Anatoly Konovich, a young soldier in the mortar battalion of the Red Army did not live to celebrate his eighteenth birthday. On 28 October 1943, he was killed in battle against the Germans near Kamenka, a small village in the Dnipropetrovsk district. In the early days of the war, Anatoly kept a frank and detailed diary. Written with the youthful innocence of a fifteen-year-old whose world view was still fresh and untroubled, his words authentically recreate the atmosphere of those distant days.
Anatoly Konovich was born in Kiev on 3 December 1925. When he was twelve years old he won first place in the gymnastics competition held at the Kiev Young Pioneer Palace (a youth center for sports and cultural activities). In 1941 he became the Ukrainian champion for youth gymnastics. He excelled in his studies at school and had many friends.
In July 1941, in accordance with instructions from the army commissars, the 14-16 year-old boys formed groups and were evacuated from the cities to locations far from the front. Two or three years later, on reaching the age of conscription, the young men were enlisted to the ranks of the Red Army, Anatoly among them. He begins his diary with an account of his departure from Kiev on a journey to the unknown.
Excerpts from Anatoly Konovich’s diary
10 July 1941
I have decided to keep a short travel diary.
Today, at 14:00 in the army commissar’s courtyard, we were ordered to form a line together with the adults, and they took us. Where are they taking us? Why did they take us? It’s a secret. Farewell capital city, farewell relatives, farewell friends, farewell my love! When will we see each other again?
Vova, Vitya ,Tsilik and I are staying together. I have been feeling the full weight of my backpack since our first steps but I am trying to ignore it, after all, my love is accompanying me!
We are moving eastwards. Vova’s mother and aunts, Liuba, Lilia, Valia and Nadia accompanied us to the first station. They wished us well and expressed the hope that we will see each other again soon. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t believe – could it be that we are parting forever? And that criminal Hitler is to blame for all of this. I could feel Lilia’s kiss on my cheek the entire way. I will never forget her look as she stood on the hill with her hand raised up to her eyes…
At 19:00 we continued walking. We walked through the forest for about two hours and then they gave us a fifteen-minute break. We were as dirty as demons. We lost the group and now we are going along the Borispol- Baryshevka trail. We bought two liters of milk for three rubles. The sun started to set. Far off in the horizon against the background of the rising moon and the setting sun one can see the village of Malaya Aleksandrovka. We decided to sleep here, in a storehouse full of hay. We drank milk and lay down. We are tired; our shoulders particularly ache. For a long time we were tossing and turning on the hay. It’s not Mother’s bed with the down pillow. Everyone is sleeping and only I cannot fall asleep. I’ve counted to 100 three times and still, all sorts of thoughts are keeping me awake. I remember beloved Kiev, my friends, my relatives, school, the first evening of May. The light of dawn is starting to filter through a crack in the door…
11 July 1941
As we go, Tsilik is entertaining us all without realising it. We are all walking shoulder to shoulder and only Tsilik is falling behind. Suddenly there’s a noise, Tsilik has dropped his pack and everything has fallen out. There is a small puddle on the way and he manages to land precisely in the middle of it. Everyone laughs…
… Vavka smokes every time that we stop. I rebuke him and he gets angry. I’ve smoked only one cigarette and that was only because it was a present from Lilia…
… Today it became apparent (although not absolutely) that we are going to Stalino. We still haven’t met up with our group, which is bad. Stalino is 750 km from home and we have walked 60 km so far. What is still to come? Tsilik has found a partner and is still making us laugh; I’m sorry that Isya Klitzman didn’t come with us. We are passing village after village… It’s already 20:00, we are surrounded by swampland and there is nowhere that we can sleep. Everyone is exhausted, walking, stumbling like drunks; the mosquitoes are bothering us…
12 July 1941
At 5:00 we were glad to be on our way. Our entire bodies are covered in mosquito bites…
…There are thousands of people in the forest. We could barely find our Kirov district. We’ve decided that we can’t go on like this – our food will not last. Only here, on the damp, cold ground are we learning to value our former lives and to think about the future. Is this how we are going to lose the best years of our lives? It can’t be! The enemy will be defeated! We will prevail!
…They are treating us like animals – pushing us forward and not saying anything…
…We have decided: under no circumstances will we retreat, as our parents taught us, as the Communists say. Advance!
