—— Red Army Sniper ——114‘Well, Yevgeni, make yourself at home. This bed here’s free,’
the lads told me. ‘We’ll spend the night here and the day after
tomorrow you can come straight to the regiment with us!’
‘Agreed! Only tomorrow I will drop in at the hospital for a
minute. I’ve got some stuff left there and I have to say goodbye to
fol k .’
‘Go, of course. Show them your order! Well, let’s go. We’re
being called already.’
‘Just a minute, let’s have a look what kind of bags they have
left us.’
They turned out to be gifts sent in to the soldiers of the
Leningrad Front from unoccupied territory. I looked at mine.
The first thing that caught my eye was a letter all mottled with
indecipherable signatures at the end. As far as I could gather, the
letter was written by the staff of some Party district committee. It
was they who had put a parcel together, congratulated me and all
other soldiers on the special day and wished us a speedy victory.
It was a pity they had not left their address and I could not
thank them.
In a box lay five packets of ‘White Sea Canal’ brand cigarettes,
two books, some woollen socks and gloves of the same material,
while wrapped up in paper were some nuts, a few spiced honey
cakes and some chocolates. But the dearest item to me was the
present from the children of the kindergarten – a huge handkerchief
with a red fringe. In its four corners were inscribed the names:
Olga, Vasya, Lida and Vlad. And in the middle were the words
‘A Presint’. The misspelling was particularly touching.
‘Time to go, lads! Conclude your meeting with unoccupied
territory!’ said the senior officer, and we regretfully put away our
paper bags.
Music thundered and, to the sounds of a brass band, which
we had not heard for a long time, the guests mounted the broad
marble staircase and proceeded into the spacious foyer. There
a concert was being presented by the frontline song and dance
ensemble of the Kirov Red Army House.