How soldiers had fun during the World War. How soldiers and officers had fun and lived

There are various legends about the ingenuity of Russian soldiers. It manifested itself especially clearly during the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War.

"For fear"

During the retreat of the Soviet troops in 1941, one of the KV-1 tanks (Klim Voroshilov) stalled. The crew did not dare to abandon the car - they remained in place. Soon German tanks approached and began shooting at Voroshilov. They shot all the ammunition, but only scratched the armor. Then the Nazis, with the help of two T-IIIs, decided to tow the Soviet tank to their unit. Suddenly the KV-1 engine started up, and our tankers, without thinking twice, set off towards their own, dragging two enemy tanks in tow. The German tank crews managed to jump out, but both vehicles were successfully delivered to the front line. During the defense of Odessa, twenty tanks converted from ordinary tractors lined with armor were thrown against the Romanian units. The Romanians knew nothing about this and thought that these were some of the latest impenetrable tank models. As a result, panic began among the Romanian soldiers and they began to retreat. Subsequently, such “transformer” tractors were nicknamed “NI-1,” which meant “to be frightened.”

Bees against the Nazis

Non-standard moves often helped defeat the enemy. At the very beginning of the war, during the battles near Smolensk, one Soviet platoon found itself not far from a village where there were honey apiaries. A few hours later, German infantry entered the village. Since there were much more Germans than Red Army soldiers, they retreated towards the forest. There seemed to be no hope of escape. But then one of our soldiers came up with a brilliant idea: he began to turn over the hives with bees. The angry insects were forced to fly out and began to circle over the meadow. As soon as the Nazis approached, the swarm attacked them. From numerous bites, the Germans screamed and rolled on the ground, while the Soviet soldiers retreated to a safe place.

Heroes with an ax

There were amazing cases when one Soviet soldier managed to survive against an entire German unit. So, on July 13, 1941, private machine gun company Dmitry Ovcharenko was riding on a cart with ammunition. Suddenly he saw that a German detachment was moving straight towards him: fifty machine gunners, two officers and a truck with a motorcycle. The Soviet soldier was ordered to surrender and taken to one of the officers for questioning. But Ovcharenko suddenly grabbed an ax lying nearby and cut off the fascist’s head. While the Germans were recovering from the shock, Dmitry grabbed grenades that belonged to the killed German and began throwing them into the truck. After that, instead of running, he took advantage of the confusion and began swinging his ax right and left. Those around him fled in horror. And Ovcharenko also set off after the second officer and also managed to cut off his head. Left alone on the “battlefield,” he collected all the weapons and papers available there, did not forget to grab the officer’s tablets with secret documents and maps of the area, and delivered it all to headquarters. The command believed his amazing story only after seeing the scene of the incident with their own eyes. For his feat, Dmitry Ovcharenko was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. There was another interesting episode. In August 1941, the unit where Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda served was stationed near Daugavpils. Somehow Sereda remained on duty in the field kitchen. Suddenly he heard characteristic sounds and saw an approaching German tank. The soldier had only an unloaded rifle and an ax with him. We could only rely on our own ingenuity and luck. The Red Army soldier hid behind a tree and began to watch the tank. Of course, the Germans soon noticed a field kitchen deployed in the clearing and stopped the tank. As soon as they got out of the car, the cook jumped out from behind a tree and rushed towards the Nazis, waving weapons - a rifle and an ax - with a menacing look. This attack scared the Nazis so much that they immediately jumped back. Apparently, they decided that there was another whole company of Soviet soldiers nearby. Meanwhile, Ivan climbed onto the enemy tank and began hitting the roof with an ax. The Germans tried to fire back with a machine gun, but Sereda simply hit the muzzle of the machine gun with the same ax, and it bent. In addition, he began shouting loudly, allegedly calling for reinforcements. This led to the enemies surrendering, getting out of the tank and, at rifle point, obediently heading towards the direction where Sereda’s comrades were at that time. So the Nazis were captured.

Camp of Catherine's soldiers. Illustration by Alexander Benois for the publication “Pictures on Russian History.” 1912 Wikimedia Commons

A recruit of the 18th century, after a long journey, ended up in his regiment, which became a home for young soldiers - after all, service in the 18th century was lifelong. Only since 1793 its term was limited to 25 years. The recruit took an oath that forever separated him from his former life; received from the treasury a hat, caftan, cape, camisole with pants, tie, boots, shoes, stockings, undershirts and trousers.

“The Colonel’s Instructions for the Cavalry Regiment” of 1766 ordered that privates be taught to “clean and dry their trousers, gloves, baldric and sword belt, tie a hat, put a casket on it and put on boots, put spurs on them, graft a braid, put on a uniform, and then stand in the required a soldier’s figure, to walk simply and march... and when he gets used to all this, begin to teach rifle techniques, horse and foot exercise.” It took a lot of time to teach a peasant’s son to behave in a smart manner, “so that the peasant’s mean habit, dodging, grimacing, scratching during a conversation would be completely exterminated from him.” The soldiers had to shave, but they were allowed to grow a mustache; They wore their hair long, down to their shoulders, and on special days they powdered it with flour. In the 1930s, soldiers were ordered to wear curls and braids.

