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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 CITATION & RIGHTS 15

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION -Today is October 29th, 2009. We are in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, meeting with a veteran of World War II. Please introduce yourself and tell us what you remember of your life before the war and about your family. How did you come to serve in the Red Army and how did you spend the war years?

My name is Yakorevsky Leonid Isayevich. I was born in 1920 and I am a category 1 invalid of the Great Patriotic War and a retired colonel with 25 years of service in the armed forces. I was born in a family of laborers. This was in 1920, just after the revolution when the political situation was still quite confusing, so my parents were just getting by. They had to both work and raise their three children. We lived in Ulan- Ude in the Mongolian ASSR…

- Mongolian or the Buryat-Mongolian?

Buryat-Mongolian. Life was very difficult and when I was six years old, my siblings and I moved to Novosibirsk. My grandparents had just died, so we buried them, sold their homes, and moved to Novosibirsk where my father’s brother lived. We found an apartment and lived there for quite some time. My mother found work as the cafeteria manager at a nearby army base while my father worked as a butcher at a meat processing plant. Life was still hard. In 1936 my father was recruited to move to Kamchatka, so he took us with him. This was not just a trip to make money. My father’s job was to kill dolphins and extract their fat which would later be sent to Russia. He managed to make some money this way, while my mother again found work in a cafeteria. My father told me to attend evening school and I was placed in a training program for meteorologists. I was so skinny that my nickname was Uncle Tail, my classmates would sing “Uncle Tail is on the water measuring detail” whenever I would be taking water measurements. I measured the water level and temperature, air temperature, and other factors which helped to predict the weather. I finished four grades at the evening school. I remember a story from those years. One time I wanted to buy a bicycle, since some of my classmates had them. My father said “I will buy a piglet which you can fatten up, then it will give birth to more piglets and we can sell them and you can buy yourself a bike with the proceeds.” We managed to do it and bought a bicycle for me and a little one for my brother. We spent a long time in Kamchatka… My parents stayed there, but I needed to continue my education so I moved to Novosibirsk. In Novosibirsk I continued my studies in the evening school and worked at a factory in the military base where my mother used to manage the cafeteria. She had written to her friends and they found me a job as a machinist. In 1938, I turned 18 and I knew that in a year I would be drafted into the military. After 8th grade, I applied to the Driving Technicum in Tomsk, completed it in 1939, and was drafted soon after. I was stationed in Vyborg, a town near Leningrad. That was during the war with Finland, and a nonaggression treaty was signed soon after our arrival. Then I was given a choice to either stay in the army or… I asked to be sent to the Artillery Academy in Tomsk, where I was accepted without entrance exams.

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

In 1941, when the war began we still had half a year until the end of our training. We were promoted to the rank of lieutenant early and given graduation certificates.

- Was this an artillery and tank academy, or just an artillery academy?

Just artillery, the Tomsk 2nd Artillery Academy. I was sent to Moscow, which the Germans were already approaching and I could see Moscow through my binoculars from the front lines. The fighting was terrible. Our regiment was being assembled in Rublevo near Moscow, this was the 46th Artillery Regiment of the 331st Division. Students from my academy were made platoon commanders. I was put in charge of the 1st Battery platoon and had four howitzers under my command. They were designed to hit faraway targets at a distance of 13.5km, but the Germans came so close, that we had to hit them with direct fire. On November 6th, we managed to destroy two tanks and a number of other vehicles in this way. In reward for this… I am not sure if for this exactly, but at 2:00am we received a telegram from the regiment HQ for our platoon… or rather for 13 people from our platoon to meet with the commanders in the regiment HQ. We arrived in full combat gear with gasmasks, bayonets, and trench coats. It was really cold then and the soldiers were poorly dressed. In Siberia we were given wool boots and half-length coats. We had been prepared for this weather in the academy. The HQ commander came out and said “Do not smoke or fidget and wait for your orders.” At 2:00am he came out again and said “Let’s go to Moscow.” Two ZIS-5 trucks quietly rolled up and took us along with a few guys from other units to Moscow. It took a whole hour to travel the 20km to the city. The Germans were observing Moscow through their binoculars, dropping leaflets, and shouting “Rus, why are you not singing If Tomorrow there Will Be a War?” through loudspeakers. They were mocking us. You can imagine how crummy our morale was, we were being defeated at Moscow by a force which had conquered half of Europe. We arrived at what is now the main post office on Tverskaya Street. Our HQ commander had arranged for us to be put up at that post office. It took us so long to get there because the cold was so bad that we had to stop the car a few times and get out and run around to warm our feet, which were freezing in our inadequate boots. We did not stay there long. At 08:30, music started playing in Red Square and we heard Levitan’s voice over the loudspeakers. He spoke with such enthusiasm that it gave me goose bumps. We came out, organized our units into columns, and marched down Red Square where Stalin was giving a speech. We were given an order to keep calm and not break rank if we were shot at. There were special teams who would then come out and retrieve the bodies. However, the Germans did not break through. Moscow was covered by anti-aircraft balloons which prevented the enemy form breaking through. Hitler heard the music, or we were told that he did anyways. At first he did not understand, but then demanded to speak to his main air force commander said “What is this? A parade in Moscow!” “We can’t fly in this weather.” replied the commander. “Give me your best pilot” ordered Hitler. Hans will do. “Lieutenant Hans is listening my Fuehrer.” Hitler replied “Immediately fly out and put an end to these celebrations.” He tried to take off, but… Hitler was full of promises then. They were dropping leaflets announcing that they will celebrate the New Year in Moscow. Apparently invitations were already made.

