Yemelyan Yaroslavsky 1942
Author: Yemelyan Yaroslavsky;
Written: 1942;
First published: 1942 as Ni shagu nazad! V rukakh Krasnoy Armii sud'ba nashey Rodiny;
Source: rusneb.ru
Translated by: Anton P.
The Patriotic War of the Soviet people against the Hitlerite scoundrels is the most terrible, the bloodiest of all wars known in the history of mankind. History has never seen a battle of this magnitude. The battles are taking place on a wide front: from the Don steppes to the foothills of the Caucasian ridge. They are fought by millions of men, thousands of tanks, aircraft, artillery. History knows many wars of destruction and many attempts to enslave our country. However, never before has the enemy come to our country with such a depraved, bloodthirsty, violent, plunderous horde of executioners, as in this war. For a second year, vile fascists trample our beautiful land, rape, rob, kill, subject the Soviet people to inhuman torture, enslave millions of our brothers and sisters.
On the southern front, the enemy managed this summer to concentrate more forces, its main reserves and huge military equipment. And now in the south, successes intoxicate those Nazis greedy for profit and plunder. We must clearly see and understand the danger hanging over our Motherland. The danger for our Motherland was great already at the moment of the treacherous attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union in June 1941. This danger seriously increased when the Germans captured the Soviet Baltic states, Belarus, and a significant part of the Ukraine. Now the danger has increased even more. The German fascist troops moved close to other vital centers of the Soviet country.
The Nazis are eager for the Caucasian oil. In their journey to the Caucasus, they occupied a number of cities of great importance for our country. For the second time during this war, the Nazis occupied Rostov-on-Don and brutally avenge the workers and all working people of Rostov for their winter defeat, when the Red Army drove them out of Rostov, defeating the divisions of General Kleist. The Germans occupied Voroshilovsk and Pyatigorsk. They are eager for the Grozny oil. They really need oil. They are running out of fuel. They are in a hurry. The smell of oil tickles the nostrils, wets the appetite of Hitler’s bastards. They are in a hurry, because the second autumn is approaching, and after it the second winter of the war against the Soviet Union. And autumn and winter promise tremendous difficulties. Now they trample the rich wheat fields, destroy, seize herds of cattle.
The Germans occupied the burning Maykop. This is the first oil region of the USSR seized by them, except for an insignificant field of Drohobych oil in Western Ukraine, which was occupied by the Germans at the beginning of the war. True, the Germans did not manage to take the oil reserves, equipment, or operating oil wells in Maikop. All equipment and oil reserves were removed by us in advance. Everything that could not be taken out was set on fire. This means that the task that the Germans set themselves from the very beginning of the war – to seize oil in order to be able to wage the war further – remains unfulfilled, and the Germans are making every effort to break through to Grozny and then Baku. But we must not forget that the Maykop oil has been temporarily deleted from our energy balance. The strategic plan of the German command is clear.
The Germans are striving at all costs to cut us off from the south of the USSR, to cut the army in two, to cut off the country from the main sources of oil. At the same time, the fascists are striving for Stalingrad, the former Tsaritsyn, which the Red Army, under the leadership of Comrade Stalin, defended in heroic battles during the civil war. The Nazis dream of capturing Astrakhan, they threaten to cut off the Vollinsky route connecting the country of the Soviets with the Caucasus along the Caspian Sea. If Hitler succeeded in carrying out these plans, then this, of course, would have very serious consequences for the entire Soviet people, for our entire country, for all freedom-loving humanity. For this would seriously complicate the conduct of the war for us. If Hitler had succeeded in carrying out his bloody plan, he would have once again turned his army against Moscow and Leningrad. If Hitler had succeeded to carry out his plan, he would have become bolder in the West, having thrown there the forces freed from the Eastern Front. The world sees this danger clearly. The danger has increased not only for us, but for all freedom-loving humanity. If we do not stop the enemy now, he will advance further, and the situation of the country will become even more acute. Never before has the question of exactly where and when the enemy will be contained has had such enormous significance as it does now. The enemy must be stopped not somewhere beyond the distant lands, but right there, on those lines where the battles are now going on. The enemy must not be stopped sometime, but now, immediately. This is required of by the vital interests of the Motherland. This is the first and obligatory condition of our coming victory.
