—— Guests of the Kirov Workers ——165We had two hours to walk the four kilometres separating the
divisional command post from the Kirov works. The route was, to
put it frankly, not the easiest; the Nazis were shelling the highway
and everything around it.
Not a single vehicle overtook us on the way. Very occasionally
we encountered a lone traveller heading towards the front – either
communications officers or people like us on special missions.
More often than not we overtook wounded troops and officers
heading for the rear, those who had made it to first aid posts with
the help of medical orderlies.
The closer we got to the city, the more we encountered control
points, at which we were required each time to show our author
isation along with our Red Army identification. The control points
were manned by troops and officers in peaked caps with a green
band – from the NKVD border guards. They thoroughly checked
our documents and, having done so, wished us a pleasant journey,
warning us about the most dangerous places along the road.
Within about 500 metres of the famous Kirov works Ivan and
I stopped to tidy ourselves up; removing our tunics, we shook
the grime of the trenches out of them. We immediately sewed on
fresh collars – made from pieces of cheesecloth folded in four, as
I had already used up the individual allowance from my secret
supplies. With the aid of some sand and soil and a bit of saliva we
painstakingly polished our buckles and buttons. In the absence of
a shoe brush we wiped the dust off our kirza boots with grass. And
only then, after giving each other a critical look, did we decide that
we looked fairly respectable.
It was with some agitation that we approached the passage
through which Kirov and Kalinin had entered the works, and
where the great Lenin had passed a number of times. We arrived
a little before the set time, and so, stopping on the opposite side of
the street, we cooled down after our rapid walk, while awaiting our
escort; he had still not appeared.
A wizened old woman went past us, barely able to put one foot
in front of the other. Despite the warmth of the day she was covered