Wartime history: N. L. Grevtsov

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The theme of war will never become outdated and will always remain relevant. The study of the experience of those years, the fate of ordinary people is not only of practical significance, but also has an invaluable educational effect on subsequent generations.
The purpose of the work is to trace the life of an ordinary person during the war on the basis of archival sources and the memories of close relatives of N. L. Grevtsev himself.
Method of research. The work mainly used information from the archive of the Ministry of defense of Russia, in terms of awarding medals for years of combat path to a serious injury to the arm and its amputation. Most of the work is based on the memoirs of his sons and daughters, to whom, at their request, he told about his military past. When writing this article, the author used the descriptive method, as well as the historical-comparative method and the method of decoding archival sources.
Results: N. L. Grevtsev's Life path, overshadowed by the war, was difficult and thorny, but later life was successful and happy, he raised worthy sons and daughters, planted many trees and built a house. It must be remembered that it was our great-grandfathers who brought Victory as close as they could.
Conclusion: the Publication of new archival sources, their analysis and study should provide new material not only for historical research, but also be used for Patriotic work in higher education.
Keywords: Great Patriotic war; Grevtsev N. L.; human destiny

JUSTIFICATION. The theme of war will never become outdated and will always remain relevant. The study of the experience of those years, the fate of ordinary people is not only of practical significance, but also has an invaluable educational effect on subsequent generations [1, 2].
THE purpose of the work is to trace the fate of ordinary people during the war on the example of N. L. Grevtsov based on archival and narrative sources.
METHODS. The work is written using the historical-comparative method, one of the main ones in historical science, based on the comparison of historical events and phenomena, as well as the method of analyzing and deciphering archival sources. The author for the first time provides data from family memoirs, recorded memoirs of his great – grandfather-a participant in the war. The work also used information from the military archive of the Russian Ministry of defense, which was declassified and published on the website of the Ministry of defense in 2018.
RESULTS. My paternal great-grandfather, Nikolai Lukyanovich Grevtsev, was born in 1911 in the village of Teploe, Lebedyansky uyezd, Tambov province. By origin from the peasants. Since childhood, he was distinguished by good health, courage and efficiency. I started working as a child. In those days, the rural population had many children in their families, and the older ones helped their parents.
In 1931, he served in the army in the Kiev military district, was a machine gunner on the Degtyarev machine gun. But at the same time, he also knew other military equipment perfectly, although he graduated from a parochial school. After serving in the army, he returned to his native land, when the collectivization of the village was carried out, which he took positively and became a member of the collective farm "Krasny Zaverkh". He ran his own subsidiary farm: he raised pigs, calves and other animals for sale and received money for them. Due to the fact that the collective farms did not give money, they worked for workdays, for which they issued various rural products in the fall. My great-grandfather had a large family, and in order to feed everyone close to him, I had to go to Moscow to work as a handyman after finishing agricultural work. Moscow at that time was intensively developed and built.
In 1939, in Moscow, he was caught by a message about the beginning of hostilities with Finland. My great-grandfather was drafted into the army and sent to Kolomna in the Moscow region. After 2 months of retraining, my great-grandfather went from the Belorussky railway station to the city of Leningrad in the forming rifle corps. Participated in the capture of the Mannerheim line. He proved to be a brave fighter and a good friend. In 1940, after a slight concussion and the end of the Finnish company, he was discharged from the army and returned home with the rank of senior Sergeant. He continued to work on the collective farm.
The beginning of the war on June 22, 1941 found my great-grandfather in the field. A representative of the village Council rode up on a horse and told them that the Germans had crossed the border. At 4 o'clock in the morning, Nazi Germany treacherously invaded the borders of our homeland without declaring war. But at first no one believed it, everyone thought it was a provocation from Germany. But when V. M. Molotov spoke on the radio with an appeal to the citizens of the Soviet Union, everyone realized what a disaster had come to our land. My great-grandfather volunteered for the front. He was assigned to a rifle division that was formed in the city of Tambov. After two weeks of training, the division was moved to Minsk. And my great-grandfather took the first battle in mid-July 1941. At first it was scary, especially since there were already wounded and dead soldiers around. The Germans outnumbered us both in terms of weapons and motivation. Then came anger for the killed comrades, the understanding that the Russian land has never been submitted to foreigners.
