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David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS ITEM TRANSCRIPT

ENGLISH TRANSLATION 2 CITATION & RIGHTS 9

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David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

TRANSCRIPT ENGLISH TRANSLATION —Today is June 7, 2007. We are in Cincinnati meeting a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your family, the start of the war, and your enlistment and service in the army.

My name is David Moksin. I was born in Bobruysk [Babruysk] in 1925. I finished eight grades of school before the war. By June 26 the Germans were already bombing Minsk, as well as our airfield, where the planes were stationed. We left home on foot on the 26th and set out for the railroad station in the town of Krichev [Krychaw]. In Krichev we boarded a flatbed train car and traveled to the Danilovka District of the Stalingrad Oblast. From there we traveled on horse-drawn carts—there were no trucks—to the “Fight for the Harvest” collective farm. At the collective farm my family and I worked, but life was very difficult because we did not have any salt, soap, or anything else. We lived in poverty. In 1943 I was drafted an immediately assigned to a reserve regiment in Penza Oblast. I can't even express how bad the conditions in the reserve regiment were. We had no bedding, no dishes or cutlery, nothing at all except for wooden bunks with a special spot to put your head on. We ate what we had and did not have any dishes. They brought us food in barrels in what we called a Katuysha. Two men carried the barrel on a stick. We got two mugs of soup, poured into whatever container we could provide, one that was mostly liquid and one that had more substance. That's how we were fed.

After some time those of us who had completed eight or more grades of school were sent to officer training. I was of short stature and weighed just 49 kilograms. Some members of the medical commission said that I was unfit for service, but they were overruled by a senior member. I enrolled in the Morshansk Rifle and Mortar School where I trained for over half a year. During training I contracted a skin disease which spread from my hands to the rest of my body and led to a two-month stay in the hospital. Afterwards I returned to the school, but they had already expelled me, so I was sent back to a reserve regiment. I served in two different reserve regiments before being assigned to the Voronezh Reserve Regiment, which was sent to the front. When we arrived at the front, “buyers” from different units came and selected us based on our training.

—What year was this?

It was 1944. They called infantry, submachine gunners, and field engineers forward. I was left with just one of my comrades and another guy who had also been hospitalized. He asked us who we were and I said that we had served in an artillery company of 50mm mortars. He told us, “Stay with me, I operated 120mm mortars.” The “buyers” came up to us and asked us who we were. Since he was a senior sergeant, he spoke up first and said, “We are 120mm mortar gunners.” After that we were assigned to batteries.

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David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

Our 5th Tank Army returned from Moldova to the Belorussian Front. My job was to carry shells and load extra bags of gunpowder when we needed the round to go farther. The first time we were ordered into battle was after receiving orders from our observation post. We opened fire and then were ordered to cease fire and prepare for the next salvo. I was sent to fetch more shells. When I had walked a little ways, there was a terrible explosion. It turned out that the gun layer had loaded one shell, and then the gun commander loaded another shell when the order to resume fire was given and pulled the string. As a result, the barrel and the first shell exploded and killed the whole crew except for me. I was then reassigned to another gun. We were sent to Lithuania, where we stopped in a hamlet. We set up our mortar in the garden and were ordered to fire a few shells. When we received the order to cease fire we went to sit on the porch. It was a wooden house with a porch and we were all sitting around there. The house owner’s daughters went upstairs and turned on a record player, when suddenly a shell exploded nearby. After the smoke cleared we found out that one of our men, the gun layer, had been killed. A shell fragment hit him right in the heart. We buried him right there. Later I reached for my field bag and felt a strange texture. It turned out that a piece of shrapnel had pierced it and gotten stuck in the strap.

I have another interesting story from the time in the Baltics. We were supposed to man the forward observation post in turns. When we came to the front-line trench, a German tank appeared with infantry riding on it. I immediately grabbed my carbine and fired a shot. I am not sure if I hit anything, but the men around me sternly hissed at me to not give away our position. We had no anti-tank units, which meant that if the Germans went on the offensive, everyone would . . . There was a camouflaged 76mm gun near me. It was completely covered by branches and impossible to spot. The commander, a young lieutenant, ordered us into battle. The Germans spotted the gun and fired two shots, the first one fell short and the second overshot us. The tank was very close and I could see it swiveling its barrel toward us. The tank fired a shot and scored a direct hit on our anti-tank gun. The entire crew was killed again, and I got a concussion. I went deaf for several days and my hair constantly stood on end. However, I did not go to the medical battalion because the mortar regiment is considered to be . . . the most convenient for waging war.