What does it mean for us now to stop the enemy, not to retreat a step back? To stop the enemy, not to retreat a single step back means giving us the option not to let the fascists go further into the depths of our native land, to prevent the Hitlerite scoundrels from using Soviet goods to enslave and exterminate our own people. To stop the Germans in the south now means to bleed, exhaust the forces of the enemy, tighten up our forces and reserves, push back the Germans, and then crush them. To stop the Germans in the south now means to morally and politically support the European peoples languishing under the yoke of the German occupiers, to hasten the collapse of the fragile Hitlerite bloc. To stop the Germans in the south means, together with Britain and the United States, who will open a second front, to crush the entire Hitlerite military force. Any distraction from this goal can only bring new additional difficulties in all our further struggle for the Motherland. Any piece of Soviet territory now captured by the enemy is an immeasurably greater gain for the enemy than before, an immeasurably greater loss for us than before. This is understandable, since we are now defending very important regions of our country. In these areas, the Soviet people built many factories and plants, collected a lot of grain, mined coal, oil, etc. Each piece of Soviet land captured by the enemy reduces our material possibilities for waging war and, on the contrary, increases the forces and resources of the enemy. Every piece of Soviet land captured by the enemy is then possible for us to recapture only with a lot of blood. That is why there is nothing more harmful than thinking that since the territory of the USSR is vast, then one can retreat further and further.
Can we give up our Soviet people to the German invaders, can we give up at least one piece of territory so that the enemy grows stronger and our defenses weaken? No, those who value the interests of the Motherland cannot retreat. And anyone who gives up his native land without using all the possibilities to resist the enemy is a traitor, he must atone for his guilt with blood. This is a terrible time, anyone who weakens our ranks by their cowardice must be destroyed. Our entire Motherland demands from the soldiers of the Red Army to stop the enemy! Do not let him go any further! The Motherland demands from the soldiers of the Red Army that, at every step of his offensive, the enemy stumbles upon a solid layer of military valor and courage so that every line – be it a ravine, a forest, a river, a hill, a mountain peak, a settlement – becomes impassable for him. Io, we cannot retreat further. We must not only remember about the danger, the warning over the Motherland, we also need not lose the perspective of the struggle. We need to push the enemy back at all costs. It is necessary to retake the Don and Kuban, retake the North Caucasus and the Donoass. It is necessary to drive the enemy out of all occupied Soviet territories. It is imperative to destroy him. No other end to the war can we allow but the complete defeat of Hitler and all his bloody butchery pack, unless we want to become slaves, perish as a people, ruin our country. For we well know that if Hitler succeeded in carrying out his bloody plan in the USSR, then millions, tens of millions of Soviet people would be destroyed, new seas of people’s blood would be shed, Soviet cities and villages would be turned into ash and smoke, and everyone who remained alive would be converted into working animals for the fascist masters. This will not happen! The working people of the Soviet state will never allow this to happen! And whatever the difficulties, and no matter how long the war lasts, the enemy will be destroyed, he will find his grave in our country. But we must understand: the further the war drags on, the more victims, the more blood, the more devastation, the more suffering our people will endure.
Right now, in the North Caucasus, in the Kuban, the Cossacks of the Don, Kuban, Terek villages are fighting bravely, selflessly. Admittedly, they fight like lions, and we know that the glorious Soviet horsemen fought bravely and selflessly near Moscow, and near Tula, and near Smolensk, and in the Ukraine, and in Belarus, and near Leningrad. The Cossacks have a reason to fight like this, They saw how their villages are burned by the Nazis, how all the good accumulated over decades of their labor is destroyed, how the lives of their families are crumbling. Refugees pass by them to the south, their families leave for the Caucasus mountains. The Cossack girl asks the soldiers: “How long will you retreat? Will you give back a lot of your native land to the Germans?” She says; “If you see your husband, tell him that I will not let him on the threshold, if he still retreats. Enough. Does he want the German to abuse me and my son?” This is what hundreds of thousands of people think now, millions of Soviet people.
