I have a good friend, the son of a front-line soldier. Reserve officer. He served at a time when many more front-line officers served in the army. I heard many interesting frontline stories from him. So he turned to him with a request to tell something from the recollections of his father or friends of the front-line soldiers.
Gave him a link to his channel. He read stories, read comments and flatly refused with the words: “Frontline stories? The truth about the war? Who needs it now? Write so that some snotty "expert" begins to assert that this is all lies and inventions? It will be enough for me that I have heard this from people whom I believe. Moreover, I was not the only one who listened to these stories, and we did not require any documentary confirmation from anyone. We all listened and just believed.
What happened in the war was far from an isolated one - this is a fact. Alexander Matrosov was not alone, his feat was repeated many times by other, but often nameless heroes. Captain Gastello's feat was repeated many times, but no one will ever remember the names of these heroes who gave their lives “For the Motherland, For Stalin”.
And now someone needs to prove that during the attack they shouted not only "For the Motherland", but also "For Stalin"? What for?
And how to prove the veracity of the story of a militia from Moscow who saw with his own eyes how when they fled to the attack, next to him, panting, ran a very middle-aged man. How the bullet pierced the heart of this old man, but he continued to run, and ran already dead to the very enemy trenches. Need proof too?
And where can I get documentary evidence of how the T-34 ran into an anti-tank mine on the move, but it so happened that the fuse was between the tracks. Winter, frost at forty. The slightest movement of the tank and the mine will explode! And the elderly sapper warmed the frozen ground with his breath for several hours and shoved it out from under the mine with his bare fingers. For more than a day, the elderly man lay on the frozen ground, but finally pulled out a mine from under the caterpillar. Who can provide proof of this and who needs it?
Just try to find information about the IL-2 aircraft. It is known that the first version of the attack aircraft was a two-seater, but then this was abandoned. The additional space is insignificant, but upset the balance of the aircraft's alignment and increased its weight. As a result, this led to a decrease in speed, as well as a deterioration in maneuverability.
It was decided to make the attack aircraft one-seater, which made it possible to significantly improve its tactical and technical characteristics. The pilot of the IL-2 told me (again, there is no documentary evidence and tape recordings) that when the Messer came into the tail of our attack aircraft, the German pilot would point one or two fingers. And that meant: shoot you down from the first or from the second stage? The Germans fired under the fuselage. Damage to the oil cooler led to the engine wedging and that's it …
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They say, they only say that by some miracle a letter from an ordinary Soviet pilot reached Stalin, who literally begged to provide a place for protection for a second person who could fire at enemy fighters coming from the rear. And then the Germans, after the very first meeting, stopped showing their fingers to our pilots.
But again, there is no evidence of this. A former attack aviation pilot told us this at the academy, and we did not ask him for any proof, but simply believed.
So this is the story with geography, and let my stories remain with me."
What can I say here? I understand him perfectly. But I still hope that he will change his mind and send more stories.