It took a lot of time “for the peasant’s mean habit, evasion, grimace, scratching during conversation to be completely exterminated from him.”

Coming to a company or squadron, yesterday's peasant community members joined their usual form of organization - a soldier's artel (“so that there were at least eight people in the mess”). In the absence of a developed supply system (and the usual shops and stores for us), Russian soldiers adapted to provide themselves with everything they needed. Old-timers trained newcomers, experienced and skillful ones purchased additional provisions with artel money, repaired ammunition themselves and sewed uniforms and shirts from government-issued cloth and linen, and efficient workers were hired to earn money at billets. Money from salaries, earnings and bonuses was transferred to the artel treasury, at the head of which the soldiers elected a sedate and authoritative “expenditer”, or company leader.

This arrangement of military life made the Russian army of the 18th century socially and nationally homogeneous. The feeling of connection in battle provided mutual assistance and supported the soldier's morale. From the very first days, the recruit was inspired that now “he is no longer a peasant, but a soldier, who, by his name and rank, is superior to all his previous ranks, differs from them indisputably in honor and glory,” since he, “not sparing his life, ensures his fellow citizens, defends the fatherland... and thus deserves the gratitude and mercy of the Sovereign, the gratitude of fellow countrymen and the prayers of spiritual ranks.” The recruits were told the history of their regiment with mention of the battles where this regiment participated, and the names of heroes and commanders. In the army, yesterday’s “mean man” ceased to be a serf, if he had been one before. A peasant boy became a “sovereign servant” and in an era of constant wars could rise to the rank of non-commissioned officer and even, if lucky, to chief officer. Peter I’s “Table of Ranks” opened the way to obtaining the title of nobility - thus, approximately a quarter of the infantry officers of Peter’s army “came into the public eye.” For exemplary service, a salary increase, a medal, and promotion to corporal and sergeant were provided. “Faithful and true servants of the fatherland” were transferred from the army to the guard, received medals for battles; For distinguished service, soldiers were paid “a ruble” with a glass of wine.

Having seen distant lands on campaigns, the serviceman broke with his former life forever. The regiments, composed of former serfs, did not hesitate to suppress popular unrest, and in the 18th and 19th centuries the soldier did not feel like a peasant. And in everyday practice, the soldier got used to living at the expense of ordinary people. Throughout the 18th century, the Russian army did not have barracks. In peacetime, it was billeted in the houses of rural and urban residents, who were supposed to provide the military with quarters, beds and firewood. Exemption from this duty was a rare privilege.

In everyday practice, the soldier got used to living at the expense of ordinary people.

Fusiliers of infantry regiments 1700-1720 From the book “Historical description of clothing and weapons of Russian troops”, 1842

On short days of rest from battles and campaigns, the soldiers walked with all their might. In 1708, during the difficult Northern War, the brave dragoons “became quartered in the towns. Wine and beer were collected to the wagon train. And some members of the gentry drank too much. They vilified them vehemently, and also beat them in the name of their sovereign. But fornication still appeared. They sent the shwadron gentry into the nooks and crannies of the dragoons. Those children were young and the girls and women had no way out of these whores "Nobles"- nobles (gentry) who served in the dragoon squadron (“shkvadron”). It was these young nobles who did not allow women passage.. Our colonel and worthy cavalier Mikhail Faddeich Chulishov ordered to frighten all those who are impudent and beat them to the batogs.<…>And those dragoons and granodiers who came out of small battles - they rested and drank kumiss from the Kalmyks and Tatars, flavored with vodka, and then fought with their fists with the neighboring regiment. Where we reproached, fought and lost our bellies, and where you hovered and lost our lives Svei- Swedes. were afraid. And in the distant shvadron they staggered and barked obscenely, and the colonels did not know what to do. By the sovereign's command, the most malicious were caught and broadcast and fought on goats in batogs in front of the entire front. And our two from the squadron also got dragoon Akinfiy Krask and Ivan Sofiykin. They were hanged by the neck. And Krask’s tongue fell out from being strangled, so much so that it even reached the middle of his breasts, and many were amazed at this and went to look.” “Service notes (diary) of Simeon Kurosh, captain of the Shvadron of the Dragoons, Roslavsky.”.

And in peacetime, the station of troops in any place was perceived by ordinary people as a real disaster. “He debauchs his wife, dishonors his daughter... eats his chickens, his cattle, takes his money and beats him incessantly.<…>Every month, before leaving their quarters, they must gather peasants, question them about their claims and take away their subscriptions.<…>If the peasants are unhappy, then they are given wine, they get drunk, and they sign. If, despite all this, they refuse to sign, then they are threatened, and they end up falling silent and signing,” General Langeron described the behavior of soldiers at the post in Catherine’s time.

