—— Red Army Sniper ——178to turn our dugouts and our already churned up trenches into
a heap of ruins. But on this occasion nothing fearful happened;
apparently unsure of the environment in the sector, the Nazi pilots
dropped their lethal load untidily, a little bit behind our trenches.
Whether it was because they thought that the gully and trenches
were already occupied by their own soldiers, or were afraid of the
fire from Semyon Yushin’s AA battery, after two sorties the aircraft
went on their way. However, there was still groaning and crashing
all around, the earth continued to tremble and shake. Heavy lumps
of earth tossed up high into the sky by exploding bombs crashed
down where the 3rd Platoon was stationed.
I had seen many deaths over a year of war, but one of those
has stayed in my memory to this day on account of its uselessness.
Our Party organiser, Sergeant Pyotr Derevyanko, a favourite of
the battalion, was killed before my very eyes by a direct shell hit
during an artillery attack. He always turned up where he was
needed. A mere 23yearold, Pyotr never even considered the
possibility that he would be killed. ‘You and I have still not done
anything for victory over the enemy; it’s too early for us to die. We
still have to visit Berlin,’ he would tell the troops, inspiring them
with confidence in their own strength. He also inspired me with
the same idea. He loved life, and loved and understood people.
And now our Pyotr was gone.. We had only just been talking
at the company command post, as we waited out the bombing
raid. As soon as it had finished, Pyotr would not wait another
minute. ‘I’m off to the 3rd platoon. Seems they’re having a hard
time there.’
He had barely managed to run to the 2nd Platoon and was
standing and talking to one of the troops, when suddenly the
bombing raid was followed by an artillery bombardment. The
second shell to fall in the platoon’s position exploded at Pyotr’s
feet. When I reached the 2nd Platoon after the bombardment, it
was all over; on the spot where Derevyanko and the soldier had
been standing yawned a huge shellhole...
But there was no time for grief. The war was still on.