Panzerfaust 150
Banned
Защищать и выжить: мы служим Советского Союза
Zashhishhat' I Vyzhit': My Sluzhim Sovetskogo Soyuza
Protect and Survive: We Served The Soviet Union
Introduction
Being that I was 7, my memories of the Third World War are hazy, for me it was long times in a basement, with endless games of "Go Fish" and the ticking of a Geiger counter for company. As I grew up, one of our earliest games was a form of football with the skulls of the unburied dead. I regret that now, but 10 year olds can be foolish indeed.
Our parents often spoke of the Soviets as a boogyman, they'd tell us things as "Do your chores or Orgokov will get you". But as I grew older, and my interest in history grew, I began to see the Soviets for what they were, people caught in something that the leaders had lost control of. For 40 years both superpowers had somehow managed to dodge the inevitablity of war. On Feburary 17th 1984, that luck ran out.
We can argue whether or not the nuclear exchange was preordained, on whether or not the last conversation between Reagan and Orgokov could have yielded a thing. Such things are what make good fodder for people in my profession, but I began to notice something. There had been very little ink spilled as to the experiences of the fellows on the "other side of the hill". That is a disservice to all the dead of the Third World War, and to the preservation of history. Some may argue on why we need to tell their story; I would argue, why the fear in telling it?
So, I and a team of three individuals travelled the breath and width of the former Eastern Bloc for three years. We tried to speak to surviving Soviet servicemen from all services, and all ranks. Barring the close calls to life and limb, we got a lot of acess, and people willing to tell their story. We spoke to former Motor Riflemen, we spoke to MiG-23 pilots, we spoke to submariners, and we spoke to the daughter of a Marshal of the Soviet Union. It may not be a complete picture, but it is a picture none the less.
I would like to dedicate this story to three people. To my parents, who blessedly, are still with us despite the cancers that are ravaging the ranks of Third World War survivors today, and to Gregori Armatev, formerly of Orel, RSFSR, who came to our little briar patch in the cockpit of a Backfire bomber, but who's made a home here. His son was one of my research assistants during our trek, and his language skills benefited our studies and saved our lives. Gregori himself has been a very active voulenteer at the War and Survival museum here in Lincoln and knows more sometimes than some of the curators.
If there is anything I can take away from my work on this book, it is this; The Soviet Union is no more, and their survivors, like ours, simply want to get on with the buisness of living. I think we'd all gone a little too close to the brink that cold day in Feburary.
Dr. Jan Halloran
Professor
History Department
School of Humanities
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
June 9th, 2012
Zashhishhat' I Vyzhit': My Sluzhim Sovetskogo Soyuza
Protect and Survive: We Served The Soviet Union
Introduction
Being that I was 7, my memories of the Third World War are hazy, for me it was long times in a basement, with endless games of "Go Fish" and the ticking of a Geiger counter for company. As I grew up, one of our earliest games was a form of football with the skulls of the unburied dead. I regret that now, but 10 year olds can be foolish indeed.
Our parents often spoke of the Soviets as a boogyman, they'd tell us things as "Do your chores or Orgokov will get you". But as I grew older, and my interest in history grew, I began to see the Soviets for what they were, people caught in something that the leaders had lost control of. For 40 years both superpowers had somehow managed to dodge the inevitablity of war. On Feburary 17th 1984, that luck ran out.
We can argue whether or not the nuclear exchange was preordained, on whether or not the last conversation between Reagan and Orgokov could have yielded a thing. Such things are what make good fodder for people in my profession, but I began to notice something. There had been very little ink spilled as to the experiences of the fellows on the "other side of the hill". That is a disservice to all the dead of the Third World War, and to the preservation of history. Some may argue on why we need to tell their story; I would argue, why the fear in telling it?
So, I and a team of three individuals travelled the breath and width of the former Eastern Bloc for three years. We tried to speak to surviving Soviet servicemen from all services, and all ranks. Barring the close calls to life and limb, we got a lot of acess, and people willing to tell their story. We spoke to former Motor Riflemen, we spoke to MiG-23 pilots, we spoke to submariners, and we spoke to the daughter of a Marshal of the Soviet Union. It may not be a complete picture, but it is a picture none the less.
I would like to dedicate this story to three people. To my parents, who blessedly, are still with us despite the cancers that are ravaging the ranks of Third World War survivors today, and to Gregori Armatev, formerly of Orel, RSFSR, who came to our little briar patch in the cockpit of a Backfire bomber, but who's made a home here. His son was one of my research assistants during our trek, and his language skills benefited our studies and saved our lives. Gregori himself has been a very active voulenteer at the War and Survival museum here in Lincoln and knows more sometimes than some of the curators.
If there is anything I can take away from my work on this book, it is this; The Soviet Union is no more, and their survivors, like ours, simply want to get on with the buisness of living. I think we'd all gone a little too close to the brink that cold day in Feburary.
Dr. Jan Halloran
Professor
History Department
School of Humanities
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
June 9th, 2012
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