The soldier debauchs his wife, dishonors his daughter, eats his chickens, his cattle, robs him of his money and beats him incessantly.

Officers had the opportunity for more refined leisure, especially abroad. “...All the other officers of our regiment, not only young but also elderly, were engaged in completely different matters and concerns. Almost all of them, the zealous desire to be in Konigsberg stemmed from a completely different source than mine. They had heard enough that Koenigsberg is a city that is filled with everything that can satisfy and satiate the passions of the young and those who spend their lives in luxury and debauchery, namely: that there were a great many taverns and billiards and other places of entertainment in it; that you can get anything you want in it, and most of all, that the female sex in it is too susceptible to lust and that there is a great many young women practicing dishonest needlework and selling their honor and chastity for money.
<…>Before even two weeks had passed, to my great surprise, I heard that there was not a single tavern, not a single wine cellar, not a single billiard room and not a single obscene house left in the city that was no longer known to our gentlemen officers. but that not only are they all on the list, but quite a few have already made close acquaintance partly with their mistresses, partly with other local residents, and have already taken some of them into their household and to support them, and all of them have already drowned in all the luxuries and debauchery “,” recalled former lieutenant of the Arkhangelsk infantry regiment Andrei Bolotov about his stay in Koenigsberg, conquered by Russian troops in 1758.

If “insolence” was allowed towards the peasants, then in the “front” discipline was demanded from the soldiers. Soldiers' poems from that era truthfully describe everyday drill:

You go on guard - so woe,
And when you come home, it will be doubled
On guard we suffer,
And when you change, it’s learning!..
The guards are holding their suspenders,
Expect stretching during training.
Stand straight and stretch
Don't chase the pokes,
Slaps and kicks
Take it like pancakes.

Violators of the “Military Article” were subject to punishment, which depended on the degree of the offense and was determined by a military court. “Witchcraft” was punishable by burning, and desecration of icons was punishable by beheading. The most common punishment in the army was the “spitzruten chase,” when the offender was marched with his hands tied to a gun between two ranks of soldiers, who struck him on the back with thick rods. Those who committed an offense for the first time were led through the entire regiment 6 times, those who committed an offense again - 12 times. They were strictly questioned for poor maintenance of weapons, for deliberate damage to them, or for “leaving a gun in the field”; Sellers and buyers were punished for selling or losing their uniforms. For repeating this offense three times, the perpetrator was sentenced to death. Common crimes for servicemen were theft, drunkenness and fights. Punishment followed for “inattention in formation”, for “being late in formation”. Anyone who is late for the first time “will be taken on guard or for two hours, three fuzes each.” Fusee- smoothbore flintlock gun. on the shoulder". Those who were late for the second time were subject to arrest for two days or “six muskets per shoulder.” Whoever was late for the third time was punished with spitzrutens. Talking in the ranks was punishable by “deprivation of salary.” For negligent guard duty in peacetime, a soldier faced “serious punishment”, and in wartime - the death penalty.

“Witchcraft” was punishable by burning, and desecration of icons was punishable by beheading.

Escape was especially severely punished. Back in 1705, a decree was issued according to which, of the three fugitives caught, one was executed by lot, and the other two were sent to eternal hard labor. The execution took place in the regiment from which the soldier fled. Flight from the army was widespread, and the government had to issue special appeals to deserters with a promise of forgiveness for those who voluntarily returned to duty. In the 1730s, the situation of soldiers worsened, leading to an increase in the number of fugitives, especially among recruits. Punishment measures were also increased. The fugitives faced either execution or hard labor. One of the decrees of the Senate in 1730 reads: “Which recruits learn to run abroad and are caught, then from the first breeders, for fear of others, be executed by death, hanged; and for the rest, who are not factory owners themselves, to inflict political death and exile to Siberia to do government work.”

A common joy in a soldier's life was receiving a salary. It was different and depended on the type of troops. The soldiers of the internal garrisons were paid the least - their salary in the 60s of the 18th century was 7 rubles. 63 kopecks in year; and the cavalrymen received the most - 21 rubles. 88 kop. If you consider that, for example, a horse cost 12 rubles, then this was not so little, but the soldiers did not see this money. Some went to debts or into the hands of resourceful sutlers, and some went into the artel cash register. It also happened that the colonel appropriated these soldiers' pennies for himself, forcing the rest of the regiment officers to steal, since they all had to sign the expense items.

The soldier squandered the rest of his salary in a tavern, where sometimes, in a dashing spirit, he could “scold everyone obscenely and call himself a king” or argue: with whom exactly is Empress Anna Ioannovna “living fornicating” - with Duke Biron or with General Minich? The drinking buddies, as expected, immediately informed, and the chatterbox had to justify himself with the usual “immense drunkenness” in such matters. At best, the matter ended in “persecution of spitsruten” in the native regiment, at worst - with a whip and exile to distant garrisons.