With pain in their hearts, the Soviet people receive every message about the withdrawal of one or another part of the Red Army. Yes, the enemy pays a bloody price for every step of his offensive. The steppe expanses of the Don and Kuban are strewn with hundreds of thousands of Nazi corpses and scrap of German equipment. But the German onslaught in the south has not yet been broken. And each of us must ask ourselves: am I fighting this way, am I fighting as I should, in order not to give up a meter of Soviet land to the enemy, in order to defeat the enemy? It is true that the Germans concentrated large human forces and equipment in the south. It is true that they mobilized Hungarians, Italians, Romanians, and their other lackeys and vassals, and threw dozens of new divisions from their reserves into the fire of war. It is true that it became easier for the enemy to fight in the south after the occupation of the Crimea and the Donbass. But let’s ask ourselves: is it only because of this that the enemy broke through in the Donbass, and on the Don, and on the North Caucasus? Is that why he broke through to the foothills of the Caucasus and is now rushing to the Caucasus Mountains? Did soldiers, commanders, political workers show weakness in some areas? Did separate units and sub-units withdraw without an order from the command? Did the commanders and political workers do everything to provide a staunch defense, in order not to let the enemy pass? Of course, this applies not only to soldiers, commanders and political workers. A lot of carelessness, criminal and unforgivable, was shown by the leaders of a number of organizations in the front-line cities: they did not provide protection for the fortified lines, they sometimes showed criminal carelessness, forgetting the instructions of Comrade Stalin, given at the beginning of the war. Meanwhile, the war showed us new examples of heroic defense by the soldiers of the Red Army of Leningrad, Moscow, Odessa, Sevastopol, Tula.
Throughout the year, Leningrad, besieged by enemies, is being defended. Is Leningrad easier to defend than many cities in the south left to the enemy? Was it easier to defend Moscow, against which the Nazis threw huge forces – more than fifty divisions, a huge number of tanks, artillery? Tula defended itself for two months, but a lot of forces were also thrown against Tula; three armored and two infantry divisions, the regiment “Great Germany” and a large aviation compound. And nevertheless, the defenders of Tula, surrounded almost completely, not only managed to hold out, but they defeated the enemy when he broke through to its outskirts. Many more examples of persistent silts could be cited, it is in cities. Are all the cities in the south so staunchly defended? If the Nazis manage to concentrate sometimes numerically superior forces in certain sectors, then we know the effectiveness of Suvorov’s rule that “they fight not by number, but by skill.” And yet, if the enemy continues to move forward, if we have not stopped him yet, then here we cannot refer to any so-called objective principles. After all, there is nothing stronger than a person. People decide the outcome of the war. Even if we did not have first-class technology, we could still talk about this objective factor.
We have magnificent weapons, first-class tanks, planes, cannons, machine guns, mortars, often superior in quality to the German ones, and our factories are constantly replenishing weapons and ammunition. Many enterprises have increased the production of weapons by several times. This means that it is in us, in people, in soldiers, commanders and political workers of the Red Army, in our discipline, in plowed stamina, in our courage, in our ability to fight, in our readiness to make the greatest sacrifices, in our understanding of the great tasks that history and our Soviet people have entrusted us with it. Of course, Hitler’s army is now far from what it was in June 1941. Then it was much stronger. But it would be a profound delusion to exaggerate the weakening of the German army, presenting it as an army already decayed and half-defeated or having lost the strength of discipline. The Germans managed to fix the war machine that had become loose over the winter and restore discipline in it. Now the Germans fight better than they did in winter. A German soldier, poisoned by the poison of misanthropy, as a rule, still believes Hitler, blindly obeys his orders, and will do so until the Red Army breaks the neck of the German Army.
