—— Red Army Sniper ——72‘Quiet, you rascals, the party will begin right now. Let’s run
for it!’
My warning of a ‘party’ was timely and the lads quickly
understood. Experienced folk! We all made our merry way along
the passage to the headquarters dugout with the trophies in hand.
Informed of my return by telephone, the company chiefs
gathered at the command post; alongside the company
commander, Lieutenant Butorin, sat Battalion Commander
Morozov, Company Political Instructor Popov, Battalion Medical
Attaché Ivan Vasilyev, and a smiling Major Ulyanov – from the
divisional political department. I was not a bit surprised at the
presence of the last of these; Major Ulyanov often visited us on
the front line and now I was glad to see him. The major was liked
and respected for his simple approach, for his courage and for his
humanity. Tall and thin, he walked around the front line with a
stick; he had recently been wounded in the leg.
‘Comrade Major! Your order has been carried out; the Nazi
sniper has been eliminated!’ I joyfully reported to Battalion
Commander Morozov.
‘Well done. So, you did it in the end?’ he said, embracing me.
‘Thank you on behalf of the service. You can have two days’ leave.
You’ve earned it!’
‘I serve the Soviet Union!’ I replied loudly and cheerfully. ‘I’ve
been dealing to those vermin and will continue to do so day and
night and I will definitely be teaching our whole company how to
go about it!’
I remained undisturbed for exactly two days. Carefully tucked
up on something soft at the command post and covered with a fur
coat, I spent this time sleeping. Neither a squall of artillery fire
on our trenches that night nor the call of SergeantMajor Dudin,
‘Time to get up, Nikolaev. Dinner’s ready!’ were able to wake me.
For the first time, it seems, I was making up for all the sleep I had
lost while we had been on this sector.