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After my trip to Liozno I addressed the army headquarters to find my regiment. But they took me as an interpreter, because they had a lot of prisoners and few interpreters. I worked there for a month and then was sent to the rifle battalion #103 (reconnaissance unit). Since that moment my life changed: I did not go to the enemy rear any more, I had to stay at the command post and interrogate captives. The army advanced successfully and soon liberated Vitebsk, Polotsk, Daugavpils. There were a lot of captives. It was necessary to convoy them to our prisoner-of-war camps. Soldiers informed about the following cases: an escort received 45 captives, but brought to the destination point 70 persons. You see, it happened because Germans yielded themselves prisoners at the first opportunity. Sometimes our battalion had to move forward, but there were a lot of captives and no escorts. In that case I used to appoint one of Germans the head of the group, gave him a specially worked out document, and he led his former brother-soldiers to the destination point on his own.
Later we moved to Latvia, and then to Lithuania. Therefrom we were suddenly moved to East Prussia. On January 17, 1945 we took Tilsit in stride. The city was empty; we met nobody in the streets: all citizens were evacuated far inland. The further approach to Konigsberg was very hard, but nevertheless on April 9, 1945 the city was taken [7]. Konigsberg was in siege for some time, inhabitants starved, and we spoke among ourselves that it was our small revenge for Leningrad. But when our armies entered the city, we felt sorry for local residents and fed them up from our field kitchens.
In the beginning of May 1945 they put us into a lorry and brought toward Danzig. Near Putzig there was a small peninsula, which was connected with a very interesting military operation. That peninsula was 50 kilometers long and from 3 to 15 kilometers wide. German armies stood up for it. Field marshal Zaukel was in command. Our task was to persuade them to render themselves prisoners of war. On May 7 we met German delegation, headed by colonel Mangold. From our side the corps commander, the commander of reconnaissance unit (a colonel), and I participated in negotiations. I was their interpreter, but my military experience was also of great importance. First of all we wanted to know the number of German soldiers on the peninsula. To tell the truth, having heard the answer I did not believe my ears and asked again. Then I asked German representative to write it down. The number was enormous: 140,000. We immediately informed Rokossovskiy [8]. He encharged us with the task to continue negotiations. We came to agreement about the following: the Soviet army accepted their capitulation and the next day we would meet general Zaukel at his bunker and discuss the terms of surrender.
In the morning of May 8 we arrived to his bunker. We had to discuss technical problems of capitulation: you see, to take so great number of people prisoners was not so easy. Their weapon had to be left on the island, and we had to receive the map with instruction how to find it. Soldiers of our regiment met Germans on the isthmus and sorted them for sending to prisoner-of-war camps. It took Germans several days to leave the island. Soviet command guaranteed all prisoners life. By the way, head of SMERSH [9] told our chief investigator that he was in charge of Zaukel. On the island there were 12 generals, all of them were allowed to take their belonging with them. They did it, though earlier they had asseverated to be interested only in saving their soldiers’ lives. We escorted all those generals to Shtezin. Field marshal Zaukel repeated all the time: ‘Give information in your newspapers that I am alive. My wife in Switzerland worries about me.’ You see, we were not touched by feelings of his wife. For that operation I was awarded Order of the Great Patriotic War (1st Class) [10]. It was presented to me on May 16. In total during the war I was awarded 6 orders and more than 20 medals.
Later we moved to Latvia, and then to Lithuania. Therefrom we were suddenly moved to East Prussia. On January 17, 1945 we took Tilsit in stride. The city was empty; we met nobody in the streets: all citizens were evacuated far inland. The further approach to Konigsberg was very hard, but nevertheless on April 9, 1945 the city was taken [7]. Konigsberg was in siege for some time, inhabitants starved, and we spoke among ourselves that it was our small revenge for Leningrad. But when our armies entered the city, we felt sorry for local residents and fed them up from our field kitchens.
In the beginning of May 1945 they put us into a lorry and brought toward Danzig. Near Putzig there was a small peninsula, which was connected with a very interesting military operation. That peninsula was 50 kilometers long and from 3 to 15 kilometers wide. German armies stood up for it. Field marshal Zaukel was in command. Our task was to persuade them to render themselves prisoners of war. On May 7 we met German delegation, headed by colonel Mangold. From our side the corps commander, the commander of reconnaissance unit (a colonel), and I participated in negotiations. I was their interpreter, but my military experience was also of great importance. First of all we wanted to know the number of German soldiers on the peninsula. To tell the truth, having heard the answer I did not believe my ears and asked again. Then I asked German representative to write it down. The number was enormous: 140,000. We immediately informed Rokossovskiy [8]. He encharged us with the task to continue negotiations. We came to agreement about the following: the Soviet army accepted their capitulation and the next day we would meet general Zaukel at his bunker and discuss the terms of surrender.
In the morning of May 8 we arrived to his bunker. We had to discuss technical problems of capitulation: you see, to take so great number of people prisoners was not so easy. Their weapon had to be left on the island, and we had to receive the map with instruction how to find it. Soldiers of our regiment met Germans on the isthmus and sorted them for sending to prisoner-of-war camps. It took Germans several days to leave the island. Soviet command guaranteed all prisoners life. By the way, head of SMERSH [9] told our chief investigator that he was in charge of Zaukel. On the island there were 12 generals, all of them were allowed to take their belonging with them. They did it, though earlier they had asseverated to be interested only in saving their soldiers’ lives. We escorted all those generals to Shtezin. Field marshal Zaukel repeated all the time: ‘Give information in your newspapers that I am alive. My wife in Switzerland worries about me.’ You see, we were not touched by feelings of his wife. For that operation I was awarded Order of the Great Patriotic War (1st Class) [10]. It was presented to me on May 16. In total during the war I was awarded 6 orders and more than 20 medals.
Period
Interview
Boris Pukshansky
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