military childhood
Velikiye Luki railway station in 1941.
Dedicated to the memory of my mother
Characters: Aron Abramovich Sundakov - my grandfather, worked on the railroad, supervised loading and unloading operations at the station. Malka Mendelevna Sundakova (née Averbukh) - my grandmother, a housewife. Anna Aronovna Sundakova - my older sister, 17 years old in June 1941. Matvey Aronovich Sundakov - my older brother, 14 years old in June 1941. Tsilya Aronovna Sundakova - my mother, 10 years old in June 1941.
People of war. The war came to Velikiye Luki a week after the war began, the station and the city were bombed. Grandfather was mobilized into the VOSO MPS service. Velikiye Luki was on a secondary front. Army Group North of the Wehrmacht was advancing on Pskov and Leningrad to the northwest, through the Baltics. Army Group Center was advancing to the south, on Vitebsk and Smolensk. In between, Wehrmacht units moved, securing the flanks. By early July, the Germans had captured Novosokolniki station, 30 km from Velikiye Luki. German troops entered the city of Nevel, where Grandfather's parents lived. The Nazis immediately arrested all the Jews, took them out of town and shot them. This was reported by refugees who managed to reach Velikiye Luki by roundabout routes.
During these days, the evacuation of enterprises from the city began, and my grandfather spent almost 24 hours at the station, ensuring the loading and dispatch of trains with equipment and people. Given the difficult situation, my grandfather decided not to wait for the station workers to be dispatched, but to send the family towards Toropets and then Ostashkov. For this, they hired a cart with a horse, loaded the most necessary things and set off on foot towards Toropets. Before this, the most valuable things (china set, silverware, etc.) were wrapped in burlap and buried in the garden. The porcelain suffered from nearby explosions. (A mine blew the veranda of the house to smithereens.) But the silver was preserved - three silver glasses from this set are in my cupboard in the kitchen. And from the silver spoon, my mother gave my wife a chain with a medallion made from it.
Grandma's father, Mendel Averbukh, grandma and three children set off on the road. The road was difficult, the weather was hot. Military units were moving towards the front. The vehicles were carrying ammunition. German planes periodically flew in, firing machine guns at military columns and refugees. When planes appeared, everyone rushed into the forest. As a result of such shelling, a chip appeared on the plywood cover of the Singer sewing machine that grandma had taken with her, gouged out by a bullet. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Destroyed depot of Bologoye station
A few days later we reached the city of Toropets. However, the trains with the evacuees passed for two days without stopping. At that time, battles with the Germans who had broken through were already underway in the city of Velikiye Luki. But the workers' extermination battalions and the approaching military units drove the Germans out of the city, and the front froze southwest of the city for almost a month. Grandfather, through a friend of the Toropets station chief, reported that a train with refugees would go towards Bologoye, which would stop in Toropets, and asked for help loading the family onto this train. With difficulty, we managed to load the carriage. For several days we traveled across the entire Kalinin region to the northeast. The train arrived in the Vologda region. The refugees were placed in villages around the station, but my mother did not remember its name. Grandmother wrote to Grandfather (to the number of the VOSO military unit) where they were.
Destroyed railway station Bologoye
At that time, my grandfather managed to get himself into court. He was evacuated with the last train from Velikiye Luki with his team. The train was caught in an air raid. The last few cars caught fire. While uncoupling them from the train, my grandfather lost his pistol. But, considering the situation, he got off easy. He was demoted. My grandfather's team was stationed at Bologoye station. And my grandmother and her family moved closer to my grandfather. They were stationed at Medvedevo station, which is a suburb of Bologoye. My grandfather's team accompanied military trains, ensuring the transfer of cargo to military units.
Mom and older brother went to school. Every morning they took a suburban train to Bologoye and returned to Medvedevo in the evening. Older sister Anna got a job as a typist at the headquarters of the railway battalion, which provided cover for Bologoye station. Grandmother, thanks to the fact that she took a sewing machine with her, sewed for the residents of Medvedevo station and neighboring villages in exchange for food. Sister Anna also helped with food from her ration. Grandfather also helped when he could, but he was constantly on the road.
