By its nature, the German nation is very different from all others. They consider themselves highly educated people for whom order and system are above all else. As for the German fascists, led by the Fuhrer Hitler, who wanted to take over the whole world, including the Soviet Union, it is worth saying that they revered only their own nation and considered it the best of all the rest. During the Great Patriotic War the Nazis, in addition to burning cities and destroying Soviet soldiers, found time to entertain themselves, but not always in humane ways.
The Great Patriotic War suffered many events that left their indelible mark on the history of mankind. Active hostilities took place constantly, only the places of deployment and the military changed. In addition to the destruction, bombing and clashes between the soldiers of the Red Army and the fascist invaders, at the moments when the explosions subsided, the soldiers had the opportunity to rest, replenish their strength, eat and have fun. And in such a difficult time for everyone, the soldiers who constantly walked next to death saw how their colleagues and just friends were killed before their eyes, they knew how to relax, abstract, sing war songs, write war poems and just laugh at interesting stories.
But not all entertainment was harmless, because everyone has a different understanding of the fun. For example, Germans throughout the Second World War, they showed themselves to be brutal killers, sparing no one in their path. According to many historical facts and the testimony of older people who themselves witnessed that terrible period of time, it can be stated that all the actions of the Nazis were not so forced, many actions were carried out from their personal initiative. Killing and bullying many people became a kind of fun and game. The Nazis felt their power over other people, and in order to assert themselves, they committed all the most atrocious crimes that were not punished in any way.
It is known that in the occupied territories, enemy troops took civilians hostage and covered themselves with their bodies, and then executed them. People were killed in gas chambers and burned in crematoria, which at that time worked without interruption. Punishers spared no one. The executioners shot, hung and burned alive small children, women, the elderly and enjoyed it. How this is possible is inexplicable to this day and it is not known whether all these brutal historical mysteries will ever be solved. One of the ways the German fascists entertained was the rape of women and little girls. And often this was done collectively and very cruelly.
Photos from the Great Patriotic War show that the Germans were engaged in hunting, and were very proud of their trophies. Probably, hunting and fishing was only entertainment for the Nazis, as they were fed an order of magnitude better than Soviet soldiers. The Nazis were especially fond of hunting large game, wild boars, bears and deer. Germans they also liked to drink well, dance and sing. Since they are an extraordinary people, they came up with appropriate activities, which is clearly shown in many pictures. The German fascists both undressed and took away wheelbarrows and carriages from civilians, and posed with them. Also Nazis they loved to pose with ammunition, which destroyed the glorious Soviet people.
However, in addition to all the worst, there is an opinion that not all German invaders were cruel and merciless. Many testimonies have been documented, which say that the Germans even helped some families and the elderly, who lived during the occupation of Soviet territories.
Be that as it may, there will never be a good attitude towards the Nazis. There is no forgiveness for such bloody actions.
The subject of the history of the Second World War is multifaceted, many books, articles, memoirs and memoirs have been written on this topic. But for a long time, under the influence of ideology, these topics were covered mainly from a political, patriotic or general military point of view, very little attention was paid to the role of each individual soldier. And only then did the first publications begin to appear, based on front-line letters, diaries and unpublished sources, covering the problems of front-line life, during the Patriotic War of 1941-1945. How soldiers lived at the front, what they did in a short time of respite, what, what they were wearing , all these questions are important in the overall contribution to the great victory.
The purpose of our work: study of the life of soldiers during the Great Patriotic War.
To achieve the goal, the following tasks were set:
1. Study the types of uniforms.
2. Consider the equipment of soldiers.
3. Reveal the difficulties of front-line life.
4. Study the diet of soldiers.
5. Consider the concept of "field kitchens".
6. Analyze the problem of unsanitary conditions during the war.
7. Consider options for resting soldiers.
8. To study front-line life according to the memoirs of laundresses and orderlies.
Relevance:In connection with the approach of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, various feats of heroes who proved themselves on the battlefield are recalled. But few people think about what the life of a single soldier was like in this difficult time.
Theoretical part
2.1 A uniform.
2.1.1. Uniform types
The officers and soldiers of the Red Army had three types of uniforms: everyday, guard and weekend, each of which had two options - summer and winter. In the period from 1935 to 1941, numerous minor changes were made to the clothes of the Red Army.
The field uniform of the 1935 model was made from matter of various shades of khaki. The main distinguishing element was the tunic, which in cut, the same for soldiers and officers, resembled a Russian peasant shirt. The gymnasts were also summer and winter. Summer uniforms were made of cotton fabric of a lighter color, and winter uniforms were made of woolen fabric, which was distinguished by a richer, darker color. The officers girded themselves with a wide leather belt with a brass buckle adorned with a five-pointed star. The soldiers wore a simpler belt with an open buckle. In the field, soldiers and officers could wear two types of tunics: everyday and weekend. The output gymnast was often called French. The second main element of the uniform was trousers, also called riding breeches. Soldiers' bloomers had rhombic reinforcing stripes on their knees. As shoes, officers wore high leather boots, and soldiers wore boots with windings or tarpaulin boots. In winter, military personnel wore an overcoat made of brownish-gray cloth. The soldier's and officer's overcoats, which were identical in cut, nevertheless differed in quality.
2.1.2. Hats
The Red Army used several types of headgear. Most of the units wore budyonovki, which had a winter and summer version. However, at the end of the 30s, the summer budenovka was everywhere replaced by a cap. Officers wore caps in the summer. In units stationed in Central Asia and on Far East, instead of caps they wore wide-brimmed Panama hats. In 1936, a new type of helmet began to be supplied to the Red Army. In 1940, significant changes were made to the design of the helmet. Officers everywhere wore caps, the cap was an attribute of officer power. Tankers wore a special helmet made of leather or canvas. In summer, a lighter version of the helmet was used, and in winter they wore a helmet with a fur lining.