That is why our task is to oppose the enemy with even stronger discipline, organization, and resilience, which only soldiers defending their homeland can have. Then we can beat the German invaders again, as we beat them in winter. Then the German army will start to lose its cohesion again, as it did in the winter of 1941-42. Then we will quickly exhaust Hitler’s new divisions, weaken and bleed the enemy, thereby preparing the ground for his impending defeat. That the enemy can also be stopped in the south is shown by the example of Voronezh, where the Germans are unsuccessfully trying to move forward, where the Red Army is constantly hitting them with serious blows and has thrown them away from many crossings across the Don, freeing a number of positions previously occupied by the Germans. This was achieved by cavalry units under the command of General Kirichenko in the North Caucasus.
The enemy can be thrown back and defeated, this was proved by the troops of the Kalinin and Western fronts. With a powerful blow in the very first days of the offensive, they broke through the line of German defenses on the front over a length of 115 kilometers. The Germans were thrown back 40-50 kilometers. More than 600 settlements were freed from the fascist invaders. In these sectors of the front, 45 thousand Germans were exterminated during the days of the offensive of the Red Army. Our troops continue to grind the manpower of the fascist-German divisions, destroying and seizing a significant part of their military equipment. And this shows that the enemy is not as strong as it seems to cowards and alarmists. We pray to beat the enemy even now – not only in winter, but also in summer, we can beat with mortal combat day and night, in any weather. Speaking at a Red Army rally in one division, Sergeant Frantsuzov said: “We all need to fight with honor, with anger, skill, as it should be, but according to the rules and according to our heart.” These are true words! This is the only way to defeat the enemy!
The enemy entered the foothills of the Caucasus.. Recently, in one of the cities of the North Caucasus, an anti-fascist meeting of the peoples of the North Caucasus took place at the common grave of 17 thousand fighters who died fighting for Soviet power during the civil war. Over 3 thousand people took part in this rally, where there were representatives of Ossetians, Chechens, Ingush, Kabardians, Balkars, Circassians, Abchasens, Karachais, Avars, Laks, Dargins, Kumyks, Lezgins and other peoples of Dagestan, Kalmykia, Transcaucasia, Kuban, Terek and Sunzha Cossacks. They were gathered at this meeting by a common danger, a common hatred of the enemy and a common deep, passionate love for our Motherland, for freedom. the peoples of the Soviet Union, the free peoples of the Caucasus. The Caucasus already knew the invasion of the Germans in 1918. Back then, the Soviet people, under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin, expelled the invaders from our country. But the country of the Soviets was then in an immeasurably more difficult situation than today! Today she is not alone. The recent negotiations between the Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR, Comrade Stalin and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mr. W. Churchill, confirmed the determination to wage a liberation war against Nazi Germany with all force and energy until the complete destruction of Hitlerism and all fascist tyranny. Popular confidence in victory is unshakable. It is a belief in Soviet power, in our enormous capabilities, in our indomitable determination to put an end to the vile, hated enemy. But confidence alone is not enough to defeat the enemy. It is necessary to show the greatest perseverance, endurance, fighting skill, the utmost self-sacrifice. Otherwise, it is impossible to stop, and then smash, crush the Hitlerite war machine if we do not fight with all our strength and energy. We must be ready for the most rewarding hostilities in any sector of the Front. It is advantageous for the Germans to pin down our forces on most of the fronts, in order to throw divisions from these fronts to a breakthrough in the south and southeast, in order to fill the terrible losses in men and equipment on the Southern and Southeastern Fronts. Neither day nor night should we give rest to the enemy everywhere, along the entire length of the front. We must prepare all the soldiers of our army for the offensive, instill in them an offensive impulse, to study and, learn the art of war. Not only soldiers, but also political workers and commanders should check themselves: do they perfectly know their weapons and the weapons of the enemy? Without this knowledge, it is impossible to defeat the fascist army.
In order to stop, and then push back and defeat the enemy, we need, first of all, the greatest endurance and unshakable fortitude, the iron discipline of Soviet soldiers. “A soldier must stubbornly defend himself and not retreat without an order from the commander,” says the Combat Manual of the Red Army’s infantry. The closer the enemy gets to our trenches, the more our destructive firepoweer increases. Wherever our people are, no matter how difficult the conditions of the battle may put them, they must abide by the old military rule: “He who feels defeated is beaten.” To never feel defeated means not to retreat a single step, to cling to everyone. a piece of native land, keep every frontier to the last opportunity. And if we fight steadfastly, then we will be able to withstand any onslaught of the German fascist hordes. Let us recall the November battles of the last year, when we were much weaker than we are now. Hitler, with dozens of elite divisions, was rushing to Moscow. The Red Army, each of its soldiers, commanders and political workers staunchly fought for every piece of land, wore down and bled the enemy, and then threw back and defeated Hitler’s troops.
