#ANTARES “MISHAP” QUESTIONED BY EXPERTS

Experts in rocketry question the publicly made claims concerning the Antares launch “mishap” that occurred on 29-October 2014 from Wallops island Virginia, USA. 

m.lenta.ru/articles/2014/10/31/orbital/

Vice President Orbital Sciences Corporation Barron Beneski (Barron Beneski), who oversees the company’s corporate communications, in an email to CNN American reported that his firm operators themselves rocket blasted Antares («Antares”) a few seconds after the start.

Not all experts believe this.
The accident occurred at night on October 29 (Moscow time) in 2014. Booster Antares, which was to deliver the truck Cygnus into orbit exploded a few seconds after the start.
Cygnus was carrying on board food and scientific equipment for astronauts to the International Space Station. The loss of the payload and spacecraft prompted NASA and its partner – Orbital – to accelerate the search for a new engine supplier for Antares. After the accident, the president of Orbital Sciences Corporation David Thompson (David Thompson) said that his company is already defined. As reported by “Izvestia”, the supplier may be the Russian Scientific and Production Association “Energomash”.
AJ-26 engines used in private US missiles constitute a reworked version of the Soviet NK-33 produced in Kuibyshev (Samara) over 40 years ago for the Soviet lunar program. In the development of Antares except Russian and American sides took part and Dnepropetrovsk rocket scientists from the design office “Southern”. Together with their Ukrainian counterparts, they designed a fuel supply system and associated equipment.
Summary to date version of the causes of the accident indicates a malfunction of the engine. On the other hand, as the vice-president of Orbital Beneski his company blew itself booster as noticed irregularities in her work and was afraid that Antares will fall on nearby communities.
Statement by the Vice-President of Orbital commented former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly (Mark Kelly). “They activated the self-destruct system to avoid possible falling missiles on the territory inhabited since realized that not rocket will orbit” – quoted Kelly CNN.
Russian experts to doubt.
“We should not be too competent person to issue the command after a few seconds after launch, when the rocket is still on the starting complex, since it is obvious that it will fall back. So first there was an explosion due to a critical problem, and then later, or in the same moment the operator can press the stop engine “- told RIA Novosti Andrew, son of John, a member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after Tsiolkovsky.
Meanwhile, the Russian and American systems Missiles are fundamentally different from each other.
“In the Russian launch vehicles (unlike the US – approx.” Heathcliff “) do not apply so-called system of undermining in emergency situations because the flight path and impact areas of exhaust stages are laid in deserted places. Under the legislation, all the flight path and impact areas separable parts are pre-approval procedure. Moreover, if affected, for example, the areas of shipping, then before starting the launcher of the closed areas will certainly inform marine vessels “, – reported” Lente.ru “the press service of the Joint Rocket and Space Corporation (ACCD).
As the representatives of ACCD in Russian missiles in case of emergency situations undermining not conducted. “If the booster has deviated from the desired flight path to the maximum allowable value, the control system immediately gives a command to shut down the engines, but not to undermine”, – explained in the corporation.
Russian Plesetsk Cosmodrome and removed from the settlements, while American spaceport on Wallops Island, which exploded Antares, is located in a fairly densely populated part of the US state of Virginia (US East Coast). On the other hand, the Americans launch their missiles from coastal launch sites in the Atlantic, which reduces the risks for the population.
The US also paying less attention to the control of air space during the launch of space objects. Suffice it to recall that the original launch Antares planned for October 28 (Moscow time), but, according to the official version, was postponed due to the ship, caught in the flight of the rocket. Skilled Baikonur failed to communicate with his crew, and the start was postponed.
To investigate the causes of the disaster in the US created a special commission. November 4, 2014 the meeting of heads of space agencies of Russia and the United States. Probably on its results will be known what really happened at the spaceport in Virginia before the explosion, but officials call the preliminary results of the investigation.

Research on Energomash
xn--80aaxridipd.xn--p1ai/korabl-progress-vpervye-vyvela-na-orbitu-raketa-nositel-soyuz-2-1a/

Serial engine production of “Kuznetsov” (part of the United Engine Corporation of SC Rostec) RD-107A / RD-108A successfully worked at startup carrier rocket “Soyuz-2-1A” transport cargo spacecraft “Progress M-25M”.