2.1.3 Equipment
The equipment of Soviet soldiers was strict and simple. A common was a canvas duffel bag of the 1938 model. However, not everyone had real duffel bags, so after the start of the war, many soldiers threw away gas masks and used gas mask bags as duffel bags. According to the charter, each soldier armed with a rifle had to have two leather cartridge bags. The bag could store four clips for the Mosin rifle - 20 rounds. Cartridge bags were worn on the waist belt, one on the side. The officers used a small bag, which was made of either leather or canvas. There were several types of such bags, some of them were worn over the shoulder, some were hung from the waist belt. On top of the bag was a small tablet. Some officers wore large leather tablets that were hung from a waist belt under the left arm.
2.1.4 New uniform
In 1943, the Red Army adopted a new uniform, radically different from that used until then. The system of insignia has also changed. The new tunic was very similar to the one used in the tsarist army and had a stand-up collar fastened with two buttons. Shoulder straps became the main distinguishing feature of the new uniform. There were two types of shoulder straps: field and everyday. Field shoulder straps were made of khaki fabric. On shoulder straps near the buttons they wore a small gold or silver badge, indicating the type of troops. Officers wore a cap with a black leather chinstrap. The color of the band at the cap depended on the type of troops. In winter, generals and colonels of the Red Army had to wear hats, and the rest of the officers received ordinary earflaps. The rank of sergeants and foremen was determined by the number and width of the stripes on shoulder straps. The edging of shoulder straps had the colors of the military branch.
At the initial stage of the war, soldiers wore a tunic with a fold-down collar, with special overlays in the elbow area. Usually these linings were made of tarpaulin. The gymnast was worn with pants that had the same canvas lining around the knees. On the feet are boots and windings. It was they who were the main grief of the soldiers, especially the infantry, since it was this kind of troops that went to them. They were uncomfortable, fragile and heavy. This type of shoe was driven by cost savings. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was published in 1939, the army of the USSR increased to 5.5 million people in two years. It was impossible to put everyone in boots. They saved on leather, shoes were sewn from the same tarpaulin. Until 1943, an indispensable attribute of an infantryman was a roll over his left shoulder. This is an overcoat, which, for mobility, was rolled up and put on so that the soldier did not experience any inconvenience when shooting. In other cases, the roll gave a lot of trouble. If in the summer, during the transition, infantry was attacked by German aircraft, then because of the roll, the soldiers were visible on the ground. Because of it, it was impossible to quickly run away to the field or shelter. And in the trench they simply threw her under her feet - it would not have been possible to turn around with her
2.2. The hardships of front-line life.
It was traditionally believed that the soldiers lived in dugouts and pillboxes. This is not entirely true, most of the soldiers were located in the trenches, trenches, or simply in the nearest forest without any regrets. It was always very cold in the bunkers (at that time there were no autonomous heating systems and autonomous gas supply), and therefore the soldiers preferred to spend the night in the trenches, throwing branches on the bottom and stretching a cape on top.
Soldier life can be divided into several categories related to where one or another unit was located. The greatest hardships fell on people on the front line - there was no usual washing, shaving, breakfast, lunch or dinner.
2.3. Ration of soldiers.
A soldier's diet is a paramount issue: a hungry man won't fight much. The food problem in the army was solved much better than in the rear, because the whole country worked primarily for the front. The food assortment was as follows: bread made from rye and wholemeal flour, wheat flour of the second grade, various cereals, pasta - vermicelli, meat, fish, vegetable oil, sugar, tea, salt, vegetables, shag, matches, smoking paper. For all personnel of the Red Army, it was the same, only the norms for extradition differed. In some military units, mandatory hot food was issued in the morning before dawn and in the evening after sunset. Favorite dishes that were prepared in the field kitchen were: kulesh - liquid porridge with meat, borscht, cabbage soup, stewed potatoes, buckwheat with meat. Moreover, the meat was mainly beef, and it was consumed boiled or stewed.
They cooked somewhere nearby, so that the enemy could not see the kitchen smoke. And each soldier was measured out with a ladle in a bowler hat. A loaf of bread was cut with a two-handed saw, because in the cold it turned into ice. The fighters hid their "soldering" under their overcoats in order to warm them up a little. At that time, every soldier had a spoon behind the top of his boot, as we called it, a “trench tool” - aluminum stamping.
During the offensive, dry rations were given out - crackers or biscuits, canned food, but they really appeared in the diet when the Americans announced their entry into the war and began to provide Soviet Union help.
A special place was occupied by the use of alcohol by personnel. Almost immediately after the start of the Second World War, alcohol was officially legalized at the highest state level and included in the daily supply of personnel. The soldiers considered vodka not only as a means of psychological relief, but also as an indispensable medicine in the conditions of Russian frosts. Without it it was impossible, especially in winter; bombing, shelling, tank attacks had such an effect on the psyche that only vodka was saved
2.4. Field kitchens.
The field kitchens of the war were not just traveling canteens - but a kind of "clubs" - the soldiers did not just relax and enjoy food, but, first of all, plunged into the atmosphere of peaceful life. Field kitchens were the focus of life in general, as they fed not only soldiers, but also civilians.
Guidelines for cooking Soviet army proceeded from the fact that the soldier did not know how to cook, that is, individual cooking (for example, cooking soup or porridge in his own pot) was excluded (food was cooked in boilers).
2.5. Unsanitary conditions.
There was a problem of lice, especially in the warm season. But the sanitary services worked quite effectively in the troops. There were special "washers" - cars with closed van bodies. Uniforms were loaded there and treated with hot air. But this was done in the rear. And on the front line, soldiers kindled a fire so as not to violate the rules of disguise, took off their underwear and brought it closer to the fire. Lice only cracked, burning! However, even in such harsh conditions of unsettled life, the troops did not have typhus, which lice usually carry.
2.6 Rest.
Also soldier life during short periods of rest it is impossible to imagine without the music of songs and books that gave birth to good mood and uplifting spirits.
There was a guitar or an accordion. But the real holiday was the arrival of amateur performances. And there was no more grateful spectator than a soldier who, perhaps in a few hours, had to go to his death.