The soldier could argue with whom exactly Empress Anna Ioannovna is “living fornicatingly”—with Duke Biron or with General Minich?

Bored at the garrison service, the young soldier Semyon Efremov once shared with a colleague: “Pray to God that the Turk rises up, then we’ll get out of here.” He escaped punishment only by explaining his desire to start a war by saying that “while he’s young, he can serve.” The old servicemen, who had already smelled gunpowder, thought not only about exploits - among the “material evidence” in the files of the Secret Chancellery, the conspiracies confiscated from them were preserved: “Strengthen, Lord, in the army and in battle and in every place from the Tatars and from the various faithful and of unfaithful tongues and from all kinds of military weapons... but make me, your servant Michael, like a leftist by force.” Others were driven by melancholy and drill, like private Semyon Popov, to terrible blasphemy: the soldier wrote with his blood a “letter of apostasy,” in which he “called upon the devil to come to him and demanded wealth from him... so that through that wealth he could leave military service.”

And yet the war gave a chance to the lucky ones. Suvorov, who knew the psychology of a soldier very well, in his instruction “The Science of Victory” mentioned not only speed, pressure and bayonet attack, but also “holy booty” - and told how in Izmail, which was taken by a brutal assault under his command, soldiers “divided gold and silver by the handful " True, not everyone was so lucky. To the rest, “whoever remained alive - to him honor and glory!” — the same “Science of Victory” promised.

However, the army suffered the greatest losses not from the enemy, but from illness and lack of doctors and medicines. “Walking around the camp at sunset, I saw some regimental soldiers digging holes for their dead brethren, others already burying, and others completely buried. In the army, many people suffer from diarrhea and putrid fevers; when officers settle into the kingdom of the dead, for whom during their illness they are certainly better looked after, and for money doctors use their own medicines, then how can soldiers not die, left in illness to the mercy of fate and for which medicines are either dissatisfied or Not available in other regiments at all. Diseases are born from the fact that the army stands in a square, a quadrangle, that excreted feces, even though the wind blows a little, spreads a very bad smell through the air, that the estuary water, being used raw, is very unhealthy, and vinegar is not shared with the soldiers, which On the shore, dead corpses are visible everywhere, drowned in the estuary in the three battles that took place there,” this is how army official Roman Tsebrikov described the siege of the Turkish fortress of Ochakov in 1788.

The majority suffered the usual soldier’s fate: endless marches across the steppe or mountains in the heat or mud, bivouacs and overnight stays in the open air, long evenings in “winter apartments” in peasant huts.

Soldiers' tales are an invariable attribute of Russian folklore. It just so happened that our army fought, as a rule, not “thanks to”, but “in spite of”. Some stories from the front make us open our mouths, others cry out “come on!?”, but all of them, without exception, make us proud of our soldiers. Miraculous rescues, ingenuity and just luck are on our list.

With an ax on a tank

If the expression “field kitchen” only makes you increase your appetite, then you are not familiar with the story of the Red Army soldier Ivan Sereda.

In August 1941, his unit was stationed near Daugavpils, and Ivan himself was preparing lunch for the soldiers. Hearing the characteristic clang of metal, he looked into the nearest grove and saw a German tank driving towards him. At that moment he only had an unloaded rifle and an ax with him, but Russian soldiers are also strong in their ingenuity. Hiding behind a tree, Sereda waited for the tank with the Germans to notice the kitchen and stop, and that’s what happened.

The Wehrmacht soldiers climbed out of the formidable vehicle, and at that moment the Soviet cook jumped out of his hiding place, waving an ax and a rifle. The frightened Germans jumped back into the tank, expecting, at a minimum, an attack by an entire company, and Ivan did not try to dissuade them from this. He jumped on the car and began to hit its roof with the butt of an ax, but when the taken aback Germans came to their senses and began to shoot at him with a machine gun, he simply bent its barrel with several blows of the same ax. Feeling that the psychological advantage was on his side, Sereda began shouting orders to the non-existent reinforcements of the Red Army. This was the last straw: a minute later the enemies surrendered and, at carbine point, set off towards the Soviet soldiers.

Woke up the Russian bear

KV-1 tanks - the pride of the Soviet army in the early stages of the war - had the unpleasant property of stalling on arable land and other soft soils. One such KV was unlucky to get stuck during the retreat of 1941, and the crew, loyal to their cause, did not dare to abandon the vehicle.

An hour passed and German tanks approached. Their guns could only scratch the armor of the “sleeping” giant, and having unsuccessfully shot all the ammunition at it, the Germans decided to tow the “Klim Voroshilov” to their unit. The cables were secured, and two Pz IIIs moved the KV from its place with great difficulty.

