Relentless age

At the request of Esquire magazine, veterans of the Great Patriotic War from the city of Apatity, Murmansk region, told where they met on May 9, 1945.

(Total 7 photos)

Photographer Alexander Mets, Recorded by Stanislav Dedinsky. Age indicated at the time of publication in the journal.

1. FEDOR YAKOVLEVICH KONKIN, 84 years old, 2nd Ukrainian Front, Private

“On May 9, 1945, I walked under a German escort along some Austrian road from a prisoner of war camp. We spent two years in the camp, after we were encircled near Belgorod in 1943. The Germans wanted to hand us over to the Americans to appease them. But the allies were not very happy with us. They said: "Go back, look for your people - so that in a day you will not be here." When we returned home, we were sent to the Urals. For six months they went to work in the mine under escort. Then, thank God, they figured out that we weren’t traitors at all.”

2. ARKADIY FEDOROVICH CHERNOUSOV, 83 years old, Western Front, 3rd Belorussian Front, 1st Ukrainian Front, Private

“We fought until May 13, 1945: a group of Germans nested near Prague, who did not want to give up. We somehow did not pay attention to the victory. They knew that Germany had capitulated, but the Germans had to be driven out of the fortifications. One of ours was unlucky then: he went through the whole war, was a partisan in the rear of the Germans, then, when they were released, he ended up in our unit. He just inadvertently leaned out of the trench, and the sniper fired a bullet into his head. Survived the victory by only a couple of days.

3. MIKHAIL SERGEEVICH KOBRIK, 86 years old, Belorussian Front, Ukrainian Front, Private

“I met Victory Day in a hospital 37 kilometers from the Oder. There was shooting all around, so at first we didn’t understand what had happened, and when we figured it out, we opened the window, took out a rifle and let’s also salute. Then my sister came and brought everyone 100 grams each. Hearing to me after the injury had already returned by that time, but speech was still not there - I stuttered very badly. I myself couldn’t make a toast to the victory that day, but “Hurrah!” I still managed to do it. ”

4. PETER MIKHAILOVICH MARCHENKO, 82 years old, 1st Belorussian Front, Baltic Front, senior sergeant

“That day I was in Kazan, in the hospital. In March, our 61st Army took Warsaw and moved on, to Berlin, but without me - I was wounded during shelling, shell shock. The wound did not heal for a long time, so I was sent to the rear. On May 9, the entire hospital (those who could walk) went outside. The locals were very happy with us - they congratulated us, treated us with sweets, poured 100 grams each. Those who were smaller in stature were rocked in their arms. But I remember being a little offended that I never made it to Berlin.”

5. TAISIA PEREYASLOVA, 86 years old, Central Front, Private

“On Victory Day, I was at home in Khibiny with my parents. I had not seen them since the beginning of the war: in 1941, the Murmansk region was already occupied by the Germans, so I was evacuated from Pskov, where I worked as an agrometeorologist, not to my home, but to Tataria. I ended up there all alone. In winter, we were mobilized to build earthen fortifications, and I didn’t even have warm clothes with me. And I decided to volunteer. But at the military registration and enlistment office it turned out that without a personal file that was left at home, they could not recognize me as a Komsomol member and send me to the front. In order for me to be registered with the Komsomol again, I had to pay membership fees for 9 months (from July 1941 to April 1942): I gave all the money that I had. I served almost until the end of the war as a senior intelligence officer in anti-aircraft artillery. In May 1945, German planes no longer flew over Moscow, so all the volunteers who defended the sky over the capital, including me, were sent home.

6. NIKOLAI SERGEEVICH CHESNOKOV, 81 years old, 1st Ukrainian Front, junior sergeant

“For almost the entire war, I was a civilian: I delivered medicines to the front line, took away the wounded. In 1944, I was sent to the rear to study as a crew commander for the Maxim heavy machine gun. In April 1945, training ended. While we were being prepared to be sent to the front, it turned out that it was pointless to go there. And we were transferred to Kustanai, to work on collective farms. On May 9, they were just deciding whether to send us to harvest or plow the fields. There was no holiday - we just quietly rejoiced at the victory among ourselves, and nothing more.

7. ROMAN ALEKSANDROVICH KRAVCHENKO-BEREZHNOY, 82 years old, 1st Belorussian Front, Private

“On Victory Day, I was not far from the Elbe, near Berlin, but I got home only in 1950. On that day, I dreamed that I would continue to study right after the war, because during the occupation all educational institutions in my city of Kremenets in Ukraine were closed. But after the announcement of the victory, we learned about the order of the commander-in-chief to stop conscripting into the army everyone who was born after 1927, and to increase the term for everyone who is already serving. Men were needed at home. I had to serve as an interpreter in Germany for another six years.”