Gleb F. Chistov

Military technician-commissary 2nd Rank, 70th automobile-sanitary platoon, 50th Rifle Corps, 7th Army

It all started with the fact that I did not do regular military service. I changed jobs from Pneumatic factory, where I was eligible for draft, to Metallic Stalin Plant. Now it is called just Leningrad Metallic Plant, but those days it was called Stalin Plant. They did not draft all people from that plant, as it was considered strategically important those days. I was attached to the territorial system - I think it was in 1937. I think I was attached to signal corps. We had a training session in Vyritsy in 1937 - exactly when the military top brass (Tukhachevski and others) were executed, We were summoned to a meeting dedicated to this event - such were the times. After that I was sent to Peter and Paul Fortress in Leningrad, there was some unit or some staff there, I reported to Captain Tronenkov. He invited some 10 of us civilians and said that we would come to his office and do some job that he would give to us. I went there seven times or so and then it was over. I entered Leningrad University, department of history, but only managed to study there for 20 days and got an official notification from the army. It was in 1939. What could I do? I ended up in Peter and Paul Fortress again. First I had civilian clothes and later was issued military uniforms.

So, our detached 70th automobile-sanitary battalion was stationed in the Peter and Paul Fortress. We had 25 1.5 ton trucks and some 70 men. I was the chief clerk of the platoon. I did not have any rank at all, there was such a category those days - no rank. They told me - take 2 squares, you would be military technician commissary 2nd rank, equal to Lieutenant. OK, I did not object. We were sworn in also in the fortress. We were just stationed there, and then suddenly - hop! We were transferred to Karelian Isthmus. We arrived in Garbolovo, next to Gruzino railway station. Our fortified line was there. Once I was told to take some paper to a CP from Corps Staff. I arrived at the CP, and saw a barn with a gate - what kind of CP is that? There was also a sentry behind the gate. I looked inside and a saw a staircase going down into a concrete bunker, and a long corridor in the bunker. It was camouflaged by a barn. After that we were transferred to Lembolovo, it is also some place near Vaskelovo, there was a small garrison town with several barracks. That was the place where the 50th Rifle Corps was being formed. It was still before the beginning of the war. It was some time in September and October. Later I used to be on duty as deputy duty officer in staff of the corps, and we had a lot of reports from forward units at the border incoming. I would take those reports and decode them, but there were some other reports that I could not decode - their code was not described in my reference book. From Lembolovo we transferred to Bolshie Karkomyaki, and then the war broke out. There were conversations, that war was about to break out, as there were negotiations with Finnish minister, what's his name - Paasikivi. Germans captured Poland around that time. As our platoon was always with the Corps' staff, I saw all the top brass, all Colonels there. I heard them talking: "Well, Germans captured Poland in 15 days, we take Finland in 12 days." I do not remember the day of war's announcement. But I remember an argument of two military prosecutors: there was an incident when a stray soldier was caught in the rear, so they had an argument, that if it already war, then he would be executed, if not yet - he would just be court-martialed. I do not know what was the end of this incident.

The war started, we all had a high fighting spirit - we will show them! For the first time we traveled abroad - we had to find something out. It was just a road, nothing special. After that Terijoki was captured, Captain Ugryumov and his battalion became famous there. We moved on to Karelian Isthmus. We moved to Nyttila village, somewhere around Uusikirkko, some 25 kilometers north from Zelenogorsk (Terijoki). I remember a church there on a hill, a very high church. We were down the hill from the church, a bit further to the left. The Corps Staff was stationed in Boboshino. We stayed in Nyttila for just a couple of days - we were staying in a concrete basement, and then we moved to Boboshino, to the Corps Staff. There was such an incident - Corps Staff moved there, and suddenly Finns opened artillery fire. front-line was not far away, in just some 6 kilometers. And the Corps Staff moved back, to some small village. After that everything calmed down and the Staff went back to Boboshino the following day.

This is where we stopped. Which divisions were there? the 70th, the 123rd, the 100th. I ended up in the 100th division during the Great Patriotic War. There was some other division there as well, I do not remember its number. It arrived from Tula, so everyone was telling jokes that samovars from Tula arrived. We built a dugout for ourselves there, made a log roof and settled in there. There was an incident when our own bomber dropped bombs on us, on the artillery battalion which was next to us. The bomb was some 150 kilograms. Explosion shook us, but no one got hurt, it missed. So we stayed there till February 11. There were few wounded. We evacuated them. We were attached to the Medical Battalion of the 123rd Division, About the first offensive in December I remember some talks that the 123rd Division captured the "Hammer" (Saapas - Finnish name) grove, but it stopped and retreated during the night. When it tried to assault the grove the next day, it all came to nothing. They could do nothing with the Mannerheim Line, it was all blocked.

