—— Red Army Sniper ——102‘Very well, Andrey Alexandrovich. My health is excellent, my
treatment is going well in the hospital, so I’ll soon go back to my
own regiment and fight the Nazis again like before.. .’
‘Give me a little more detail about your experience, how you
began wiping out Nazis. And about yourself as well. I understand
that before the war you worked in the theatre? As an artist?’
‘How does he know that?’ I wondered in surprise. And, pausing
a moment to think, I began to tell him.
I told him about myself and about my mates. I tried to be brief
- just to cover the most important and interesting facts. Andrey
Alexandrovich listened closely without interrupting me, except
that, when he wanted something clarified, he would ask questions
and steer the course of the conversation. He was interested in
everything, it seemed: what the food was like, how we were clothed,
what our officers were like, and much more besides. He was very
easy to talk to.
‘Well, did you find things difficult at any time? Were you
afraid?’
‘A bit of everything, Andrey Alexandrovich. After all, a sniper
is still a human being with all his weaknesses. You feel a bit
frightened at times, when you are going head to head against a
Nazi. But it passes quickly. Especially when you see his face up
close and you think, that’s not a human being before you but a
bandit and a beast. You get angry straight away and forget about
everything else. The main thing is to overcome fear if it appears.
Then everything becomes simpler and easier.’
‘And from what range do you usually fire? How close do you
get to the enemy?’
‘That depends on the extent to which you can outwit him. And,
of course, the location makes a difference. My favourite range
is 60–100 metres from their trenches. The closer you are to the
Germans, the safer it is, in my view: you have a good view of them
and there is a guarantee that you’ll not be hit by a German shell.’
‘You wouldn’t like to write all this down, would you, Comrade
Nikolaev? So that your experience would be available to our entire