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

We felt revitalized after the parade. Stalin said in his speech that we are the descendants of Alexander Nevsky and Kutuzov, that Russians have never surrendered before and that we will be victorious. After the parade we went back to our units. The trucks had already gone back during the night, so we took a tram to the end of the line and then marched 5km back to our posts. We were then all given 100ml of vodka. The festive parade was in honor of the 24th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. I never felt discriminated against for being Jewish and I do not know anybody who did. I was always in positions of authority both in the army and at my job after I was demobilized, when I served as the director of a factory and the deputy head of a trust. I managed at those jobs. I was demobilized in 1956.

- What did you do after the Battle of Moscow?

After Moscow I kept fighting...

- Did you take part in the advance on Volokolamsk?

Yes, I did.

- With your artillery platoon?

Yes. After that we took Mozhaysk and a day after that we took Narofominsk. We were so inspired by this. It seems that that parade did raise our spirits. We kicked the Germans out of Mozhaysk, but I was wounded near the town.

- How did that happen?

It happened… By that time I had been appointed commander of my squadron and it was my duty to select places for the artillery pieces.

- How many batteries were in your squadron ?

There were three batteries with four weapons in each one. I had climbed a tree to get a better look and as soon as I put my hand on the branch a sniper shot through it. I spent some time a hospital in Moscow. I was placed in Lefortovo. I spent my first month after the injury in medical battalions and hospitals. After that I was sent to Michurinsk. My hand was in a cast and after the cast was opened I was told it would have to be amputated. It was infested with maggots and lice. The order to amputate was given, but a young Jewish doctor who had just finished the Leningrad Military Academy showed up.

- The Military-Medical Academy?

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

The Leningrad Military-Medical Academy. The doctor said “I will not let you cut up this gallant lieutenant.” He took my case on and cured my hand. He has passed away. He was eventually promoted to the rank of colonel and was the director of the Military Medical Academy in Tomsk.

- Where were you sent after the hospital?

After the hospital I was sent to the Belarusian Military Command as the director of mechanical repair workshop.

- You left the hospital in 1943?

I left the hospital in 1945 and fought until 1944.

- So you were in Moscow, then you fought at Volokolamsk.

Yes, yes.

- Then you came to Mozhaysk, then what?

I was wounded.

- And you were in the hospital.

I spent two months in the hospital.

- After the hospital were you sent to the 1st Belorussian Front?

I rejoined my unit.

- Was this at the 1st Belorussian Front?

Yes, the 1st Belorussian Front.

- Approximately where was this?

Around Smolensk.

- You took part in the Battle of Smolensk?

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Yes. The Germans dropped leaflets which read “You will have porridge in Smolensk, but you will be the porridge in Orsha”

- Did you pass through Smolensk?

We went through Smolensk, it was all in ruins.

- Was it burned down?