2.7 Laundresses.
“I washed ... I went through the whole war with a trough. Washed by hand. Jackets, tunics... Linen will be brought, it is worn, lice. The robes are white, well, these are camouflage ones, they are soaked through with blood, not white, but red. Black from old blood. You can’t wash in the first water - it’s red or black ... A tunic without a sleeve, and a hole on the entire chest, pants without a trouser leg. You wash with tears and rinse with tears. And the mountains, the mountains of those tunics... Vatnikov... As I remember, my hands hurt even now. In winter, padded jackets are heavy, the blood on them is frozen. I often see them and now I see them in a dream... There is a black mountain...” (Maria Stepanovna Detko, private, laundress)
« On the Kursk Bulge, I was transferred from the hospital to the field laundry detachment as a political officer. The laundresses were freelancers. Here, we used to go on carts: basins lay, troughs stick out, samovars - to heat water, and girls in red, green, blue, gray skirts sit on top. Well, everyone laughed: "The laundry army has gone!" And my name was "prachkin commissar". It was only later that my girls dressed more decently, as they say, "trinkled up."
They worked very hard. None washing machines and was not in sight. With pens... All with women's hands... Here we come, they give us some kind of hut or dugout. We wash clothes there, before drying them, we impregnate them with a special soap "K" so that there are no lice. There was dust, but the dust did not help, they used soap "K", it was very smelly, the smell was terrible. There, in this room where we wash, we dry this linen, and then we sleep. They gave us twenty to twenty-five grams of soap - to wash clothes for one soldier. And it is black as earth. And many girls from washing, from heavy loads, from tension had hernias, eczema of the hands from soap "K", their nails fell off, they thought that they would never be able to grow again. But all the same, they will rest for a day or two - and it was necessary to wash again ”(Valentina Kuzminichna Bratchikova-Borshchevskaya, lieutenant, political officer of the field laundry detachment)
When people talk about war, they most often refer to certain events, victories or defeats. We looked at it from the other side. We studied the front-line life of a soldier as an individual, and not as part of a huge army.
Summing up, we can say that, throughout the hostilities, the components of the life of Soviet soldiers were their hallmark and raised the general spirit. In our opinion, it was they who played one of the decisive roles in the outcome of the war.
Camp of Catherine's soldiers. Illustration by Alexandre Benois for the publication "Pictures on Russian History". 1912 Wikimedia Commons
18th century recruit long road he ended up in his regiment, which became a home for young soldiers - after all, service in the 18th century was lifelong. Only from 1793 was her term limited to 25 years. The recruit took an oath that forever separated him from his former life; received from the treasury a hat, a caftan, a cloak-epancha, a camisole with trousers, a tie, boots, shoes, stockings, undershirts and trousers.
The "Instruction of the colonel's cavalry regiment" of 1766 prescribed to teach the privates "to clean and screw up trousers, gloves, a sling and a harness, tie a hat, put a casket on it and put on boots, put spurs on them, plant a scythe, put on a uniform, and then stand in the required a soldier's figure, to walk simply and to march ... and when he gets used to everything, begin to teach rifle techniques, horse and foot exercise. It took a lot of time to teach the peasant's son to behave valiantly, "so that the peasant's vile habit, evasion, antics, scratching when talking were completely exterminated from him." The soldiers had to shave, but they were allowed to grow mustaches; hair was worn long, to the shoulders, and on ceremonial days they were powdered with flour. In the 1930s, soldiers were ordered to wear curls and braids.
It took a lot of time, "so that the peasant's vile habit, evasion, antics, scratching during conversation were completely exterminated from him"
Coming to a company or squadron, yesterday's communal peasants were included in their usual form of organization - a soldier's artel ("so that there were at least eight people in porridge"). In the absence of a developed supply system (and the shops and shops that are familiar to us), Russian soldiers have adapted to provide themselves with everything they need. Old-timers taught newcomers, experienced and skillful ones bought additional provisions with artel money, repaired ammunition themselves and sewed uniforms and shirts from state-owned cloth and linen, and those who were smart at the billet were hired to earn money. Money from salaries, earnings and awards was deducted to the artel cash desk, at the head of which the soldiers elected a sedate and authoritative "expenditor", or company headman.
This arrangement of military life made the Russian army of the 18th century socially and nationally homogeneous. The feeling of connection in battle provided mutual assistance, supported the morale of the soldier. From the very first days, the recruit was told that now “he is no longer a peasant, but a soldier, who in his name and rank is superior to all his previous ranks, differs from them indisputably in honor and glory,” since he, “not sparing his life, provides of his fellow citizens, defends the fatherland ... and thus deserves the gratitude and mercy of the Sovereign, the gratitude of fellow countrymen and the prayers of spiritual ranks. Recruits were told the history of their regiment, mentioning the battles where this regiment participated, and the names of heroes and generals. In the army, yesterday's "mean peasant" ceased to be a serf, if he had been before. A peasant boy became a "state servant" and in the era of constant wars he could rise to the rank of non-commissioned officer and even - if he was lucky - to the chief officer. The "Table of Ranks" of Peter I opened the way to obtaining a noble rank - in this way, about a quarter of the infantry officers of the Peter's army "came out to the people". For exemplary service, an increase in salary, awarding a medal, promotion to corporal, sergeant was provided. "Faithful and true servants of the fatherland" were transferred from the army to the guards, received medals for battles; for distinction in the service, the soldiers were awarded "a ruble" with a glass of wine.
A serviceman who had seen distant lands on campaigns forever broke with his former life. The regiments, which consisted of former serfs, suppressed popular unrest without hesitation, and in the 18th and XIX centuries the soldier did not feel like a peasant. And in everyday practice, the soldier got used to living at the expense of the townsfolk. Throughout the 18th century, the Russian army did not have barracks. In peacetime, it was lodged in the homes of rural and urban residents, who were supposed to provide military premises, beds and firewood. Release from this duty was a rare privilege.
In everyday practice, the soldier got used to living at the expense of the townsfolk.
