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Hello Sashka!

Just as I received your letter, I immediately sat down to write a reply. In the previous letter that I received just now, I understood you perfectly, but ... I remain with my old opinion. It's not where you think. They did tell us that as we were leaving Kandalaksha, but now it seems to me that we're not going there, but in the opposite direction. Some of us have already left, and I leave tomorrow or the day after. Expect letters from the road. Then you'll see which one of us is right. If we could meet in person, I could tell you a lot of interesting stuff, but it's up to you. We travel in a cultured way in the railroad cars. We deploy the radio station. Turn on the receiver, plug in the speaker and the amplifier, and listen to concerts. Since we have a large accumulator holding, we always have electric lighting.

Concerning your moral admonitions, that is very valuable to me. I've never heard about these three commandments. I'll try to remember them and always take them into consideration. And they are surprisingly true. Only concerning the third point, I disagree somewhat. We break it all the time, otherwise in the majority of cases we don't get cheap pleasures. Because in every business there exists certain sequence and you cannot do without this stage, at least I always used it, it's very hard without it, almost impossible. And when you're doing that thing, all morals slip your mind and you know of only one goal, and all means are good to reach it. And I am not squeamish of any of them. *

We celebrated the New Year with my colleagues in the same company. We're not screwups, and became acquainted with girls who work in the cafeteria, and obviously we celebrated the New Year in a respectable manner. There were eight of us, and in one night we drank 7 liters of vodka and maybe 40 liters of beer. It's a sizable dose, but we managed it. Against my expectation, when I started drinking (you see, I didn't use to drink wine) I thought I would easily succumb to alcohol. After all, I didn't have any practice. But not so! I drink like an alcoholic and don't get drunk at all, at least no matter how much I drink I don't lose sense. Like into a barrel. Apparently, it's my healthy body. And then you have to take into account that only we guys drank, the four men. Girls almost didn't drink anything, so we lapped up a lot. But enough about that.

Today I decided not to go anywhere. I'm sitting here listening to the radio, writing, and thinking. What awaits me further on, after all I almost haven't really seen war yet. It won't be the same here - it'll be hotter and who knows... But I tend to think that fate protected me during the last three years, and so she won't abandon me now, and if not so - I won't be the first or the last, but for now I'm wrapping up. I will write from the road. Expect that.

Not long ago I had my picture taken, so I'm sending the photo. Expect the same from you. Whether you wish it or not, send it to me. Write to me. I'm waiting, although during the move, and it will last a while, I will not receive letters, only when I get there. Write!
Yu.K. 16.1.45 (Jan 16, 1945)

Comment by Yuri Koriakin

* I don't remember what this is about. It's probably connected to Remarque's book "All Quiet on the Western Front". Both he and I especially loved this novel, and I was under its strong influence. I even packed this book to the front, and I always carried it with me.

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