As the bright summer sun shone over the vast plains of the northern Caucasus, the people of a small farming village went through their daily routine of working in the fields that grew all around along the banks of the Volga.
It was like was like any other day, until the rumbling of an engine could be heard approaching down the old dirt road. With the only vehicles left in military service, everyone knew what was going on and flocked to the village center.
As they watched on, an American made Jeep drove into the village and stopped before the crowd. In the seats of the Jeep, several soldiers scanned the people with grim faces, there was an unsettling silence that loomed for a fairly long time until finally an officer sitting in the passenger seat stood up in front of the congregation around him.
"Comrades, the motherland requires men to fight for her."
"But we have already given almost all of our sons to the army, months ago." Exclaimed an old bearded man in the crowd.
"A new draft has been employed for this province, and this village is expected to supply eight men." The officer announced.
There was once dozens of young men who lived in the small village, but now with several previous drafts, less than a handful remain, the majority being the women, the young, and the old who did what they could for the war effort.
"All for the front! All for Victory! Your country! Your great nation calls upon you to take up arms against the fascist invaders that threaten it!" He called out in a clear loud voice that rang through the village like a bell.
Following the officer making his speech, all of the villages remaining young men lined up partly out of patriotism, and partly out of fear hearing stories of what happens to deserters in the Red Army.
As the officer exited the vehicle the men all lined up in a straight row in attention, and as he inspected them one by one, he asked for their names.
"Alexander Alekseev" - Last son of the village magistrate
"Vladislav Nikitin" - Orphan from after his father was killed in Manchuria.
"Kimek Sokolov" - An avid reader, and one of the village's brightest minds.
"David Alexandrov"
"Denis Alexandrov" - Brothers, and the village's two main troublemakers in the prewar years.
"Victor Titov"
"Roman Titov" - Cousins, both born only weeks apart.
After inspecting the volunteers, the officer noticed something wrong.
"We're one short!"
"That's all the men we have left sir." The old man exclaimed again.
"Well unfortunately the quota was set at eight, and where one short." The officer explained again.
The soldiers scanned through the crowd, they found two men near the back, but one was missing his right arm, and the other, still in his ragged military uniform, was lost his left leg and was standing on a crutch.
"What about him?" One of the other soldiers asked while pointing towards a boy.
"Please no! He's my only son, and hes only fifteen." The boy's father begged.
"He's the only young man left, so he'll have to do." The officer ordered.
"Please! Not my boy! Not my baby boy." The father continued.
"Look, the motherland is in need of soldiers to fight. If you don't get out of my way, I'll remove you myself." The officer warned. Pulling a revolver out of his holster.
"Please no!" He did not budge.
"How dare you, you filthy traitor!" The officer yelled in a fit of rage as he pointed the revolver at the man's head and cocked the hammer.
"I'll take his place!" A voice called from the crowd.
"Who said that!?" The officer ordered.
Out from the crowd came a beautiful young woman with long black hair, and blue eyes. Coming in front of the officer.
"I did." she answered "If I go, will you leave him to his family?"
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Nonna Pravda." She answered.
"Okay then." He answered placing his revolver back into its holster. "The trucks will arrive to transport you all for training tomorrow at noon. Which means you all have the night to say your goodbyes."
"No!" Yelled a young girl as she ran out of the crowd and into Nonna's arms.
"Please Nonna. Please don't leave." She Pleaded. Tears pouring out of her eyes.
Nonna tightened her grip around her, trying her best to comfort the young girl.
"I'm sorry Katyusha, I'm so sorry. But I can't just stand by and let someone be taken away from his family like that." She said.
"But what about Katyusha, you're all I have left?" Katyusha begged.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go." Nonna then turned to the man who she just saved a few moments ago.
"Yackov. Can you please look after Katyusha for me while I'm gone?" She asked.
"Yes. And thank you Nonna, I'll take good care of her as one of my own." He answered while holding his son.
Nonna then turned back to Katyusha. "Please forgive me Katyusha."
"Nonna." She said wiping the tears from her eyes. "Katyusha forgives you."
Nonna then smiled lightly seeing her getting better. "Well, at least we have one last afternoon before I go."
She saw as the younger girl brightened up at hearing this. "Really?!"
"Yes. What do you want to do?" She asked.
"Well theres the pasture we always use to go to." She explained.
"OK. Lets go to the field then." Nonna agreed as she kneeled. Just before the engine of the Jeep started up and headed down the road towards the next village.
Nonna then stood up to go, but was stopped by Katyusha.
"Nonna?"
"Yes Katyusha?" She asked as she kneeled back down in front of her.
"Can you give me a lift to the field like you use to?" She asked.
"Shure." She answered before kneeling completely down so that she could jump on.
As she stood up Katyusha was filled with excitement to the point where she seemed to have completely forgotten about the earlier incident.
"Yay, this is so awesome." "Now then, FORWARD!" She commanded as Nonna began to head off towards the pasture, and everyone else hustled to make preparations for the parting festivities for the leaving solders.
After several hours of playing in the fields by the village where the two always went in brighter days before the invasion, they headed back into the village that was now in full life.