Corps commander was Fillip Danilovich Gorelenko - he had two or three diamonds on his collar tabs. Was he a komdiv or what? He was a big guy. I also remembered one thing - he went to all meetings and functions with a Special department officer, who was just a mere Major. They were even. Those days a Special department officer was a very important bird. I remember a case back in Leningrad, before our departure to Lembolovo. A 1.5 ton truck was standing there loaded and ready to go to Lembolovo. There was an argument between company commander and his Special department officer, who would go in that truck. Company commander said: "Look, I am company commander, it's my truck." The officer replied: "yeah, it is yours, but I am also here."I think as the result the special department officer got seat in that truck.

I remember how we were evacuating a wounded in our truck, the Medical battalion moved somewhere devil knows where. The wounded was screaming, the road was bad, damn it! I had to hold his hands. I also remember a case in the Medical battalion on the second day of the offensive, they brought a wounded young soldier. He was wounded in his lungs, and he did not have any papers with him - it was impossible to identify who he was and from which unit. So, a nurse told me: "Ask him, who he is." I walked up to him, but he was just wheezing, he was wounded in his chest, foam on his lips, almost unconscious. It was useless.

It was already back those days that a nurse in the 123rd Division was quite easy in her behavior, that it drew attention of superior officers. I heard some talks later that her behavior was absolutely inappropriate.

One day I was on my way to the Corps Staff - I just had to turn some paper in. I saw two guys walking in sheepskin coats. "How do we get to Corps Staff?" I brought them there, they came to the sentry and then to the Corps Commander. The day after I learnt, that it was Kirponos who arrived to replace kombrig Veschev, who was killed in action in the 24th Division.

Who else was there?Pavlov was there, in Spain he was a captain, and in he Finnish war he was appointed Chief of Tank and Automobile Department of Red Army. Actually, I heard a lot of curses at tanks in that war - roads were narrow, everything was covered with snow, it was impossible to turn from the road, and artillery could not follow the troops. When offensive started, tanks jammed all roads.

What else do I remember? I think it was in January when the Special Department officer, who was attached to our platoon, told me: "hey technician commissary,let's go visit the 100th Division,they are going to blow up a Finnish bunker there" OK, I did not object. So we went there. We went into CP bunker - it had a nice observation gunport - even with an elbow-rest. There were plenty of generals there, but actually those days they were still called kombrigs and komdivs. Lots of people in the bunker. The tank with a sled loaded with explosives was standing there ready. It drove across snow covered field in the middle of a clear and sunny day. It was damn quiet! The snow was untouched, nothing could be seen anywhere. Everyone was looking at the tank, when a Sergeant-Major in a horse-drawn sled appeared on the flank. He had thermos bottles in his sled. Everyone shouted to him: "Where are you driving?!"Apparently, he got lost and drove right at the Finnish defenses. He came back to our lines. The tank started to emit smoke - either its engine failed or something else happened, but anyway, the operation failed. I do not remember any antitank rock obstacles there - just a snow-covered plain with some trees on it.

Our platoon leader was Senior Lieutenant Anton Fomich Skripko, he vanished later on - he was transferred to the 70th Division, and he went missing in action there. He was originally infantry officer, and once told me: let's go to the front line. That was on February 10. We went to the firing position of 152 mm guns, three guns were placed on a hill. They fired three rounds. In a distance in front of us there was a steep hill, the shell hit is and hop! It ricocheted upwards. Apparently, it hit a concrete bunker, its wall. The second and the third shell were fired - result was just the same. Artillery men said: "OK, enough of it, let's get out of here." And suddenly a Finnish mortars hit us! There were no bushes to hide in, I ducked and waited, when and where splinter would hit me. Why the hell did I go there at all? But I was lucky. The same moment a soldier walked to the position from the forward trench, he was shivering. He reported to a Sergeant, who was leader of a mortar team: comrade Senior Sergeant, a direct hit in our mortar trench, two men are dead, mortar is destroyed, I was away in that moment and I am the only survivor and also..." The Senior Sergeant answered: "Who permitted you leaving your post? Go back immediately! Now!"

