Yakov Ivanovich Fadeev, 09.22.1926, is a veteran of World War II. He participated in the Berlin offensive, capture of the Reichstag.
“I myself came from Kotovsky district, or rather, from the village of Bolshoe Burilovo. This is Odessa region, not far from Pridnestrovie. I remember the day when the war began. In fact, people were talking about what had been coming for a long time. June 22, I was at the stable. I was having a rest after a night grazing horses. At 6 in the morning, I heard a rumble. Planes were flying from the west, that is, from Rybnitsa towards Vinnitsa. In the early days, Germans were bombing all strategic points, airfields.
Then there was the occupation. First of all, they took away our cow. Policeman from the locals was appointed. But he tried not to harm the house. If the Germans or Romanians needed something, they would take them to the next village, show who could get some home brew, food.
March 12, 1944, after almost three years, we were released. The policeman was shot. They began to recruit boys. First, there were those who were older, and in April my call-up notice had arrived.
I Got into a Tank-borne Infantry
They sent me to Kostroma for training, then to the Lviv region in the third tank army. We were formed up, and then they said: those who have seven classes of education - to the left, those who have more than seven classes - to the right. So I went to the right, I had a month to study in the 8th grade. And then I got the senior sergeant, was sent to the tank-borne Infantry. In fact, during the offensive we had to be the infantry accompanying the armored vehicles. The Germans had the defense, the lines of the trenches were in several layers, reaching 6-7.
And when attacking tanks go for a breakthrough, the landing is on the armor. When we reach the enemy’s fortifications, the vehicle is rushing ahead, and we occupy the German trenches, first, the first line of defense, then the second and so on. They instructed us like that.
We Went to Get Some Water, But We Got German
But when I arrived at the place of service, our troops had actually occupied the Sandomierz bridgehead near the Vistula River, so they did not have to parachute anywhere. There was a trench war. At night boys went to take Germans in threes, and to get some water, you had to make a whole sortie.
The well was between our positions and German ones. When we went to get some water, they didn’t shoot at us, and vice versa. And once our three boys went to the well, it turned out the German, apparently, wanted to collect water too. We swaddled him. The commander then thanked us, he said that we had done well and took German although at that time no one had set such a task.
I spent three months in the trenches. Then I fell ill with typhus, was sent to the hospital. I was being treated for a long time, the troops had already gone forward.
Maybe I was lucky that I got sick. The offensive was accompanied by heavy losses. They said that we had rushed forward at the request of the Americans. To divert German troops from the Western Front. As a result, many died.
In general, I returned to the front somewhere in March of the 1945. But not in the tank-borne infantry, but just in the infantry. I was appointed commander of an assault platoon. To be honest, I was surprised. A lot of soldiers managed to fights there, experienced soldiers, obviously more experienced than me. How would I command them? I was helped by Senior Sergeant Fedorenko, he gave me good advises. I remember, before my first fight, he said: “The most important thing: do not go into the thick of it.”
Street Fights are the Worst
They took the city of Forst. It happened already in Germany. Before the offensive, our aircraft and artillery did a good job. We go forward, no one has resistance. And then from behind, from the rearguard, they started shooting at us. They did not check the houses during the attack, they hurried, and there, as it turned out, snipers lurked.
There, in Forst, Fedorenko was killed. We took the sugar factory, he went to the window, and then his head was split in two. That was a sniper`s job. And we could not get even took the revenge. We had to move quickly on to occupy the city.
Actually, I would like to tell you that street fighting was the worst thing. It is not clear from whom to hide, from where they are beating. Each pane shoots. I had the platoon of 29 people. After the attack there were 5 of combat-capable ones. The rest of them were wounded, or killed.
It was terrible, of course. But there was so much anger for the Nazis that they went forward. Many people, like me, who went through the occupation, remembered what kind of things had been done by Germans in our cities and villages.
A good supply saved us. There were grenades, lots of ammunition. One disk with cartridges is inserted in my PPS, two more spares on the belt and four packs of cartridges in the duffel bag. In general, I tried to take more ammunition with me. You can do without crackers, yet if the cartridges run out in battle, it’s a disaster.
After the battles for Forst and Cottbus, they decided to transport us to the siege of the fortress of Breslau. They walked on foot half a day and night. And when they got there, it was all over. Aviation cleaned the height so much, the storming of which we were supposed to throw, that there was no one to fight with. Only corpses were lying in heaps.
[On April 18-19, battles were fought in the western part of the city of Breslau. Soviet troops took control of the railway dam near Pepellwitz station. Wehrmacht suffered heavy losses. The siege of Breslau continued until May 5th. May 6th, the fortress city capitulated - approx. ed.]
Reichstag Storming
It was around 20th of April. I received an order to transfer us again. Lieutenant Lomaev gathers everybody and says: "Boys, we are going into Berlin." So we are going forward, without respite. Our aircraft and tanks are crushing the Berlin grouping, and we take them into the boiler. And on the 29th of April, at about three in the morning, we approached the Brandenburg Gate. We are given the task: May 1 - take the Reichstag. As if we are carrying out a plan on the collective farm.
Many died. The boy from the Far Eastern division was shot in front of me. He climbed the Reichstag dome not by a spiral staircase, but outside the building, through the roof. As a result, he was shot by a sniper. Then we generally sweep from all sides. We were in a hurry, there was no time to clean the neighborhood. And after that Siberian boy was shot, Egorov and Kantaria placed the banner. They became heroes, but thanks to the death of the first one.
That was total carnage actually. There was hand-to-hand combat, the Germans fought with sapper blades. It was not clear who was shooting and where from. I only got to the second floor. Then someone shot from the faustgate [first disposable anti-tank grenade launcher - approx. ed.], and I was crushed under a pile of the wall fragments. Our soldiers dug me out when it was all over.
They usually leave happy inscriptions on the walls. I also wrote: "I am Fadeev, I walked all the way to Berlin!"
Recorded by Alexey Kovalev