The Soviet crew was not going to give up, when suddenly the tank's engine started up, grunting with displeasure. Without thinking twice, the towed vehicle itself became a tractor and easily pulled two German tanks towards the Red Army positions. The puzzled crew of the Panzerwaffe was forced to flee, but the vehicles themselves were successfully delivered by the KV-1 to the very front line.

Correct bees

The battles near Smolensk at the beginning of the war claimed thousands of lives. But more surprising is the story of one of the soldiers about the “buzzing defenders.”

Constant air raids on the city forced the Red Army to change their positions and retreat back several times a day. One exhausted platoon found itself not far from the village. There, the battered soldiers were greeted with honey, fortunately the apiaries had not yet been destroyed by airstrikes.

Several hours passed, and enemy infantry entered the village. The enemy forces outnumbered the Red Army forces several times and the latter retreated towards the forest. But they could no longer save themselves, they had no strength, and the harsh German speech could be heard very close by. Then one of the soldiers began to turn over the hives. Soon a whole buzzing clump of angry bees was circling over the field, and as soon as the Germans came a little closer to them, a giant swarm found its victim. The enemy infantry screamed and rolled across the meadow, but could not do anything. So the bees reliably covered the retreat of the Russian platoon.

From the other world

At the beginning of the war, fighter and bomber regiments were separated and often the latter flew on missions without air protection. This was the case on the Leningrad Front, where the legendary man Vladimir Murzaev served. During one of these deadly missions, a dozen Messerschmitts landed on the tail of a group of Soviet IL-2s. It was a disastrous situation: the wonderful IL was good in every way, but was not very fast, so having lost a couple of aircraft, the flight commander ordered the aircraft to be abandoned.

Murzaev was one of the last to jump, already in the air he felt a blow to the head and lost consciousness, and when he woke up, he mistook the surrounding snowy landscape for the Gardens of Eden. But he had to lose faith very quickly: in heaven there probably are no burning fragments of fuselages. It turned out that he was lying just a kilometer from his airfield. Having hobbled to the officer's dugout, Vladimir reported his return and threw a parachute onto the bench. Pale and frightened fellow soldiers looked at him: the parachute was sealed! It turns out that Murzaev was hit in the head by part of the plane's skin, and his parachute did not open. The fall from 3500 meters was softened by snowdrifts and true soldier's luck.

Imperial cannons

In the winter of 1941, all forces were thrown into defending Moscow from the enemy. There were no extra reserves at all. And they were needed. For example, the Sixteenth Army, which was drained of blood by losses in the Solnechnogorsk region.

This army was not yet led by a marshal, but already by a desperate commander, Konstantin Rokossovsky. Feeling that without an extra dozen guns the defense of Solnechnogorsk would fall, he turned to Zhukov with a request for help. Zhukov refused - all forces were involved. Then the tireless Lieutenant General Rokossovsky sent a request to Stalin himself. The expected, but no less sad, answer came immediately - there was no reserve. True, Joseph Vissarionovich mentioned that there may be several dozen mothballed guns that took part in the Russian-Turkish War. These guns were museum exhibits assigned to the Dzerzhinsky Military Artillery Academy.

After several days of searching, an employee of this academy was found. An old professor, almost the same age as these guns, spoke about the conservation site of howitzers in the Moscow region. Thus, the front received several dozen ancient cannons, which played an important role in the defense of the capital.

There were brothels for Germans in many occupied cities of North-West Russia.
During the Great Patriotic War, many cities and towns in the North-West were occupied by the Nazis. On the front line, on the outskirts of Leningrad, there were bloody battles, and in the quiet rear the Germans settled in and tried to create comfortable conditions for rest and leisure.

“A German soldier must eat, wash and relieve sexual tension on time,” many Wehrmacht commanders reasoned. To solve the latter problem, brothels were created in large occupied cities and visiting rooms in German canteens and restaurants, and free prostitution was allowed.

Girls usually didn’t take money

Mostly local Russian girls worked in the brothels. Sometimes the shortage of priestesses of love was filled from the residents of the Baltic states. The information that the Nazis were served only by purebred German women is a myth. Only the top of the Nazi party in Berlin was concerned with the problems of racial purity. But in war conditions, no one was interested in the woman’s nationality. It is also a mistake to believe that girls in brothels were forced to work only under threat of violence. Very often they were brought there by severe war famine.

Brothels in large cities of the North-West were usually located in small two-story houses, where 20 to 30 girls worked in shifts. One served up to several dozen military personnel per day. Brothels enjoyed unprecedented popularity among the Germans. “On some days, long lines lined up at the porch,” one Nazi wrote in his diary. Women most often received payment in kind for sexual services. For example, German clients of the bath and laundry plant in Marevo, Novgorod region, often pampered their favorite Slavic women in “brothel houses” with chocolates, which was almost a gastronomic miracle at that time. The girls usually didn’t take money. A loaf of bread is a much more generous payment than rapidly depreciating rubles.

