Dmitri A. Krutskih

Lieutenant, Engineer platoon leader, 16th Independent Engineer Battalion, 54th Rifle Division

Lt. Dmitri A. Krutskih, 1940. From Dmitri A. Krutskih personal archive

I was born on November 7, 1920 in a peasant family, which lived in Voronezh area, now called Lipetsk area. My father, originally an NCO in the Tsar's Army, was commander of mounted reconnaissance unit of the 14th Infantry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army during the Civil War. However, his being an NCO in the Tsar's Army still had a great effect on his life and my life as well. In 1931 I completed the 4th grade of elementary school. In May of the same year my father was arrested and convicted of, as they said those days, "ahvitser" tendencies. Two years later he was released. I stayed in an orphanage until 1934. 1934 saw a major expansion of schools and I was sent to the 10 year factory worker school. One year later I entered in the newly opened Communistic Political Education College, which was just across the street from our 10 year school. They were training us to be commissars, political workers. There I became Komsomol (Communistic Lenin's Youth Union) union candidate - people coming from peasant families could not straight away get into the Union, they had one year of probation period.

1937 was the year when a slogan "Country needs 300'000 pilots!" was cast.

Local Komsomol committee decided to send several students, including me, to Leningrad Lenin's Komsomol Pilot school They did not accept me there. I tried to enter another school, but they did not accept me anywhere. Everywhere they would answer: "enrollment for this year is completed." As I can understand now, there was some small stamp on my papers, to which I did not pay attention those days. This was a stamp which mentioned my family background. The situation was desperate: I did not have money, I slept on Mars Field and in the Summer Garden in a small warehouse that I accidentally found. All of a sudden, a Colonel in one of Leningrad's military schools, proposed me coming to MIkhailovski Castle one day later. So I came. I was received by Colonel Zlatogorski, and after an interview I was enrolled in Zhdanov Military Engineer School. Level of teaching was very good. In the school I became candidate for membership in the Communist Party and was appointed acting platoon leader.

I should say that period from 1937 to 1939 was a period of persecution of the officer corps an outrageous extermination of officers was taking place. The whole academy did not have a single officer! We, men with very little experience, almost ignorant, were appointed commanders! So, I graduated from the school. We had our last, solemn ceremonial session and in the morning we had a working meeting. So we came. I was sitting in the second row. Military Technician 2nd Rank came out and started to talk about new weapons. There were two large canvas shelters on the table in front of him. He was talking about airplanes, tanks and something else that we had in the Red Army. In the end he said: "And also we have this..." and he pulled out an SVT rifle. He said the rifle was like this and like that. Turned it around and put it back in the shelter. Then he got a PPD submachine gun out of the second shelter. He showed it to us, talked about it and put it back inside. That was the end of our introduction to new weapons.

We were promoted to Lieutenants, and I was sent to the office of engineer platoon leader to Rybachi peninsula. We, Communist Party candidates, were just 8 out of 200 graduates, and they promised to us to send us all to the Far East. It was very fashionable and cool those days! Khasan and Khalhin-Gol battles had just taken place! But those seven guys went without me. I was very upset then. That time I did not understand that it was because of my father's arrest. However, due to efforts of my battalion commander, who introduced me to Head of the school Vorobiev, they changed my destination and I went to Kandalaksha. It was a town, at least. I arrived in Kandalaksha on September 9, 1939 and was immediately appointed platoon leader in the 16th Independent engineer Battalion of the 54th Rifle Division. The situation in the area was already quite tense. Of course, I did not understand it those days, but people were talking about war those days. Military training commenced. I was a ski "star" - I could ski very well.

On November 5 we turned in all our belongings at a warehouse and with official reason of going to a field training we sent south on a train. Instead of field training we arrived at Kochkana station, which is near Belomorsk. We marched on skies towards the border at Reboly. We skied some 40 kilometers. During the march we trained deployment, patrols and reconnaissance. Then trucks came and we went to Reboly. We were waiting for the war's start there. We were introduced to the Border guards. They gave us lectures, we had conversations, they would tell us about the terrain and other specifics of the theater of operations. We did not know either Finnish weapons, or Finnish mines, we had never seen a Finnish uniform before. In my understanding, as well as in understanding of many others, was a huge wooden fence up to the sky. Old hands in my platoon taught me a lot: these were Andrey Khluschin, Pavel Rachev, Melnikov, Remshu, Mikkonen. They were around 40-45 years old. They would call me sonny. Some two days before the offensive an order came to form a ski task force for patrol and reconnaissance. I picked up 42 men for the mission, who could ski. These were mostly Karels, Finns, Veps and Siberian hunters. I was appointed the commander o this small unit and fought entire Finnish war in this position.

