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On to the West

The newspaper of the 9th Mech Corps

Sergeant Major Natasha Peshkova

Natasha Peshkova's glory was born in battles, in peril, in the lethal singing of tracer bullets and shells. The girl who dreamed of becoming a Soviet journalist put off her studies and came to a military unit. The young patriot, like the thousands of other girls her age, decided to rise to the defense of her Motherland with submachine gun in hands. That was during the days when the terrible peril hanged over the homeland, when the insidious enemy threatened the heart of our motherland -- Moscow.

A new, rigorous life began. And if in the first days the experienced soldiers treated Natasha, as a fighter, with some distrust, now they speak of the warrior girl with sincere respect and love. The fighting qualities of Natasha Peshkova became especially apparent in the period of battles for the Dnieper, for Kiev, and in the subsequent advance westward. In the hottest skirmishes with the enemy Natasha Peshkova finds her place in the battle formations and by her courage multiplies the glory of Sr. Lieutenant Uglovskiy's * detachment. The fighters animatedly tell of many combat episodes with Peshkova as the main character. ...there was a difficult situation in one sector. The several times stronger German forces fell upon our battle formations. The fighters wavered. But then Natasha Peshkova appeared. Strict, decisive, resourceful, she halts the fighters, leads them after herself, helps to repulse the counterattack and restore the situation. Very recently, during a surprise raid of the fascist tanks at point P, in the night skirmish she fought with courage, helped the submachine gunners, strengthened their steadfastness with her personal fearlessness, under solid fire she got through with a report to the command post and returned to the detachment. Later, pursued by a German tank, she managed to deceive the fascists and get away from under the very tracks.

The commanders highly evaluated combat actions of Natasha Peshkova and awarded her the Order of the Red Star **. Honor and glory to the Soviet girl Sergeant Major Natasha Peshkova, who defends her beloved Motherland with arms. Honor and glory to the courageous patriot of our Motherland, the girl in a soldiers' coat.

Leonid Yukhvid

Comments by Natalia Peshkova

* I was put into 3 GTA (3rd Guards Tank Army), whose 6th and 7th corps were armored, and our 9th was mechanized. I was appointed to an officer's post of komsorg (KOMSOMOL organizer) of the 3rd Battalion, 71st Brigade, although I was a sergeant at first. The battalion commander Uglovskiy gave me a hostile reception. You can understand him, even though he used to be a math teacher and not a career officer, he had been fighting for some time already and knew what it was all about, and they sent him a girl, and to such a post! Komsorg - that was the number 3 person in the battalion. He immediately said to my face: "Don't expect any advantages or indulgences." I felt terribly insulted and we never had a good relationship with him. I couldn't forgive him this suspicion that I would demand special treatment.

** It must be said that they started awarding us only after the Kursk Operation and the capture of Kiev. And then, they only gave us "The Star" (Order of the Red Star), "The Banner" (Order of the Red Banner), "For Fighting Merits", and "For Bravery", but only senior officers received other decorations. And all these "For capture" and "For defense" - those are general medals, badges, I have "For the Capture of Kiev" and "For the Defense of Moscow", but I don't have anything real besides the Red Star. Mainly the awards were given out according to distribution lists, and not for actions. There was an assignment to every unit for a defined quantity of such and such medals, such and such orders. Well, somebody is killed, a medal remains unclaimed and gets passed on to another. Our commander, Lieutenant Uglovskiy, when he was asked why he didn't recommend anyone for a decoration for such and such battles, replied: "Because I wasn't recommended. They remained alive and became heroes because I was in charge of them. I wasn't recommended and I'm not recommending anyone." He said that to the superiors in front of us.