are bombing and other stuff. How is communication with Moscow?
Here is some information about the war. The captured German said that they were told that Kandalaksha was taken on the 5th day of the war, Minsk and Kiev on the 7th, Moscow was burning and surrounded. When he was told the real situation, he smiled and said, “Now I understand what the matter is.” And when he was fed, he hatched his eyes and said, “We don’t get such food even on holidays.”
I saw Mannerheim’s leaflet to the Karelians. He says national culture and freedom were taken away from you. Here, he says, we have known freedom (this is under the German boot). These leaflets are used as paper for tobacco. The paper is decent for this.
Then bye.
Hello to everybody. I kiss you hard, Yashka Shafirovich.
PS Khapulin is doing just like me. Nedro is here too.
8.
8 August 1941
Hello Mom!
Yesterday I received your two letters from the 25th and 26th. Well, I’m not talking about the joy of the very fact of receiving letters. Clearly, it became more fun.
Your message that everything is like before is very encouraging. From your letters, I understood that you don’t really feel the war there, just “watch the clouds.” I am very happy about that. By the way, since we were bombarded and fired upon when we were still outside Murmansk (you received a letter about this), I have not heard a single bomb explode. They fly here sometimes, and high in the skies – barely visible. We are even glad for them: when we hear the buzz, we stop classes and lie down. Thus, our rest is lengthened. Well, this is by the way and as a joke.
Belatedly, I congratulate you on your name day. By the way, I celebrated my birthday lying behind a stone and hiding my head from the bullets falling from above.
Tell Lyala to write how she is doing, no time to write separately yet. I wonder how Vadim walks and Lida reads. Hello to them. Write about the location of the House of Pioneers and about its existence and fate in general. Khren and Braga left, you wrote. And where to? Their address? The same goes in more detail about Vasya, Sasha, Tolya Terekhov. Write about all my schoolmates and other comrades.
I am very glad that you, our mothers, are meeting each other. Zhenya Khapulin is alive and well and has not left me yet though we are in different companies. Nedro is together with Zhenya, in the same company.
Lesha Korotkov went to the front. Monya Katz too. They got into a good team. Our regiment received gratitude for them. I am proud that there are 16 fighters of my training among them.
They say that they beat the Finns there (there are few Germans there). There are already wounded among them. They are in our hospital. There are almost no killed there – after all, our troops are on the defensive.
Well, there is no time to write more. I, comrades, have to ask your permission to write letters in response to your letters, to Nadya and Lyalya in your name, otherwise there is no time.
Only now have they brought Aunt Nadya’s postcard. Thanks. Write more about what and how everything is there.
Nadya sent that postcard to the old address. This is just a clarification of the postal address. Now the address is even more precise: 441 Field Post Station, 56th Reserve Regiment, 2nd Rifle Company.
With Red Army greetings from the Arctic Circle. Your Yashka!
PS Yesterday I gorged on blueberries. You asked about sending a parcel. Wait for now.
Well, I forgot. Today we sent another batch of warriors. This is my second group that went.
I asked to go to the front too. The commander says: “No, forge the front here.” This means, teach the fighters. Orders are not discussed. I turned and walked away. And now I’m forging. Trying. I think I won’t fail. One soldier of my squad is already almost a hero (he is from the first team, where Katz is).
9.
13 August 1941
Hello Mom!
With this letter we have already started correspondence. Hooray!!! Henceforth, I will write in your name in response to Nadya and Lyala too. Otherwise, there is no time.
Write down Galkin’s address if any.
I am very glad that Nolik and Brazhkin left for the Red Army. Well, they’re probably already at war. Write Sasha’s address, if you have one. Say hello to all comrades and acquaintances. Write if Comrade Sidorenko, Comrade Lukin, and Khrenov are there.
I am very pleased and happy with the situation with Lida, Vadia, Grisha, Seryozha. Warm greetings to all of them.
I have everything here as before. But I think that one of these days I can go to the front line.
Now I am finishing with the third team of trainees. They will be leaving soon. Well, there are no more changes. Yes, you write, you have berries there. We had cloudberries, now there are a lot of blueberries. We have tactics. Here you position your squad in defense, and you go to pick the berries. Oh, and I eat them a lot!
Yesterday a soldier came to us from the front line. He is from my squad – from the first team. He said that we trained them well. He was injured in the leg but is already recovering and soon goes to fight again. He says that Finns throw leaflets in which they write, “Well, why are you fighting in vain? Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev have long been taken.” Did you find it funny? It was very funny to me. He says that instead of bombs, for some reason, stones are falling from planes. Is it a lack of bombs or the work of our friends? Well, it is clear that stones do not bring any harm. Now they are throwing bombs made in 1941, so eight out of 20 do not explode. And once one bomb exploded, and there was tobacco there. This is certainly not accidental. They are fighting (that’s for sure) only drunk. They are being mowed down like grass. And our troops are not yet advancing but only beating. Wait, we will go on the offensive. Only down will fly. It will be hard to see where the Germans have what, only the heels will sparkle.
So, wait. We’ll chase them soon.
Well, how is it going with the bombing? I heard they got into the Tchaikovsky Hall. And I have never been there!!! Do they fly there? How is Manya Loseva’s homeland?20 People say they dropped off there?
From your letter I understood that there are pioneer camps there (hello to Nina), and they go swimming near our house. It’s good that everything is the same. How about food? We are fed well. And on the front line – canned meat, condensed milk, butter, cabbage soup with bacon, porridge – as much as you want. And the Finns have dried bread like burnt boards. Hilarious!!!
You are asking about sending a parcel. Ship it, maybe it will find me. I need envelopes, notebooks, a foldable knife with a can opener, a small fork, collars, socks (one warm pair). Don’t send jam. No sugar needed. Otherwise, you will send it because of tradition! I only ask that the parcel is not oversized. I forgot – send the razor blades. More!!
Well, that’s all for now.
Khapulin and Nedro are here. I don’t know anything about Katz since he left.
Hello to Antosha. Where is the House of Pioneers?
Greetings to Lyalya, Nadya, Lida, Vadya, and all Noginsk.
Regards, <signature>
Evgeny Khapulin (left) and Yakov on the train. May 24, 1941.
Part 2: The first battles (September 1941 – February 1942)
On the front line. The death of friends. School for junior commanders. I am becoming a ski lover. Bathhouse and wood grouse. I am again in my unit. Red ball with yellow-red