So, when in reality at 6:00 on November 30 we arrived at the border in vicinity of Border sign No. 66, I asked the Border guards, who took us to Hiliki 1 (a village): Where is the fence? - There is no fence - just a path, this is it...It was easy to capture the first Hiliki village. We moved forward. We captured the second Hiliki village. When we were capturing the third Hiliki village, we surrounded Finnish forces and blew them to pieces! In that battle I was kneeling at a tree and shooting, when a fragmentation bullet hit my budyonnovka hat. The bullet pulled me so strongly, that I fell down. I was lying there and thinking: "How can it be? I am lying here and my men can see it?!" Those days it was considered that a commander should only be in front of his troops, shouting: "Forward! Hurrah!" and so on. We were advancing further with battles, and I would say that we could go to Kuhmoniemi (Kuhmo), but we received an order to assume defense. This is how we were encircled. The division was in two cauldrons: the 337th Rifle Regiment and our 16th Independent Engineer Battalion was the first cauldron. The second ring was the two rifle regiment, artillery regiment, tank battalion, scout battalion and the division's HQ were in 9 kilometers from us. The 5th Border guard Regiment covered the gap between our two strongpoints.

However, during the battles, one of these strongpoints was destroyed by the Finns. We advanced to the front line. We had to build defenses so that it would not be exposed to at least their machine gun fire. I was a young Lieutenant and did not understand this, but my battalion commander Kurkin was very experienced. As he said: "heavy MG firing from there and from there, I don't want them to be able to do that." We deployed our companies and made spaces between them larger. We dug three rows of trenches. We covered them with tree trunks in three rows. We also made dugouts and covered them with three layers of logs. We planted mines and built barbed wire fences. We had two 4MG antiaircraft trucks. Finns did not have air force - during the whole war we only saw their planes three times above us. Those 4MG trucks were set in the trenches at the open spots. They would f***ing cut down their infantry! After several frontal attacks Finns stopped walking on open spots and only walked in the forests. We set up coordination with the 337th Rifle Regiment under Major Churilov. In general, we built quite good defense system! This is why we managed to withstand and survive. Our great plus was coordination with the Border guards, who knew both terrain and Finns quite well. Colonel Dolin's Ski Brigade was deployed very well - they were holding the road, evacuating the wounded and bringing more ammo. However, none of them reached us. Air Force would drop food and ammo. Just one time a small convoy of four trucks with food and two regiment cannons broke through to us. Battles were very complicated and heavy. Infantry did not have skis. Troops could only advance along the roads. Upto mid-January fighting was a torture! We had to learn everything in combat. Learning by doing in combat means suffering casualties. I have to say that experience cost us a lot of blood. I lost almost all men from my task force. I had just Murzich, Mikkonen, Remshu, Khluchin, Peleh, Diki and one more guy from the old hands. I had 18 men killed in action from the original 42 men of my first task force.

We did not know Finnish mines at all - we would find something and then study it before the sapper blew up, or, if he was lucky, he survived. Finns used English anti-personnel mines, and they later manufactured those themselves. Besides that, they booby-trapped obstacles and barricades. They would also plant mines in areas in front of dense barbed wire obstacles, planting mines directly in the snow. They also used makeshift mines from hand greandes. Mines were very densely planted. They would also booby-trap doors in villages, so our scouts were first often killed by those. But from January we had learnt to fight. We created the second ski force in our battalion in late January. We started to sence the mines. You look at the field, and snow seems to be even, but you look closer - there are small hills. You inspect the terrain through binoculars, and then send a scout party. They come back and say that there are indeed mines.

A. D. Did you have to go on scout missions often?

we did that every night. The first task was to capture a prisoner. The problem was that Finns evacuated civilian population from the area. During the whole period we only once encountered resistance in a village - a man and a young girl opened rifle fire on us. We surrounded the house and with use of translator offered them to surrender, otherwise we would burn the house. They surrendered. We brought them to our unit. As they told me, the girl was member of Lotta union and was executed. IN a village we walked into a house and saw Lenin's portrait on the wall. Well, we thought, it must be a communist living here. Later they explained to me that Finns respected Lenin for granting Finland independence - I did not know itthen. We went into the cellar. It was full of meat, preserves and vegetables. Actually, in all Finnish houses cellars were full of food, but we were prohibited to take anything. I could probably take some potatoes, but even this was forbdden. OUr food ration was, in turn, a piece of dried bread for 4 men and a piece of horse-flesh for 24 hours. We did not wash for four months! At our cauldron there was no water. Just one small brook in no-man's land, where both we and Finns would take water in night time. But when the political officers learnt about this, we started to shoot at each other at that brook. We had to melt and boil snow, but apparently it was a bad water from it, as we started having diarreas and cramps in our stomachs. We had plenty of body louses. We would shake our clothes above red-hot stoves. Later they airdropped clothes, saturated with K soap. We washed ourselves somehow and put on those clothes, but it stang our bodies like hell. Later we had to wash those clothes again to get rid of that soap.