Fusiliers of infantry regiments 1700-1720 From the book "Historical description of clothing and weapons of the Russian troops", 1842 In the short days of rest from battles and campaigns, the soldiers walked with might and main. In 1708, during a difficult Northern war brave dragoons “became quarters in the towns. Wine and beer were collected before the convoy. And a certain rank of the gentry drank unbearably. They reproached those viciously, and also beat them with the sovereign's name. But fornication still appeared. Imali in the corners of the dragoons of the shvadrony gentry. There were those young children and there is no passage from these whores to girls and women "gentry"- noblemen (gentry) who served in the dragoon squadron ("shkvadron"). These young nobles did not give the women a pass.. Our colonel and worthy cavalier Mikhail Faddeyich Chulishov ordered to frighten all those who are impudent and beat them with batogs.<…>And those dragoons and granodirs, who were from the battles of small battles, they rested and drank koumiss with Kalmyks and Tatars, flavored with vodka, and then fought with fists with the neighboring regiment. De we, reproached, fought and lost our bellies, and de you hovil and sveev Svei- Swedes. were afraid. And in the distant shvadron they staggered and barked obscenely, and the colonels did not know what to do. By the sovereign's command, the most malicious were sent and broadcast and fought in batogs on the goats in front of all the front. And two of ours from the shkvadron also got the dragoon Akinfiy Krask and Ivan Sofiykin. They were hung around the neck. And Krask’s tongue fell out from the strangulation, it even reached the middle of his chest, and many were amazed at this and went to look. "Official notes (diary) of Simeon Kurosh, captain of the dragoon shvadron, Roslavsky.".
And in peacetime, the stay of the troops in any place was perceived by the townsfolk as a real disaster. “He fornicates with his wife, dishonors his daughter… eats his chickens, his cattle, robs him of his money and beats him incessantly.<…>Every month, before leaving the quarters, the peasants must be gathered, questioned about their claims, and their subscriptions taken away.<…>If the peasants are dissatisfied, they are given wine to drink, they get drunk, and they sign. If, in spite of all this, they refuse to sign, then they are threatened, and they end up keeping silent and signing, ”general Langeron described the behavior of soldiers at the checkpoint in Catherine’s time.
The soldier fornicates with his wife, dishonors his daughter, eats his chickens, his cattle, takes his money and beats him incessantly.
The officers had the opportunity for more refined leisure - especially abroad. “... All other officers of our regiment, not only young, but also elderly, were engaged in completely different matters and concerns. All of them, almost in general, their zealous desire to be in Koenigsberg stemmed from a completely different source than mine. They heard enough that Koenigsberg is a city that is full of everything that the passions of the young and in luxury and debauchery can satisfy and satiate their lives, namely: that there was a great many taverns and billiards and other places of entertainment; that you can get anything in it, and even more so, that the female sex in it is too prone to lust and that there is a great many young women in it, practicing dishonest needlework and selling their honor and chastity for money.
<…>Before two weeks had even passed, when, to my great surprise, I heard that there was not a single tavern left in the city, not a single wine cellar, not a single billiards and not a single obscene house, which would be unknown to our gentlemen officers, but that not only all of them are on their register, but quite a lot of them have already made close acquaintances, partly with their mistresses, partly with other residents of the area, and some have already taken them to themselves and for their maintenance, and all in general have already drowned in all the luxuries and debauchery ”, - Andrey Bolotov, the former lieutenant of the infantry regiment of the Arkhangelsk city, recalled about his stay in Koenigsberg conquered by Russian troops in 1758.
If in relation to the peasants "impudence" was allowed, then in the "front" discipline was demanded from the soldiers. The soldiers' poems of that era truthfully describe the daily drill:
You go to the guard - so grief,
And you will come home - and twice,
In the guard we are tormented,
And how you change - learning! ..
Suspenders are on guard,
Wait for stretch marks for training.
Stand up straight and stretch
Don't chase the pokes
Slaps and kicks
Take it like pancakes.
Violators under the "Military Article" were expected to be punished, which depended on the degree of misconduct and were determined by a military court. For "magic" was supposed to be burned, for the desecration of icons - cutting off the head. The most common punishment in the army was "chasing gauntlets", when the intruder was led with his hands tied to a gun between two ranks of soldiers who struck him on the back with thick rods. The one who committed the offense for the first time was taken through the entire regiment 6 times, the one who committed the offense again - 12 times. Strictly asked for the poor maintenance of weapons, for deliberate damage to it or for "leaving a gun in the field"; sellers and buyers were punished for selling or losing their uniforms. For repeating this offense three times, the guilty person was sentenced to death. Theft, drunkenness and fighting were common crimes for the servicemen. The punishment followed for "inattention in the ranks", for "being late in the ranks." A latecomer for the first time "will be taken for guard or for two hours, three fuzes Fusee- smoothbore flintlock gun. on the shoulder". A latecomer for the second time was supposed to be arrested for two days or "six muskets per shoulder." Those who were late for the third time were punished with gauntlets. For talking in the ranks was supposed to be "deprivation of salary." For negligent guard duty in peacetime, a “serious punishment” awaited the soldier, and in wartime, the death penalty.
For "sorcery" was supposed to be burned, for the desecration of icons - cutting off the head
Especially severely punished for the escape. Back in 1705, a decree was issued according to which, of the three fugitives caught, one was executed by lot, and the other two were exiled to eternal hard labor. The execution took place in the regiment from which the soldier fled. The flight from the army took on a wide scale, and the government had to issue special appeals to deserters with the promise of forgiveness for those who voluntarily returned to duty. In the 1730s, the situation of the soldiers worsened, which led to an increase in the number of fugitives, especially among recruits. The penalties were also increased. The fugitives were expected either by execution or hard labor. One of the decrees of the Senate of 1730 reads: “Which recruits learn to run abroad and will be caught, then from the first breeders, for fear of others, they will be executed by death, hanged; but for the rest, who are not breeders themselves, to inflict political death and exile them to Siberia for government work.
The usual joy in soldier's life was to receive a salary. It was different and depended on the type of troops. The soldiers of the internal garrisons were paid the least - their salary in the 60s of the 18th century was 7 rubles. 63 kop. in year; and cavalrymen received the most - 21 rubles. 88 kop. If we take into account that, for example, a horse cost 12 rubles, then this was not so little, but the soldiers did not see this money. Something went for debts or into the hands of resourceful marketers, something - to the artel cash desk. It also happened that the colonel appropriated these soldiers' pennies, forcing the rest of the officers of the regiment to steal, since they all had to sign expenditure items.
