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In 1942 I joined the Communist Party. This was my deliberate decision and nobody talked me into it. I submitted my request for admission and obtained recommendations from my commandment. The term of candidateship to the Party at the front was formal: three to four months [in comparison to the standard one year]. If a person was killed during his candidateship term he was admitted to the Party posthumously and his family received his Party membership card.
My communications platoon was in an artillery division. During our retreat to the east this division incurred many casualties and some time later another artillery regiment arrived at our positions with weapons, staff and ammunition. By that time my term for the lieutenant rank was over. After six months there was to be a promotion. I was promoted to senior lieutenant. A senior lieutenant cannot be the commander of a platoon. When this artillery regiment arrived I was appointed chief of communications of an artillery division. There were communications operators, several cannon guns and their maintenance personnel under my command. Starting in 1942 we were marching on Russian territory. I cannot remember the names of any of the settlements that we passed.
There were Jews at the front. There was an assistant commander of a platoon, a Jew, whose last name was Grach, but I don't remember his first name. Later he was wounded and never returned to us. There were frequent losses in our platoon: wounded, killed, wounded, killed.
My communications platoon was in an artillery division. During our retreat to the east this division incurred many casualties and some time later another artillery regiment arrived at our positions with weapons, staff and ammunition. By that time my term for the lieutenant rank was over. After six months there was to be a promotion. I was promoted to senior lieutenant. A senior lieutenant cannot be the commander of a platoon. When this artillery regiment arrived I was appointed chief of communications of an artillery division. There were communications operators, several cannon guns and their maintenance personnel under my command. Starting in 1942 we were marching on Russian territory. I cannot remember the names of any of the settlements that we passed.
There were Jews at the front. There was an assistant commander of a platoon, a Jew, whose last name was Grach, but I don't remember his first name. Later he was wounded and never returned to us. There were frequent losses in our platoon: wounded, killed, wounded, killed.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
yakov voloshyn