土制营房里，屋里挤满了二层的木质板床。我们的“床”就是把军大衣铺在木头上，我们没有任何埋怨——经历了两年多的战争，我们早就忘了温床的感觉了…团里主要是负责训练T-34, T-70, T-60和SU-76的乘员。我进的这个连主要是负责训练炮长。他们教我如何射击。实际上我有机会留在那里担任名教官，可那时候我受够了内务人民委员部特别局的派驻在团里的一个军官。我也因此第一次有机会去前线了。

G.K. – What’s the story with the regiment’s osobist?

GK—内务部军官在团里有什么故事么？

V.V—恩，冬天的时候有些人被派去帮团的炊事车从斯图贝克卡车上搬补给物资。在回来的路上，当时我们都累的要死—我坐在卡车后边的折叠椅上，另外一个士兵是个旧礼仪教派教徒{俄文转译词为Старовер，意为保守派，老古董，为东正教旧礼仪教派教徒，亦称老信徒教派。该派反对17世纪尼康和彼得一世的改革，成员多为下层贫民群众和低级教士。他们反对政府的横征暴敛，宣传平均主义和无政府主义，17世纪下半叶形成了强有力的反国教势力，曾遭沙皇的严厉镇压。—译者注}（十七世纪中期从俄国东正教派中分离出来的一个支派——原文译注）。他以前在远程火炮部队服役。雪已经下起来了。我打着瞌睡，等我回到团队的时候发现那个旧礼仪教派教徒已经不见了。显然是这个家伙半道上跳车跑了。然后那个内务部的军官就天天几乎晚上提审我，他对我的指控大体是“你就坐在那个逃兵的旁边，肯定看见了事件的全程。”“因为你的过失他才溜掉了”“你们俩肯定是同谋”以及其他诸如此类……我已经快受不了了，最后另外一件事儿才把我给救了—我们自行火炮旅被拉到梅季希去训练。

G.K. – Were the assault gun crews put together in Mytischi（莫斯科州梅季希）?

G.K. – What was the regiment’s organizational structure?

G.K. –突击炮团的战斗序列是怎样的？

V.V—坦率的说，我真的不愿意再回忆那些事情…..好吧…..1945年4月，我所在的乌克兰第一方面军在柏林方向推进了80公里。团里甚至已经没有了燃料和弹药供应。土路由于河水泛滥而泥泞不堪。在5月初，第4坦克集团军司令员，列柳申科，来到我们团并且向我们布置了一项“特别”的任务。他们把全团的士兵都集合起来，然后“好戏”就开场了。列柳申科不断地问一些问题—“谁谁参加过战斗啦？谁谁负过伤但还没受过勋啦？谁谁被推荐授勋但是还没有批准啦？谁谁还有什么其他的请求啦”诸如此类。同时他的副官会跟在他身边来来回回的走动，记下来那些回答了将军的提问的士兵的名字。这到底是什么意思？

我们团在这次“特殊”的进攻中损失了50%的兵力，无论如何，我们明白了所谓特别的任务其实就是让我们执行一项几乎是自杀性的作战。这就是为什么列柳申科要亲自来给我们打气……总之，在这次动员之后，上边命令我们去夺取一个德国小镇，并且说只有我们团的“全地形“自行火炮能驶过泥泞作战……

G.K. – Did you believe in omens?

G.K—你相信会有预兆？

V.V—没错，比如，我非常忌讳拿任何的“战利品“。我们团长在战前曾经是伊凡诺沃的一个纺织厂的厂长。既是一个好的干部也是一个好的经理。那时候部队允许士兵向国内寄包裹，他命令团里的士兵可以每个人都从打扫战场所得的东西中挑一个东西作为“礼包”。我不想凑这个热闹，但是不知道是谁偷偷摸摸的往我的自行火炮里放了一套新衣服。结过两天以后我的自行火炮就着火了，连同那套衣服一起。

G.K. – Did you ever pray before an attack?

G.K—你在进攻前会祈祷么？

V.V. – Well, sometimes you remembered God, but I was brought up as an atheist, and so didn’t pray or cross myself or anything like that.

V.V—嗯，有时候你可能会念叨上帝什么的，但是我其实是个无神论者，所以我既不会祈祷也不会划十字或者干其他诸如此类的事情。

G.K. – You were wounded again in Germany. How did that happen?

