Memories of a Soviet Intelligence Officer. Ivan Lukich Kobets. Part 1
#memories#history#interview
The video is based on an excerpt from Artem Drabkin's book "I Went Behind the Front Line: Revelations of Frontline Scouts" and features an interview with former Red Army intelligence officer Ivan Lukich Kobets. This video was created using materials from the website "I Remember" www.iremember.ru.
Quote from the book:
"In 1939, literally three months after I graduated from pedagogical college and started working as a school teacher, I was drafted and sent to the Pukhovichi Infantry School, located near Minsk. The school had three battalions: one battalion consisted of cadets from the Leningrad Kirov Red Banner Military School, who had already completed seven months of training; the second consisted of soldiers who had served in the army for a year and a half as sergeants; and the third consisted of us, civilians. It was very difficult to study. We studied for twelve hours every day without rest, and in a year and a half, we completed a three-year program! They taught us primarily tactics: attack, defense, how to position ourselves, how to shoot, how to dig a trench. We studied equipment—artillery, tanks, mortars. It was hard... Back then, everything was on foot! You carry everything." A rifle, and also a Degtyarev machine gun or its magazines—at the school, only the battalion commander was entitled to a horse.
In May 1941, the school was transferred from near Minsk to Veliky Ustyug, where we graduated on June 19th. Everyone wanted leave, but the commanding officers said we'd get it upon arrival at our assigned unit.
I was promoted to lieutenant and sent to the Arctic. On the train, half an hour before Leningrad, we were told that the war had begun. We stopped. A captain addressed us and said, "This war will be serious." "It's a matter of who wins." That's what he said, not like we'd been taught—with as little bloodshed as possible, on foreign soil. Then we arrived in Kandalaksha and were immediately taken to the border, where we joined the 596th Rifle Regiment. They gave me a gas mask, a pistol, and a helmet. That's how the war began for me.
The Germans tried to break through in our direction, but they were repelled because the division had been moved to the border the day before the fighting began. They went on the offensive on July 1, and our 122nd Division held off the German 36th Army Corps at the border for seven days. Then we retreated to the prepared defensive line of Kayrala, where the 104th Division was already stationed. It should be noted that at that time, only regimental reconnaissance existed, and the battalion had no reconnaissance. Since constantly changing conditions required a constant flow of reconnaissance, the battalion commander tasked me with forming a platoon of hunters. I created it and... He fought until the winter of 1942.
Reconnaissance is very hard work. No one had trained us specifically! One such incident happened in the first days of the war. The Germans began to outflank us from the right flank. The battalion commander tasked us with going out onto the road and observing their movements. We got close and spent a day lying in the swamp, watching the road. And there were midges, mosquitoes! It was impossible to breathe, let alone look! Everyone was covered in blood. When we started to return, I saw that the Germans were building a bypass route from the road to Kualoyarve to our right flank, with the aim of leading it to the commanding heights. When we crossed the front line, we had to cross an open clearing, and I intuitively realized that the Germans had spotted us and would try to stop us. And sure enough! I saw a moose running straight towards us! Aha! So someone had scared it off. I ordered a halt and camouflage ourselves. Just as we settled in, I saw a group of Germans descending from Heights. For some reason, what I remember best are the cockades on their caps. We let them approach, threw grenades at them, and finished them off with machine guns to get through. We returned to our positions and reported to the regiment commander about the Germans' intentions to consolidate their position on the heights. Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to our information. The Germans dug in, making it impossible for us to defend ourselves, since from the heights they could see the positions and rear of our 596th Regiment. The commander saw that things were bad and we had to push the Germans back. But what was there to do? They'd only killed people. Back then, a company could have held the heights. It was a shame they didn't listen to us.
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