Confessions of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, soldier Kutkov Ilya Semyonovich: "- I have started my career in the Far East in 1941, on the Komsomol ticket, as a miner's apprentice in Rudnik colliery. - What do you remember from the first day of the war? - The day was cloudy despite the peak of summer, clouds were rolling in the sky, which a weak breeze could not drive away. But we did not know that fascism had been drawing bloody clouds over our homeland for almost four years since that Sunday. In the summer of 1942 we, young 17-18 year old miners, were loaded into wagons and taken to Khabarovsk under guard (so as not to walk home). But on the way there I deserted from the work front according to the laws of wartime. I was homesick and hungry... My parents lived in the Novozayimsky district of the Tyumen Regionobla, 17 kilometers from the center of the district, in the village of Kolesnikovo. I stayed at home for four days, but my heart was restless, my parents were worried. On the fifth day I appeared before the eyes of the military commissar, to whom I confessed who I was and what I had done. A few hours later a messenger arrived, and on the second day I was in Cheryomushki, where I took the military oath. A month and a half later, in the autumn of 1942, I was a part of the 252nd rifle division in Stalingrad - which, as part of the 65th and then the 21st army of the Don Front, had surrounded Paul's army. I was awarded with the medal " for the defense of Stalingrad ". - For what did you receive the Medal for Military Merit? - I fought like everyone else. For crossing the Dnieper - crossing the Dnieper was not easy, we suffered heavy losses, but we reached the shore and started to build the bridgehead. After the battle of Stalingrad I, soldier Ilya Kutkov, liberated Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Austria and Yugoslavia. Ended the war in Czechoslovakia. - Why did you receive the Order of Glory in the third degree? "Our company received orders to prepare for the encounter with the Germans on the north side. Of course we dug trenches and prepared for battle, but the fascists appeared from the south side - but we were not confused, we repulsed the attack with heavy fire, and we ourselves retreated into the woods. Soon a general came to us and for some reason did not believe our commanders that the enemy was coming at us from the other side. The general addressed the soldiers with a request: "Who wants to visit the field where more than two dozen dead German soldiers are lying and present their documents as material evidence? Two sergeants and I, a corporal, volunteered. As I did not get 150 meters, the NCOs ordered me to crawl to the bodies as if we were giving you cover. I tried to object, "Why should I crawl to the dead?" But I had to obey, because my superiors ordered me to. "Was there any danger?" - The danger was that among the bodies was a wounded German who could shoot, but thank God everything went well. In 1946 I, Sergeant Kutkov, returned to my home village in the district of Novozaimsky (now Omutninsky) in the Tyumen Region. Here is one of my many stories at the front, from 1942 to 1945 " a small confession, and how many experiences there were and when - that is what he told. Everlasting memory of our father, grandfather, great-grandfather! NO ONE IS FORGOTTEN AND NOTHING IS FORGOTTEN- HAPPY VICTORY DAY, DEAR VETERANS !!!!