German rear services monitored order in brothels; some entertainment establishments operated under the wing of German counterintelligence. The Nazis opened large reconnaissance and sabotage schools in Soltsy and Pechki. Their “graduates” were sent to the Soviet rear and partisan detachments. German intelligence officers sensibly believed that it was easiest to “stab” agents “on a woman.” Therefore, in the Soletsky brothel, all the service personnel were recruited by the Abwehr. The girls, in private conversations, asked the cadets of the intelligence school how devoted they were to the ideas of the Third Reich, and whether they were going to go over to the side of the Soviet Resistance. For such “intimate-intellectual” work, women received special fees.

And full and satisfied

Some canteens and restaurants where German soldiers dined had so-called visiting rooms. Waitresses and dishwashers, in addition to their main work in the kitchen and hall, also provided sexual services. There is an opinion that in the restaurants of the famous Faceted Chamber in the Novgorod Kremlin there was such a meeting room for the Spaniards of the Blue Division. People talked about this, but there are no official documents that would confirm this fact.

The canteen and club in the small village of Medved became famous among Wehrmacht soldiers not only for their “cultural program”, but also for the fact that striptease was shown there!

Free prostitutes

In one of the documents from 1942 we find the following: “Since the brothels available in Pskov were not enough for the Germans, they created the so-called institute of sanitary-supervised women or, more simply put, they revived free prostitutes. Periodically, they also had to appear for a medical examination and receive appropriate marks on special tickets (medical certificates).”

After the victory over Nazi Germany, women who served the Nazis during the war were subject to public censure. People called them “German bedding, skins, b...”. Some of them had their heads shaved, like the fallen women in France. However, not a single criminal case was opened regarding cohabitation with the enemy. The Soviet government turned a blind eye to this problem. In war there are special laws.

Children of love.

Sexual “cooperation” during the war left a lasting memory. Innocent babies were born from the occupiers. It is difficult to even calculate how many blond and blue-eyed children with “Aryan blood” were born. Today you can easily meet in the North-West of Russia a person of retirement age with the features of a purebred German, who was born not in Bavaria, but in some distant village in the Leningrad region.

Women did not always leave the “German” child who had taken root during the war years alive. There are known cases when a mother killed a baby with her own hands because he was “the son of the enemy.” One of the partisan memoirs describes the incident. For three years, while the Germans were “meeting” in the village, the Russian woman gave birth to three children from them. On the very first day after the arrival of the Soviet troops, she carried her offspring onto the road, laid them in a row and shouted: “Death to the German occupiers!” smashed everyone's heads with a cobblestone...

Kursk.

The commandant of Kursk, Major General Marcel, issued “Instructions for regulating prostitution in Kursk”. It said:

Ҥ 1. List of prostitutes.

Only women who are on the list of prostitutes, have a control card and are regularly examined by a special doctor for sexually transmitted diseases can engage in prostitution.

Persons intending to engage in prostitution must register to be included in the list of prostitutes in the Department of the Order Service of the city of Kursk. Entry into the list of prostitutes can only occur after the relevant military doctor (sanitary officer) to whom the prostitute must be sent gives permission. Deleting from the list can also only occur with the permission of the relevant doctor.

After being included in the list of prostitutes, the latter receives a control card through the Department of the Order Service.

§ 2. When performing her trade, a prostitute must adhere to the following regulations:

A) ... to engage in her trade only in her apartment, which must be registered by her in the Housing Office and in the Department of the Law and Order Service;

B)… nail a sign to your apartment, as directed by the relevant doctor, in a visible place;

B)…has no right to leave his area of ​​the city;

D) any attraction and recruitment on the streets and in public places is prohibited;

E) the prostitute must strictly follow the instructions of the relevant doctor, in particular, regularly and accurately appear for examinations within the specified time limits;

E) sexual intercourse without rubber guards is prohibited;

G) prostitutes who have been prohibited from having sexual intercourse by the appropriate doctor must have special notices posted on their apartments by the Department of the Order Service indicating this prohibition.

§ 3. Punishments.

1. Punishable by death:

Women who infect Germans or members of the Allied Nations with a venereal disease, despite the fact that they knew about their venereal disease before sexual intercourse.

A prostitute who has intercourse with a German or a person of an allied nation without a rubber guard and infects him is subject to the same punishment.

A sexually transmitted disease is implied and always when this woman is prohibited from having sexual intercourse by the appropriate doctor.

2. The following are punishable by forced labor in a camp for up to 4 years:

Women who have sexual intercourse with Germans or persons of the Allied nations, although they themselves know or suspect that they are sick with a venereal disease.

3. The following are punishable by forced labor in a camp for a period of at least 6 months:

A) women engaged in prostitution without being included in the list of prostitutes;

B) persons who provide premises for prostitution outside the prostitute’s own apartment.

4. The following are punishable by forced labor in a camp for a period of at least 1 month:

Prostitutes who do not comply with this regulation developed for their trade.

§ 4. Entry into force.

