id: 422 name: Tigers- The story of a Soviet Recon team behind enemy lines in 1944 author: BTRAnon date: 20th June 2021 text len: 37898 views: 205 (Note-This was taken from a thread on /k/ on 6/19/21 with OP going by Zvez Dump) Guys, would you be interested if I would dump a story of a soviet recon group dropped in Eastern Prussia in 1944? It was published by a russian newspaper as the selected pieces from the memoirs of a group's radio man, recorded on audio in the 80s Editor's note: Groups for sabotage and recon, which were dropped in Eastern Prussia during summer-fall of 1944 haven't been doing much of sabotage. Their main goal was gathering intelligence on the quantity of hitlerite garrison, on airfields, and artillery ammo warehouses, on the quality of the defense lines on the border, etc. But, the group headed by captain Alexander Radyuk (callsign Tiger) has done quite a noise behind german lines due to its unconventional approach to solving their tasks. According to documents, Radyuk group had two names: according to the intelligence department of 3rd Belorussian front it was called "Tiger", and according to the papers of People's Comissariate of State Security of USSR – «Кoppeктиpoвщики» (Spotters). It landed in the night of August 28, 1944 near the town of Labiau (modern day Polessk), in the forest of Neusilkeim (Hoйзилькaйм in russian text, I hope I got german writing right - Zvez-dump). The group consisted of Radyuk and 8 more men: leutenant junior Victor Chistyakov, who was supposed to replace the commander in case of emergency: radio men - sergeant major (cтapшинa) Edouard Mayorov and sergeant senior Nikolai Martynov; recon sgt junior Vasily Tishin and Red Army privates: Constantin Zyryanov, Anatoly Nikitenko, Ivan Podchashinsky and Kondrat Stepanov. Komsomolskaya Pravda paper got a hold on the unique material which wasn't published anywhere yet - an audio record, made by the radio man Nikolai Nikolaevich Martynov, in 1989. It was given to the editor by the grandson of recon trooper, Dmitry Bogomolov, who resides today in Yaroslavl. Because the tape record is two hours long, we'll publish only the most interesting episodes from the recon trooper's story Lucky landing ang meeting a young lady Sadly, the record lacks the beginning, where Nikolai Martynov must have been telling story of the preparations for the operation and specifics of the group's transportation behing the german lines. By the first words it is possible to understand that the landing of a recon was spotted by a young girl (he calls her «pannochka» - young lady in polish). It's likely that this girl was moved to Eastern Prussia by germans from Poland, and that's why she got sympathy for the landing soviet soldiers and even made some food for Nikolai - She went with the cows back to the folwark and about two hours later I've heard her walking back with the cattle, there were about 20 cows, and she carries a small bag with her, - Martynov remembers. - When she walked to me, she gave me that bag. In that bag there were two bottles of water, and something to eat. I asked her to tell me again about the whereabouts of the settlements, quickly got idea about my whereabouts with the compass and wrote down what she said about the situation. About half an hour after Nikolai's meeting with the polish lady, Radyuk and Chistyakov have gathered the group which was spread around the forest. It turned out that all nine members of the group have landed successfully. In a matter of one day they were sweeping the forest in the search of two cargo parachutes with food, part of their weaponry and spare equipment. They got it all by the evening and the Tiger group has left the landing zone First message for the center In the morning of a next day recons have chosen a safe spot for a camp. - The main thing we needed is to build a base in a such way so we could have a water source.- Martynov says- Бeз вoды мы нe мoгли тaм нaхoдитьcя. We wouldn't last there without a water. We've found a small stream from which we could take water, and we made our base about one kilometer away from it. We quickly got whatever we needed from our cargo parachutes, and buried all the unnecessary things in the sand. We buried it, mad e it almost invisible, got everyone to remember the place so if there would be a need, anyone could get himself a spare weapon or underwear or our emergency supply of food. We were vulnerable to all possible troubles. After that we got our first message encrypted and in the evening of August 30 I've sent it to The Center: "Everything's fine, landed suceessfully, proceeding to the mission. In the next day captain Radyk decided to take a part of his group to a highway which should have been observed. The