Launch vehicle “Soyuz-2-1A” before starting
Preparation and launch took place in a normal mode. October 29, 2014, at 10:09 Moscow time, on site 31 Baikonur cosmodrome “Progress” went to the ISS on a rocket “Soyuz-2-1A,” earlier start is made only on the “Soyuz-U-PVB.” Engines of “Kuznetsov” installed on the I and II stages of the rocket worked without comment.
In total, the flight tests of the rocket-space complex consisting of “Soyuz-2-1A” transport cargo ship “Progress” is scheduled four starts. The next two planned in 2015, another one – in 2016. After this, it is planned to transfer cargo and launches manned spacecraft to “Soyuz-2-1A.”
The docking station is scheduled for 16:09 Moscow time. It will deliver to the ISS more than 2.5 tonnes of cargo, including fuel for orbit correction station, scientific equipment, equipment for operation, water, air, and food parcels for astronauts and other consumables loads.
According cyclogram flight, spent stage space rocket must fall in the Karaganda region (Kazakhstan, stage 1); East Kazakhstan region (Kazakhstan), Altai Krai and Altai Republic (Russian Federation, 2 gear, tail, nose fairing). The third stage of the launch vehicle to remain in orbit. The rocket must bring the ship into orbit with an apogee altitude of 240 +/- 5 km; perigee – 193 +/- 2 km. In the future, the ship must rise to the height of the International Space Station – about 400 km through its own propulsion.
On board the ISS are six people: the commander of the expedition ISS-41 Maxim Suraev (Russia), ISS 40/41 Reid Wiseman (Reid Wiseman, USA), and Alexander Gerst (Alexander Gerst, ESA), the ISS 41/42 Alexander Samokutyaev (Russian ), Elena Serova (Russia) and ISS-41 / Expedition 42 commander Barry Wilmore (Barry Wilmore, USA).
Propulsion system RD-107A / 108A equipped with RD-I and II stages of carrier rockets of the “Union”. They are the most reliable in the world. Works to improve the reliability and improve the engine continuously maintained their developers (JSC “NPO Energomash them. Academician VP Glushko”) and specialists “Kuznetsov”. Also at JSC “Kuznetsov” conducted a program of reconstruction and technical re-equipment of missile production, provides the transition to a single number RD-107A / RD-108A.
Rockets launched from production engines are made with three spaceports: Baikonur, Plesetsk, Kourou (French Guiana). Another start for Samara “Unions” will be built at the Baikonur East.
By the end of the year is scheduled to perform four launch rockets of the “Union”, the press service Rostec.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=HZkaaJ2ThoE
Technical reference
“RD-107” (index 8D74) – liquid rocket engine, developed for the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 in the OKB-456.

RD-107 / RD-108 as part of the carrier raety

The engine was designed by Experimental Design Bureau. With the RD-107 “East” and its modifications were provided successful flights of artificial satellites, the Moon and the Sun, automatic stations on the Moon, Venus, Mars and manned spacecraft “Vostok”, “Voskhod”, “union”, “Soyuz T “. It is these engines for the first time in history brought into space artificial satellites and humans. Serial production of these engines at the factory in Samara under the supervision of the Volga branch of NPO Energomash. Used on the side blocks rockets “Soyuz-U” and “Soyuz-2”.

Scheme TNA RD-107
Technical features

The main combustion chamber (4) still. Has two rudder chamber with 45 ° and driven by a motor.
Operating components:
fuel – kerosene T-1
oxidizer – oxygen
nutrition TNA – hydrogen peroxide
Propulsion side blocks rockets R-7 series.
Major upgrade options
8D728 (RD-107mm) – variant developed in 1965-1976 gg. RN for “Lightning” (8K78M)
11D511 (RD-117) – a variant developed in 1968-1973. for the “Soyuz-U” (11A511U)
14D22 (RD-107A) – variant developed in 1993-2001. for the “Soyuz-FG” (11A511FG)
Modifications
“RD-108” – modification with 4 steering chambers for use in the central block.