А. D. Did you have to ski a lot?

We skied a lot. I think I travelled at least 300 kilometers on skis during the Finnish war. This is my most modest estimate. When Finns destoyed the 44th Rifle Division, part of their troops tried to break out in our direction, towards the 337th Rifle Regiment. I was sent to meet them. When I arrived there, I only met individual men, the rest were cut off and killed.

But compare, for example, our skis with Finnish skis. We did not have the boots with sticking up noses, we had to tie skis up to our boots. One had to tie and untie the skis all the time. It was very uncomfortable. When they airdrpped valenki felt boots to us, we attached semi-spheres to noses of the valenki boots and thus had the same advantage as Finns.

A.D. What was your uniform?

Our uniform was a greatcoat, budennovka winter hat and longboots. WE were so heavily loaded! Bagpack, revolver, rifle, gasmask. Why on earth did we need all that? Frosts were horrible! Both us and Finns openly set up fires - we were all freezing. We only received white camouflage suit and valenki felt boots when the division was already surrounded at Kuhmoniemi. Air force also dropped us warm clothes - black sheepskin coats for the officers. How can one assault in the snow in such a coat? Espacially given the fact that the battalion commander was ahead, then the comnamy commanders in some 25 meters and then platoon leaders and then the attacking line. Of course Finns fired on the officers!

- A.D. What is your opinion about the Finnish soldiers?

Finns were great soldiers, and during the Great Patriotic War they fought better than the Germans. I see several reasons for this. The first one is that they knew the area and were prepared for the climatic conditions of this theater of war. This also resulted in small details in camouflage, tactics, scouting activities, which in the end bore their fruit. Markmanshiop training was excellent. They were enduring and stoic in combat. But I noticed that when they attacked us, they would confidently close up with us to 100-150 meters and then all lie down. Finns are more talkative than even Germans. Finnish artillery was weak, but their mortars worked very well.

A.D. Were you wounded?

I was wounded twice during the Finnish war. The first wound was heavy. A shrapnel from a shell that went off in tree branches, hit my left side. Although we were short of medication, we had a wonderful doctor, Captain Sitnikov, who saved of many of ou men. I spent some 11 days lying in a dugout and then again started to go out on scout missions. I was also lightly wounded again. It happened like this. We had a gfence built across a clearing in the forest to defend us from sniper fire. Finnish mortars were firing. I had to make it to the combat outpost and see how we could go into the Finnish rare. So I went there with two men. Then a mortar fire started, and I was wounded in my left hand by a splinter.

A.D.What were your relationships with your superiors and subordinates?

I had friendship with my subordinates. People were from different ethnic backgrounds, and lived as a happy and tight group. There were no quarrels or fights. My men took good care of me. We couls always see each other. Any offences from the commander's side would result in his death in the very first action. I have no doubts in this. Speaking about relations with the superior officers, we all liked our battalion commander. After all, he was the one who was in front of us in assaults with his chief of staff and commissar. I also reprted to Division commander Gusevski, Division's Chief of Staff Orlyanski and Chief of Intelligence section NIkiforovich. They would always attentively listen to me and would never interrupt me. In general, I believe that Gusevski was a talented general. Once I had to report to Mekhlis, who visited the Division's HQ in SAunojarvi, where he stayed for a day. Mekhlis made a very bad impression on me. He was very rude and threatened to execute me if I did not bring a prisoner to him the next morning. We were their behind Finnish lines crawling in the snow the whole night - but no one came out of the bunkers. When I came back to report to Gusevski, I said: "now he will execute me." Gusevski cheered me up: "It is OK, tomorrow you go back tehre and you will get a prisoner. But do not report to him, don't take the risk." He reported to Mekhlis and Mekhlis never called on me later.

A.D. What were your personal weapons?

I had a rifle and a revolver.

А.D. What can you say about Suomi submachine gun?

Once we were on a scout mission. A scout waved his hand. I walked up to him. "Commander, there is something glittering in the snow."

