Veteran Natalya Evstratovskaya: We won the victory at a high price, save the truth about it
On the threshold of her rich and wise 94 years, World War II veteran Natalya Evstratovskaya always tries to look her best - one hundred percent irresistible and charming. A snow-white blouse, a jacket with awards, silvered hair neatly gathered under a scarf, mother-of-pearl beads and earrings shimmering in the sun - the hostess of a cozy house on Oktyabrskaya Street in Ozarichi, Kalinkovichi District, greets guests at the doorstep with a smart and kind smile. She shared her story about life in the war, anxieties after her release and troubles in peacetime with a BelTA correspondent.
Natalya Ilyinichna comes from the village of Karpovichi, Ostashkovichi Village Council. When the war began, the girl was 14. Despite such a tender age, she firmly decided: she would help in any way she could.
“After Levitan announced the terrible news, all the people were frightened, confused. But the announcer’s voice, these terrible words pierced the soul so much that all thoughts were only about one thing: what can I do, what can I do, how can I help?” - the veteran recalls the experiences of those days.
“All our people were ready to fight for their country, for their land, for their home. The guys went to the military enlistment office and added age to themselves just to go to the front,” she emphasizes with pride in her generation.
Very young Natalya began to help the Domanovichi partisan detachment "Avenger" - she was a liaison. She collected and transmitted valuable information from different villages, the distance between which is tens of kilometers.
“In Ozarichi, we had an underground worker Xenia, in Rakov - Adaria. I kept in touch between them. For example, the Ozarichi underground worker gives the task: tell the partisans that on such and such a day the Germans will travel, gather young people, they want to take them to Germany. I'm going to Rakov to report this," the heroine describes the line of communication built up.
The girl also had to transfer various items, medicines to the partisan "Avenger": "Mittens, felt boots, SALT - all this and much more was needed by the detachment. For larger items and things, they dug a hole in the agreed place, disguised it with branches and left the necessary there."
The detachment also fought on the information front. “The Germans literally bombarded us with leaflets. They wrote: surrender, hand over partisans, communists. They promised a reward for this. They said that it was useless to resist. Like, Moscow is already busy. People were in great despair,” says Natalya Ilyinichna.
There was a guy Ivan in the detachment, who managed to graduate from the communications school before the war. “So he made a speaker, and we could listen to what was really happening. Through one of the underground workers, we managed to pass a typewriter on which leaflets were printed - a refutation of German information. That Moscow was not busy, that our troops were liberating settlements," the veteran explains the peculiarities of wartime counter-propaganda.
"I was instructed to take these leaflets to three villages to trusted people, who then conveyed this information to fellow villagers. In Karpovichi - three things, in Ostashkovichi - three things, in Slavan - three things," the former messenger reveals the details.
The information obtained by the girl helped the partisans to replenish their weapons stock. “At the Ostankovichi station, which is two kilometers from my village, the Germans unloaded weapons. And we practically didn’t have them in the rear. So we had to get it. To unload the party, the Germans brought people from the village. Through my sister (and she was on that station) found out what kind of weapons they were unloading, what kind of guards they put up," Natalya Evstratovskaya describes another of her tasks. She told the partisans all the details. At night, they were able to sneak into the station and successfully take possession of the weapons.
"That's how they worked. Everything that I was entrusted with, everything that was trusted, I tried to fulfill impeccably," Natalya Ilyinichna emphasizes. She admits: maybe she did not fully understand all the danger that lay in wait for the messengers. “But somehow I was lucky. At that age, I thought more: I need to do the task in such a way that I would be praised,” the veteran smiles. "Well done" from the partisans was the best reward for her, helped to cope with any fear.
"I, like many of my generation, was ready to fight to the last. We knew that the German would not bring us a bun with butter, but would only take away what we had. We saw how they took everything out, burned, stole" , - the heroine laments.
Until now, she can not calmly remember the trials that the Soviet soldiers had to go through. “When the village was liberated, in our house, as well as in other huts, the wounded lay, were treated. For six months I looked after them. It was very painful to watch how they suffered. young guys! A soldier is lying, asking: "Give me water, dzyachynka." But he can’t - he was wounded in the stomach. The DOCTOR said: you can moisten his lips with a little cotton. And only I rubbed his lips with cotton, and two hours later he was gone. " , - the voice of the veteran trembles and tears roll along the grooves of her wrinkles.
After the liberation, another front was opened - labor, adds Natalya Ilyinichna: "Everything had to be built, restored, revived. It burned down, they smashed it. They made everything anew." Everyone worked - from children to the elderly.
“There was nothing to sow the land. The Kuban sent us a wagon of wheat. They unhooked it at the station 15 km from our village. So we took the sacks and went there on foot. they went like this more than once," the veteran gives an example of helping children and adolescents of the post-war period.
Already in peacetime, she worked first on a collective farm as a MILK picker, then in trade. From her native village she came to Ozarichi, where she worked as a salesman for 30 years. Here she met her future husband. The couple built a spacious house, raised two daughters. Today, the HEAD of the family is no longer alive. Daughters moved to Gomel and Svetlogorsk. “Of course, both children and grandchildren (and I have two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren) invite me to their place. But as long as the legs themselves go, I don’t want to go anywhere,” Natalya Ilyinichna categorically cuts off. And he adds: spring has already gained strength and it's time to take care of your hundreds. What kind of city is there when lush seedlings flaunt on the windowsills, ready to go to the beds any moment now. "I will plant everything: tomatoes, and peppers, and lettuce, and corn. And I grow strawberries. I plant so much so that I can handle it myself,"
A social worker helps the veteran in everyday life, and local students, whom Natalya Ilyinichna affectionately calls her schoolgirls, also visit.
“I always say to the youth: wherever you are, whatever posts and positions you hold, remember and never lose our Victory. We got it at a very high, expensive price. And today there are forces in the world who want to rewrite that history. Therefore, it is important to be able to distinguish honest truth from lies and never accept a lie. Save the truth! Be worthy descendants of the generation of winners. And always remember: on your own land you will be masters, on someone else's - strangers, "the veteran addresses his order to the youth.