Tag #155992 - Interview #78231 (yakov voloshyn)

When the Germans occupied a village or a town, they settled down in houses, particularly in winter, to keep warm and sheltered, while we dug trenches and made blindages. A blindage was wider than a trench. We made a roof from a few layers of logs. There were no stoves, not even in winter. There were one or two kerosene lamps made from shells. This was how we lived. However, a human body works miracles in such extreme conditions. All inner reserves are put into use. I cannot remember anybody getting cold at the front or falling sick with typhoid. We suffered from lice. It was impossible to get rid of them considering the conditions at the front. We had soap, but we didn't have hot water. We could heat a pot of water on the fireplace, but this was the utmost we could do.

We changed underwear once every few months and when they brought clean underwear it was only conventionally clean. You felt like giving it to the laundry right away. However, soldiers are smart and somebody thought of an effective way to fight lice. We had sanitary kits with bandage and cotton wool. However strange it may sound, lice like cleanness. Soldiers put cotton wool or bandage in their armpits and groin and in the morning those were covered with lice. We burnt them. It didn't resolve the problem on the whole, but it mitigated the suffering for a while. I don't remember anyone having typhoid at the front whereas in the rear many people died of typhoid.