                           РД-107

                         РД-108

Remembering the Victims of the Odessa Massacre

Patriarch of Antioch: “The Jihadists are a Foreign Body”

Source: Notes on Arab Orthodoxy
MARIA ANTONIADES | 29 OCTOBER 2014
POSTED

In his interview with VIMA, Patriarch John of Antioch highlighted the necessity of international mobilization for peace in the Middle East and the release of the two bishops of Aleppo who were kidnapped 18 months ago on the Turkish-Syrian border. The primate of the Church of Antioch, based in Damascus, lives these tragic circumstances every day and characterizes the two kidnapped bishops as “apostles of peace.” Even more tragic is that the drama of the kidnapping takes place within his family, as one of the two abducted hierarchs is not only his spiritual brother, but his brother according to the flesh. “They do not frighten us,” he stressed and expressed his love for the Greeks shortly before his meeting with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Patriarch John, who has been on an official visit to the Church of Greece last Thursday as part of the customary eirenical visits as a new primate, is having ongoing meetings with with Archbishop Ieronymos and in the coming days will visit Mount Athos, where he lived during his studies in Greece.

Your Beatitude, you are coming from the most troubled region in the world right now. What is the situation of the Christians in the Middle East?

First, I want to express all the love, joy and honor I feel to be in Greece. We in the Patriarchate of Antioch, in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, throughout the region, as you know we very much love Greece and the Greek people and we wish you the best. Greece is a beloved place for us. We are living in very difficult conditions. Particularly in Syria, churches, mosques, shrines and monasteries have been destroyed, but our faithful Orthodox Christians remain there. They still live there. We are about 1.5 million Christians in Syria, where we live in every city. And we are living normally, despite the difficulties. We bear them and hope that this cloud will pass as quickly as possible.

Two tears ago, when leaders of the Patriarchate of Antioch stated that the jihadists have nothing to do with the tradition of Islam in the Middle East, many people listened attentively to these statements.

It is a foreign spirit. There was never such a spirit in Syria or in Lebanon. Sadly, this phenomenon has come from outside and certain major powers bear some responsibility for this. This extremist phenomenon, which has reached the point of them killing each other in God’s name, had never existed.  It is not accepted by anyone. Neither do Muslims accept it.

Do the Muslims also have problems?

Everyone has. Syria has, Lebanon has. All inhabitants do. All the population, Christians and Muslims. And we as a Patriarchate, you know, we always say that we come from these places. We were born there. Our fathers were there and our grandfathers. We were there before Islam, together with Islam and after Islam. We always say that we all have a common history and a common future. Whatever happens to one happens to the other. For this reason we stress that we all belong to the same country. We have the same rights, every Christian and every Muslim. And you know that in Syria, the Christian feasts, Easter and Christmas, are official holidays…

Those people are fanatics. They are a foreign body. We as a Patriarchate tell the truth. There are special interests. If something happens to an Israeli soldier, then the whole world rises up, but if there are other victims, then there is silence…

Your Beatitude, you have a brother who…

There is  my brother and another bishop. Two bishops from Aleppo who were kidnapped a year and a half ago and the whole world keeps silent. They don’t know anything, they say. No country says what is happening. Who knows about this story! Both are lost.

At the same time, we are all talking about human rights. Where are people’s rights when you do not speak out? When do you not say a single word about such an issue? And if there are some people who think that such an event will frighten us Christians because they are kidnapping and disappearing our bishops, our priests and members of the Christian communities, they should know that these threats do not frighten us.

Orthodox nuns were also kidnapped.

After six months they were released and returned to the monastery.

What moved you about what they experienced?

These things are not spoken of. They are a matter of monastics’ confession to their pastor.

Your Beatitude, what would you wish, how do you see the future of Christians from now on?

We always have hope. We remain standing and strong despite the trials. We do not want to repeat what happened in Iraq, where the Christians slowly started to disappear. Where there had lived 1.5 million Christians, today 300,000 live in the country.

I understand from what you are saying to VIMA, you want an international mobilization to protect the Christians in the Middle East and rescue the two bishops.