…We’ve made a pact, we’ve decided to help each other and to stay together at all times. Only to advance and not to be scared by the surprises and difficulties that await us along the way. I haven’t been able to fall asleep for a long time. My thoughts bother me – when will I return? Who will I be? I hate Hitler and his gang more and more. For the first time in three nights I managed to fall asleep…
14 July 1941
…Everyone is completely exhausted and has simply collapsed (in the full sense of the word). The ground is damp, we are waiting for food. It will only be ready in half an hour, but there are only five plates for sixty people. I’ll eat last – I don’t want to push. They gave us porridge (which is really impossible to put into our mouths) and then meat immediately afterwards… then they billeted us in a storehouse. Space was tight but we didn’t manage too badly – packs under our heads, we are lying on the hay and pretending that we are in a holiday resort…
16 July 1941
Everything is going well. We woke up at 5:30. We washed and the landlady gave us some milk. Farmers are really taking care of us, all along the way. Tsilik is seriously ill. He had a fever during the night – 40. It is really worrying us. In the morning we had soup and then went out to the garden to pick berries… There are problems with the food supply again, but we can’t touch the supplies that we have put away for a rainy day. We met a car from a military office. They informed us that in Grebnyovka we will board a train. We hope that it happens as soon as possible. Tsilik is no longer able to carry on. Sometimes he travels in a car, but most of the time in a cart, and we trudge along on foot. We’ve already walked over 200 km…
21 July 1941
At Lozovaya station we were caught in a downpour. We managed to locate a restaurant and we hurried there. We sat at a table with dirty plates on it. Kolya cleared them and moved them to a nearby table. We began the long wait for a waitress. In the end I was forced to direct her attention to us by calling out, but she just responded with a shout, “Hey, what do you want?” We burst out laughing. About an hour later we ate some porridge. I got hold of some salty fish with onion and I managed to eat it without a fork…
2 August 1941
We are working as we have never worked in our lives. We don’t have a moment’s rest, not even in the afternoon. Victor was commended with flowery curses by the chief of staff. Here everyone curses everyone. We are the most cultured team.
In the village there is an old man who predicted the war a week before it began, and now he claims that it will end in another forty-three days. We are waiting till the ninth of the month. I tend not to be superstitious but maybe something really will happen…
Anatoly eventually reached Voroshilovgrad where he was reunited with his parents. His father served in the same army unit in which his mother worked as a civilian employee. The unit later moved to Stalingrad, and in that city Anatoly completed his ninth-grade studies. From Stalingrad, Anatoly and his mother were evacuated to central Asia. In April 1943, Anatoly was conscripted to the Red Army and sent to a military academy in Termez. After a short period of study he was deployed to the front. Below are excerpts from the letters that he sent his family.
20 April 1943
Dear Mother!
Yesterday I passed a medical board and was accepted as a recruit to the mortar operators training school in Termez. The city is very clean and green. The only problem is that in the summer it will be unbearably hot here, but we need that too in order to become stronger, after all, we are preparing to be officers in the Red Army.
4 May 1943
Two days have passed since we were transferred to the company. Everything has changed drastically. There is a feeling of real military discipline. We are training twelve hours a day, but it isn’t as difficult as I had expected it to be. My main problem is the breeches. I still can’t put them on fast enough…
13 May 1943
Dear Mother!
For three days now we have been at the range under conditions like those faced at the front. We shoot from machine guns and rifles. The food is filling, and our spirits are high…
27 May 1943
Dear Mother!
Nothing’s changed here; I continue to train constantly. I’ve been appointed commander of the unit, and elected to the company’s Komsomol (All-Union Leninist Young Communist League) committee. We’ve already been out running five times today. After the running, twelve hours of training, but I feel fine all day. The exercise helps me greatly. The military doctor who examined me said, “Not a bad chest!”
30 May 1943
Dear Mother!
We are having a big celebration today. In another hour they are holding the swearing-in ceremony…
13 June 1943
Dear Mother!
Today is a holiday. We had races in the morning. Our company came in first place in the 15 km run. I am resting now, an orchestra is playing…
Mother!
Yesterday I saw my name on a list of people who have been transferred money. I am returning the 100 rubles that you sent me. Please don’t think of sending me more money, you need it more than I do.
27 August 1943
Dear Father!
We reached our destination on the 25th of the month. A pine forest with abandoned summer houses. I have been assigned to an esteemed company that has made a name for itself in the battles near Belgorod and Stalingrad. My speciality is firing mortars. We are advancing to the front soon. I’m sure of myself and I will not disgrace the honor of the Red Army. Father, you yourself are a soldier and you know what a fighter’s honor is…
2 September 1943
Dear Mother!
Hello from Ukraine – our homeland. I’m on the bank of our beloved river. There is heavy fighting here. We just need to push the evil fascists out of their area of control, then they will flee of their own accord…
15 September 1943
Dear Father!
Greetings from Kharkov, where we arrived just last night. Today we will go further…
28 September 1943
Dear Mother and friends!
I finally have the opportunity to write you a letter. I feel guilty that I have been unable to write to you more frequently. We have been chasing Fritz day and night, and we have caught up with him and are pushing towards the banks of our river, some 300 km from the city where we were born. Soon we will completely wipe out the Germans…
5 October 1943
Dear Father!
I’m hurrying to share the good news with you. The red flag of freedom is flying over our city once more. It’s hard to even imagine that for over two years our city has been under the control of the cursed Fritz… Now we will continue to chase after him, we will strike him again and again and finally kick him out of our homeland! The time when we will be able to return to living in quiet and security in our city and in our home is approaching…
Mother! Look after your health.
Kisses,
Anatoly.
Announcement
To Mrs. Anna Konovich,
Your son, Red Army soldier Anatoly Konovich, born in Kiev in 1925, displayed great heroism and courage, and remained faithful to his military oath. He was killed in battle for his socialist homeland on 28 October 1943. He is buried in the village of Kluzhino in the Dnepropetrovsk district.
This notice constitutes the basis for a pension application.
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