data on the spotted german coloumns should have been sent to the center.. You have to understand that it was our first night march and it's not that easy to get back to the base at night. But Raduyk never ceased to amaze me. As we've learned, he was so skilled with a map and compass, that his mistake during planning course was about 100 meters for 20 kilometers. He got all our boys back to the base Recons used to work only at night and slept in the day, hiding in the forest. After Radyuk's return, it was decided to establish a spotting post between a highway and a railroad next to the village of Groß Droosden (modern day Zhuravlyovka). The people, responcible for the spotting were Anatoly Nikitenko and Edouard Mayorov. They should have been sending encrypted messages on whatever german troops they've spotted every day. In case of spotting large amout of soldiers and vehicles, the recons were supposed to call in the air strike. -They couldn't be spotted for more than a month and they've sent a large amount of information. giving me enough time for sending other messages. One day, Nikolai and one of his mates went to the stream for water and found there a man in civilian clothing. The man called himself Constantine and claimed to be a lieutenant senior or Red Army, who was taken captive in 1939 near Lvov (but most likely he was a Polish Army member of ukraninan or belarussian orgin). The POW has said that he's trusted by one of the landlords and can supply the recons with some intel. According to Martynov, eventually they got the whereabouts of an army airfield near Labiau. -After we talked to him, we realised how lucky we were. Some time before our jump a large amount of german soldiers were moved from this area to the front., otherwise we could have been caught. Constantine admitted that a rumor about soviet paratroopers dropped near Labiau was already circulating among POWs working in german households. He said that there was a POW camp nearby, with relatively soft regime. Constantine said that it was possible to sneak in the camp and talk to the prisoners. -He said that he has been riding past that camp quite often when he used to transport milk. He claimed that prisoners in the camp have a resistance comittee, planning to revolt in the moment Red Army approaches, capture weapons and join them. A couple of days later Constantine has made another trip to Konigsberg and met the prisoners again. They asked for a meeting with the recons to negotiate with them on joint actions - One of the days, we've met the representatives of the undergound comittee of the camp, - Martynov claims.. – They walked out of the camp on their own and met us on the border of some settlement (sadly, don't remember it's name). They asked us to supply them with weapons so the could tear everything up. They said that there were about 4000 of our POWs, who were used on defense works - digging trenches, building bunkers. We've asked them for the schemes of the bunkes and they gave them to us. Also they've reported on which bridges and roads are already surrounded with landimnes and prepared for destruction. It was highly important for us as well, because we could be killed by those mines ourselves. A Pseudo-belgian After meeting the underground committee of POW camp, the mood of the commandos got high (right now I'll be using both commandos and recons, because I'm getting tired of using one word repetitively - Z-d). They immedieatly took up the task of searching for the hidden german airfield, the aprroximate whereabouts of which they got from new friends. - Viktor Chistyakov and either Costya (Zyryanov) or Vasily (Tishin) went to the area of Labiau. A couple of days they came back and reported that this airfield actually exists. They observed it carefully and found out that germans got no experimental machines there, only common mass-production planes. After that we decided to establish contacts with other groups or spies who should have been supplying us with the intel from Konigsberg. Martynov admits that he hasn't participated in those operations because his aid was necessary only for extraordinary cases - commandos were afraid of loosing a radio man and being left without connection to the Center. - Sadly, almost every contacts we got from HQ were already liquidated by Gestapo and Gendarmerie. Nontheless, some of the russian POWs and Constantine have offered their help in getting intel. One day Constantine said that a certain belgian is willing to meet the soviet commandos. The meeting should have taken place on the edge of the forest. - We said that when he would be walking down the trail, he would sing "Katyusha". In a couple of days we finally met. I was there. It turned out