Volodya, sunk into the water
Not all Germans know the Russian saying "how to sink into the water." But even if those phrases who occupied the village of Volovchik of the Lipetsk region that day were aware of this phrase, they would hardly have begun to look for a cheeky boy in the well. It is autumn in the yard, the water in the well is icy. The walls are narrow, rather you break the bones than you get out. In a word, the common German sense prompted the fascists that a teenager who had defiantly stolen an automaton from under his nose was hiding in some kind of hut or shed. And they searched the houses, looked under the beds, searched in the attics and cellars.And Volodya Shcheglov just sunk into the water - hung on a well crane. The boy's calculation was simple: battles are taking place on the Kursk Douga, the village of Volovchik changed hands many times a week. So, the forces of the armies are still approximately equal. And therefore, ours are about to go on the offensive and liberate their native village, and then Volodya too.
And the boy firmly squeezed the neck of an old well crane, as if it was a firebird.
The boy understood everything correctly: our troops did indeed release Volovchik that very day. The error came out only in one: no one guessed to look into the well. And Volodka was hanging on a crane of his last strength. My hands were numb, my body was stiff, my head was buzzing, I was terribly hungry, but I was afraid to shout at the boy. So it hung up until late at night, until the mother found her almost unfeeling son.
Volodya miraculously stayed healthy. I spent the night at home, and in the morning, barely awake, the first thing I grabbed with such difficulty was a machine gun. Critically inspected - acting? Weapon It turned out to be in perfect order, so it was not a shame to go into the army. And no matter how inconsolable the mother persuaded him to stay, the boy ran off to our fighters, who had not yet had time to go far. True, the boy was very afraid that they would not take him because of his young age. Hoping for tall, I assigned myself two years.
They believed him and accepted him. So Volodya Scheglov became the named son of the regiment as part of the famous cavalry division of Major-General Lev Mikhailovich Dovator. By that time, this division had already become famous for its desperate courage in the battle of Moscow, good rumor and respect followed her everywhere. Lev Mikhailovich himself died heroically in 1941, and now the cavalrymen cherished the memory of their commander.
Volodya from early childhood dreamed of becoming a telephone operator and asked to teach him this business. The boy turned out to be extremely capable: he quickly figured out the equipment, was not afraid, it seemed, nothing in the world. He received and transmitted messages in all conditions, during the most brutal battles. And he never made a mistake.
Until the end of the war, the son of the regiment did not part with his named fathers. With them he freed Warsaw, crossed the Oder and reached Berlin. And the news of our victory was heard on the phone, as it should be in his specialty.
On that great day, the cook prepared an unprecedented festive dish - omelette.
Vladimir Yakovlevich Shcheglov, who was awarded the Order of the Red Star and many medals for courage, returned to his native Volovchik only a few years after the Victory: he served for three more years in Warsaw. And although the former fellow soldiers invited him to different cities to settle there, the young man firmly decided to serve his village, where his mother, sisters and grandmother lived. The times were difficult, the collective farm desperately lacked male hands - only one fourth of the men returned home to Volovchik. But Vladimir Yakovlevich was not afraid of any work. In less than a working day, a hectare of rye was mowed with an oblique hook!It would seem that the natural intelligence, intelligence, energy themselves indicated the path to the institute. However, the young man chose the profession of a carpenter and did not part with it 55 years. In Volovchik, almost all the houses and buildings owe their birth to Vladimir Yakovlevich, who for many years headed the rural construction team.
One could argue: did all the houses were built by the same brigade? Of course not. But the villagers respected the former son of the regiment immensely and greatly appreciated his advice. And they also knew that Vladimir Yakovlevich would not spare himself for the sake of others. In the Volovskiy Krai still talk history about how once in winter two boys played on a frozen pond and fell through the ice. They did not even have time to shout, immediately went under the water. But by some miracle, Vladimir Yakovlevich noticed them from the window. As he was - in a shirt, he jumped out of the house, ran almost a kilometer, immediately dived for the guys. He pulled both, and then he was very sick.
He lived a long life. While he could, every year on the eve of Victory Day he traveled to Moscow, met with the "fathers". Only forces remained less. Old age slowly took its own, but Vladimir Yakovlevich did not grieve. He knew that he had done everything he dreamed of. And until the last day he loved an omelet.
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