596. Duel
December was a harsh month. The winter of 1941/42 has remained
in everyone’s memory; it came early and it was ferocious. There
were fortydegree frosts at night and on the plains the snow lay a
metre deep. The winter months became a difficult test both for us,
the defenders of Leningrad, and for its residents.
However, the brave Soviet soldiers fought unyieldingly under
the walls of the city and the courageous folk of Leningrad stood
firm. Every one of them regarded himself or herself as a soldier
and every soldier considered himself a native of Leningrad. And,
whatever the difficulties, we believed that victory would come,
that victory would be ours. Soldiers gripped their rifles even more
firmly, full of determination to defend Lenin’s great city.
Our snipers also began to hammer the Nazis more heavily.
The movement to exterminate the German invaders grew and
broadened across the entire Leningrad Front and acquired a
mass scale. Every division now had snipers whose tally numbered
several dozen obliterated Nazis. Whole sections, detachments and
even companies appeared bearing the designation ‘sniper’.
And the Nazis quickly felt the impact of Soviet marksmen,
whose deadeyed firing cost them hundreds of their own officers
and men. Now the Germans were not as carefree and cavalier as