that this belgian was, in fact, an english spy, who was also parachuted in this area in a semi-legal way, under the disguise of german soldier. He worked in the harbour, reporting to british intelligence on the moves of Kriegsmarine. Agent Alex A foreigner has explained to his soviet colleagues that his radio was broken,gave us his callsign and asked us to transmit the last intel he gathered to the British HQ. But captain Radyuk, the head of the team, responded that this message would be sent to soviet HQ first and then handed over to British Embassy. Fake belgian has agreed for those conditions and asked to wait for him for a few hours until he gets his message encrypted. - He was working long. He had a special encrypting notebook. He didn't knew how to write in russian, so we asked him to write in German. We got the point of the message: he asked for new means of communication, reported that he has lots of data and sent the directions where he could be found. Our guys got the message, but I don't know what came out of it. Soviet recons have asked the englishman to share the data he recovered once more. Later, the spy, who called himself Alex, has arranged two more meetings with Tiger group through Constantine and handed over the information he got. - He was very assertive, asking to copy our map of the area, claiming that he has lost his map. We suggested to give him a copy of a specific area when he needs it. He wouldn't agree, demanding copy of a full map, "for maneuvers". We refused. His behaviour seemed pretty weird to us. For example, he asked us immediately about our salary for working here. We asked him back and he said: "About a 1000$ per day". He was recieving some supplies throut the Red Cross, sometimes he shared his cigaretts with us. He was in a weird situation: we both trusted and didn't trusted him. We never felt that he was a professional. That's why we never showed him our base, meeting always in 15-20 kilometers away, so SS or Gendarmerie wouldn't catch us Starving and taking casualties Commando group "Tiger" have kept on developing its own net of agents. But soon the recons started to feel troubles with their food supply. They already ran out of the food they had, so the air supply requests were sent more and more often. - We got messages about plane being prepared for three times, and for three times we got nothing. The situation became difficult - tells Martynov. – During one of the missions on September 18 the guys got an idea to break into one of the german houses. But when they approached it, someone has shot at Constantine Zyryanov through the window. The german inside had a drilling, two smooth barrels and one rifled, for hunting boar. And so he shot two loads. Constantine was heavily wounded, and the base was pretty far away, about 10-15 kilometers. Then we decided to leave Victor Chistyakov together with Costya, so the rest would return to the base, and on the next day we would return and pick our boys up. But it got very difficult on the next day: the locals have reported the night attack to Gendarmerie, and also notified SS and Gestapo. Hot on the trail germans have discovered our recons and surrounded them. As the local paper wrote, Vitya has killed 16 dogs and about 30 germans in that fight. But our boys have died too. Those were our first casualties in Eastern Prussia. Sadly, we couldn't bury them - the germans did it. According to rumors, their officer said that if every german would die as good as those russians did, the war would be won a long time ago. After that we made a final descision that this way of getting food is too risky. We have organised a "household company": Vasily Tishin and Kondrat Stepanov would dig potatos from the farms and gather wood sorrel at night. Then we would cook something like saltless shchi out of it - recons had ran out of their salt as well. We knew that this way we won't last for long. The plane was delayed, and HQ was giving us more new tasks: «Be more attentive, air recons report on the large amout of troops moving from the center of Germany to the Eastern Front». We've been sending daily confirmations , observing the passing tank companies, artillery groups transported by trucks towars Insterburg (modern day Chernyakhovsk) and Tilsit (modern day Sovetsk). Germans felt that our army was about to launch a massive assault, and were getting ready for it. Homeland cargo. Nevermind the starving, the recons did all they could to observe the german echelons moving to the east. But then they got the first early frosts. - We were dressed very lightly, -Martynov tells. - the warmest thing we had were the camouflage suits (oppic of this thread is a screencap from 1949 Zvezda movie, featuring early