“Don’t spare the soldiers, the women are still giving birth!”
Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov and General D. Eisenhower in Leningrad. Eisenhowr's visit to Moscow and Leningrad occurred in mid-August 1945 after a personal invitation from Zhukov
Black myth
“Do not spare the soldiers! Women are still giving birth!” Before the revolution, the phrase sounded a little different: “Take care of your horses, women give birth to soldiers.” It was attributed to a number of Russian statesmen stories: Tsar Peter I, Menshikov, Apraksin, Catherine II, Marshal Voroshilov and Stalin himself.
Obviously, the founder of this famous phrase already in the post-Soviet era, when the Soviet era was abundantly thrown with mud and denigrated in every possible way, was journalist Maxim Sokolov. In 1996, in the Kommersant newspaper, he, likening Marshal Zhukov to Napoleon, wrote: “... the problem of saving his soldiers was rejected by him in principle - “the war will write off everything,” as well as “women will give birth to new ones.”
Following Sokolov, other whistleblowers began to follow. They mentioned American General Dwight Eisenhower as a source. In particular, director Eduard Volodarsky in an interview with the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper said: “General Eisenhower writes in his memoirs how he saw a huge field near Potsdam, covered with the corpses of Russian soldiers. Following Zhukov's orders, they stormed the city head-on under dagger fire from the Germans. The sight of this field amazed Eisenhower. He felt uneasy, and he asked Zhukov: “Why the hell did this Potsdam surrender to you?” And Zhukov replied: “Nothing. Russian women are still giving birth!”
Another prominent popularizer of the famous phrase allegedly from Zhukov was the writer Mikhail Weller. So, in 2001, his story “Tribunal” was published in the magazine “Ogonyok”, where the author, on behalf of two marshals, speaks cynical words:
“Budyonny was covered with small beads and scratched with a feather. Gorky cleared his throat loudly into his handkerchief, blew his nose and wiped away his tears: darling, don’t you feel sorry for the soldiers who were killed in vain? Writhing on the ice with a buckshot bullet in your stomach is not comme il faut... in the sense of not comfort. Worse than a noose. But all the Russian people, yesterday’s peasants... you deceived them, they trusted you. And we, nobles, only value our belly.
Budyonny was glad to have the opportunity to break away from the letter. And the soldiery, cannon fodder, gray cattle - it doesn’t matter to us... the smoke doesn’t move.
Zhukov waved his hand: Soldier, women will give birth to new ones for you. Russia is great. I would put it to work - it wouldn’t be a pity. The operation was unsuccessful. Criminal!”
Budyonny was glad to have the opportunity to break away from the letter. And the soldiery, cannon fodder, gray cattle - it doesn’t matter to us... the smoke doesn’t move.
Zhukov waved his hand: Soldier, women will give birth to new ones for you. Russia is great. I would put it to work - it wouldn’t be a pity. The operation was unsuccessful. Criminal!”
True, contrary to the assertions of the director and other publicists, there is actually nothing of the kind in Eisenhower’s memoirs. There is no such information in other sources.
Origins of the myth
Soviet and Russian writer Dmitry Volkogonov, who worked a lot in the field of denigrating the USSR, in his work “Triumph and Tragedy” put this phrase to Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin.
Russian writer Andrei Burovsky, in his book “The Russia That Wasn’t-2,” attributes this catchphrase to Field Marshal Boris Sheremetev during a conversation with Tsar Peter after the heavy defeat of the Russian army during the siege of Narva (Narva disaster of the Russian army).
“1703, storming of Narva. In front of each break in the wall there are piles of corpses - Peter's guards. Peter knew many people personally, and was friends with many. And Peter began to cry, looking at these still warm piles of the dead. Boris Petrovich Sheremetev came up from behind and put his hand on the Tsar’s shoulder. A fifty-year-old caressed a thirty-year-old. “Don’t cry, sir! What you! Women are giving birth to new ones!”
Burovsky himself referred to the Soviet film “Peter the Great” (1937–1938), where a phrase similar in meaning was put into Sheremetev’s mouth: “God is merciful. There will be enough people."