This is the main thing that must be done. We need help and support. The two hierarchs are apostles of peace and we hope that their physical condition is good and that we will be together soon.

A Plea for Caution From Russia By VLADIMIR V. PUTIN SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

A Plea for Caution From Russia
By VLADIMIR V. PUTIN
SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Urgent! Ukraine Nazi Vandals Follow Up: Anniversary from HELL and Russian Church Pogroms

Nazis in Ukraine are threatening to Orthodox priests
14 October Nazis of Ukraine are celebrating the anniversary of performing The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA). Especially to this date they have made leaflets with calls to kill priests of Ukrainian Orthodox church of Moscow patriarchy.
novorossia.today/publications/news-from-ukraine/nazis-in-ukraine-are-threatening-to-orth.html
Nazis in Ukraine are threatening to Orthodox priests http://t.co/jvr6Kzdpex

Futurist Trendcast

This is to add and to clarify my yesterday’s post: Urgent! Ukraine Nazi Vandals Scheduled to Destroy UNESCO World Heritage Site in Odessa on 10/14!

Here is additional info.

Turns out today the western Ukraine fascists are ‘celebrating’ an anniversary of the ‘UPA’ – the Bandera fascist liberation army that was a close ally of Hitler during WWII and that is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and executions.

It has to be noted that western Ukraine nazis, who are the most aggressive and vicious part of the Ukraine society, have taken over and intimidated the rest of the country. It happened gradually, just like with Hitler and German Nazis in the 1930s, and just like in Germany it happened because of 3 factors: 1. national humiliation and economic meltdown that breeds hatred and violence in un-evolved humans; 2. the population of a country – whether Ukraine or Germany…

View original post 1,020 more words

Urgent! Ukraine Nazi Vandals Scheduled to Destroy UNESCO World Heritage Site in Odessa on 10/14!

Futurist Trendcast

Lada’s announcements: 

1. Dear readers, in the past several months I have been traveling the world. Due to life changes I’ll talk about in the future, I am now deciding where to relocate. I’ll be returning to the US for the holidays. So far, I’ve been keeping up with my posts and reader comments from the road. Going forward, I am looking forward to creating and publishing many more interesting videos, articles and Earth Shift Reports!

2. Today, I was scheduled to post Earth Shift Report 2: The Historic Roots of Russophobia in Ukraine and How to Cure It. Unfortunately, probably due to Mercury Retrograde and the eclipse, WordPress editor has become glitchy. When I was preparing my report for publication, it screwed up my formatting and the spellcheck didn’t want to cooperate. Therefore, I have to slow down and publish this report in a few days, when hopefully, the…

View original post 1,597 more words

Lustration of Ukraine: The Nazi Generalplan Ost

Moscow calls on OSCE to be responsible for probe into crimes in Ukraine

Moscow calls on OSCE to be responsible for probe into crimes in Ukraine – Russian diplomat
POSTED
Russia  October 11, 14:32 UTC+4
“All the parties should observe the Minsk agreements, fixed in the Protocol of September 5 and Memorandum of September 19”, Russia’s Ambassador to OSCE Andrei Kelin said