The rest of the salary the soldier squandered in a tavern, where sometimes, in dashing courage, he could “scold everyone obscenely and call himself a king” or argue: with whom exactly did Empress Anna Ioannovna “live prodigally” - with Duke Biron or with General Minich? Drinking buddies, as expected, immediately denounced, and the talker had to justify himself with the “immeasurable drunkenness” usual in such cases. In the best case, the case ended in “chasing gauntlets” in their native regiment, in the worst case, with a whip and exile to distant garrisons.
The soldier could argue with whom exactly did Empress Anna Ioannovna "live in prodigality" - with Duke Biron or with General Minich?
Bored in the garrison service, the young soldier Semyon Efremov once shared with a colleague: “Pray to God that the Turk gets up, then we would get out of here.” He escaped punishment only by explaining his desire to start the war by the fact that "while young, he can serve." The old servicemen, who had already smelled gunpowder, were thinking not only about exploits - among the “material evidence” in the affairs of the Secret Chancellery, conspiracies seized from them were preserved: “Strengthen, Lord, in the army and in battle and in every place from the Tatars and from the faithful and unfaithful tongues and from all kinds of military weapons ... but make me, your servant Mikhail, like a lion with strength. Others, like ordinary Semyon Popov, were driven by longing and drill to terrible blasphemy: the soldier wrote with his own blood a “letter of apostasy”, in which he “summoned the devil to himself and demanded riches from him ... so that through that riches he could leave military service.”
And yet the war gave a chance to the lucky. Suvorov, who knew perfectly well the psychology of a soldier, in his instruction “The Science of Victory” mentioned not only speed, onslaught and bayonet attack, but also “holy booty” - and told how in Ishmael, taken by a brutal assault under his command, soldiers “divided gold and silver in handfuls ". True, not everyone was so lucky. To the rest, “who remained alive — that honor and glory!” - promised the same "Science to win."
However, the army suffered the biggest losses not from the enemy, but from diseases and the lack of doctors and medicines. “Walking around the camp at sunset, I saw some regimental soldiers digging holes for their dead brethren, others already burying, and still others completely buried. In the army, quite a few suffer from diarrhea and putrid fevers; when officers also move into the realm of the dead, for whom, during their illness, they are certainly better looked after, and doctors use their own medicines for money, then how can soldiers not die, left in illness to their fate and for which medicines are either dissatisfied, or absolutely not available in other shelves. Diseases are born from the fact that the army stands in a square, a quadrangle, that defecating feces, although the wind blows a little, spreads a very bad smell through the air, that Liman water, being used raw, is very unhealthy, and vinegar is not divided among the soldiers, which On the shore, dead corpses are visible everywhere, drowned in the estuary in the three battles that took place on it ”- this is how army official Roman Tsebrikov described the siege of the Turkish fortress Ochakov in 1788.
For the majority, the usual soldier's fate fell out: endless marches across the steppe or mountains in the heat or mud, bivouacs and overnight stays in the open, long evenings in "winter-apartments" in peasant huts.
If you look closely at this military beauty, you can imagine it with teeth, and the gaps - clogged with human meat. Yes, it was so: any military beauty is human death.
(Total 45 photos)
1. Defensive line "Siegfried" on the western border of Germany. Very powerful and beautiful line. The Americans stormed the line for more than six months. We somehow coped with the lines much faster - a well-known case: we did not stand behind the price.
2. German soldier with children in the occupied Soviet village. The two smallest boys are tarring cigarettes. The German, as a distinctly kind person, was embarrassed by his kindness
3. Irma Hedwig Silke, employee of the Abwehr cipher department. Beautiful perky girl. It would be the happiness of a man of any nationality. And looks like!!! ... If kissed, her eyes would be closed.
4. German mountain rangers in the Narvik region in Norway. 1940 Brave soldiers, they really saw death. To us, without combat experience, their knowledge "didn't even dream of", no matter how much they read. However, they have not changed. Maybe not for long, the new experience did not have time to settle into the changes recorded by wrinkles, but now, they survived and look at us from there, from their own. The easiest way to dismiss: "fascists." But they are fascists - in the second, and even fourth place (like the commander of the "Graf von Spee", who bought the lives of his people at the cost of his life), - in the first place they are people who have just survived and won. And others lay down forever. And this is the experience we can only borrow. Yes, and it's good that we only borrow, not receive. For ... - it's understandable.
5. The crew of the twin-engine Messer - 110E Zerstörer after returning from a sortie. They are glad, not because they are alive, but because they are very young.
6. Eric Hartmann himself. Eric drifted in the first flight, lost his leader, was attacked by a Soviet fighter, barely pulled away and, finally, landed the car in a field, on his belly - he ran out of fuel. He was attentive and careful, this pilot. and learned quickly. Only and everything. Why didn't we have these? Because they flew on shit, and we were not allowed to study, but only to die.
7. ... How easy it is to distinguish the best fighter even among war professionals. Find here Dietrich Hrabak, the Hauptmann who shot down 109 planes on the Eastern Front and 16 more on the Western, as if getting enough to remember for the rest of his life. In this photo, taken in 1941, on the tail of his car (Me 109) there are only 24 coffins - signs of victory.
8. The radio operator of the German submarine U-124 writes something in the log of receiving telegrams. U-124 is a German Type IXB submarine. Such a small, very strong and deadly vessel. For 11 campaigns, she sank 46 transports with a total displacement. 219 178 tons, and 2 warships with a total displacement of 5775 tons. The people in it were very lucky and those with whom she met were unlucky: death at sea is a cruel death. But no sweeter would have awaited the submariners - just a little bit different fate lay down for them. It's strange that we, looking at this photo, can still say anything about them. About those who survived there, behind the "100" mark, hiding from depth charges, one can only remain silent. They lived, and, oddly enough, they were saved. Others died, and their victims - well, that was what the war was for.
9. Arrival of the German submarine U-604 at the base of the 9th submarine flotilla in Brest. Pennants on the cabin show the number of ships sunk - there were three of them. In the foreground on the right - the commander of the 9th flotilla, Lieutenant Commander Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock - well-fed, cheerful person who knows his business well. Very accurate and very hard work. And it's deadly.
