12112. Back in the Regiment
Only three days had passed since the frontline gathering, but
Comrade Zhdanov’s call: ‘To ensure that the destruction of the Nazi
plague becomes a matter of honour for every soldier and officer on
the Leningrad Front’ had already, judging by the newspapers, been
taken up by all units on the front. It was felt in our division.
The destruction of the Nazis had become a mass cause. With
every passing day it assumed greater and greater proportions.
More and more detachments appeared calling themselves snipers.
The regimental commander, by now Colonel Rodionov, was in
his dugout with his deputy for political affairs, Senior Battalion
Commissar Agashin.
‘Comrade Colonel!’ I addressed Rodionov on entering the
dugout, ‘Permission to report: Senior Sergeant Nikolaev returned
from hospital for further service.’
‘At last! Well, greetings!’ and the colonel extended his hand.
‘You’re back just in time. We have a lot of work on at the moment
and not enough people.’
‘Well, tell us all about it,’ said Agashin. ‘Did they sew you
together again? What’s your health like?’
‘Thank you, Comrade Senior Battalion Commissar, I feel fine
and I can’t complain about my health.’