At first I didn't pay attention, but then it got bad...

It was five o'clock before I got to the infirmary. The next day, they made a dressing... In general, there is nothing dangerous...

May 15, 1942

The new year of 1942 inspired, awakened bright hopes of our people and strengthened the soldiers ' faith in victory. In early January, the troops of the Kalinin, Western, Southwestern and Bryansk fronts, operating in conditions of numerical superiority of the enemy, successfully completed the first major offensive operation during the Great Patriotic War. 11 thousand settlements were liberated and 38 German divisions were defeated. The enemy was driven back from Moscow for 100-250 km.

Despite the difficult conditions, active military operations of the Soviet troops continued. This is evidenced by the letters of the dead front-line soldiers.

"Hello, my dear mother and Polina... on January 19, I received my first baptism of fire in the battle for one of the villages in the Volokolamsk direction. The battle took place at night and lasted until 5 o'clock, after which the Germans were knocked out of the village and retreated. In the first battle, of course, it was a little scary. It is especially unpleasant when mines fly and explode and bullets fall into the snow near you. Well, that's nothing. You need to get used to everything.

Well, that's all for now... Goodbye. I kiss you very hard...

22.1.42"

On January 19, 1942, Red Army soldier Alexander Mikhailovich Sivichev received a baptism of fire, and on February 6 he died and was buried in the village of Bolshye Palatki, Smolensk region.

"Dear father and mother,.. On April 16, we went on the offensive again... About 10 tanks supported us, but under heavy artillery fire and bogged down in the swamp, they moved very slowly. By evening, we had knocked the Germans out of the first bunkers. The fire continued unabated: machine-gun, artillery, mortar, bombing. I was leading the way with my guys. As soon as we burst into the dugout, a bullet or shrapnel - I couldn't tell which - grazed my cheek, about 4 or 5 centimeters, but quite successfully, without hitting my jaw. And what surprised me was that my ear was completely intact.

After bandaging my cheek, I moved on, because my arms and legs were working. It must have been one o'clock in the morning, and we were moving on. The German machine gun was firing daggers, standing about 150 meters away from us and hitting tracers. Every now and then I had to keep close to the ground... The machine gun had to be removed. I crawled toward him with the grenades. It was getting harder to crawl, as the water was soaking my cotton pants and jacket more and more. The Germans were still 45-50 meters away... And then, just as I raised my leg to crawl further, I felt a momentary pain in my leg and something warm.

The author of this letter, Chief of Staff of the 4th separate rifle battalion of the 148th Separate Rifle Brigade of the 8th Guards Rifle Corps of the Western Front, Senior Lieutenant Igor Innokentievich Portnyagin, had to fight for a little more than six months. On November 25, when the 4th battalion went on the attack in the Sychevsky district of the Smolensk region, knocking out the enemy from the stronghold located in the village of Prudy, he was killed.

Simultaneously with the counteroffensive near Moscow, Soviet troops were actively fighting near Leningrad, as Lieutenant Georgy Nikiforovich Gurov, the squadron commander of the 630th fighter Aviation Regiment of the 106th Air Division, reports in a letter to his mother.

"Mom! I am at the front. There's enough work to do. From the failures in the winter campaign, the fascists have gone berserk and, apparently, in the summer they will try to take revenge in order to restore their prestige of the "invincibles". We are also preparing for heavy battles. No matter how difficult it is, we will not give up Leningrad to the enemy, we will defend it at any cost...

Work to your liking, and there is a place to recoup on the fascist vultures with all the power of your fighter's fire. I beat the enemy mercilessly for the blood of my older brother. Fascist pilots behave more cautiously every day, they are afraid of us. I've already opened an account of downed enemy planes. However, while it is very modest: one "Heinkel"...

Mom.. each of your messages from the deep rear brings a lot of joy and gives new strength in the fight against the enemy. I wish you good health. Kiss. Georgy.

May 7, 1942"

Lieutenant G. N. Gurov was presented with the Order of the Patriotic War of the First degree. The award list says:

"The squadron commander, Lieutenant Gurov, was a master of aerial combat. He often emerged victorious from the most difficult combat situations and was an excellent air fighter. Such as he created the glory of his unit and served as an example for all personnel. During the period of his stay at the front, he made 28 combat sorties, destroyed three fascist aircraft..."

Unfortunately, George Nikiforovich did not receive the order. On September 29, 1942, he was killed in an air battle with Nazi pilots.