10. The Germans in the Soviet village. It's warm, but the soldiers in the cars don't relax. After all, they can be killed, and almost all of them were killed. Tea is not a western front.
12. German and dead horses. The smile of a soldier is a habit of death. But how could it be otherwise when such a terrible war was going on?
15. German soldiers in the Balkans play snowballs. Beginning of 1944. In the background, a Soviet T-34-76 tank covered in snow. Who needs him now? And does anyone remember now, chasing the ball, that each of them killed?
16. Soldiers of the division " Greater Germany» sincerely cheer for their football team. 1943-1944. Just people. This is the leaven from a peaceful life
18. German units, which include captured Soviet tanks T-34-76, are preparing for an attack during the Battle of Kursk. I posted this photo because it shows better than many that only madmen on thrones, and badges on armor, indicated the polar poles. A stencil phrase, but now, stenciled Soviet tanks, under other icons drawn on a stencil, are ready to go to fight brothers with other icons from other stencils. Everything is done for a sweet soul. Managed not by people in iron boxes, by others, but hardly by people at all.
19. Soldiers of the SS Regiment "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" rest during a halt near the road towards Pabianice (Poland). The scarführer on the right is armed with an MP-28 assault rifle, although what difference does it make what the soldier is armed with. The main thing is that he is a soldier and agreed to kill.
20. German paratrooper with Flammenwerfer 41 backpack flamethrower with horizontal tanks. Summer 1944. Cruel people, terrible their deeds. Is there a difference with a machine gunner, or a shooter? Don't know. Perhaps the propensity to shoot burning and rushing enemies from service weapons would solve the matter? To not suffer. After all, you see, it is not the duty of a flamethrower to shoot down the flames with a tarpaulin and save them. But shooting is more merciful. Seems.
21. Look, what a thick-legged. ... A good-natured, hard worker, - the wife, go, was not overjoyed. A tanker means a mechanic, the family's hope. If he survived, and most likely survived, the photo was taken in the Balkans, then after the war he raised the modern giant of Germany.
22. Shooter-motorcyclist of the 3rd SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf". 1941 Totenkopf - Dead head. The SS soldiers really fought better than ordinary units. And officers of any level were not called "sir" there. Just a position: "Scharführer ...", or "Gruppenführer ..." The German Social Democrats emphasized that it was a party of equals.
23. And they fell on the ice the same way. (soldiers of the police battalion)
24. Homemade and tireless pommel of an officer's dagger, made in a military campaign. They had time underwater. Shot and - time. ... Or there are screws on top and - immediately there is nothing.
25. My favorite, one of the humane generals of World War II, one of the best generals at that time who retained humanity in the war, is Erwin Rommel. Like it or not, namely that a hardened human being.
26. And Rommel. With a knight's cross, somewhere in France. The tank stalled, and the general is right there. Rommel was famous for his unexpected trips to the troops, where even the staff rats lost him, but Erwin Rommel did not get lost and overturned the enemy defenses again and again, being next to his soldiers.
27. Adored by them. ... Subsequently, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was forced to die, as he participated in the assassination attempt on Hitler and the poison he took was the price that the Gestapo backed down from his family.
28. ... At work. It was their job, like that of our soldiers - the same. Knocked-out or, under fixation, teeth grinned in the same way. War is hard work with increased mortality involved.
29. Brave. Before the start of the Western Campaign, SS Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and SD, completed flight training and took part in dogfights in France as a fighter pilot in his Messerschmitt Bf109. And after the fall of France, Heydrich made reconnaissance flights over England and Scotland on the Messerschmitt Bf110. During his service in the Air Force, Heydrich shot down three enemy aircraft (already on the Eastern Front), received the rank of Major of the Luftwaffe in the reserve and earned the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st classes, the Observation Pilot Badge and the Fighter Badge in silver.
30. German cavalry in the classroom before the Second World War. Window dressing, 99 percent of window dressing, however, characterizes "their Kubans." It should be the same thing, to be proud, to prancing among the riders of any tribe is common. We... They... Is there a difference? Isn't the difference limited to just one direction of the weapon's muzzle?
31. English soldiers taken prisoner in Dunkirk, in the city square. Later, these soldiers received assistance through the International Red Cross. The USSR also abandoned the Geneva Convention, declaring its prisoners of war traitors. After the war, Soviet soldiers who survived in German concentration camps ended up in our camps. Where did not get out. "Okay, rush..."
32. The wedding of the SS Unterscharführer from the "SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" takes place in the open air (possibly an airfield), because. SS men did not get married in a church. Behind his back are his friends from his native Luftwaffe
33. German in a captured Belgian wedge. Very, very happy to ride. Like any of us.
34. "Tiger" fell into an icy drainage ditch near Leningrad, February 19, 1943. The man doesn't seem to be coming back. Still, just that there was no one stronger than him, there was no one within the radius of an aimed shot of an 88-mm cannon. And suddenly... Poor thing.
43. but, in a word, because of the few. Than to shoot at each other, they would learn to distinguish among their people, scoundrels of high rank. But the unfortunate poor fellows do not know how
44. - all, all do not know how, equally. Just know that they are dragging each other because of the Urals, Krupp armor:
Brothels for the Germans were in many occupied cities of the North-West of Russia.
During the Great Patriotic War, many cities and towns in the North-West were occupied by the Nazis. On the front line, on the outskirts of Leningrad, there were bloody battles, and in the quiet rear, the Germans settled down and tried to create comfortable conditions for recreation and leisure.
“A German soldier must eat on time, wash himself and relieve sexual tension,” many Wehrmacht commanders reasoned. To solve the latter problem, brothels were created in large occupied cities and meeting rooms at German canteens and restaurants, and free prostitution was also allowed.
Girls usually did not take money
Mostly local Russian girls worked in brothels. Sometimes the shortage of priestesses of love was replenished from the inhabitants of the Baltic states. The information that only purebred German women served the Nazis is a myth. Only the top of the Nazi party in Berlin was concerned with the problems of racial purity. But in military conditions, no one was interested in the nationality of a woman. It is also a mistake to think that girls in brothels were forced to work only under the threat of reprisal. Very often they were brought there by a fierce military hunger.
