—— Red Army Sniper ——88What saved me, according to the surgeon himself, was the fact
that my stomach was empty, devoid of contents. That made his
work easy during the operation. For my recovery I am indebted
to the hospital’s conscientious sisters and nurses, who looked after
me. To all of them, who put me back on my feet and gave me a
second life, I will be grateful to the end of my days. And I got my
engraved watch back again later, and not just one watch! I received
exactly the same kind of watch, with an engraved dedication from
the Political Administration of the Leningrad Front in January
- It was presented to me by Mamlyakat Nakhtangova, who
had visited our 14th Regiment with a delegation in August 1942 –
the same Mamlyakat who had learned how to pick cotton expertly
while still a little girl, and had received the Order of Lenin and a
gold wristwatch from Stalin’s own hands. And my stomach healed.
True, it is still sore to this day, but that is probably only natural. As
the doctors say, some ‘repair work’ continues to remind you of its
presence.
When I arrived in Leningrad in January 1964, on the twentieth
anniversary of its liberation from the blockade, I counted on
meeting the people who had saved my life. However, my quest was
unsuccessful; fate had scattered those who survived the war to the
far corners of our vast homeland. Where are they now? Homage
to them, the medical staff of the Leningrad Front – the surgeons,
who worked through air raids and shelling, the medical personnel,
living and dead, who perished from wounds and hunger while
saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people during those
unforgettable 900 days of the siege. From us frontline troops,
our mothers, and the wives and children of our soldiers – a big
thank you.