Russian Missions in Orphanages

Entry 7 Russian Mission Blog

The War

The little village that we go to each year is located between Tula and Orel, about 200 miles southwest of Moscow. The village, Tel’ch’e ended up in German hands for about two years and was basically the front line during World War II (or as they call it, the Great Patriotic War.) After the German offensive in the Kursk pocket in the summer of 1943, the town was retaken by Soviet troops in July of that year. The village was the scene of two fierce battles and a brutal Nazi occupation. The stories told to me by the soldiers and survivors are both harrowing and inspiring. One such story was told to us by Mr. Melnikov, a veteran, on the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the town.

Paraphrased from celebration July 2004:

" The Russian troops were attacking the town from the northeast and were entering from just beyond the school. The fascists were pushed back into the village and taking up positions around the school. As the first Russian troops entered the town, some children greeted them with flowers. As the children were handing them the flowers some German troops opened fire from the school. A mortar round landed next to the children killing 5 of them and 3 soldiers. One of the children killed was my nephew. That is why I built this memorial on this spot."

The three men are veterans of WW2 and the women at right survived the German occupation.

Mr. Melnikov

This year I had the privilege to talk/listen to another veteran of the war Mrs. Palovna. She was 17 years old when the Battle of Kursk took place and she was a nurse on the front line. Three of her brothers were killed during the war and she talked at length how she and all of her siblings served.

Paraphrased from a discussion with Mrs. Palovna June 2007:

"I was 17 when I began my service in the Soviet army. I was stationed outside of Kursk in a field hospital. The most terrifying moments were when the German planes would drop phosphorous flares at night. The sky would become bright as day and we knew that the German bombers would be next. Once my good friend Tanya and I were moving a wounded soldier on a stretcher when the bombs started to fall. Tanya was in front and I was behind. Suddenly there was an explosion in front of us and we all fell down. The soldier on the stretcher was killed and so was my best friend who had the top of her head blown off. I was only slightly wounded and was able to continue working at the hospital. I still remember that day like it was yesterday. …You see the battle of Kursk was a very large tank battle, and there were a lot of soldiers coming to us who were injured in tanks. The wounded from the tanks were just…"  At this point, she began to cry and was unable to complete the sentence, and the interview ended on that somber note.

Mrs. Palovna with her granddaughter and great grandson

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