war pattern camouflage suits - Z-d). Freezing and starving has been affecting us. Our battle capabilities haven't decreased, but the boys have started to feel the fatigue. All this situation became pretty bothersome. Finally, the group has recieved the message that in the night on September 24 there would be an awaited supply drop. But the plane has approached us only on the next day. We've found ourselves a glade and send a message to pilots to orient to the light of the flashlights - four iln one line and six in a second, 50 meters apart from each other. The plane has dropped two parachutes. We got our supplies successfully, but there was a certain disappointment. For example. we couldn't get why did they sent us almost 10 kilograms of soap. And 9 pairs of new chrome leather boots had no practical application whatsoever in a situation like this. And we got very little amount of concentrates and canned food. The content of 39 cans was spoiled, unfit to eat. There were also three aluminum flasks with spirit, but they were stomped by the boot so hard, (the stain has remained) the volume of them has decreased, let's say, from 500 to 300 grams. All those small things are distinctive as the sign of how supply services behind our lines have treated our serious work. Maybe, the man behind this supply has thought that it's not likely that we would get it. Also, many people thought that we were almost dead.. We got terribly outraged by such treatment and we always remembered the words of Kalashnikov (must have been the mentor for the group) «Motherland won't forget you!». According to Nikolai Martynov, leutenant senior who was packing the cargo, was punished after the return of the group to the Red Army lines. He was demoted to private and sent to the front. Evading the sweep Anyway, a supply even this bad has turned out to be a good thing. The commandos have spet one day eating and resting, after that they got to fulfilling a new task. They had engaged the locals again too. - One of our groups have stumbled upon a house. They got spotted and the alarm was raised. Events like this were always reported to the Gestapo, who clearly understood that someone hostile is present in the area. According to Constantine the POW, his master was old count Gaube, a veteran of a Nazi party, who wore a swastika badge on his gray hat with green feather, decorated with diamonds and a large ruby. He asked the Gestapo to sweep through the forest for several times. - All this got us cautious, we began to maneuver more, to change our bases more often and camouflage our trails. Following the advice of Kalashnikov, each time and in every time of day we have been crossing the roads walking backwards, so the footsteps would show us moving in a different direction. As it turned out later, it has saved us for a couple times, disorienting the pursuers. On October 8, the situation of "Tiger" has got much worse. - Two days before Constantine has met us and told us that civilians are informed and that germans are gathering the batallions to sweep the forests to the east of Konigsberg on Sunday. "You have to prepare and think through your actions". In the night from 7th to 8th we decided to move to the north, closer to the Baltic Sea, because, as Constantine said, the sweeping would start in the south. We wanted to win more time. And so we approached our new base, I've got my radio prepared, sent a message, got a response, decoded it... And so we sit wit captain Radyuk, and I repeat the message to him: "Once again I ask you to strenthen your alertness. Other dropped groups often cease to contact us. Army is about to launch an assault soon. We task you with detailed reporting the move and dislocation of army echelons". Also they reporded that Victor Chistyakov was posthumously promoted to lieutenant senior and got his fourth Order of the Red Banner. As soon as Martynov stopped working with the radio, he opened his eyes and spotted a chain of germans walking at them. - There were both soldiers and civilians walking. But all of them were armed. They intended to sweep the forest. And we were in the bushes, in 250-300 meters from them. When we decided to go deeper in the forest, germans have spotted us and opened imprecise fire. Approaching the trees I've felt a bullet hit. It turned out that an exploding bullet has hit the belt for the radio battery - the battery fell into the ditch. I had no time to pick it up and I kept on running. And they kept shooting, the bullets flying past us, exploding somewhere in the forest - if felt as they're shooting from both directions, as if we're surrounded. And then Ivan Podchashinsky has moaned. He grabbed his elbow, I took a look - the blood began to stream by his