Rank: The Red Army Soldier. He died of wounds in January 1944. He was buried in the village of Sambatovo, Poddorsky district, Leningrad region. From a letter to fellow villagers. Hello dear totalise farmers, workers and employees! Two years have passed since I left the collective farm fields to join the Red Army. The order given to me at parting at the meeting of my native collective farm "Collectivist", I carry out the high rank of a red army soldier. When I was in the infantry school, I put all my strength and effort into arming infantry units. The war with the savage fascist hordes broke out. After graduating early from school, I received the rank of Lieutenant. This is a big event in my life. The party and the people have shown me great confidence – I am a company commander and I will use all my strength, knowledge and abilities to justify this high title of commander of the red army. There is no place for fascist reptiles on our land! For all their atrocities, for the blood and torment of our people, for the destroyed cities and villages, we will pay them with their dirty blood! Happiness to live in our country! I am young, I love life, I love my native land, I love our beautiful Kuban nature. We are free people of a great country. Everyone chooses life according to their own taste, profession, wish, friend, to the heart. The whole country is our native land. In every house, comrades and friends, I want to live a long, long time. But I don't agree to every life. It is better to die than to become a slave of the fascists. Brutal gangs of German fascism are coming to our land, they want to break the friendship of our people, trample on a happy life. In the battle for your happiness and freedom, I am ready to give my life. There, ahead, is our Victory. Through blood, torment and suffering, through the filth and horrors of the war imposed on us, we will come to it, to our complete and final Victory. For this, we are fighting a terrible battle to the death. A few days ago, I was in a hot battle with the Germans, my unit. The fascists got a great hit. For this, I have the great honor of being presented with a government award. The reward is the most valuable thing in my life and I will do everything to justify it and fight my enemies with even more energy. When you need to give your life for the right cause of the people, for the cause of the Lenin-Stalin party. Your countryman, a native of the village of Sergievskaya Baseev Vasily Andreevich