Recently, the Soviet government awarded 28 guardsmen who died the death of the brave in the battles for Moscow. They were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Their military exploits will remain for centuries an example of perseverance and discipline, as an example of courage, courage and heroism in battles against Hitler’s bandits. They, like hundreds of thousands of other soldiers, were persistent to the end, they gave their lives, but did not let the enemy pass. To the call of political instructor Klochkov: “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat, Moscow is behind”, they answered as one: not a step back. And they did not retreat. Honor and glory to them! The heroes of Konstantin Simonov’s play Russian People are involuntarily recalled. What are captain Safonov, medical attendant Globa, driver Vali and other heroes, but common Russian people, filled with sacred hatred for the enemy, selflessly devoted to the Motherland? In their calm courage, in their wonderful fortitude, in their high consciousness of their duty to the Motherland, in their contempt for death. Captain Safonov says to journalist Panin, who changed his eternal pen to a rifle: “You taught yourself to this idea that you have to die here, in this city, but not in Moscow? And now, today, tomorrow, and not in five years.” Panin answers without hesitation, in the affirmative, just as the stern Vasin goes into mortal combat without hesitation, saying: “Let’s do our duty. Others find it easier to go forward.” Safonov himself is all in his story about how he felt when listening to Stalin’s speech: “When I was listening to his speech on the radio,” he says, “I had not yet recovered from shell-shock, the words of Stalin sounded in my ears in a confused jumble. But in this confusion, instead of the actual words Stalin spoke I heard for myself: Stand, Safonov, not a step back! Die, but stand! Fight, but stand! Suffer two wounds, but stand!”
Creating the great Red Army during the years of civil war under enemy fire, Lenin and Stalin paid special attention to strengthening resilience and discipline. At a difficult hour for our country in 1918, when we were threatened by German imperialism, Leniit called to “create self-discipline, strict discipline, otherwise you will lie under the heel of a German boot” Without iron discipline, the Red Army could not repulse all attacks of the White Guards and foreign interventionists and defend the Soviet Republic during the Civil War. Comrade Stalin wrote that our Red Army soldier proudly calls himself a soldier of the revolution. He knows that he is fighting not for the profits of the capitalists, but for the liberation of Russia. He knows this and boldly goes into battle with open eyes. Explaining the reasons for the success of Tsaritsyn’s defense during the civil war, Comrade Stalin said: “The thirst for discipline in our troops reaches the point that the Red Army men themselves catch their guilty comrades and often severely punish and shoot them.” For the creation of the strictest discipline in the Red Army and in the rear, which ensured victory over the White Guards and interventionists, the Soviet state did not hesitate to take strict, harsh measures, including executions, and acted reliably and firmly.
Lenin taught that anyone who retreats without an order from the commander or shows hesitation, cowardice, panic, becomes an accomplice of the enemy. In the first combat manual of the Red Army soldier in 1918, approved by Lenin, it was said: “You cannot be a rotten coward either. It does not matter whether you run, throwing your boots and bag, or stay in battle to the end, you still cannot escape death. A soldier must fight in such a way as to either win or die.” And now, in the days of the Great Patriotic War, for a soldier of the Red Army there is nothing more sacred than the will of the Motherland, the order of the commander. We need cruel, iron discipline now more than ever. Military discipline must be strengthened on a daily basis, by all forces and means, in no case allowing the slightest deviation from it. Unconditional obedience to the will of a senior boss, unquestioning and accurate execution of any order, this is the highest law for every defender of the Motherland and there should be no deviations from it. Since the command ordered to defend this or that position, then this must be done at whatever cost. This is how, and only so, every soldier of the Red Army can pose the question.