G.K. –你在德国境内又一次受伤了？那是什么情况？

V.V. – The battles on the approaches to Berlin were very bloody and inhumanly savage.

V.V—战斗接近柏林的时候越发的血腥而残酷。

我们当时刚从战场上撤下来。因为我的驾驶员阵亡了所以我得找个人补缺。而是当时已经没有燃油了，机油也只剩下一点点。正好这时候，副团长过来命令两辆自行火炮去执行战斗侦查任务，需要至少向敌人阵线前进一段向敌人开火，以便让我们的炮兵观察员标定位置。他还带来了两辆T34坦克和坦克搭载兵进行支援。我告诉他：“大尉同志，我们已经没有一滴油了！”他只是说：“别废话—我命令你五分钟以内出动！”然后我们就转回头向德军阵地驶去。四周非常清净，在最开始的几公里内没有德国人向我们射击。然后我们就看到了一个德国小镇，在这个小镇后边正好有德军的防御阵地。那有部分步兵，当然，至少还有一个炮兵连和几门迫击炮。所以…..我们计划悄悄地接近德军阵地，然后突然冲出来在他们的火力死角区域开火。我甚至在用车轮碾碎敌人的时候还看到德军士兵惊慌失措的面孔。

The Germans ran. We really massacred them!..and then, the German artillery came alive all along the frontline. There was tremendous shelling, they were firing indiscriminately on us and on their own men. We barely managed to avoid the enemy fire – I drove into the village, rammed an iron gate with my assault gun and took cover in the courtyard of a stone house. Later on, with incredible difficulty we made it back to our lines, all under enemy fire. And the next day they told us – “yesterday’s mission was only partially fulfilled. We’re going to have to do another combat reconnaissance today!”

德国人开始溃退，我们简直是在屠杀他们！…..接下来德军炮兵开始沿着整个前沿开火。德军火炮疯狂的射击，不分敌我的开炮。我们差点就被打中了—我驶进了小镇，用自行火炮撞开了一扇大铁门，依托一栋石头结构房屋的院子作为掩护。后来，在经历了难以置信的奋战之后我们得以撤回本方阵线，全程都在敌人的轰击之下。结果第二天上边通知我们“昨天的任务仅仅完成了一部分，我们今天还有进行另外一次战斗侦查！”

I just sat down at the driver’s station and told the guys who were staying behind: “write to my mother about how her son had died…” The feeling was that we were doomed…the Germans were waiting for us. The moment we moved out they destroyed one of the T-34s…I don’t know how, but we almost made it back to the village. At that point, we were the only ones left, every other machine that went in with us was already burning…About 100 meters away from the village, we were ordered back to the starting positions. The German fire was so dense that I could only think – enough, kill me already! The ground shook from explosions, and on the way back we were finally hit…The assault gun began to burn, but we had enough time to bail out and take cover in a nearby ditch…then I felt something hit me in the leg. Shrapnel…we wound up crawling the two kilometers back to our lines under incessant enemy fire.

我坐在驾驶座位上的时候告诉那些留在家里的弟兄们：“拜托给我母亲写信，告诉她，她的儿子是怎么牺牲的……”我有一种感觉这可能是注定的宿命……德国人正在等着我们。我们刚出发的时候他们就击毁了一辆T34s…..我已经忘了是怎么回事，但是我们还是从那个小镇死里逃生。在这一次，我们是仅有的幸存者，其他跟我们一起行动的车辆都已经成了燃烧的废铁……在离小镇大约100米的地方，我们受命回到出发阵地。德国人的炮火铺天盖地，我只有一个念头—受够了！赶快打死我吧！大地在爆炸中颤抖，而在撤退途中我们还是被击中了……自行火炮开始着火，但是我们还有足够的时间跳出车，在附近的一个沟里躲起来……然后我觉得自己的被什么东西给打了一下。榴霰弹……我们忍痛匍匐了两千米在德军的火力下回到了本方战线。

G.K. – As a SU-76 gunner, you have personally destroyed 12 German tanks and assault guns. What does a gunner feel during a meeting engagement with German tanks?

G.K. – 作为一名SU-76的炮长，你的个人战绩是12辆德国坦克和突击炮。能谈下一名炮长在和德国坦克交手时的感受吗？

G.K. – What were the losses in your regiment?

