—— Red Army Sniper ——108‘Take a look. It really is our Yevgeni! You mean he’s alive?’ And
Ivan Karpov squeezed me with all his strength.
‘Nikolaev! How are you, old fellow?’ said Dobrik in Ukrainian
and gave me a hug.
After them the others began to squeeze me. They slapped me on
the back, shoulders and arms as if they wanted to test my solidity,
make sure I was alive.
‘Come with us. We’ll find a place for you,’ said Yuri Semyonov
and pulled me after him into the hall. The other lads followed us.
We were all in a state of great excitement both from the meeting
and from the environment in which we found ourselves, being lads
straight from the front line or from hospital. From the fact that we
were now all in the Smolny.
I could not wait to find out how things were in the regiment, if
my comrades were alive and well, what had our friends achieved,
what was happening on the front line – but there was no time to
talk. People in military and civilian dress were emerging from side
doors and heading towards the presidium table.
‘I won’t be leaving you any more,’ I managed to whisper.
‘They won’t let you out of hospital!’
‘If they won’t let me go nicely, I’ll run away! I’ll get better in the
regiment!’
‘Then come with us right away. We’re on Liteiny Street, staying
at Red Army House.’
As soon as the members of the Presidium had sat down at their
table and the applause in the hall had died down, complete silence
descended. Divisional Commissar Kuznetsov, a member of the
Military Council of the Leningrad Front, had the floor. ‘Comrades,
tomorrow the whole country is marking the day of the Workers’
and Peasants’ Red Army [officially the ‘Day of the Red Army and
the Navy’, celebrated annually on 23 February]. We are gathered
with you to celebrate with the whole country this important day
for our homeland.. .’
He did not speak for long – it was wartime! After talking
briefly about the birth and the glorious military path of our army,