A while later we began our advance into East Prussia. While on duty at the observation post, I saw tanks driving out from behind a patch of forest. Our commander ordered us to open fire. Of course we did not score a direct hit, but the tanks stopped. Suddenly a shell exploded nearby and I received a heavy impact on my, pardon me, rear. I turned to another soldier and asked, “Is anything missing?” He lifted my shirt and said, “There's some blood on your back.” The shell had damaged part of my belt and ripped apart a leather strap that ran across my chest. My pants fell down and I was wounded in my left foot by another shell fragment. Most importantly, of course, I survived, but for the rest of my life I was left with a limp and a chronic headache.

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David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

I will tell you how I was awarded my medals, which is very important to me. I received the medal "For Battle Merit" and then "For Courage." Then the battery commander asked me to deliver another list of recipients to the headquarters. I came to HQ, where the commander looked at the list and asked me, “David, come on, you just got the medal 'For Courage.'” He crossed my name off the list. Of course I was very upset. Later, after we had halted an armored offensive, the battery commander told me that he would nominate me for the Order of Glory 3rd Class. I was nominated along with the squad commander. However, I knew that they would not give me the medal. They called the squad commander in but skipped me. Of course this hurt me, because I fought in earnest and did everything possible not to be called names.

I was demobilized in 1950 and went to work for a trust before completing a training course and a construction technical college and climbing the career ladder. I worked as a foreman, then a district foreman. A roofing factory, which was very important for Belarus, was being built at the time. The construction was under the direct control of the Central Committee, so a director was always on site. There were no delays and everything was done correctly. Later the personnel chief said to me: “David, we are nominating you for an award.” I knew that I would not be given any awards and sure enough, the next day he said to me: “You know what, David, Vorobev, the regional committee instructor, called and said that you argued with him during a planning session . . .” In reality nobody dared even utter a sound during those planning sessions. Of course, I was very upset. I had done a very large volume of work . . . They would tell me: “David, we are ashamed because you should've been the first to get an award." Otherwise, I was well-liked by my superiors and received certificates of merit and was featured as one of the best employees on the announcement boards in the trust and in the director’s office.

In 1991 we moved to Cincinnati in the United States. Our youngest son had already been living here for two years when I arrived along with my eldest son and my family. I was already a senior and began receiving SSI. My children also found work and five years and one week later I became a citizen. I thank the United States for all that it does for us.

—I want to ask you a few questions about your childhood. What did you parents do for a living?

My father was a hatter, my mother was a housekeeper, and the children studied at school.

—Was this a Jewish school?

Yes, I studied at a Jewish school for four years until they were all closed along with Jewish theaters. They closed every single one. My older brother . . . died after falling out of a tree. My younger brother moved to Los Angeles.

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David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

—Where were your parents during the war?

My father . . . he was sent to help build fortifications. He drove oxen to construction sites. He was born in 1892 and was told to go home on account of his age. He left on November 14, but got lost. That late in the year it gets quite cold in the Stalingrad Oblast. This was in 1941. It dipped down to -20 degrees Celsius. We found his frozen body three days later and buried him the Danilovka District.

—Did you write letters from the front?

Not frequently, but I occasionally did send those triangles.

—You served in Lithuania. How did the locals treat you?

The owner of that house . . . did not object to us setting up a mortar. But in general they were not happy to see Russians because they had been occupied by them and had their property taken away. Life became much worse for them as a result.

—You mentioned that you were crossed out from award nomination lists. Aside from that, did you ever experience any anti-Semitism in the army?

I never personally experienced it because I performed as well as everyone else. I always did my best and never refused any orders. I pulled my weight. Despite weighing only 50 kilograms while the barrel of the mortar weighed 100, I carried the barrel with just one other person. I was respected by my fellow soldiers and by my commanders.

—During the war, were you aware of what was happening to Jews?

Of course.

—When did you find out, during the war or afterward?

We knew from our newspapers. We did not know all the details, but had a general understanding.

—Did you feel a desire for revenge, or did you fight just because there was a war?

No, no, we shot in revenge for what they'd done. We had a sergeant major from Ukraine and he would shoot anyone he came across, even children . . . he did not care, he just wanted to avenge his parents.

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David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

—Did he shoot at them using the mortar or his personal weapon?

His personal weapon. You cannot aim a mortar that well because it fires in an arch, not directly at the enemy.

—Was this when you reached Prussia?

