Yampolsky IM - participant of the Battle of Stalingrad
- I repeat once again, a lot has been written about Stalingrad. But what case has remained in your memory that is not mentioned by historians in numerous monographs?
- Probably, the case at the Tractor Plant remained unknown or not mentioned in publications. In September 42, both opposing sides used captured tanks with might and main. Once I had to repel an attack of seven T-34s with German crews and even sit for a couple of days in a captured German tank adapted for a firing point. You sit inside the tank with them - you feel as if you are in a comfortable, comfortable room. So, our tank column of about twenty tanks was on the way for repairs. Four German tanks in the twilight rushed into this column - no one felt the trick - and the Germans drove into the territory of the repair site of the Tractor Plant, stood in the corners. And they opened fire on tanks, people, workshops. While they managed to kill them, they did a lot of misfortunes, they arranged such a "holiday" for us … The Germans knew how to sacrifice themselves too …
In the forty-fourth year, in the spring, in Ukraine, we are leading one major to "use it", and he spits in our faces, and shouts to me: "Yude! Schwein!" … They walked in a large crowd. Somewhere in front of us was a company of Germans. They realized that if they accepted the battle, they would have a skiff, but they did not allow us to pass peacefully. All of them were beaten in hand-to-hand combat … So we fought with a strong and experienced enemy who did not really spare his skin …
- After the war, did you want to visit Stalingrad again, as your deceased tankman wrote, "so that you can remember your youth on the Volga?"
- After the war, I often dreamed about Stalingrad, the war did not let me go. But it took thirty years after the Victory, until I decided on this trip. First I tried to find someone from my tank battalion. I found two, one was already practically dying - front-line wounds finished him off. I came to the second in Russia, invited me to Volgograd with me. He replied: "Józef, you must understand, my heart is already sick, I am afraid it will not stand it when all these terrible memories flood."
We in Kiev formed branded "tourist" trains for trips of organized groups. One of these routes was Kiev-Volgograd. Autumn was already on. Guides lead us to the places of battles, and every place for me is associated with the bitter loss of military friends: there Kolya burned down, here Sasha was knocked out, and here Ivan was killed by a fragment of a bomb … It has now erased many names from my memory, but then I remembered everyone by name …
I swallowed tears and validol there …
They brought us to Mamaev Kurgan. Nearby is a group of students and teachers from the GDR, from the University of Berlin. One elderly German looked at my order plates, came up himself, and spoke to me in decent Russian. Asks: "Where did you fight in Stalingrad?" He showed his direction with his hand, said that he had fought as a tanker. He says: "I stood in front of your tanks in September 1942," and even named the street where our headquarters was located. A former sapper, non-commissioned officer, and now a university professor. He surrendered already at the very end of the battle, together with Paulus's headquarters.
A couple of years before this trip, I read in "Komsomolskaya Pravda" about a similar meeting of two former opponents on the Stalingrad land. I thought the journalist was pouring in, but here with me is the same story in reality, it's just incredible what surprises life throws up! It turns out that the Germans were drawn to the places of their battles to go. We were standing, talking with him, but suddenly I realized that neither he nor I had forgiven each other for anything. He told me - defeat and captivity, I to him - the death of friends and relatives. The war never ended for us …