Completely. All the buildings were burned

- After Smolensk where did you go?

After Smolensk we kept moving through Belarus to Berlin.

- You passed through Belarus...

We passed through Brest.

- What about Minsk? Did you take part in the liberation of Minsk?

Minsk, yes. I took part in the liberation of Minsk.

– What did you see in Minsk?

In Minsk I also witnessed total destruction. Total destruction. I had just left the hospital.

- Was this your second wound?

Yes, this was my second wound.

- Minsk was burned down, was the rest of Belarus burned down too?

All of Belarus. There were burned-down villages. When we entered the villages, the Germans were just barbaric, they hung people… They hung above their doorsteps, frozen solid. That is how cold it was.

- Was this somehow connected to the partisan movement? Why were they so cruel?

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Well this was his [Hitler’s] policy. If he… In my opinion, and this is not only my opinion, if he had not been so cruel, maybe he would have taken Moscow. I do not know what would have happened after that, but he would have taken Moscow. But he gave different orders… The partisan movement was very strong in Belarus and the partisans did their job. Afterwards they joined our units.

- Did you have former partisans in your squadron?

Yes. When we were advancing toward Berlin we had a guy named Yuri Minenkov, a former commander of a partisan brigade.

- He was in your squadron?

No, but he was in my regiment. He was the youngest guy there, the “son of the regiment.” According to him the partisans had even built a cannon to blow up train tracks.

-When you were advancing through Belarus, liberating Belarus, did you hear anything about people who collaborated with the Germans?

Yes, yes. We even arrested some of them. They would send traitors behind our lines. Some of them surrendered to us immediately. There were many such people. They were sent to carry out acts of sabotage behind our lines. In our regiment there was a squadron commander named Roman Ayzelban. One time he stopped a senior lieutenant in uniform, but suspected that he was an enemy. It turned out that he was right and that the man really was a German spy who was sent to Belarus..

- Did you ever witness any executions?

Yes, here in Minsk when they were shot on the square near the bridge by the “Bolshevik” factory. There was a leather tannery there, and behind the tannery there was a square where they were shot.

- When you say “they,” do you mean Germans?

There were Germans. There were Germans and local police. The police were shot too.

-The 122mm howitzer is a heavy weapon. How did you move it from one location to the next?

When I was studying in the academy we used horses. I remember a story about this. In 1939, Budyonny came to Tomsk as part of a military inspection of the Siberian Military District. He was in Tomsk and it was suggested that he visit us because as you know he loves horses. Someone told him that there is an academy in Tomsk which uses horses. He arrived at the academy just as I was grooming a horse named

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Goliath so that the commander could ride it. I was assigned to the right flank… in 1939… I was standing there reporting that cadet Yakorevsky is present with the rank colt Goliath. He [Budyonny] approached me, looked at the horse, and felt it with his hands. “Cadet Yakorevsky knows how to take care of horses.” he said. The HQ commander gave me a week-long vacation. I remember that I went and visited my mother in Novosibirsk.

-When did you switch from horses to machines? Did you use Studebakers?

No we did not use Studebakers. We used the S-80, a tractor made in Chelyabinsk. Because of these tractors, I had finished an automotive Technicum in Tomsk after all, I was immediately promoted to the rank of corporal. I was a step ahead of everyone. I graduated with distinction.

- Did this tractor use caterpillar tracks?

Yes it did. The S-80 was used to transport the weapons where before it took three horses. Or rather three pairs of horses for each howitzer.

- How long passed between it howitzer shot?

Three minutes.

- How far behind the front line could you shoot?

We mostly just shot directly at the enemy. It is capable of firing 13km, but we had to aim it directly at the enemy.

–Did you fire at tanks?

Yes against tanks, the Germans used a huge number of tanks.

- Where? In which battle?

This was on the advance to Volokolamsk in the villages of Rzhaniki, Gruntovka, and then Chirikovo. In those districts of the Moscow Region.

- You passed through Minsk and then through Brest?

Yes, then we passed Brest.

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

- This was in 1944?

Late 1944, or perhaps even early 1945 if I am not mistaken. In 1944 we liberated Minsk on the 3rd of July.

- Brest is on the border, was everything destroyed?

Yes, everything was in ruins.

- After Brest did you go on to Poland?