G.K. – 你所在的团的损失情况如何？

G.K. – What is your view of the quality of German tankers?

G.K. – 从你的角度出发觉得德国坦克手们的水平如何？

G.K. – Were there any restrictions in ammunition use?

G.K. –在弹药的使用上有什么限制么？

V.V. –有三分之一的弹药被规定作为“储备弹药”，我们只能得到团长的直接命令之后才能使用。当然，在战斗最激烈的时候我们经常会打光全部弹药。在战斗的时候可没人会计算他们用了多少炮弹。有一次我们突进了德军一个师级指挥部，但是就在这时我们发现弹药已经用尽了，太他妈糟糕了！结果上边拿这件事小题大做了一番！…..另外一次在德国境内的战斗中也发生了类似的事情。指挥员在我们用掉了大部分弹药以后下达了进攻的命令。我们只能为两辆自行火炮去到处搜罗一个弹药基数。之后这两辆自行火炮出发了，过了会团里的后勤主任弄了三辆斯图贝克卡车。匆匆出发去给团里其他的战车找弹药。

G.K. – What personal weapons did assault gun crews carry?

G.K. – 突击炮乘员的个人武器是什么？

G.K. – Were the German “Panzerfausters” especially bothersome?

G.K. –德国人的铁拳是不是很麻烦？

G.K. – How did your regiment treat the German civilians?

G.K. –你们团是如何对待德国平民的？

V.V. – 呃，1945年春天出了各种各样的事情，但是你知道，坦克部队的大多数成员都至少受到过一些教育而且基本都很尽责。我不记得我们团的谁干过什么特别引人注意的事情，尽管我可以说当时在那里呆过的人都不可能百分之百坦诚的回答这个问题。

如果有人真的很诚实的回答了这个问题，那你在把这些话变成书发表之前恐怕就得好好想想了。我记得在柏林附近我们占领了一栋大楼—这座大楼的车库能装上二十辆汽车。我那辆自行火炮的炮长是个来自敖德萨的犹太人，战前他是老师所以德语很好。他给我们当翻译。我们在这座大楼里发现藏匿其中的是柏林的歌剧演员——他们告诉我们说，他们非常庆幸是被坦克兵而不是被步兵俘虏……

G.K. – Did the crews in your regiment trust or respect the unit commissars?

G.K. –你们团的官兵们信任或者说尊敬部队政委么？

V.V. –我们所有的政委都是从战斗部队的军官中提拔的。比如我们团的政委，维斯奥斯基，在转行做政治工作之前就指挥一辆自行火炮作战。士兵们都会信任这种军官。

G.K. – How did the crews view the regiment’s command?

G.K. –那团里的官兵们怎么看待团的指挥官们呢？

V.V. –我不太喜欢探讨这个话题。我们很讨厌那种“定期”的军官，就是从上级部门或者后方的训练学校到前线来镀金的。这种人一般都喜欢支使身边的人，并且尽可能快的获取勋章。我们就有这么个副团长，他只会把事情弄得一团糟…..

G.K. –另一个题外的问题？在军队服役的生涯中您获得了红旗勋章、卫国战争勋章、红星勋章和三级光荣勋章。您不想谈谈这些勋章么？

V.V.—一点也不。只有坐机关的军官们才会看重这些勋章，我是为了祖国而战，并不是为了这些东西而战。我可以这么说，我获得每一枚勋章都是经过奋战得来的。

G.K. – Where were you when you found out the war had come to an end?

G.K. – 战争结束的时候您在哪？

V.V. –当时我们正路过苏台德地区去布拉格。已经有三天没睡了—路上和德军不断地交火，所以地方都被伏兵埋上了地雷并且用砍倒的树木做成路障，德国人从山头上用高射炮向我们射击。一天晚上，我们停下来休息—过了一会儿，突然到处都响起了欢呼：“胜利了！乌拉！战争结束了！”士兵们都喜极而泣，每个人都朝天射击。我的第一个念头是：“战争结束了是什么意思？我的自行火炮上还满是油料弹药呢”我们团在德国人宣布投降之后还在捷克山区打了五天左右。我们的许多兄弟在胜利已经到来之后牺牲了。…..我参加的最后一天的战斗发生在1945年5月14日。从那以后我就自言自语：“现在，你可以肯定不用再开炮了……不用再盼着回家了…..”

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