-
RED ARMY - medical instructor
IRINA - UKRAINIAN GIRL IN RED ARMY
Hello Everyone
On the May 9th we present our second mannequin – a woman from Kiev, a soldier of Red Army.
Our first mannequin - soldier from Polish Forces on the West (Polskie Siły Zbrojne na Zachodzie – PSZ) - you can see here)
1st Polish Armoured Division - THE BLACK DEVILS MARCH
9th of May it’s a big russian holiday - Dien Pabiedy (V-E Day) and, at the same time, it’s a day of crazy russian quasi-religion, time of false mythology and lies about the past and history. The bitter result of many years of post-soviet fantasy is military intervention in Ukraine, which is praised by Russian society. It’s very sad, specially for people, who would like to see Russia among civilized, democratic countries. That wish tourn out to be a great illusion, full of naivety.
But let’s back to our presentation
+
This is Ирина Черепко / Irina Cherepko, paramedic (medical instructor / cанитарный инструктор / санинструктор), she was born in Kiev. Her father, Anatoly Vasilievish Cherepko was a military surgeon. Her mother Olga was absurdly accused of collaboration with the Polish intelligence and the NKVD arrested her in 1937. She was lucky they didn't shot her. Received a sentence - 10 years of the Gulag. Irina interrupted his studies at medical and volunteered - despite the prohibition of the father - she joined the Red Army in 1943.
- It was hard for me, NKVD and SMIERSZ all the time kept an eye on me, because I was Ukrainien, and my mother was “an enemy of the state” and was in gulag – says Irina. According to NKVD the worst were the people coming from west part of Ukraine. NKVD claimed that they were all nationalists, enemies of communism and Stalin,people who cannot be controlled and that they deserve only for execution by shooting or death on the battlefield.
She fought in the Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia, in the Carpathian Mountains in the Battle of the Dukla Pass in the autumn of 1944 (At the same time the Operation Market Garden taken place on the Western Front). She was injured, but recovered and reached Berlin in May 1945.
Now Irina is still well and lives in Kiev. In 1991 she was very happy to witness moment, in which Ukraine gain independency. In 2004 she was happy that Orange Revolution won, but later she was angry that ideas so quickly became just empty promises and money ordinary people were stolen by corrupt politicians, who had some liaisons with Russia. Now she believes that Ukraine will be a free country. She doesn’t have so much power as she used to, but she would still fight for it. She cannot stand the fact, that Russians are so blinded by Putins propaganda. Even some of her former brothers in arms called her and other Ukrainian patriots “fascists”, like NKVD did, back in the 70s. Her eyes are full of tears when she says: “How they can lie so much in Moskau, how they can attack our country, how they can occupy The Crimea?”.
In the pictures Irina is wearing a typical uniform of the Red Army model 1943. It has gimnastiorka (model for women), tielogrieyka. sailor T-shirt "tielniashka / matroska". The black skirt was sewn to order by a survivor of the Holocaust, a Jewish tailor in eastern Poland, which he got for his work on a piece of bread and American Tushonka canned, unfortunately pork . Leather boots, cotton stockings. She has a leather belt U.S. supplies and Nagant revolver in leatherette holster. She has a regular beret, ushanka, and, and helmet m1940 (6 rivets, production 1944) The Lend-Lease supplies are also shown folding stretcher U.S. Army, m1943, model for mountain troops and paratroopers. In the pictures shown are typical of two models Red Army sanitary bags, aluminum water bottle m1938 , canteen model of the 20's, the production of war made of enameled steel and aluminum spoon and cup. Irina has captured a German watch, and the Soviet flashlight with two color filters on the 4.5 V battery.
Autumn 1944
Autumn 1944, Poland, the Carpathians, the Battle of Dukla Pass. Field hospital in a primary school in the village Tylawa
Soviet dressings, bandages, medical containers, first aid kits box, etc.
Anti gas packages before the war and 1943. Ukrainian Red Cross ID card 1941, badge “Ready for Medical Defence” - battlefield relic 1944
Oxygen pillow with a field hospital (Moscow 1937)
Soviet medical bags and American first aid kit (The Lend-Lease supplies)
Russian and german flyer from autumn 1944, battle in the Carpathian Mountains.
German flyer uses a fact that NKVD was persecuting Ukrainian soldiers and wanted to persuade them to the German side.
Cemetery in polish village Dukla, were soldiers of Red Army have been burried, among them many Ukrainians.
Winter 1945
During fighst with Germans and Hungarian Army in Upper Silesia few thousands soldiers of Red Army were killed. At the same time, near Katowice in Upper Silesia (Poland) some of them commited terrible crimes on civilians in two villages. NKVD arrested many Poles, and Russians as well, emigrants, who escaped from Russia to Poland after the revolution in 1917. These people were brought back to Soviet Union and killed or forced to work like slaves in mines.
January 1945 Poland, Silesia, Katowice. Lodging in a private home
Cemetery with graves of Red Amy soldiers, situated in Katowice
CAMP EQUIPMENT
Soviet military camp stoves 1939 and 1941 (in a container), an American oil lamp, lamps made of shells cannon (koptilki).
PERSONAL EFFECTS
FOOD
Cans with amerian, canadian, british and russian pork meat, american evaporated milk, taken from the enemy german cans – german food was forbidden, because some believed that it can be poisoned, but most people didn’t care about it.
May 1945
May 1945 Germany. Military lodging in private apartment in Berlin
All presented uniforms, parts of field equipment and personal items are from D. & T. Bienek Collection
Last edited by Dabi26; 05-09-2014 at 12:33 PM.
-
05-09-2014 01:01 AM
# ADS
Circuit advertisement
-
You have a superb collection of small materials, congratulation
-
-
thanks for showing this! I love looking at the papers and gear which is often overlooked! Would love to see more things photographed even closer!
Patrick
-
by
jagdhorn
thanks for showing this! I love looking at the papers and gear which is often overlooked! Would love to see more things photographed even closer!
Patrick
Thank you, Patrick write what you decide you'd like to see larger
-
Nice collection, but in USSR all the nations was never discriminated over the nationality, due there was only a one nation- Soviet peoples. All what has been done by German collaborationists has been never mentioned, due the reason- the Soviet peoples cannot be a friends of the enemy, and that was forbidden thing. USSR was build at the working class system, but never national or race. Today we can see that the "grain of national hatred is put on" in Ukraine, as the same as it has been realized in Balticum.
Regards,
Dimas
my Skype: warrelics
-
You are wrong Dimas. Of course, theoretically there were no discriminations in Soviet Union, but that was only in theory, because enemies of the working class, anti-communists and collaborationists were killed, sent to gulags, sent to Siberia or Kazakhstan, and that was because of national discrimination. Moreover, because of that there were genocides of Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, Tatars and, right before Stalin died, of Jews. The list is of course much longer. There were other reasons as well: social class: capitalists, intelligentsia; potential treat: officers of Red Army, old members of communist party, doctors…and that’s how it was in this “idyllic”, bloody Soviet Union, which is so praised by Russians and Putin; by Putin, who himself was in KGB, institution, who discriminated, kept in prison and killed many people.
And going back to Ukraine and Baltic countries, there is no “grain of national hatred”, only people are afraid of “sick, stupid Russian imperialism”, which is condemned by entire world.
-
RED ARMY - medical instructor
Bookmarks