After Brest we continued on to Poland. In the town of Kirsten I had internal bleeding and had to return to Minsk.

- Was Poland as badly ruined as Belarus, or was it different?

I must say that it was not destroyed as badly, but there was still a lot of damage. There was a special camp there that we passed by.

- What camp?

I do not remember. It was a Polish camp, many Jews were murdered there.

- Majdanek?

Yes, Majdanek.

- Have you ever been to Majdanek?

Yes I have. We stopped there, but we were moving so quickly that it was not possible to really think about it you know… We only saw those POWs who were hungry, cold, and only wanted to get back home.

- From that camp?

Yes, from that camp. We had already liberated them. They were dressed in rags, walking down the road like skeletons. They were a frightening sight.

- Did you visit the camp itself?

I did not visit the camp itself. I only met them, yes, yes, I did.

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

-When you saw those people did you experience a desire to kill Germans, soldiers and civilians alike?

I can tell you that such a desire… there were some good Germans. We took Germans prisoner… The Germans themselves [hated] Hitler and everything he started… Later after the war, when I worked at BICS [bureau of Industrial control system] there was a German POW camp there. I took workers from that camp, 40 or 20 at a time. I have to say that Germans are neat and prompt people. They did a lot to rebuild Minsk. After that they were sent away. War and murder are tied together somehow, but by nature I am a kind person. When I would see a German child, when we were nearing [Berlin] I… I have a burning hatred toward Hitler, and of course, war…

-Did your squadron suffer heavy losses during the war?

We suffered losses, yes.

- Were new people frequently coming in?

After every battle, of the 13 people in the battery 3 or 4 would die. Every battery has 4 guns with nine people operating each gun. Two or three people would die in every platoon.

- A battery is 30-40 people?

Yes, yes.

- Every day 2-3 people died?

Every day, killed or wounded.

- From bombs or from shelling?

From shelling. The shells were flying. I can tell you a story about this. During the war, I just remembered, we were already at… it was late October. The HQ head gathered all the battery commanders for a meeting in his dugout. I was left in charge.

- Of the squadron?

Of two squadrons. Two squadrons were stationed there, one near the other. I was in charge and maintained communications. A radio operator walked everywhere with me and we would maintain contact. Just then the Germans started bombing us and a bomb hit the dugout. All 22 commanders died. I told my mother and she told me that I was born under a lucky star. She is right, because if I had not been

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Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN left in charge, I would have died that day. That happened during the war.

– How did you cross rivers with heavy weapons?

There were pontoons. There were special engineering units which provided us with equipment and helped us cross. We tried to use tractors to cross rivers whenever possible.

- You searched for shallows?

Yes we did. The S-80 even did well in swamps because its tracks were well adapted to swamp environments

- You have a brother, is he older or younger?

Younger. He was born in 1924.

- Was he also drafted?

Yes he was drafted from Novosibirsk after I was drafted. He was drafted in 1942 and finished the war in Austria. He lives in the United States now.

- What kind of unit did he serve in?

Communications. Senior sergeant.

- What is his name?

Solomon Isayevich.

- You also had a sister?

Yes, my dear Sonya. She was the senior doctor of the medical battalion of the 1st Siberian Regiment. She also served during the entire war.

- Did she graduate from university before the war?

She finished university in Ikrutsk. She was drafted as a doctor and served for the duration of the war. She now lives in Ikrutsk. She is 92 years old now and was invited to Moscow. There are many former members

Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN of the Siberian Division there now. Her 92nd birthday was celebrated by the Mayor of Irkutsk.

- Did she receive letters from wounded soldiers whom she cured?

Yes, she received a lot of letters. She would occasionally send me these letters, but… She moved here and there… My first wife passed away, she was my frontline wife, the one that… This is my second wife… She destroyed a lot of the letters, thinking that they are useless pieces of paper. Now I would love to see them. My correspondence from the front is also there. I also had a letter of thanks from Stalin. Four of them in fact.

-You were born in Ulan-Ude, then you lived in Novosibirsk, and then in Kamchatka. When did you feel or find out that you were Jewish?

