A travesty picture of the times of WWII

A travesty picture of the times of WWII

My mother sent this travesty picture to the front from Chimkent, Uzbekistan, in 1943. She was there in evacuation. Unfortunately, the text was not preserved. My grandson put that picture on the cardboard for it to be preserved better. (Inscription: 'Set us free!').

In June 1941 I finished the eigth grade. Mother wanted to send me and my sister to her kin in Kharkov, but she did not manage to do that.

On 22nd June 1941 Molotov held his speech regarding the outbreak of war. We grew up firmly believing that we had the happiest childhood thanks to Stalin and the Party. We knew that the Soviet regime was the most impartial, the Soviet army was the strongest and invincible and everybody ought to be strong, brave and loyal to the communist ideas, even ready to sacrifice life if needed.

In July 1942 together with my fellow students I went to the headquarters of the Ural military circle requesting to be drafted in the lines. The general, the commander of the military circle tried to convince us that we were too young to be in the lines, but we were persistent and came over and over again. In the end, each of us wrote an application. The general sealed them in the envelope and sent us to the military enlistment office in Sverdlovsk. The commander read the memo from the general and ordered us to come the next morning with the things and food for three days.

I was assigned to Squad 38 consisting of 50 people. We studied for half a year until December 1942. We graduated as air navigators-radar operators in the rank of master sergeant.

In January 1943 I finished school and was assigned to the 15 separate reconnoiter regiment of the Baltic Navy, which was conferred the Red Banner title twice. I had to go to Leningrad, where the main regiment forces were positioned. I was assigned as an operator of the radar station. They decided to include me in the crew of the regiment commander. I think I survived the war owing to a great crew of pilots.

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