The city of Velikiye Luki under bombing
Bologoye was subjected to air raids every day (or rather, every night). And although the station was covered by several anti-aircraft batteries and searchlight units, it was impossible to avoid destruction. Running to school, my mother saw broken carriages, destroyed buildings and dead soldiers and civilians whose bodies had not been removed in time. By winter, the station's air defense was strengthened. Unable to break through the barrage, German planes dropped bombs on neighboring settlements, railway tracks and engineering structures along the stretches. Medvedevo also got it. Until there was frost, people went into the forest at night. With the onset of winter and frost, the intensity of the raids dropped sharply. As it turned out after the war, the German aviation The equipment was not ready for such harsh conditions. Ensuring each sortie required incredible efforts.
Refugees
After the counteroffensive near Moscow, the intensity of the raids decreased even more, as the front line moved westward and enemy aircraft had to cover a greater distance to their target. In addition, the station began to be covered by several squadrons of fighters Defense. The kids ran to look at the downed German bombers, collected steel balls from anti-aircraft shells, and cartridges from aircraft machine guns. These were the souvenirs of that time. The school organized concerts for wounded soldiers, and helped nurses. Mom performed in a dance ensemble. By the way, after the war she performed in the same institute ensemble.
Line Bologoye-Polotsk
Velikiye Luki was liberated in February 1943, at the same time as Stalingrad. The battles for the city lasted almost a year. But the residents were allowed to return only in the summer of 1944, when the city was cleared of shells and mines. The corpses of the dead were removed. Grandfather's team was already working in Belarus. The railway battalion, where Sister Anna served, was redeployed in the same direction.
Returning to the city, the grandmother discovered that the house had survived the occupation. The windows were broken, the roofing was damaged, and a mine had destroyed the veranda. The remaining townspeople had cut down the garden for firewood. It took some effort to return to her house, as a city government official and a female partisan who had lost her leg in battles with the invaders were already living there. The official had to make room. There was no furniture, but German prisoners of war were already working in the city, rebuilding the city.
They knocked together trestle beds, tables and benches from the boards. They repaired the Russian stove on which they cooked food. The city was badly damaged. Mom told me that from our house, from the attic, you could see the old fortress beyond Lovat, 4 blocks away. Next to our house, the school where Mom studied and where I finished 8th grade was already being restored. By September, overhead power lines were laid. However, the nearest working water pump was 2 blocks away from the house (probably 700 meters). Mom went to get water every day with a yoke and two buckets. A pump next to the house appeared only a year and a half later.
Anti-aircraft car with 76,2mm anti-aircraft train mount
With the onset of winter, there were problems with firewood. The amount allocated by the city authorities was not enough, so Babushkin's father went to the construction sites every day, collecting scraps and chips. In addition, in the winter, German prisoners of war who were building houses on our street came to the house, asking to warm up and drink boiling water. They brought scraps of boards with them.
Grandfather ended the war in Poland on the border with Germany. Sister Anna took part in the operation to storm Koenigsberg with a railway battalion.
He-111-H6 - these were the ones that took part in the raids
After demobilization, my grandfather collected all sorts of military goods from the area and filled it in. He put two benches there. There was no grass there at all. He made a new porch instead of the broken veranda. He planted two lilac bushes and put a table and a bench made of boards by the wall, and my grandmother made a flower bed. He brought apple, plum and cherry seedlings from Novgorod. He planted gooseberries, red and black currants and raspberries in the garden. He replanted the vegetable garden. True, the garden became one and a half times smaller than before the war. Buried valuables were also found. The roof and windows were repaired. The board sheathing of the house was restored and painted anew. But the house that had survived the shock of war was not the same: in severe frosts the corners froze, there were cracks in the floor, and it was not always possible to seal them. In the spring, water accumulated in the basement, and in the summer I carried it to water the garden.
After finishing school with excellent grades, my mother entered the Leningrad Chemical-Technological Institute. Which she successfully graduated from. But that's another story story.
Drawings by the author
The photographs are taken from the Internet and are freely available.
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