Our offensive started on February 11, and day before that I was sent to bring fuel from Kanneljarvi or even Terijoki? I do not remember. I loaded the truck with fuel, and the driver told me: "we should stay somewhere here overnight. Let's stay here." There was some village and an army unit stationed there. I said: "No, let's go, the offensive starts tomorrow."We moved on, and next to Uusikirkko a petrol tank truck hit us in the back! All our petrol tanks flew out of the truck, and the truck that hit us also flew off the road into a ditch. Damn! What could I do? I walked a bit forward, there were some soldiers there, I spoke to their superior, and asked for help. They pulled our truck out of the ditch, loaded petrol tanks on it, but the driver then said: "The truck cannot go. The back axle is bent." What cold I do? I told him: go to some village and stay there overnight, and I will go to our unit and report the situation." I hitchhiked a truck, which was loaded to its top with ammo boxes. The frost saw biting, some -30-35 degrees! I had a sheepskin coat and a hat on - but it was still too bloody cold! I even put a gas mask case on my head, but it was still cold. I got off the truck in Uusikirkko - the truck was going in a wrong direction. I warmed myself at a camping fire there and by the morning I was back in my unit. I reported the situation, and our technical officer said: "OK, here comes your vodka glass." I went to sleep right away in a sleeping bag. Then they took another truck, came back, loaded all fuel on the new truck and came back.

On February 12 the Chief Medic Officer of the Corps told me - "you, technician-commissary, will count the wounded that you evacuate." During the day of February 12 I counted 1200 wounded that our platoon evacuated to the medical battalion of the 123rd Rifle Division. I do not know who was counting the wounded after that, probably a clerk or someone. But I remembered this number 1200 wounded - very well. This is the number that we evacuated from morning till evening. It was a short journey, just some 6 kilometers to the rear.

Then breakthrough of Mannerheim Line started. We went to the front-line with Skripko, he told me: "let's see what's up at the front." We went there, entered a forest, some soldiers were walking in the forest. Someone was shooting from somewhere, bullets whistling all around, we could not see a bloody thing. Soldiers were just wandering around, I did not understand, what the hell was going on there. To be short, we did not make it to see any bunkers. Later on we just advanced together with the Corps Staff and entered Vyborg two days after it was captured. I remembered such a case, when we entered the city. We stopped on Savonkatu street, there was a park and a library on the left. Truck drivers naturally started to sneak around and brought a whole crate of prunes. Officers from Political department were there next to us: "Prunes might be poisoned! Don't eat them!" Our drivers looked at it and said: "Oh come on. We should try them." They tried prunes and it was fine. Officers from Political department learnt about this and told us: "now give us half of the crate!"

It was quite funny when the hostilities were over. They kind of announced over the radio that the war would be over at noon, and a driver from our platoon heard that the war was over and went to our politruk. Our politruk was a real hardcore communist, Ivan Alexandrovich Kondakov, who served as a Red commissar back in the days of Civil War. "Comrade politruk, I heard that the war is ov...." - "How dare you spread rumors?!" Then he realized himself that it was not just a rumor and went to check. He realized this because it grew very quiet - neither artillery fire, nor anything could be heard. We always asked our politruk: "Ivan Alexandrovich, when are you going to bath?" - "As soon as we enter Norvergia, I go to bath" He pronounced Norway in a funny way, saying not Norvegia, but Norvergia. He was a really hardcore Bolshevik, old guard. I visited him after the war, he took part in assault on Vyborg railway station in the second war. He went through a lot of things.

On that Savonkatu street we walked into a flat - it was a rich flat, apparently, an old Tsar's Army's general stayed there - we saw a greatcoat with red lining in the study. In the same study we saw luxurious edition of Shakespeare's works in wonderful leather book-cover, with a metallic lock on it. My companion said: "Well, I'll take it."I got a cheap edition of Goldswarsie there. I also remember a mansion of Finnish foreign minister Erkko - we took some nice vodka glasses of green crystal from his attic. We were getting 100 grams of vodka per day, and those glasses chimed gently.

After that our platoon was disbanded, everyone went home, except for me, as I was sent to the Corps Staff. I went there and said that I were a student and asked them to let me go. No way. I was appointed senior clerk of the 234th Engineer Battalion. The battalion was supposed to build bunkers on the new border. We built 9 bunkers, then General Dukhanov came for Revolution Day and ordered a couple more bunkers o be constructed. Vasilevski also visited, I saw him from a distance, then Kalinin came to hand out decorations for those who distinguished themselves in the war. There was almost an entire battalion-sized group of men who were supposed to receive decorations! Bloody hell! It was hot, he had to shake each person's hand and hand in decorations. It was really hot! How could he take it all? The ceremony was outdoors on one of Vyborg's squares, I do not remember, where exactly it was.

Interview by Bair Irincheev, 2002. This page belongs to Mannerheim Line page