At the turn of 1941 - 1942, the Kerch-Feodosia amphibious operation was successfully conducted. In January, Soviet troops cleared the Kerch Peninsula of the enemy and diverted some of its forces from besieged Sevastopol, although the goals were not fully achieved. Sevastopol residents heroically fought the enemy. Special courage was shown by the commander of the machine-gun department of the 54th Razinsky Rifle Regiment of the 25th Rifle Order of Lenin, Red Banner Division named after V. I. Chapaev, Sergeant Nina Andreevna Onilova, whose letter is given below.

"The real Anka-a machine gunner from the Chapaev division, which I saw in the movie "Chapaev)>. I am a stranger to you, comrade, and you will excuse me for this letter. But from the very beginning of the war, I wanted to write to you and meet you. I know that you are not the same Anka, not the real Chapaev machine gunner. But you played like the real thing, and I always envied you. I dreamed of becoming a machine gunner and fighting bravely as well.

When the war happened, I was already ready, I passed the "excellent" machine-gun business. I got there - what a blessing it was for me! "to the Chapaev division, the real one. I defended Odessa with my machine gun, and now I'm defending Sevastopol. I look, of course, very weak, small, thin. But I'll tell you the truth: my hand never wavered. At first I was still afraid. And then it all went away... When you defend your dear, native land and your family (I have no native family, so all the people are my family), then you become very brave and do not understand what cowardice is. I want to write to you in detail about my life and how, together with the Chapaevites, I fight against the fascists...

February 1942 "

This is the end of Nina Andreyevna Onilova's letter. She joined the Red Army on August 21, 1941, and was wounded in heavy fighting. In December, she was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

At the end of February 1942, units of the 54th Regiment attacked the Nazis in order to divert enemy forces from the Kerch Peninsula. Supporting the advance of her comrades with fire, Nina Onilova destroyed two enemy machine-gun points. The next day, the offensive continued. But on March 1, the Nazis launched a counteroffensive. On this day, while fighting off fierce enemy attacks, Sergeant N. A. Onilova was seriously wounded and died in hospital on March 8, 1942.

By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 14, 1965, the brave machine gunner was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

The defense of Sevastopol was an outstanding feat of arms of the Soviet troops. But it ended with the loss of Crimea. The Kharkov operation, in which the South-Western Front took an active part, was also unsuccessful. Although the soldiers and commanders showed perseverance, courage and heroism, as evidenced by the letters of front-line soldiers.

"...I live in the old way. Nemchura struggles a lot, but it won't help her. Today, our KB joined the battle with 5 nazi tanks. Well done guys, knocked out three, the other two gave a drape.

When the first one was hit, the Krauts began to climb out of it and run away. But there was one of our infantry submachine gunners near the tank. So he put down four Krauts, and the fifth, an officer, he shot in the leg and brought to headquarters. The guy is a hero. In general, we worked particularly well today. They gave the Hanses and Fritz good devils...

30.3.42"

This news was reported to his wife by the commissar of the 5th battery of the 269th corps Artillery Regiment, senior political instructor Pyotr Yemelyanovich Khokhlya. At the end of May, he died and was buried in the village of Lozovenki, Balakleevsky district, Kharkiv region.

"My dear Klavusya, I haven't written to you for a very long time... There are big fights going on all the time, all the forces and nerves are strained to failure and there is no time or energy left for anything else.

My division is fighting the enemy successfully, and I am satisfied. Two days ago, my correspondents visited me and promised to send their greetings to you and Galya on the radio. If they do, you can write to me about it...

Be healthy. Kiss. Your Sasha. The address is old.

21.6.42"

The commander of the 175th Rifle Division, Major General Alexander Demyanovich Kuleshov, could not write another letter to his wife and daughter. At the beginning of July, Major General A. D. Kuleshov was seriously wounded in the Battle of Kharkov and captured by the enemy in an unconscious state. While in Nazi captivity, he continued to remain a staunch fighter and did not submit to the enemy. He died in 1944. Major General A. D. Kuleshov was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the First degree for his courage and heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders.

The defeat of the German-Fascist troops near Moscow and the subsequent offensives of the Red Army in the first half of 1942 were of great importance in the fight against fascism. Hitler's Germany suffered a serious defeat for the first time in World War II. However, at the beginning of the summer, the Nazis took active steps to regain the initiative. As a result, our army left the Crimea, the Donbass, and suffered losses in the Kharkiv operation, in the Stalingrad and Caucasus directions. However, in the second half of 1942, the enormous efforts of the Soviet Armed Forces were not in vain. In fierce battles, the army and navy repelled the frenzied onslaught of the enemy, exhausted his strength and prepared to deal him crushing blows, as we will tell our readers in the next issue of the magazine.

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