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Globe is revolving, and
year after year
Circle of friends is no wider so there.
Know that my Land will survive without them,
But it ll be worse and aloner.
The earth will be missing its
soldiers of war
With gaits are so proud and
tired,
With faces of trenches and
traces of scar,
With wrinkles of trotyl, metal..
Marat Shpilev,
Sergeant, Signalman of the 15th Guards cavalry regiment
Operation on liberation of Mozyr' city and
Kalinkovichy railway junction station.
Bielorussia,
December 1943 - Yanuary 1944.
The 60-th anniversary of the termination
of the Patriotic War (II World War) is coming soon. Not only some tragic
episodes, but also a continuous succession of events lasted for 1418 days
still stays in memory of its participants...
It is a puzzle for us to
see sometimes the third post-war generation ignorant of many events,
considerably influenced on results of the War. For example, in one of TV programmes on the 60-th anniversary of the battle of Moscow, it was announced that Hitlerites
had been defeated there for the first time. But a month before the battle
of Moscow soviet forces had inflicted a great defeat to
occupiers, it was on a smaller scale but Nazies
were obliged to leave a large city occupied before!
Operations
of the Red Army in the battle of Vladikavkaz city
are almost forgotten. An outnumbered closed military alignment of enemy had
been bursting then to Baku city and this before the termination of the Battle of Stalingrad!
The operation on liberation of Mozyr city and Kalinkovichy railway
junction station, described there was not of particular importance, but for
unknown reasons it is not mentioned in Official edition of the History of the Great Patriotic War (the
3-volume edition).
* *
*
1.
What was a private soldier told
about the situation in the sector of front, where he had to fight? Over the
breastwork he sees a grove or a hillock, that must
be assaulted by order. He knows only where an assault of enemy might be
from. He couldn t really imagine where he had
found himself, no more..., from inscriptions, road signes,
he was passing by.
I was wireless operator
without wireless, therefore serving as a telephonist
in the 11 th cavalry regiment
of Guards, had wider information, than soldiers and sergeants of a sabre squadron.
Providing the connection between
subdivisions of the regiment, I knew what was happening, at least in front
of the regiment from conversations between headquarters and squadrions commanders. But this was a zone no longer
than 1 km. Could it give an idea about what was going on in this segment of
front?
Events, described below,
had finished tragically. But I have survived after captivity. However when
I remember the past I confidently say that if I had a choice captivity or
death I would prefer the last. The perspective to become a helpless cripple
could be more dreadful.
I will speak about it
later.
Urged by my pitiless
memory many years after the termination of the war I has made up my mind to
investigate what really had been going on 13-14 January 1944 on the bank of
the Pripyat river to the west of Mozyr city.
* * *
2.
German aircraft was inactive (as always
in winter, its activity had been reduced, some-times Frame (Rama in Russian), a two-fuselage reconnaissance plane- Fokke-Wolf was floating in high skies. Its apparition
usually served a prelude for air raides of
artillery and aircraft. But then it had limited itself evidently totake photos of our positions.
Valenky, felt boots were given to us then in time. It was
very cold and the cold weather was setting in. They ordered to forward emaciated horses to home front, to horse-holders. Only
transport and carriage horses of regiments were there. At last the order to
gather together in march formation had been given and the regiment had gone
anywhere following invisible pathes in swamped
forest.
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