After prolonged fighting, we had to leave Minsk and move to new positions. The losses were huge, but the Germans also suffered significant losses. They did not expect any serious Russian resistance. It was believed that the Russians were not happy with Stalin for his unpopular methods: collectivization, repression among the population, the military… The Germans hoped to be met with open arms, but the Russian people were not used to submitting to the enemy. Understand everything: "We must defend our Homeland!"
My great-grandfather met the end of 1941 in the trenches near Moscow. And with the Siberian divisions that came up, he participated in the counteroffensive near Moscow together with the cavalry of General L. M. Dovator [3].
In 1942, my great-grandfather and his division were at Orel. In the summer of 1942, there was a slight lull. The Germans were deploying and preparing to attack Stalingrad. The company in which my great-grandfather fought was located in a small grove and was preparing for dinner-they were supposed to bring food from the field kitchen, about four kilometers from the company's location. And now it was getting dark, and the driver was not in sight. It was only when it was quite dark that she appeared. The soldiers and officers surrounded the cook, and by the light of the fire they saw the pallor on his face and the stubborn silence. When they opened the cauldron of the field kitchen, they were terribly surprised by the contents: instead of the traditional lentil Burda with sour bread, they saw rice porridge with meat and a tied bottle. Finally, the cook told a funny story through his tears. He drove into German positions by mistake. The opponents, having surrounded our field kitchen, opened the lid of the pot and began to laugh at the fact that the red army men were so poorly fed. In 1942, the Germans were not as angry as at the end of the war, so they poured the contents on the ground, filled the pot with porridge with meat and poured a bottle of schnapps into the bargain. They led the horse out of the field kitchen from the German positions and pointed the way to their own. For a long time, the officers did not dare to allow dinner with German food, because they were afraid that the food was poisoned. And then the driver, through whose fault everything happened, decided to be the first to taste the Goodies from the Germans, in order to somehow make up for his guilt. He ate a large portion of porridge. When half an hour had passed and nothing had happened to him, the officers allowed the soldiers to eat. Then the driver was called to a special Department, and what happened to him then, great-grandfather did not know.
My great-grandfather ended the war in 1944 in the city of Koenigsberg-modern Kaliningrad. As part of the Kaliningrad front under the leadership of General Chernyakhovsky, our troops did not cross the border. The enemy fiercely resisted, switching to attacks. In one attack on our positions, my great-grandfather was behind a machine gun when he suddenly felt a blow in the arm and felt the warmth in the sleeve of his tunic. He realized that he was injured and lost consciousness. When the great-grandfather woke up, overcoming the pain, he called for help. The orderlies thought he was dead and went on, their great-grandfather called them in a weak voice, but they did not hear him in the roar of the battle. And only a young officer noticed the dying great-grandfather and ordered to pick him up and take him to the hospital. At first, the great-grandfather was treated in a field hospital, where his arm was amputated up to the elbow. The hand was hanging by a tendon, and the bone was broken. After the final treatment in an inpatient hospital in Riga, he was discharged and assigned a second disability group and a pension.
He returned home in the same year, 1944. For participation in the battles, he was awarded military awards: 2 medals "for military merit", 2 medals" for bravery "and"Order of the red Star".
Despite his serious injury, he did not sit idle at home, but continued to work on the collective farm as much as possible. First as a shepherd, and then in other jobs, deftly adapting the right stump to its intended purpose. All my life I went without a prosthesis, but at the same time I dug a garden. Even managed to mow by tying the stump to the handle of the scythe. Once he began to teach the son-in-law of his youngest daughter and he managed to break the braid. My great-grandfather grieved for her for a long time. The scythe was German-branded and very high-quality, made of good steel. Apparently, my great-grandfather brought it as a trophy from distant countries. My son-in-law, my grandfather, jokingly said that you should "pull your hands out"for this. After the war, my great-grandfather had children: 3 daughters and 2 sons.
Both sons served in the army. Junior in Germany in the group of Soviet troops in 1976. During the exercises of the tank forces, he lost his right arm to the shoulder, was commissioned and equated to participants in combat battles. In the GDR, a high-quality prosthesis was made for him and he returned home. The authorities took an active part in his future life. His career went down the administrative line. Great-grandfather was very worried about him and said that it was a shame to become disabled in peacetime. But then I calmed down and took it for granted-military personnel should be ready for anything at any time to protect the Motherland.

About the authors

Sofia Sergeevna Zaharova

Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N. Burdenko

Author for correspondence.
Email: zakharova-sofya@inbox.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1468-4779

the student of Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N. Burdenko

Russian Federation, mail@vrngmu.ru Voronezh, 10 Studentskaya str.

References

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