Evadiy Rubalskiy with reporters

This is me, Evadiy Rubalskiy (in the center) in Volgograd (former Stalingrad), showing a reporter of a local newspaper the place where I was wounded during crossing the Volga on 20 September 1942, when I was assigned to 907 rifle regiment of 244 rifle division of the 62nd army. I had to stay 24 hours at a storage building. The local resident, the car driver with which we have arrived, accompanies us. This photo was taken in Volgograd on 20 September 1977.

In 1942 we fought in the south of Stalingrad, in Krasnoarmeysk, Volgograd region. Division 244 finished its combat actions in Stalingrad on 20 September 1942. Of over 4 thousand people at the beginning of combat operations it had 288 people left at the end, including maintenance and logistics people. The division came to the eastern bank of the Volga to re-staff. Field engineers prepared rafts for the crossing. Fascists were trying to beak through to the crossing area. The bank was in ruins after bombardments. There were broken railroad carriages all around. When I was getting on a raft, I was wounded in my legs and my right shoulder by a grenade. There was no medical aid available. We crossed the Volga and from there I was taken to the medical unit of the 13th Guard division where I got the first medical aid. From there I was taken to the hospital in Leninskiy settlement. This hospital was deployed in some wooden barracks and medical tents near the station buildings. This location was not a good idea for a hospital: railroad stations were priority targets for the German Air Forces. German planes bombed the hospital and there were new casualties. I was taken to the hospital in Engels town near Saratov. I took a passenger train to Saratov. The railroad station units sent me to hospital #3631 in the school building near the ‘Combine’ plant. I had to walk to the hospital from the railway station suffering from terrible pain in my wounded legs. I was kept in this hospital till 31 October 1942. When I was released, I was assigned to the battalion for recovering military in Saratov. From there I went to a military camp in 40 km from Saratov where marching companies were formed to be sent to the front. I was assigned to Guard artillery battalion 122 of the 51st Guard rifle division. After the Stalingrad battle our division relocated to the vicinity of Yelets town in early March 1943.

I returned home from the army in 1946. Our annex where we resided before the war was not ruined, however strange it may sound. I moved in there and went to work as a construction plumber in a construction trust. Here was a lot of work to do: Kiev was severely ruined. At first we were to restore the utility lines and the buildings and later we started new construction. I made a big contribution into installation of gas supply lines in Kiev. There was my portrait on the board of honor of our trust. I was the best specialist. In order to fill the gaps in my theoretical knowledge, I entered the course of foremen at the Construction College and finished it successfully. I had all excellent marks in all subjects in my graduation certificate. This course gave me more than any college itself: there is a lot of theory in colleges, and this training course was for the people having practical skills and its objective was to improve actual skills and abilities of practical work.

In the 1970s mass emigration of Jews to Israel began. Before this time only few individuals were allowed to move to another country. I had a negative attitude toward it and was not going to leave my country. I had grown up here and my friends were here, my dear ones were buried here and I defended this land on battlefields.

I chaired the council of veterans of the 6th Guard in Kiev for 27 years. For few years I've been a member of the council of veterans in the Jewish cultural society of Ukraine. I attend their meetings and meet with friends. These meetings of Jewish veterans are always interesting. Occasionally I make reports and tell them about what I had lived through. I read many military memoirs, analyze and think about things. I receive Jewish newspapers and magazines and read them with interest. I've remained far from religion, but I attend events in the Hesed, when they invite me.