To see off the men... and woman, who were to head for the front lines. The entire village went to make a massive festival for them before their parting. There was little food, for since the Germans have captured the Ukraine: the nation's breadbasket, food was always scarce, even in a farming village. But what they lacked in food, they made up for in music and dance, with all of the older inhabitants bringing out musical instruments, and all of the young maidens of the village sang and danced with the young soldiers.
Nonna however only danced a little with Katyusha before she headed off to play with some of the other children of the village, and Nonna spent much of the rest of the night exchanging stories and jokes with the other enlisted men.
While everything seemed to be extremely merry on the outside, a sense of dread seems to have overtaken the whole village. Everyone heard stories from the front despite government attempts to control what came to the public knowledge. They heard of the harsh treatment done to POWs by their German captors, the mass execution of deserters, the brutal conditions that soldiers were put up against, and the heavy casualties inflicted on the field. Of the fifteen others that were sent to the front from the village: six were already known to be dead, five were missing in action, and three returned to the village, to badly maimed to be of any further use to the army, one dying later of his wounds. To everyone, this wasn't the triumphant waveoff of heros off to seek glory in the field of battle, it was a final farewell to the living dead.
Morning came, and all was quiet throughout the village, there was no more music, or dancing, or merry making of any kind. In each of the six families that were sending a loved one off we're simply saying their goodbyes, and simply taking comfort at being in each other's company for one last time.
In one of the smallest huts in the village, Nonna tried to make as best as she could to comfort Katyusha for their impending parting. Playing with her and some of the stuffed toys she made for her out of straw and burlap every year for her birthday. And looked at the few photos that they have, some had just the two of them, some with friends; two in particular were more beloved to them than the rest, one including a young Nonna, but no Katyusha with a young man and woman, the other included both girls and the man now in an officer's uniform in the field they played in the previous day, but not the young woman that was in the other one. Nonna decided to take to take the one with the young woman, along with a fairly new one of her and Katyusha.
Approaching noon. Once again the sound of engines roared down the road. Now instead of just a single Jeep, a massive convoy of trucks escorted by multiple Jeeps with guards armed with machineguns.
As the convoy stopped in the center of town, the same officer stood up from his Jeep and called out the names one by one as the young men said farewell to their families one last time, and headed into a covered ZIS-6 that was still reasonable empty compared to the rest. When all but one was called, it was finally Nonna's turn to take her place in the truck.
Upon hearing her name called, she let go of Katyusha for the last time and prepared to make her way to the truck, but Katyusha wasn't ready yet.
She clung onto the older girl, tears once again streaming out of her eyes.
"What's the holdup?" The officer ordered.
"It's just my little sister sir." Nonna answered.
"May I have a few seconds to say goodbye?" She asked.
"You have two minutes; we got a tight schedule to keep."
"Please Katyusha, I have to go." Nonna asked as she turned to her.
"Please! Please Nonna, don't leave me!" Katyusha pleaded.
"I'm sorry, but I have to." She reassured as she wiped the tears from the younger girls eyes.
Katyusha lowered her head in shame, knowing that Nonna had to do this. And she couldn't get her sister back even if she tried. She tried her best to stop the tears from coming out, and put on the best smile that she could.
"Promise to write?" She asked.
"Yes I'll make sure I write regularly. " She answered as she smiled seeing her sister brighten up. "And don't forget to send a few letters yourself." She added in a joyful tone.
"I will!" Katyusha assured as she hugged her older sister one last time before leaving.
"It's time." The officer stated.
"I have to go now." Nonna said to her sister.
"Be safe." Katyusha said.
"I will." She promised, before taking her place among her comrades in the covered truck.
As the convoy started up and started its way down the road to the next village, all eight soldiers in the last truck in the line waved to their friends and family, having their waves returned by every single person from the village until they were out of sight.
Seeing the vast fields go by, and everything she has ever known become more and more distant. Nonna reflected back at her old life, which she knew would become nothing more than a distant memory, and thought back on what was said to awaiting her where she's going. For at that time in mid-summer 1942, over a million soldiers of Germany and its allies were pushing their way south towards the precious oil fields of Baku. And the Red Army took up to flight as it made its way for one last desperate defence along the Volga River to the south. Among the once grand and beautiful city whose name will forever be remembered through time. A city known as Stalingrad.
There we go, the second chapter. For now on until the battle itself, since Maho and Nonna will be in much different circumstances as being in opposite sides of the conflict, and training in different uniforms will not match up in chapter by chapter by time, but more by event.
If this chapter seemed a little too much like the last one, I'm sorry. But it was meant to explain both characters as people who didn't want to fight for flags, or highly renowned leaders of nations, but as people who had to fight for the people they cared about. While part of the story is meant to be for to the two main characters a little light in the spotlight by themselves, the other part is to give a face to many of the people who lived and died in those dark days, much like the seven other men who were drafted along with Nonna, though they were fictional characters as well, they are meant to give an insight, and a name for the people who fought in the ferocious hand to hand fighting that filled the city streets of Stalingrad, and other cities like it that were ravaged in World War Two, and other wars like it, for the people who gave their lives for not only their nation, but for their friends and family as well.