Brothels in major cities The North-West, as a rule, were located in small two-story houses, where from 20 to 30 girls worked in shifts. On the day, one served up to several dozen military personnel. Brothels enjoyed unprecedented popularity among the Germans. “On another day, long queues lined up at the porch,” wrote one of the Nazis in his diary. For sexual services, women most often received payment in kind. For example, German clients of the bath and laundry plant in Marevo, Novgorod Region, often spoiled their favorite Slavs in "brothel houses" with chocolates, which was then almost a gastronomic miracle. The girls usually did not take money. A loaf of bread is a much more generous payment than rapidly depreciating rubles.
The order in the brothels was monitored by the German rear services, some entertainment establishments worked under the wing of the German counterintelligence. In Soltsy and Pechki, the Nazis opened large reconnaissance and sabotage schools. Their "graduates" were sent to the Soviet rear and partisan detachments. German intelligence officers sensibly believed that it was easiest to "prick" agents "on a woman." Therefore, in the Solecki brothel, all the attendants were recruited by the Abwehr. The girls in private conversations asked the cadets of the intelligence school how devoted they were to the ideas of the Third Reich, whether they were going to go over to the side of the Soviet Resistance. For such "intimate-intellectual" work, women received special fees.
And full and happy
In some canteens and restaurants where German soldiers dined, there were so-called visiting rooms. Waitresses, dishwashers, in addition to their main work in the kitchen and in the hall, additionally provided sexual services. There is an opinion that in the restaurants of the famous Palace of Facets in the Novgorod Kremlin there was such a meeting room for the Spaniards of the Blue Division. People talked about this, but there are no official documents that would confirm this fact.
The canteen and club in the small village of Medved became famous among the Wehrmacht soldiers not only for the “cultural program”, but also for the fact that they showed a striptease there!
Free prostitutes
In one of the documents of 1942, we find the following: “Since there were not enough brothels for the Germans in Pskov, they created the so-called institute of sanitary-supervised women, or, more simply, revived free prostitutes. Periodically, they also had to appear for a medical examination and receive appropriate marks in special tickets (medical certificates).”
After the victory over Nazi Germany, the women who served the Nazis during the war years were subjected to public censure. People called them "German bedding, skins, b ...". Some of them had their heads shaved like the fallen women in France. However, not a single criminal case was opened on the fact of cohabitation with the enemy. The Soviet government turned a blind eye to this problem. In war, there are special laws.
Children of love.
Sexual "collaboration" during the war left a memory of itself for a long time. Innocent babies were born from the invaders. It is even difficult to calculate how many blond and blue-eyed children with "Aryan blood" were born. Today, one can easily meet in the North-West of Russia a person of retirement age with the features of a purebred German, who was not born in Bavaria, but in some distant village in the Leningrad Region.
The "German" woman who lived during the war years was far from always left alive. There are cases when the mother killed the baby with her own hands, because he was the "son of the enemy." In one of the partisan memoirs, a case is described. For three years, while the Germans were “dining” in the village, the Russian woman had three children from them. On the very first day after the arrival of the Soviet troops, she carried her offspring onto the road, laid them in a row and shouted: “Death to the German invaders!” smashed everyone's head with a boulder...
Kursk.
The commandant of Kursk, Major General Marseille, issued "Instruction for the regulation of prostitution in the city of Kursk". It said:
Ҥ 1. List of prostitutes.
Only women who are on the list of prostitutes, have a control card and are regularly examined by a special doctor for venereal diseases can engage in prostitution.
Persons who intend to engage in prostitution must register to be included in the list of prostitutes in the Department of the Order Service of the city of Kursk. Enrollment in the list of prostitutes can only occur after the relevant military doctor (sanitary officer) to whom the prostitute is to be referred gives permission for this. Deletion from the list can also only occur with the permission of the respective physician.
After entering into the list of prostitutes, the latter receives a control card through the Department of the Order Service.
§ 2. A prostitute must adhere to the following regulations in the performance of her trade:
A) ... to engage in her trade only in her apartment, which must be registered by her in the Housing Office and in the Department of the Order Service;
B) ... nail a sign to your apartment at the direction of the appropriate doctor in a conspicuous place;
C) ... does not have the right to leave his area of \u200b\u200bthe city;
D) any attraction and recruitment on the streets and in public places is prohibited;
E) a prostitute must strictly follow the instructions of the relevant doctor, in particular, regularly and accurately appear at the specified time for examinations;
E) sexual intercourse without rubber guards is prohibited;
G) prostitutes who have been forbidden sexual intercourse by the relevant doctor must have special announcements from the Department of the Order Service indicating this prohibition nailed to their apartments.
§ 3. Punishments.
1. Death is punishable by:
Women who infect Germans or persons of the allied nations with a venereal disease, despite the fact that they knew about their venereal disease before sexual intercourse.
The same punishment is imposed on a prostitute who has intercourse with a German or a person of an allied nation without a rubber guard and infects him.
Venereal disease is implied and always when this woman is forbidden to have sexual intercourse by the appropriate doctor.
2. Forced labor in the camp for up to 4 years is punishable by:
Women who have sexual intercourse with Germans or persons of allied nations, although they themselves know or assume that they are ill with a venereal disease.
3. Forced labor in a camp for a period of at least 6 months is punishable by:
A) women engaged in prostitution without being listed as prostitutes;
B) persons who provide premises for prostitution outside the prostitute's own apartment.
4. Forced labor in the camp for a period of at least 1 month is punishable by:
Prostitutes who do not comply with this prescription, designed for their trade.
§ 4. Entry into force.
Prostitution was similarly regulated in other occupied territories. However, strict penalties for contracting venereal diseases led to the fact that prostitutes preferred not to register and engaged in their trade illegally. The SD assistant in Belorussia, Strauch, lamented in April 1943: “At first, we eliminated all the prostitutes with venereal diseases that we could only detain. But it turned out that the women who had previously been ill and reported it themselves later disappeared after hearing that we would mistreat them. This error has been eliminated, and women suffering from venereal diseases are cured and isolated.”
