Voices From Stalingrad by Bastable Jonathan;

Author:Bastable, Jonathan;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Europe / Former Soviet Republics
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC
Published: 2019-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

One soldier who needed no lordly lessons in improvisation from the commander of the front was Pulat Ganiyev, the sheherezade of the Soviet Fourth Cavalry Corps. Soon after the counter-offensive began he found himself in a tricky spot that Ali Baba himself would have recognized. He had been sent to catch a ‘tongue’ - a German who could be interrogated for information about enemy dispositions.

Ganiyev was a courageous scout, and a clever one too, wrote Pulat Ganiyev. His commanders valued him not only for his boldness and valour, but also for his ability to solve problems and understand events. It sometimes happened that several scouts would be sent out to catch a tongue, but would not come back - because they had been killed. No such thing ever happened to Pulat Ganiyev. Of course it was not easy, indeed there were many difficulties along the way, and Pulat risked his life hour after hour. But Pulat knew that he always had to do his duty as a soldier.

So it was that one day Pulat Ganiyev came to a village. He went to look for some hay for his horse. But this happened in the depths of the frosty winter, and here in the steppe by the River Don, there was no hay to be found. Ganiyev went to one farmyard, then to another, and nowhere was there so much as a single straw. Then Ganiyev went to the very last yard, on the edge of the village. He climbed into the mow, because he knew where peasants kept their hay in wintertime.

And lo and behold, there was plenty of hay. Pulat grabbed one armful, then another, so that he could tie them and take them to his horse. Then he heard something rustle, and it seemed to him that there was someone in the big pile of hay - perhaps none other than a German. So pointing his gun, Ganiyev shouted loud, telling them to come out. Imagine his surprise when out of the pile of hay came four armed Germans.

‘Throw down your guns,‘ commanded Ganiyev. And though the fascists did not know the Russian language, they knew well enough that this tall, strapping soldier was telling them to drop their weapons. What they didn’t know was that Pulat was all alone; they were sure that there were other Soviet soldiers in the yard. What was Pulat to do? Because as soon as these fritzes realized that he was on his own, they would surely attack him. But they did drop their guns. Ganiyev ordered them to approach one at a time, and he kept his gun pointed at them all the while. As he was doing this, a Russian soldier happened by, and with his help the fascists were delivered to the proper place.

One of the Germans, by the way, had indeed hidden a pistol, and could have shot Pulat Ganiyev had Pulat not been so watchful. Bold Pulat was recommended for a medal for his actions that day.

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