Prostitution was regulated in a similar way in other occupied territories. However, strict penalties for contracting sexually transmitted diseases led to the fact that prostitutes preferred not to register and carried out their trade illegally. The SD assistant in Belarus, Strauch, lamented in April 1943: “First, we eliminated all the prostitutes with venereal diseases that we could detain. But it turned out that women who were previously sick and reported it themselves later went into hiding after hearing that we would treat them badly. This error has been corrected, and women suffering from venereal diseases are being cured and isolated.”

Communication with Russian women sometimes ended very sadly for German military personnel. And it was not venereal diseases that were the main danger here. On the contrary, many Wehrmacht soldiers had nothing against catching gonorrhea or gonorrhea and spending several months in the rear - anything was better than going under the bullets of the Red Army and partisans. The result was a real combination of pleasant and not very pleasant, but useful. However, it was a meeting with a Russian girl that often ended with a partisan bullet for a German. Here is the order dated December 27, 1943 for the rear units of Army Group Center:

“Two chiefs of a convoy of one sapper battalion met two Russian girls in Mogilev, they went to the girls at their invitation and during a dance they were killed by four Russians in civilian clothes and deprived of their weapons. The investigation showed that the girls, together with Russian men, intended to join the gangs and in this way wanted to acquire weapons for themselves.”

According to Soviet sources, women and girls were often forced by the occupiers into brothels intended to serve German and allied soldiers and officers. Since it was believed that prostitution in the USSR had been ended once and for all, partisan leaders could only imagine forcibly recruiting girls into brothels. Those women and girls who were forced to cohabit with the Germans after the war to avoid persecution also claimed that they were forced to sleep with enemy soldiers and officers.

Stalino (Donetsk, Ukraine)

In the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine" for August 27, 2003 on the topic "Brothels for Germans in Donetsk." Here are excerpts: “In Stalino (Donetsk) there were 2 front-line brothels. One was called the “Italian Casino”. 18 girls and 8 servants worked only with the allies of the Germans - Italian soldiers and officers. As local historians say, this establishment was located near the current Donetsk Indoor market...The second brothel, intended for the Germans, was located in the oldest hotel in the city "Great Britain". In total, 26 people worked in the brothel (this includes girls, technical workers and management). The girls' earnings were approximately 500 rubles per week (so The ruble circulated in this territory in parallel with the stamp, the exchange rate was 10: 1. The work schedule was as follows: 6.00 - medical examination; 9.00 - breakfast (soup, dried potatoes, porridge, 200 grams of bread; 9.30-11.00 - departure to the city; 11.00-13.00 - stay in the hotel, preparation for work; 13.00-13.30 - lunch (first course, 200 grams of bread); 14.00-20.30 - customer service; 21.00 - dinner. Ladies were allowed to spend the night only in the hotel. A soldier received the commander had a corresponding coupon (within a month a private was entitled to 5-6 of them), underwent a medical examination, upon arrival at the brothel he registered the coupon, and handed over the counterfoil to the office of the military unit, washed himself (the regulations stipulated that the soldier be given a bar of soap, a small towel and 3- x condoms)... According to the surviving data in Stalino, a visit to a brothel cost a soldier 3 marks (put into the cash register) and lasted an average of 15 minutes. Brothels existed in Stalino until August 1943.

In Europe.

During the fighting in Europe, the Wehrmacht did not have the opportunity to create a brothel in every major population center. The corresponding field commandant gave consent to the creation of such institutions only where a sufficiently large number of German soldiers and officers were stationed. In many ways, one can only guess about the real activities of these brothels. Field commandants took responsibility for the equipment of brothels, which had to meet clearly defined hygienic standards. They set prices in brothels, determined the internal regulations of brothels and made sure that there was a sufficient number of available women there at any time.
Brothels were required to have bathrooms with hot and cold water and a mandatory toilet. Each “visiting room” had to have a poster “Sexual intercourse without contraception is strictly prohibited!” Any use of sadomasochistic paraphernalia and devices was strictly prosecuted by law. But the military authorities turned a blind eye to the trade in erotic pictures and pornographic magazines.
Not every woman was hired as a prostitute. Ministry officials carefully selected candidates for sex service for soldiers and officers. As you know, the Germans considered themselves the highest Aryan race, and peoples such as, for example, the Dutch or Finns, according to certain criteria, were related to the Aryans. Therefore, in Germany they monitored incest very strictly, and marriages between Aryans and close associates were not encouraged. There was no need to talk about non-Aryans. It was taboo. The Gestapo even had a special department for “ethnic community and health care.” His functions included control “over the seed fund of the Reich.” A German who had sexual intercourse with a Polish or Ukrainian woman could be sent to a concentration camp for “criminal squandering of the seed fund of the Reich.” Rapists and revelers (unless, of course, they served in the elite SS troops) were identified and punished. The same department monitored the purity of the blood of prostitutes in field brothels, and at first the criteria were very strict. Only true German women who grew up in the internal, native German lands of Bavaria, Saxony or Silesia had the right to work in officer brothels. They had to be at least 175 cm tall, always fair-haired, with blue or light gray eyes and have good manners.
Doctors and paramedics from military units had to provide brothels not only with soap, towels and disinfectants, but also with a sufficient number of condoms. The latter, by the way, until the end of the war will be centrally supplied from the Main Sanitary Directorate in Berlin.