hand.. I shout: "Vanya, run for the forest!" We made it for 200 meters more, and it was 300 or maybe 500 meters to the chain of germans, We got Ivan's wound tied by a piece of a parachute, without cutting his sleeve. The bullet must have hit his elbow joint. And we had an unwritten law: if you're wounded and you become a burden for your comrades, you should, if you have strength, shoot yourself. Ivan has said goodbye to us and ran to other direction. We shouted: "Ivan. what are you doing? We're all pretty much dead, and you still can shoot. Let's try to make it out together». We moved deep into the forest, lay where the young birches grow and took our defense positions. Germans have entered the forest, they realized that we were here and began walking slow, cautiously. We can hear them very close, we got our SMGs cocked... Right now I can't imagine how it hapened, but it turned out that we all stayed calm and nobody has opened fire. And then, in the six steps from us, the chain of germans have dissolved in two and passed us by. When they made it 100 meters further, we quickly got up and moved in an opposite direction. And germans have reached the sea shore, failing to find anyone. Soon we heard germans shouting "Mittag! Mittag!". That was the call for sweepers to have a dinner. As germans ate, the sun came down. The recons realised that nothing is threatening them right now and decided to go further to the north and then along the sea shore to the east, to return to the base. So much for part 3. When it got dark, recons realised that germans wouldn't spot them. Nevermind the surrounding troops, the group has sneaked out. - When we began to walk out, we found out that the forest is surrounded. The had soldiers standing every 50-100 meters. But we had suppressed firearms, so we have removed the centries and made our way to the base. As we went, we decided to check outr spotting post, where Edik and Anatoly should have been. At the spotting post they've found only spent casings and shot (must have been destroyed by recons themselves) radio. Everything was covered in blood, but there were no corpses. - We realised that the boys are dead, - Martynov continues. - Some time later we've learned that they were buried in the village of Groß Droosden . As the witnesses claimed, both of them were still alive when they were buried. I can't prove this, but afer the war I've been in Moscow and tried to visit Edik's sister. I haven't met her, but in Sokolniki neighborhood, in the Pervy Ogorodny lane, where he lived, I've met a girl he knew, Nadia. And she told me that there was a letter from Stalingrad. The author claimed that he saw Edik in a concentration camp near Konigsberg. I don't really believe this, but this version can't be discarded. Someone knew that this was Edouard Vasillevich Mayorov and knew his adress. Soon after, the members of "Tiger" group have returned to the base, where the recons decided to think what to do next.. - It turned out that my radio was also shot and unable to function. We decided to take a day for thinking and gathered together on October 10 for a discussion. Germans, obviously, would continue searching for us, since they saw us but haven't killed us. And for us, staying here without a radio is pointless. Eventually, the opinions have split. Few of us have had a proposition to make ourselves a dugout, gather food and wait for our troops to apporach. Me and Vasya, our siberian, were strongly against it. After that we got support from Radyuk.I, for example, tried to convince enyone that we should cross the frontline, get new radio from our folks and then return. But we had no map and we were tired. We ran out of the food supplies and we had a heavily wounded soldier requiring treatment. They decided to ask for help from Constantine, the POW contact. According to Nikolai Martynov, he was a paramedic. - He came to us, looked at the wound and said: "Guys, I won't be able to help here. Let's do it like this: I'll get him to the attic of the barnyard and there I'll be able to clean his wound systematically, in the morning, day and evening, to avoid gangrene." Radyuk said: "Nikolai, take Ivan to Kostya. Come on, ger Ivan moving" In the evening, under Kostya's guidance, we went through the forest to the barnyward and made our way to the hayloft. Kostya got us something to eat and said: "Wait for the morning, when I'll start to patch Ivan up". Before the sleep Kostya has instructed recons on preparation for unwanted guests. - He warned us: "If I would go upstairs, I'll knock on the ladder three times. If anyone else is going to do it, shoot - there are no other "our guys". There are polish workers, but they're so aggressive towards everything soviet, we