Communication with Russian women sometimes ended very sadly for German soldiers. And not venereal diseases were the main danger here. On the contrary, many soldiers of the Wehrmacht had nothing against picking up gonorrhea or gonorrhea and turning around in the rear for several months - everything is better than going under the bullets of the Red Army and partisans. It turned out a real combination of pleasant with not very pleasant, but useful. However, it was the meeting with the Russian girl that often ended for the German with a partisan bullet. Here is the order dated December 27, 1943 for the rear units of Army Group Center:
“Two chiefs of the convoy of one sapper battalion met two Russian girls in Mogilev, they went to the girls at their invitation and during the dance were killed by four Russians in civilian clothes and deprived of their weapons. The investigation showed that the girls, together with the Russian men, intended to go to the gangs and in this way they wanted to acquire weapons for themselves.
According to Soviet sources, the occupiers often forcibly drove women and girls into brothels intended to serve German and allied soldiers and officers. Since it was believed that prostitution in the USSR was done away with once and for all, partisan leaders could only imagine the forced recruitment of girls into brothels. Those women and girls who had to cohabit with the Germans after the war, in order not to be persecuted, also claimed that they were forced to sleep with enemy soldiers and officers.
Stalino (Donetsk, Ukraine)
In the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine" for August 27, 2003 on the topic "Brothels for Germans in Donetsk". Here are excerpts: “In Stalino (Donetsk) there were 2 front-line brothels. One was called the Italian Casino. 18 girls and 8 servants worked only with the allies of the Germans - Italian soldiers and officers. Covered market ... The second brothel, intended for the Germans, was located in the oldest hotel in the city "Great Britain. In total, 26 people worked in the brothel (this is counting the girls, technical workers and management). The girls' earnings were approximately 500 rubles a week (owls The ruble circulated on this territory in parallel with the mark, the rate was 10:1). 11.00-13.00 - stay in the hotel, preparation for work; 13.00-13.30-lunch (first course, 200 gr. bread); 14.00-20.30 - customer service; 21.00-dinner. Ladies were allowed to spend the night only in the hotel. The soldier received to visit the brothel the commander has the corresponding ticket (within for a month, an ordinary soldier was supposed to have 5-6 of them), underwent a medical examination, upon arrival at a brothel he registered a coupon, and he handed over the spine to the office of the military unit, washed himself (the regulations suggested issuing a bar of soap, a small towel and 3 condoms to the fighter) ... According According to the surviving data in Stalino, a visit to a brothel cost a soldier 3 marks (paid to the cashier) and lasted an average of 15 minutes. Brothels existed in Stalino until August 1943.
In Europe.
During the fighting in Europe, the Wehrmacht did not have the opportunity to create a brothel in every major settlement. The relevant field commander agreed to the creation of such institutions only where a sufficiently large number of German soldiers and officers. In many ways, the real activities of these brothels can only be guessed at. Field commanders took responsibility for equipping brothels, which had to meet well-defined hygiene standards. They also set prices in brothels, determined the internal routine of brothels and made sure that at any time there was a sufficient number of available women.
The brothels had to have hot and cold water baths and a mandatory lavatory. Every "visiting room" was to have a poster reading "Sexual intercourse without contraceptives is strictly prohibited!". Any use of sadomasochistic paraphernalia and devices was strictly prosecuted by law. But the military authorities turned a blind eye to the trade in erotic pictures and pornographic magazines.
Not every woman was taken as a prostitute. Ministry officials carefully selected candidates for the sex service of soldiers and officers. As you know, the Germans considered themselves the highest Aryan race, and such peoples as, for example, the Dutch or Finns, according to certain criteria, are related to the Aryans. Therefore, in Germany, incest was very strictly monitored, and marriages between Aryans and close associates were not welcomed. There was no need to talk about non-Aryans. It was taboo. The Gestapo even had a special department for "ethnic community and health care." His functions included control "over the seed fund of the Reich." A German who had sexual intercourse with a Polish or Ukrainian woman could be sent to a concentration camp for "criminal squandering of the seed fund of the Reich." Rapists and revelers (of course, if they did not serve in the elite SS troops) were identified and punished. The same department monitored the purity of the blood of prostitutes in field brothels, and at first the criteria were very strict. Only true German women who grew up in the interior, primordially German lands of Bavaria, Saxony or Silesia had the right to work in officer brothels. They had to be at least 175 cm tall, must be fair-haired, with blue or light gray eyes and have good manners.
Doctors and paramedics from military units had to provide brothels not only with soap, towels and disinfectants, but also with a sufficient number of condoms. The latter, by the way, until the end of the war will be centrally supplied from the Main Sanitary Directorate in Berlin.
Only air raids prevented the immediate delivery of such goods to the front. Even when supply problems began to arise in the Third Reich, and rubber was provided on a special schedule for certain industries, the Nazis never skimped on condoms for their own soldiers. In addition to the brothels themselves, soldiers could purchase condoms from canteens, kitchens, and supply chains.
But the most striking thing about this system is not even that. It's all about the notorious German punctuality. The German command could not allow the soldiers to use sexual services whenever they wanted, and the priestesses themselves worked according to their mood. Everything was taken into account and calculated: for each prostitute, “production standards” were set, and they were not taken from the ceiling, but were scientifically substantiated. To begin with, German officials divided all the brothels into categories: soldiers, non-commissioned officers (sergeants), sergeant majors (foremen) and officers. In soldiers' brothels across the state, it was supposed to have prostitutes in the ratio: one per 100 soldiers. For sergeants, this figure was reduced to 75. But in officers, one prostitute served 50 officers. In addition, a certain customer service plan was established for the priestesses of love. To receive a salary at the end of the month, a soldier's prostitute had to serve at least 600 clients per month (assuming that each soldier has the right to relax with a girl five or six times a month)!
True, such "high rates" were assigned to bed workers in the ground forces. In the aviation and navy, which in Germany were considered privileged branches of the military, the "production standards" were much lower. The prostitute who served Goering's "iron falcons" had to receive 60 clients a month, and according to the state in aviation field hospitals it was supposed to have
one prostitute for 20 pilots and one for 50 ground support personnel. But for a warm place at the air base, it was still necessary to compete.
Of all the countries and peoples that participated in the war, the Germans were the most responsible approach to the sexual service of their soldiers.