Only air raids prevented the immediate delivery of such goods to the front. Even when supply problems began to arise in the Third Reich, and rubber was provided for certain industries on a special schedule, the Nazis never skimped on condoms for their own soldiers. In addition to the brothels themselves, soldiers could purchase condoms in buffets, kitchens and from supply officials.
But the most amazing thing about this system is not even that. It's all about the notorious German punctuality. The German command could not allow soldiers to use sexual services whenever they wanted, and the priestesses of love themselves worked according to the mood. Everything was taken into account and calculated: “production standards” were established for each prostitute, and they were not taken out of thin air, but were scientifically substantiated. To begin with, German officials divided all brothels into categories: soldiers, non-commissioned officers (sergeants), sergeant majors (sergeant majors) and officers. In soldiers' brothels, the state was supposed to have prostitutes in the ratio: one per 100 soldiers. For sergeants, this figure was reduced to 75. But in the officers' quarters, one prostitute served 50 officers. In addition, a specific customer service plan was established for the priestesses of love. To receive a salary at the end of the month, a soldier's prostitute had to serve at least 600 clients per month (assuming that every soldier has the right to relax with a girl five to six times a month)!
True, such “high performance” was assigned to bed workers in the ground forces. In the aviation and navy, which in Germany were considered privileged branches of the military, the “production standards” were much lower. A prostitute who served Goering’s “iron falcons” had to receive 60 clients a month, and according to the staff in aviation field hospitals it was supposed to have
one prostitute for every 20 pilots and one for every 50 ground staff. But we still had to fight for a cushy place at the airbase.
Of all the countries and peoples who participated in the war, the Germans took the most responsible approach to sexual servicing of their soldiers.

By its nature, the German nation is very different from all others. They consider themselves highly educated people for whom order and system are above all else. As for the German fascists led by Fuhrer Hitler, who wanted to take over the whole world, including the Soviet Union, it is worth saying that they revered only their nation and considered it the best of all others. During the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis, in addition to burning cities and exterminating Soviet soldiers, found time to entertain themselves, but not always in humane ways.

The Great Patriotic War suffered many events that left their indelible mark on the history of mankind. Active hostilities took place constantly, only the locations and military personnel changed. In addition to the defeats, bombings and battles of the Red Army soldiers and the fascist invaders, at the moments when the explosions subsided, the soldiers had the opportunity to rest, replenish their strength, eat and have fun. And in such a difficult time for everyone, the soldiers, who constantly walked close to death, saw how their colleagues and just friends were killed before their eyes, knew how to rest, abstract themselves, sing war songs, write poems about war, and just laugh at interesting stories.

But not all entertainment was harmless, because everyone has a different understanding of fun. For example, Germans throughout the Second World War they showed themselves to be brutal killers, sparing no one on their way. According to many historical facts and testimonies of older people who themselves witnessed that terrible period of time, it can be stated that all the actions of the Nazis were not so forced; many actions were carried out on their personal initiative. Killing and torturing many people became a kind of fun and games. The fascists felt their power over other people, and to assert themselves they committed all the most brutal crimes that were not punished in any way.

It is known that in occupied territories, enemy troops took civilians hostage and covered them with their bodies, and then executed them. People were killed in gas chambers and burned in crematoria, which at that time worked without interruption. The punishers spared no one. The executioners shot, hanged and burned alive small children, women, and old people and took pleasure in it. How this is possible is inexplicable to this day and it is unknown whether all these brutal historical mysteries will ever be solved. One of the ways of entertainment of the German fascists was the rape of women and little girls. Moreover, this was often done collectively and very cruelly.

Photographs from the Great Patriotic War show that the Germans were engaged in hunting, and were very proud of their trophies. Probably, hunting and fishing were just entertainment for the Nazis, since they were fed much better than Soviet soldiers. The Nazis especially loved to hunt large animals, wild boars, bears and deer. Germans They also loved to have a good drink, dance and sing. Since they are an extraordinary people, they came up with appropriate activities, which is clearly shown in many photographs. The German fascists undressed and took away cars and strollers from civilians and posed with them. Also Nazis they loved to pose with the ammunition that was used to destroy the glorious Soviet people.

However, in addition to all the worst things, there is an opinion that not all German invaders were cruel and merciless. There are many documented testimonies that state that the Germans even helped some families and elderly people with whom they lived during the occupation of Soviet territories.

Be that as it may, there will never be a good attitude towards the fascists. There is no forgiveness for such bloody actions.