I discovered that I was “a Jew” only after the war. After the war I was first the deputy director of a factory. We had POWs working at the factory as well as regular workers. We hired some workers, and one of them was drunk. I called him over, and began talking to him… He says to me “You kike, I’m gonna choke you!” He was a huge guy. At that moment I felt that I was Jewish. The Director’s name was Androsik. I asked him “Did you hear that the guy is a bandit?” I later found out that he was a police collaborator. I wrote a letter to the KGB, he was arrested, and that was that. Only after that did I feel that I was a Jew. Aside from that there were no cases where I was insulted due to my ethnicity. I felt it of course, even Vysotsky sang “If there’s not water in the pipe, it has been drunk by a kike.” We survived all of that. When they were murdering the doctors, you know there was such a time. Such behavior is inappropriate, but it always happened.

- What was the first decoration you received during the war?

I received the “For Courage” medal first. No.. it was the “For Valor in Combat” medal. It was for accurate firing and defending against an attack.

-That was still in Mozhaysk?

No that was at Moscow. For Mozhaysk I received a “Red Star.” I was a given the award, but it was a common victory. It took us two days to reach Narofiminsk and Mozhaysk. I was wounded there. Then when we got to Orsha I received the Order of the Patriotic War.

- Was this tied to a specific instance?

It was connected to an operation… to liberate Orsha. The Katyushas had just appeared. They just appeared… we did not know how to use them and were scared of them ourselves. The first Katyusha was used near Orsha. They stood there and when they started shooting we would hit the ground. The Germans

Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN would put anything they could on their head and bury themselves in the ground. So one time Roman Ayzelban the commander of the second squadron, I was already the deputy regiment commander, wrote a song to the tune of the famous song Katyusha. may I sing it?

- Yes, yes. [He sings]

The bodies and heads were flying

The shells are beating the Germans beyond the river

The was our Russian Katyusha fighting

And singing funeral hymns for the Krauts.

In fear the German will jump into a hole

He will stick his head in a snowdrift

But he’ll hear the song from there

And the German will dance his way to the grave.

Fly, fly as they say

To Kulichki to the Devil’s for lunch

And pass on to the other dead Jerrys

That Katyusha sends its regards

We all know our dear Katyusha,

And we love listening when she sings.

She beats the souls out of our enemies

And gives courage to our friends.

I remember this song. I sing it often to my young recruits. I now work in a facilitating committee for draft-

Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN age and pre draft-age youth. I receive letters from them. Right now there is too little work being done to teach people about what the Great Patriotic War was like. The students are so obtuse these days. The come and ask a question… I tell them, let me tell you about the battle at Stalingrad, let me tell you about the battle for Moscow, I participated in the 1941 parade there. No, tell us some jokes. I say to them “Tell us some jokes. To hell with you if that’s all you want…” Or: “Give us some riddles.” OK. Let me give you some riddles. Only if you cannot answer my first riddle, I will lecture you for twenty minutes, fair? Fair. Everyone sits there calmly. I ask them, what is the most important part of a tank? The tracks, someone answers. The tank driver! No. The gunner! I say no. I say, please don’t tell you parents, but the most important part of a tank is not to take a s**t inside, or you’ll be smelling it the whole way. They laugh. You ask them who Zhukov was and they say, “Zhukov, who was that?” Was he a writer? He was a marshal. Oh yes, yes, yes.

-Were you in Minsk during Victory Day?

Yes I was in Minsk for Victory Day. I was in hospital. Well I would like to add to this dear comrades, that on behalf of our Jewish organization, the Belorussian Organization of Jewish Invalids and War Veterans, to wish you health, and to express gratitude for your work. Please tell your sponsor that we are very grateful that you are doing such a noble deed. The thing is my dear, is that memory is the way to the future. This is true. They say that a people who remembers their past has a future. History has confirmed the just nature of these words. So in the words of Rasul Gamzatov, I want to say:

People we grow old and weak

And with the passing of our years and days

We lose our friends all the more easily

And gain them with more and more difficulty

Thank you. Ruslan Gamzatov also has a poem which I will rephrase for you.:

Let you group, which does such noble group, live in plenty, may your group be healthy, happy, filled with love, and may crows never circle above your roof. Let swallows make their nests there.

- Thank you very much.

Leonid Yakorevsky. Full, unedited interview, 2009

ID BEL073.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b4s09j

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

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