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Story by Fyodor Minin
When speaking about the war, I always remember my grandfather, Nikolai
Aleksandrovich Buslayev. He served in the glorious Baltic Fleet and for the rest
of his life retained the fitness and neatness that distinguish seamen from
everyone else. Anywhere, at work or in the forest, he was always clean-shaven,
and smartly dressed. Only the Navy teaches people to be different from others,
to be proud of their country, to keep navy traditions alive and never hang their
heads.
He began fighting in 1940 against the Finns and took part in the famous
landing at Hango. The Finns had machine guns and the Russians only had rifles.
But Russian marines are different from anyone else because they do not fear
anyone anywhere. They took Hango and soaked the Finns in blood. My grandfather
used to say that Finns were a more cunning and skilled enemy than Germans.
Finnish soldiers are courageous and stubborn, not afraid of difficulties, just
like Russians. Besides, they fought for their own land. Every time I visit
Karelia I remember my grandfather: had he and his comrades been less courageous
and brave, we would not have seen this beauty. Russians forever discouraged
Finns from venturing into what was originally Russian land.
Then there was the blockade, the Leningrad front. Marines fought with the
infantry. Germans imprisoned the Fleet on Kronshtadt. They fought bravely on
land, without sparing themselves. For Germans dispatch to the sector where “The
Black Death” – the marines – fought was like a penal battalion.
As any real fighter, grandfather talked little about the war. Sometimes, on
holidays, I did manage to get real war stories out of him. Once, on a
reconnaissance raid, they slaughtered Germans in a dugout with knives – they had
learned to use them during the Finnish campaign since the Finns were very
skilled with knives. In another story, they took a huge, red-haired German
officer prisoner by putting a grenade in the chimney of a German dugout and the
blast wave brought the officer out right in their hands.
Most importantly, as time went by, I realized that unlike all of us, those
people had pure souls. They did not look for profit, thought first of all of
their country and there were no wormholes in their hearts. There is no need to
mention mutual help, it is obvious that no one cannot survive a war without
it.
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