An honest soldier, an honest commander and an honest political worker who wants to fulfill his military duty to the end must rule on the battlefield. It is precisely such people who are obliged to determine the situation in the positions and not to allow alarmists and cowards to throw at them with their weakness the correct message to the Motherland. And let the hand of our warriors not tremble if it becomes needed to punish the villains who sow panic in a difficult moment and drag the soldiers into retreat. There is no place in our ranks for the cowards and alarmists, those who prevent honest soldiers from fulfilling their duty to the Motherland. The one who violated the superior’s command, who flinched before the enemy and left the battle, abandoned his comrades, he has betrayed our cause, helped the enemy. Cowards and alarmists need no mercy, as accomplices of the enemy, they impede the attempts at successful resistance to the enemy onslaught. Here is what Lenin said at the 11th Party Congress on March 27, 1922: “If people bring about panic, even if they are guided by the best intentions, at such a moment when we are leading an unheard-of difficult retreat and when the whole point is to maintain good order, at this moment we cannot have this.” (Lenin, Collected Works, v. XXVII, p. 239). Without an order from the commander, not a step back! Anyone who understands the danger threatening the Motherland, who is honest with the people, with his family, will sooner lay down his head in battle, die a heroic death, than leave without the order of the commander even a step. The one who really wants our victory will always be steadfast to the end in the struggle.
During one of the battles in the south, 30 German tanks attacked a small mound, where four guardsmen (Bolotov, Samoilov, Belikov and Aleinikov) had dug trenches armed with anti-tank grenades. The soldiers still had time to leave and unite with their own, but they did not have an order to withdraw and did not even go back. They understood their task correctly: to defend their position at all costs. With the first shots from anti-tank rifles, they knocked out two German tanks. The rest opened frantic fire, but it did no harm to the four guards, who acted calmly and skillfully, dug in well. Then the tanks retreated, deciding to move with a wide wall on a handful of soldiers and crush them. At these moments Belikov hastily wrote on a combat sheet: “A cloud of German tanks is moving against us. If we die, consider us communists. Death to the German occupiers.” Following Belikov, his comrades Bolotov, Samoilov and Aleinikov signed this oath. The tanks moved forward again. But the armor-piercers fought for sure. Imbued with the determination to win or die, they were full of that iron calm that multiplies the power of weapons. With each shot they struck the enemies. One after another, the heroic guards destroyed 15 German tanks, the surviving enemy vehicles retreated. The battle was unusually difficult, but the victory remained with four Soviet soldiers. They not only defended their positions and inflicted great damage on the enemy, but also showed by their example that resilience can conquer death itself. Thus, and only thus, every soldier should act.
As long as the iron law of our discipline is observed, not one step back without an order from the commander, and as long as our soldiers are fighting skillfully, courageously, steadfastly, there is no way for the enemy. Here is what was recently said about the combat affairs of one such division in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper: The Cossack Kuban division, where commander Major General Tutarinov, was ordered to keep one important line in the south. In this direction, superior enemy forces acted: units of a mountain rifle corps, two tank and two infantry divisions. Despite this, for several days of heavy, fierce battles, the Germans did not manage to achieve anything, they only lost many thousands of troops as well as a lot of military equipment. During the struggle, the enemy managed to capture a large village. But the Cossacks knew that there was no order to withdraw. A temporary failure did not weaken their morale, they did not want to give in to the strength of the enemy and with a swift blow they knocked the Germans out of the village. Soon the enemy, using his overwhelming numerical superiority, again took possession of the village. But the Cossacks again staged a counterattack and again beat and overthrew the enemy. Three times the village passed from hand to hand, and each time the valiant Soviet soldiers got their way. The division commanded by Tutarinov completed its task. No matter how persistent the Germans were, there was nothing they could do.