Opinions were also expressed that these words were said to Peter I by Alexander Menshikov after the battle with the Swedes, or by Tsar Peter Alekseevich himself before the Battle of Poltava. In the Russian film “Midshipmen-III” (1992), during the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf, Field Marshal S. F. Apraksin says: “Horses are worth money, but we’ll recruit new peasants.”.
In fact, this phrase came to Russia, apparently from Western Europe.
According to one version, the expression was born as a semantic tracing from the famous remark of the French commander, Prince of Condé (the phrase is also attributed to other French commanders). It is believed that de Conde uttered these words on August 11, 1674, looking at the battlefield of Senef strewn with corpses. De Conde's biographer Joseph Desormeaux gives the following version:
“One night in Paris (will) make up for (fix) it all.”
(“Okay, okay, it’s just one night in Paris”). That is, in one night in Paris such a number of future soldiers will be conceived that will compensate for the losses of the army.
This expression became famous in Russia thanks to Nikolai Kurganov’s Russian grammar textbook, which was a bestseller of its time and was published 11 times from 1769 to 1837. In it, the statement is attributed to de Condé's comrade-in-arms, Marshal of Luxembourg:
“The Luxenburg Marshal was admonished by one of his friends not to launch an attack with the whole army. Ah, my lord! he said: this is the glory of our invincible Monarch. Do you know that tax-paying girls in Paris can do no less than that in one night?”
This is a distorted retelling of a passage from the tragicomedy "Marshal Luxembourg in the Bosom of Death" (1696), which is a satire on the French court and French politics of these times.
According to another version, the expression came from England.
There was a maritime proverb in Britain:
“The king has a lot!”
With these words, British senior officers saw off sinking warships that were lost during a naval battle. Thus, they strengthened the morale of their team, showing that Great Britain is the “mistress of the seas” and all losses will be made up.
Apparently, this expression was taken from here by the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who was the granddaughter of the British Queen Victoria and was raised in England. In a letter to her husband, Emperor Nicholas II, dated August 4 (17), 1916, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna writes: “The generals know that we still have many soldiers in Russia, and therefore they do not spare lives - but these were superbly trained troops and it was all in vain.”
This expression in this era has already become almost popular. Thus, in the memoirs of Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky) “The Path of My Life” it is noted:
“The winter of 1904–1905 was fierce. You read the newspapers and you are horrified. A new disaster... How many frostbitten soldiers! I visited hospitals. I remember in one town there was a hospital for mentally ill soldiers. A terrible picture... Some are dancing, some are muttering something. One soldier lies thoughtful, gloomy. The doctor tells me: “Maybe you can get him out of this state...” I ask the patient: “What are you missing?” - “The Japanese took my rifle.” - “We’ll get you another one.” Is it worth talking about this? So many people have died, and you are lamenting the rifle.” But the patient cannot be convinced. “Women give birth to as many children as they want, but there’s only one rifle,” he protested gloomily.”
The same words are found in folklorist Alexander Misyurev, who recorded the tavern conversations of Altai miners back in the pre-war 1930s:
“The management knows better. Gentlemen officers do not value our skins. The other day we set out to do the roof support, and the foreman yelled:
“So and so, dig for ore, don’t care if it collapses, there’s a lot of your brother, women are still giving birth, but there’s not enough ore!”
“So and so, dig for ore, don’t care if it collapses, there’s a lot of your brother, women are still giving birth, but there’s not enough ore!”
Thus, the saying “women give birth to new ones” circulated throughout Russia long before Zhukov or Budyonny. Zhukov was made an author at the suggestion of journalist Maxim Sokolov, and then it was popularized by Mikhail Weller, Alexander Bushkov and a number of other writers.
Then it was popular to denigrate the history of the Soviet Union in general and the Great Patriotic War in particular. The bloody tyrant Stalin, they were filled with corpses, one rifle for three, all German women were raped, tens of millions were shot and tortured in the Gulag, the slave Soviet people, they only made galoshes, etc., etc.
Film "Peter the Great"
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