"Everyone, get out! Get me a long stick!" I ordered. So, I thought, if the thing exploded, it would only kill me. I touched the thing with the stick and realized that it was a drum case for Suomi. The submachine gun itself was not there. Battalion commander gathered technicians from the whole battalion, and they sat the whole night together with Captain Murashkin, deputy batalion commander, trying to understand, how the drum case was to be loaded. The Captain finally understood how it worked and taught us later. We captured a Suomi submachine gun during assault on the thrid Hiliki village. But we had the strictest order - don't take anything from the killed. We had to turn in everything! It was later, when we were in defence, that we started using them. I fired Suomi myself. It is a good submachine gun, but damn heavy. It was hanging on my neck like a log. In general, its main advantage was the psychological effect on the enemy.

А. D. You were strictly forbidden to take anything foreign?

Yes, one time I killed a Finnish captain under a barbed wire fence. Then we counterattacked. We came back to the fence and took off his whie snow suit, and he had a fox fur coat under it! So we took the fox fur coat off him. I saw that he had a Pavel Bure watch on his hand. None of us had watches back then. I brought the watch to battalion commander. The battalion commander shouted and cursed at me:

"Why the hell did you bring this?! Now the special department would arrive and start to interrogate you. Who will I send on reconnaissance mission then? Take all those things away!"

"But they already started cutting the fur coat," - I said.

"Why?"

"Soldiers are plannig to make warm socks out of it."

"Well, OK, let them do it."I gave this watch as a gift to a sniper. He brought it home, but NKVD took it away from him at Kem train station. We were prohibited to use anything foreign. For example, Finns had excellent compasses with spirit filling. Our compasses were quite unstable, the hand was rotating all the time. With their compass a hand was quite stable. Their entire compass was shining in the night, while we only had a shining dot on the point of the hand. Finns had small snow boats, where one could put a machine gun, some ammo or wounded. It was light, with thin metal plating on the bottom. It would slide on snow just like on water! There were two ropes from the boat - a short and a long one, so that two men could pull it. We did not have such boats. If a soldier were wounded on a reconnaissance mission (I had such cases), how would we be able to carry him cross-country for 20-30 kilometers in snow?! It is impossible! We would carry him for 100 meters and we could barely breathe. Of course we made some sort of a stretcher. But try to carry a wounded on it! When we captured the Finnish snow boats, they did not allow us to use them. We started to produce such things later ourselves from empty ammo boxes, but our ones were of triangle shape, with sides.

А. D. Did Finns have cuckoo snipers on trees?

Yes they had cuckoo snipers. Do not believe when they say that thery were non-existent, it would be the same if one says that we all had submachine guns. I personally shot down a cuckoo from 600 meters distance. It is a lie when they say that these were scouts, not snipers. They were our trouble. We also had snipers - Pochev, Maksimov, Pelekh.

А. D. Did you have mortars?

We did not have morters. I saw only 50mm mortars in the rifle regiment. I believe that it is a useles weapon in a forest.

When the armistice came on March 13, an order came not to open fire from 1200. We were allowed only to fire if Finns attacked. They sent deputy battalion commander Vozneseknski for negotiations with Finns. We had to dress him up, but in what? All our uniforms were worn out, torn and burnt! All men from battalion gave him some uniforms. We barely managed to dress him a bit nicer. There were three meetings with Finns, I was present at the second meeting. We did not take weapons to those negotiations, but I had a Nagant revolver in my underarm. We were three, and three Finns went out to meet us. They walked with small white flags. One of the Finns was holding something with both hands. It was scary. So, we stopped. The distance between us was some 5 meters. We started a conversation through translator. Our guys announced that a peace treaty had been signed, the war was over and it was a big joy, as we won the war. My companions also said that there should be no more provocations or fire. We would play harmonica, sing song and lit up fires. The Finns also repeated that our governments signed an armistice and that there should be no provocations. At the end of the conversation they said: "We would ask you to try our refreshments" They took some kind of veil from the tray that one of them was holding, and we saw that there were some fish slices, meat, some pickled cucumbers and a canteen that had a berry liquor in it. I did not drink, but Voznesenski had a shot of it together with the Finns. I was not present on the third and the first meetings, but I do know that they were exchanging bagpacks there. We sent them some canned food, buiscuits "Military campaign" and vodka. When we were leaving, we were ordered to blow up all our defences and fill trenches with soil. Finns were ordered to withdraw 100 meters from the road. We were singing songs, playing harmonicas. The Finns were playing mouth-organs. I saw them both waving their hands at us and shaking fists at us, so we replied in the same manner. Due to the fact that we were surrounded, I did not receive any decoration for the Finnish war. I only received the Excellent Red Army Man badge. However, it was very valuable. What can I say about the Finnish war? It was a political failure and a military defeat. The Finnish war left a very heavy impression. We have seen enough misery. Our losses were very high - they cannot at all be compared with Finnish losses. Our dead comrades remained buried in foreign soil.

Interview by Artem Drabkin, translation by Bair Irincheev. Published with permission of I remember site