But fortitude is not only fearlessness, not only the adamant determination of every warrior to fight the enemy to the last drop of blood, but also technique, with greater activity and enterprise. The more damage it does to the enemy, the stronger a defense is. The division commanded by Tutarinov led a surprise attack on the enemy units. The Cossacks penetrated into the rear of the enemy at night. After a thorough reconnaissance, they launched a dashing attack at the enemy. Some Germans began to scatter, throwing their weapons and ammunition. For three kilometers, our cavalrymen pursued the Nazis, exterminating them with a crushing saber blow and well-aimed fire. The German infantry, having suffered heavy losses, was cut off from their tanks. And the tanks, left without infantry, no longer dared to attack and began to retreat, leaving the shelters. Cossack artillery opened fire on enemy vehicles and knocked out several tanks. In these battles, the Tutarinov division, interacting with other units, completely defeated the XX regiment and the 4th mountain rifle regiment, knocked out more than 3 thousand soldiers and captured 80 officers and 200 soldiers.
The fighting of this glorious Cossack division is a clear example of the selfless and eternal struggle for the Motherland, an example of honest, conscientious observance of the iron law of our discipline. It was transformed into the 9th Guards Kuban Cossack Cavalry Division. So, by combat, active hostilities to destroy the manpower and equipment of the enemy, resistance is developed, blocking the path of the Nazis in deep in the country. Each division, regiment, battalion, squadron, any unit and every individual soldier, following the example of Major General Tutarinov’s division, must increase their combat activity immeasurably higher. Mikhail Kalinin says that we must “directly put the question to the soldier on the front line: if you have not killed a single German in a whole week, then you are doing your duty to your homeland poorly, then you are struggling weakly for our victory ... It is necessary that every soldier understands: if he himself does nothing to exterminate the Nazis, no one will do it for him. It is necessary that every soldier understands that the fate of the Motherland, the outcome of the struggle is decided by his weapon, his stamina, his combat activity.”
Let the heart of the soldier be filled with great hatred for the enemy. Let everyone constantly think about how to inflict a stronger blow on the enemy today than yesterday, how to exterminate more fascist invaders today than yesterday, how it is more skillful to beat the hated Germans and their accomplices, so that the spaces that they have captured in their robber greed, so that the fascist trash drowned in his blood. An example of such high military art and unshakable stamina is the behavior of the gun crew under the command of Lieutenant Ilya Shuklin. In one battle, which took place in the steppes, this crew knocked out fourteen German tanks. Let all gunners fight with the enemy the way Lieutenant Shuklin and his valiant comrades fought. Remember the feat of the Red Army soldier Suvorov who during the whole day fought with dozens of fascists. Skillfully hiding, he destroyed 22 Nazis and wounded several. The Germans opened mortar and machine-gun fire on Suvorov. He received seven wounds, but continued to fight. This is how every Soviet soldier must fight, to act even more actively, not to miss a single opportunity to beat and destroy the enemy. The high combat activity of Soviet soldiers presupposes that each of them knows his task, understands the task of a squad, platoon, company. The great Russian commander Suvorov said: “Every warrior must know his own maneuver.”
Every day, the Soviet country learns about new remarkable manifestations of the combat mission of its fighters, commanders, and political workers. There are numerous cases when an ordinary soldier replaced a retired commander and successfully completed the task he had begun. With their activity, initiative, intelligence, Soviet soldiers contribute to the success of the operation conceived by the command. Combat practice gives many examples of a Soviet soldier’s correct understanding of the task of a sub-unit, of proactive execution of an order. Mortar man Bondarenko noticed that a well-disguised enemy machine gun was hindering the advance of our units. Having made his way to the hill that dominated the battlefield, Bondarenko set up his mortar and opened well-aimed fire. The enemy machine gun was destroyed, the path was cleared for our infantry. The regulations of the Red Army require decisiveness, initiative and activity from the soldiers. Each soldier should strive to always help his comrades with fire, bayonet, grenade, always provide mutual assistance, without waiting for special instructions. The Red Army soldier Aliyev noticed that not far from him a group of soldiers was fighting off the invading Nazis. Aliyev did not wait for an order, but immediately opened aimed fire from a rifle. Having shot 14 Germans, he thereby eased the situation of his comrades and helped them to fulfill their task.