When we entered Prussia, we set up camp in a German house. I do not remember how many of us were quartered there. There was an old woman there who said to us: “I am old, you don’t want me . . .” We told her that we were not looking for anything like that. She said, “The Russians are coming and they will. . .” There had been a propaganda campaign in East Prussia and many of the locals were fleeing. They had these massive horses that they used to pull the carts they had loaded with all of their possessions. They were fleeing along the road and blocked the tanks. The tanks just kept driving straight. We followed them and saw the tarp covered in fragments . . . The tank crews had to run them over because there was no way to bypass them. The road was very steep, and people, horses, and whatever else was in the way got caught under. The propaganda campaign about how the Russians were killing and raping everyone caused a lot of damage, because had the people stayed in their homes, there may have been some excesses, but we would not have had to kill them because they were blocking the roads.

—You mentioned that conditions in the reserves were terrible.

My first posting was to guard a garbage heap from looters. People still snuck by us or were let through by acquaintances. They would boil potato peels and eat them. The fed us terribly.

—Did people fall ill?

And how! This was especially true of Central Asians who had to walk the lengthy distance from the station to the training camp wearing slippers. They were then taken to dugouts, which were also cold. Many fell ill, but I endured somehow.

—Then you were assigned to a second reserve regiment.

The food was the same, but at least they issued us plates. They served us food through a small window. We also had straw mattresses.

—How were you fed at the front?

We were fed pretty well, but sometimes the filed kitchens could not reach us. So we . . . the guys would kill

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David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN a pig or a ram, cook it in buckets, and eat it. No matter how hungry I was, I never ate horsemeat. Old horsemeat smells of horses. They say that horsemeat from young horses is good, but the old meat . . .

—How were the awards given at the front?

They would line up the whole regiment, and after reading the order, the commander ceremoniously awarded the medals.

—I want to ask you again about Prussia. When you encountered destroyed cities and villages, you knew that Jews were being killed. Did you feel . . .

Certainly. On the border with East Prussia we were read a poem by Simonov that said "Kill as many as you see." Our deputy political commander used that to get us riled up before battle. When we finally entered Prussia, we began to . . . we began to destroy everything we got our hands on: musical instruments, paintings, we stole, we raped. Later we were all forced to sign a document in which we agreed not to loot, rape, or pillage under penalty of being sent to a penal battalion. This was a good decision because many of the surviving valuables were preserved and then taken from Germany to the USSR.

—You had squad, company, and battery commanders, but also political officers.

We had a deputy political commander in our regiment. There were no full politruks in the battalions.

—What was his job? Did he speak to you?

He would come to our unit. We were never in one spot for too long and moved quickly over East Prussia.

—When you crossed into Prussia, were the roads better?

Oh yes! It was like night and day. Even the roads in the Baltics were better than in Russia. In Prussia everything was so tidy. Every village was made of beautiful homes with furnished basements and wallpaper. They were well-off, even the farmers.

—Did you often receive reinforcements? Did you suffer heavy losses?

The mortar regiment did not suffer particularly heavy losses, except for the crew that was killed almost immediately. Those born in 1927 were given “For Battle Merit” medals for being at the front. In 1948 those born in 1928 were drafted and I was the battery sergeant major. I trained them until 1950.

David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

—Did you ever receive any pay in the army?

I got a salary of 40 rubles. In the winter we also received 40 milliliters of alcohol, but I did not drink until 1950, I only smoked a little.

—Did this ever cause anyone at the front to feel that you did not belong?

No, they treated me with respect.

—Thank you very much.

I could say quite a bit more . . .

—For example?

Well . . . Once a mortar shell landed straight into the master sergeant’s cooking pot, and no one was killed. There were miracles like that sometimes. When I served in a communications unit, life became . . . I needed carry to 20-kilogram coils of cable and an 8-kilogram telephone with me everywhere. I needed to lay cable from the firing position to the observation post. I had to carry my own body weight and I still wonder where I found the strength to do that and endure such conditions without getting sick. When I was in reconnaissance, life got easier because I could just take cover whenever I was being shot at. However, when you were dealing with communication lines, there was no rest. If a shell exploded and threw you on the ground, you'd get up with the cable on your hand and keep going. It was a terrifying job. I became a signalman after my time with the gun crew, and then I joined reconnaissance. I kept my army belts for a long time as a souvenir.

—Most of the equipment was not wireless?

There were no radios, only wired equipment.

—Thank you very much once again.

David Moksin. Full, unedited interview, 2007

ID OH009.interview PERMALINK http://n2t.net/ark:/86084/b43b5w98x

ITEM TYPE VIDEO ORIGINAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN

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