can't trust them. In the dawn Nikolai Martynov was observing the situation in the court through the window in the roof of the hayloft. Out of the main entrance, comes out count Gaube, and his little bolognese dog with him. And this dog circles around the master, barking. Runs to the barn, points her head to where we are and barks. She made it once, made it twice, and barks in our side each time. Gaube calls Kostya and asks him to watch what's going on. Kostya has took the dog iwht him, went up the ladder and said: "Guys, I'll tell the master that it's pidgeons" We let the dog sniff us. Kostya went down and reported: "Those are the pidgeons, nothing else". He let the dog out and it began running and barking again. Then count has sent a pole. The pole is climbing up the ladder. I had a suppresed rifle with me, I cocked it and as he got his head high enough, I moved the hay and said: "Shut up or I'll kill you. Ain't nobody here but us pidgeons!" He responded something in polish and then went back. I couldn't hear much, but I saw hip reporting to the count about pidgeons and then let the dog go. Count went back in the house. Some time later Kostya runs up to the barn and says: "Count has called the Gestapo, said that he has someone on the hayloft. We gotta run!" After that Martynov and Podchashinsky have climbed down, went out of the window on the other side from the Count's house and hid themselves in a ditch, in 300-400 meters from the forest. - I used the spray so the dogs wouldn't smell us, made Ivan crawl forward, and so we crawled for 150 meters to the bushes. Then we stood up and walked.But there was one more trouble I haven't talked about - on the edge of the forest, there were Gestapo members under the disguise of POWs, singing in russian so we woluld fall for it. And this day they were singing way too active, so we've slightly changed our course and went for our base. As we made first 100 meters, we've heard a car and a truck riding to Gaube. The germans began searching on the hay lodge, but we made our escape clean - no traces, no leads. After fleeing from Gestapo, Nikolai Martynov and Ivan Podchashinsky headed back to base. - Imagine the look on our guys faces when we came back and reported! We got Ivan's bandages changed, on the next day Kostya has brought us the hydrogen peroxide, we got those wounds cleaned and prepared for leaving. But we had to get ourself some food before leaving. That's why we decided to steal a young bull or a cow from the herd of one local bauer, boil the meat and make our way to the frontline. We had no other food.. Then Martynov laughs and remembers the hungry and weakened commandos trying to combat one young bull. - It was horrible, that little bull has knocked all of us off our feet and we could't do anything about it. Eventually we got his legs tied by the parachute stropes, pulled it with a stick and took our meet to the forest. We slaughtered the bull, boiled the meat, divided the meat in backpacks and on October 20 1944 we made our unprecedented hike towards frontline.On the map captain Radyuk has drawn a straight line with a red pencil, straight as a plane course. Same mark was made on the maps of other guys, with the spots for daytime rest. The first major obstacle for the recons was the river of Deime. The river is wide, the bridges are guarded and there is no ford. Then the commando crew decided to make a raft out of wooden fence for the snow, tied together with the parachute stropes. The first one to ride the raft was Vasily Tishin. Later they strang a rope over the river, turning raft into a ferry. After getting on another side, they cut the rope and disassembled the raft. - On October 22 we've reached a meadow and started to think if we should continue to go through the forest or if se should make our way to the road to move faster. We made a descision to go through the forest, took our daytime rest and began to move in the evening. We walked for 10 hours before realising how hard it is . Eventually the group decided to move only in a daytime. And on October 24 in the forest near the highway between Laukischken and Burgsdorg (modern day Saranskoye and Berezovka) recons have spotted a house. We decided to walk in, maybe we'd learn something and get some food. We began to approach the house. We were in 25-30 meters from it when suddenly a boy have jumped behind us and ran to the house, shouting something. We lay down in the fern and waited for events to unfold. Then a tall guy walks out of the house, a tank crewmember all dressed in black, with a long barrel Parabellum, and he began shooting in the air with three round series. He was raising the alarm. Radyuk pushes me: "Act!" I pulled up my SMG, but after