Tag #149288 - Interview #78078 (leonid rozenfeld)

During my absence a bomb had hit the earth house of my platoon. My comrades perished. I was overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt, although it wasn't my fault. Our division was liberating Belarus at that time. After we returned our group was called to the army headquarters where we took a course of training. We were taught slogans to agitate against the war to convince fascists to drop their weapons and yield into captivity. German captives were teaching us. There were a few Jews in our group. They spoke Yiddish, which is close to German, and it was easier for them to learn and understand German. I still remember the slogans we shouted, 'Attention! Attention! German soldiers! Save your souls and go back to your families...! The Soviet troops crossed the Dnieper and liberated Dnepropetrovsk, Dneprodzerzhinsk, etc.' There was a ski battalion formed in our unit. I was good at skiing and was a member of this group. Other guys were mainly former partisans that were professional military. Before a battle we put on our camouflage cloaks. I sat in a trench on the very front shouting slogans in German. Then I went back to my unit to participate in action. I can't remember any fascists yielding into captivity in our area, but I think those slogans helped to break the morale spirit of our enemy.