It is necessary that all our soldiers, all our units act aggressively, responding with counterattacks to every attack of the Germans, using every opportunity, every line in order to strike at the enemy’s weakest point. The combat experience of our advanced formations teaches: fortitude, order, iron discipline, these are truly insurmountable obstacles for the enemy. Higher stamina, stronger order, firmer discipline, and victory will be ours. We can stop the enemy, block his way into the depths of our country, throw him back and defeat him, and we must do this at all costs.
It is necessary today to recall another very significant moment in our struggle, in the history of our people. The 25th anniversary of the Great October Revolution is approaching. Twenty-five years ago, the October Revolution ushered in a new era of humanity. We lived through the invasion of the imperialists. The struggle against the German imperialist interventionists was the first test of the strength of the then newly emerged Soviet state. We then withstood this fight with honor. The German imperialists were driven out of our country. In the 25th year of the existence of the Soviet state, we are again in battle with German imperialism. It has again put out its predatory claws, accumulated enormous forces aimed at the enslavement of peoples. We celebrated the last 24th anniversary of the October Revolution already in the flames of war. On November 7, 1941, in Red Square, Comrade Stalin said in his speech; “Comrades, Red Army and Red Navy men, commanders and political workers, Partisan men and women! The whole world looks at you as a force capable of destroying the plundering hordes of German invaders. The enslaved peoples of Europe, who have fallen under the yoke of the German invaders, look at you as their liberators. The great emancipatory mission fell to your lot. Be worthy of this mission! The war you are waging is a war of liberation, a just war. Let the courageous images of our great ancestors – Alexander Nevsky, Dimitry Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dimitry Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov – inspire you in this war! Let the victorious banner of the great Lenin lead you! For the complete defeat of the German invaders! Death to the German occupiers! Long live our glorious Motherland, its freedom, its independence! Under the banner of Lenin, forward to victory!”
We have everything to achieve victory. This requires an iron discipline, from which we must not retreat a single step; perseverance, courage and the strictest order; fearlessness in the fight against the enemy; active defense of each line, each point, turning into an offensive against the enemy; a furious unanimous desire to take revenge on the enemy, to destroy him; skillful combination and interaction of all types of weapons; friendly mutual assistance in battle; the best use of the excellent military equipment that is supplied to the Red Army, the study and knowledge of the emeny, his tactics, his tricks, his cunning and, finally, the organized, systematic mass party-political agitation and propaganda in the Red Army, which should be dealt with by communists and Komsomol members. Communists and Komsomol members need to show everyone a personal example not only in the display of fearlessness and courage, but also in the best ability to fight, in the best knowledge of weapons. The fate of the Motherland, the fate of all progressive humanity depends on the outcome of this struggle. The decision of this fate depends on all of us, and above all on you, soldiers, commanders and political workers. With what will we celebrate the glorious anniversary of the 25th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution? Will the enemy still destroy our land, or will we crush his head, break his neck? The fate of our people, the fate of the land of Soviets, is in the hands of the Red Army. So let us not put our banners to shame, not give up our land for mockery, for plunder, and shame! Let’s not surrender our people into slavery to the fascist bastards! We will everywhere strengthen iron discipline, if we everywhere show Stalinist staunchness, if we everywhere bring up offensive impulses in the soldiers, if together we press the enemy properly everywhere, this filthy gang of robbers and murderers will not resist.
For everything we will avenge this gang: for the burned, ruined cities and villages, for our tortured fathers and mothers, sisters, brothers, children, wives and husbands, for blood, for tears, for torment, for torture, for everything we will repay the executioners in full least.
And then we will meet our upcoming holiday of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution with flags proudly raised, fanned with the glory of victory. Then the peoples of the USSR and the peoples of the whole world will give all the love and tenderness of their worn-out hearts to you, soldiers of the Red Army.
Stand firmly on the lines that you defend! No step back! The fire of artillery, tankers, aviation, and infantry is stronger than the enemy. Stronger make your bayonet blow, infantrymen! Stronger and deadlier make your saber’s blow, Cossack horsemen! Sink enemy ships, glorious Soviet sailors! Blow up enemy fortifications, sappers! Smite the vile fascists with all kinds of weapons!
Forward for the Motherland, for Stalin! Death to the German invaders!