the first shot it jammed, next round can't be charged - the spring in the magazine has weakened. Then we aim the suppressed rifle, shoot - and the tankman goes down. And all we had to do is to flee, and fast. Recons have crossed the highway and then saw the trucks loeaded with soldiers moving where the shots were heard. Hoping that soldiers have no dogs with them, group has increased its speed and ran for 20 kilometers. Nobody has pursued them, but ahead was the edge of the forest. On the edge we've made our last bonfire and had some hot food. We've slept through the night and went out in the morning. We've walked 20 kilometers for 3 days. Finally, we've approached the village of Schuppinnen - it was made of spread farms. We were amazed by the fact that we saw no light and heard no noise. We walked into houses, one after another. It turned out that all the inhabitants were evacuated, it seemed as if they've just left. In one house we even found a table with the food on it. Nevermind the hunger, we decided not to taste it - what if it's poisoned? We've entered the last shed, placed centries and went to bed. We've slept for most of the day. In the evening we got ourselves some water, had a drink, a snack for the last time and went forward. Some time later the recons have found themselves near the railroad which was used to move trains from Insterburg to Tilsit. According to Martynov, they all wanted to derail at least one train, since they had all the necessary equipment. But they decided not to, because otherwise they would be pursued again, and threre is no more forest to hide. Also, the group has made its way past the map, and they had no idea where to go next. They suspected that it was more than 100 kilometers to the frontline. -When we made our path without a map, Alexander Radyuk have shown us his skill. He was an amazing navigator! He tried to make some landmarks with azimuth, passing past the villages so they wouldn't spot us, and we took a little rest each 5-6 kilometers. We could already hear the cannons firing far away, but then we stumbled upon a swamp. We decided to go through the swamp instead of making a detour. The swamp was full of flash bomb parachutes. It was very hard to walk, the legs got stuck and it seemed as if this bog is endless - we were weakened by then. By the evening we've made it to the edge of the swamp, stopped in a little pine forest and fell asleep. In the night it started to rain, and it began to freeze in the forest, so we woke up frozen to the ground. But the main surprise of the day was that they accidentally slept in the middle of a heavy artillery battery. - Any fritz who would like to take a leak could stumble upon us. What should we do? We decided to wait. Nothing has happened. We planned our path so we wouldn't stumble on a cannon or a trench. As it began to go dark, we began sneaking out of this surrounding. By November 6th the reconds realised that the front is very near, - they could see the flares go up and could hear the gunfire. But they had to cross the frontline, it's the hardest part of a recon's work. - We've reached some trench. We see that the profile is open to is, and that there was a Bruno spiral (Concertina wire in russian military speak - Z-d) in front of the trench. We've stopped on the parapet and then heard germans speaking to the right and to the left of us. We crawled and stepped over the trench. But how can we cross the barbed wire? It was easy for us, but hard for wounded Ivan. Then we got the idea - we threw the coat on the spiral and carried Ivan over. Then we took the coat off the wire, walked some more, and then Alexander Radyuk tells me: "If we go in a crowd, we may be shot by our own. That's why you go first, and go not by the low, but by high placed, so they would spot you. And we would follow." - I've went to one trench facing the german line, then to another - there was nothing, only forest. we've enterd the forest and walked for 15 kilometers more. When the forest ended, we saw a village to the right. We listened and we hear the russian language, the "Pretty girls..." song. and all that. We realised that we've crossed the frontline. It was November 7th, 1944. As they approached the village, the recons shouted to the centry, Those turned out to be partizans. The centry said that he should alert his own and fired a round in the air. - We had a horrible look. The soldiers began to pop out of the houses, they've surrounded us and starteg asking who we are, why are were here and what for. We explained everthing, they brought us in a house, sat us by the table and gave us,.. I remember, the grain porrige. I remember that we have collapsed after we ate it. In the next morning the remaining