Tag #151386 - Interview #78122 (Simon Gonopolskiy)

When the threat of occupation became very definite people began to erect barricades. We, boys, also took part in it. Authorities began to give people clothes from storage facilities. My mother and I received a military uniform overcoat and boots. I remember a Cossack equestrian unit arriving at Sobornaya Square: an old man and a bunch of his relatives with weapons. They had very patriotic spirits, but there wasn't much they could contribute to the struggle: many of them perished fighting on their horses against tanks. People had high patriotic spirits: 17-year-old boys volunteered to the front. There weren't enough weapons and most often their first combat action ended in hospital at best. There was a military hospital in the town. We, boys, ran there to look at wounded patients.