members of Tiger group were called by the head of intelligence of 39th defence zone. The song mentioned here is not quite about pretty girls, or rather not about girls at all. It's from the movie called "A Great Life" https://youtu.be/6i3fa_I4il4 [Open] >In the next morning the remaining members of Tiger group were called by the head of intelligence of 39th defence zone. - After we told him where we went and how, he didn't believed us. He said that our recons go there daily and they're getting killed by ladmines, that there are both our mines and german ones. We couldn't prove anything to him, so we made a request - send a telegramme to certain adress so they would pick us up. He promised us to do so, but we were put into some basement with some other inmate soldiers. Maybe deserters or some other kind of punished people. We've spend there one day, then another. We're not fed, we're forgotten. When the soldiers began to cause noise and show their outrage, they were called back to the colonel, the head of the intelliegence. . - We said that we have a heavily wounded man who needs aid. The colonel said: "Alright, sit down, I'll make a call" After he called the Front HQ, about an hour later a plane landed with major Lepilov on board. When he saw us, he almost cried, that's how malnourished we were. We got quickly boarded on the plane and sent to the city of Kaunas.In a half of hour or one hour we landed on the airfield, we were taken to the center of the city to the Stalin avenue (modern day Laisves Aleja - main street of Kaunas). I remember that house and I've been there for several times after. We got cleaned up there, and after that a car took Ivan Podchashinsky to the hospital. After that they took Vasily Tishin and Constantin Zyryanov to hospital as well. I remained together with Sasha Radyuk. The commandng officers have approached only on the next day, and then they began to ask questions. Thing is that as the recons went to the east, they marked all the fortifications they've found.. - As we argued with the head of intelliegence of 39th Defence Zone, he claimed "there are two ful profile german trenches and no anti-tank ditch", while we reported three trenches and a 6-8 meters deep ditch. He wouldn't believe us and said that air recons don't report it. After that we were asked to write a report on our group's actions. Me and Sasha have spent two days writing it. And on the third day colonel Kalashnikov (the mentor of Tiger group, not THAT Kalashnikov - Z-d) has approached us, and we were still in our beds, not feeling right. And then he enters the room and orders: "STAND UP! A-TEN-HUT!". We stand up un our underwear, and he gave us our government awards for our previous work behind enemy lines in Belarus - I got Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class, and Sasha got Order of the Red Banner. After the reports were finished, Alexander Radyuk have been taken somewhere and he and Martynov have neve met again. П - On November 20 I was offfered to move to another apartment in a lane next to Stalin ave, in a house of some lithuanian playwright. I was told: "Right now we'll get you food and then send you back home for a vacation". Then they brought new civilian clothing, gave me the improved nutrition rations. But when I was about to go on vacation, I couldn't have enough power to carry my backpack. By the New Year's Eve, about 15 or 20 of November 1944 I made it to Yaroslavl. When a recon went back to his mother, the neighbours circulated a rumour that he cam back from prison - that's how unexpected it was for a man to come back home without a uniform. - I looked like I actually came back from prison. In the Oblast comittee of the Party I made necessary arrangements, got my food ration and wanted to invite all my school friends to celebrate New Year, but no one came. Who would like to visit a prisoner or a warden during wartime - all the proper people are on the front! On the next day I send my mother for my friends once more (and before this mission I asked my commanders to tell my mother what is my service - neither she, nor dad knew about it, even though my dad fought this war in the same time - he was a head of a regiment on 2nd Belorussian front). And so, my school friens have finally gathered. I went to another room, and when my mom told me that everyone came, I walked out with my medals on. And it all went silent, as in "Government Inspector" stage play. And so I expalined them shortly, who I was and how I was doing - not all, of course. That's pretty much it. After the vacation Nikolai Martynov have participated in fights with germans in Germany and "bandits" (wwii-era speak for hostile guerillas) in the area of Biała Podlaska, Poland.