Donetsk region© TASS
MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. Moscow is calling on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to undertake responsibility for investigations in crimes committed in Ukraine, and not just to observe what Kiev is doing or not for that, Russia’s Ambassador to OSCE told a meeting of Organisation’s Permanent Council on Saturday.
The shelling is less intensive, “but it continues.”
“Civilians are being killed in Donetsk, Lugansk, Gorlovka, in other cities and villages in Ukraine’s east,” he said.
“This grave violation of the international humanitarian law should be stopped.”
“The amount of crimes is increasing,” the diplomat continued. “This is also mentioned in the latest report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Some provisions of the report reflect the alarming situation in that country.”
“Those are first of all the proofs of mass violations of the international humanitarian law and the human rights by Ukrainian military and the many battalions like Aidar, Azov, Dnepr, Kiev-1 and Kiev-2.”
“Those are of killings, torture, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, sexual violence and other serious crimes,” he said. “UN observers report the growing numbers of killed civilians, including children, in the non-selective shelling the Ukrainian military deliver on houses.”
The reports points to no results of probes into the mass killing in Maidan (Kiev’s Independence Square), in Odessa and Mariupol, to victims in the crash of Malaysia’s Boeing.
“Despite the measures Kiev is declaring, there are still no results of independent investigations,” he said. “Moreover, the document reads the Ukrainian investigators have been falsifying or destroying the proofs – first of all the bullets used in the clashes in Maidan.”
Russia hopes next reports “will reflect new evidences of the crimes committed by the Ukrainian military, including information about mass graves of civilians found in the Donetsk region.”
The ambassador pointed to the problems with the exchange of detained persons.
“Unacceptable are the attempts to hide proofs of inhuman treating prisoners, to “get” the required numbers of people to be exchanged by organising new arrests on suspicion of “sympathy for separatists”.”
“It is important that international organisations, including OSCE, are not only observing what the Ukrainian authorities are doing or not doing, but undertake responsibility for impartial and just investigations,” the Russian diplomat said. “It is already high time to stop accusing of everything the militia and to be excusing the Ukrainian law enforcers at the same time.”
Also Kelin said, that supporting Kiev’s “party of war” is a way to catastrophe, past visits of the U.S. emissaries were followed by escalation of violence, by active punitive operations. We hope, this time Washington’s instructions are aimed at support of the peace process
“The major task now is to favour by all possible means stopping violence in Ukraine,” he said. “All the parties should observe the Minsk agreements, fixed in the Protocol of September 5 and Memorandum of September 19.”
“This is a base for transition for the national, open dialogue featuring all regions and political forces,” he said. “By only reaching national peace could be possible firm stable situation in Ukraine.”
Any calls for resuming the military operation, especially on the eve of the upcoming parliamentary elections, support in any form of the “party of war” are ways to catastrophe, the ambassador said.
“We could not leave unnoticed the meetings in Kiev (of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State) Victoria Nuland. Past visits of American emissaries to Ukraine, as a rule, were followed by escalation of violence, by active punitive operations. We hope, this time Washington’s instructions are aimed at support of the peace process.”
The alarming events in Ukraine, he said, “are on the background of the endless anti-Russian hysteria.”
“We have seen clearly, this line has been supported actively and even inspired from the outside,” he said. “All factors, which are inconvenient for Kiev, are announced “Russian propaganda”.”
Moscow reiterates the call “for directing efforts on support of peace processes in Ukraine.”
“Ceasefire in the country’s east should be irreversible,” the diplomat said. “It is the key precondition for stable settlement, for development of the Ukrainian national dialogue, for national peace.
Moscow is alarmed at statements from some Ukrainian officials, claiming following the lustration may come political murders.
“Punishers of the Azov battalion, who are declaring openly their Nazi views and are using Nazi symbols, now are in the avant-garde of “fighting monuments”,” he said.
“Now desecrated is the monument to victims of the Holocaust in Odessa. Odessa’s Jewish community reports extremists have beaten up over 20 Jews last month.”
“Attacked and beaten up severely was MP Nestor Schufrich. Nationalists throw into waste bins officials and candidates for parliament deputies.”
“Those must be the democratic inventions of the Ukrainian extremists, which, in their opinion, fit well the high “European standards”,” he said.
“Alarming is that some officials [Igor Kolomoisky’s assistant Boris Filatov] have declared already that following the “waste bin lustration” will come the time of political murders,” the Russian ambassador said.
“Extremely alarming are the methods Ukraine’s Security Service is using jointly with radical groups in fighting dissent (the UN report mentions 1,000 detained on charges of “subversive activities.”).”
There is a clear tendency radical elements, including activists of punitive battalions, are getting to the power by means of participating in the parliamentary elections, the Russian diplomat said.

From the I Remember World War ll- Soviet Veteran Memoirs – Natalia Peshkova

From the I Remember World War ll
Soviet Veteran Memoirs
I Remember Website

Natalia Peshkova

Medic N. Peshkova
River Ugra, Kaluga region, 1942.

– Natalia Nikitichna, did you have a feeling that the war was coming soon?

– You know, when you are 17 you think more about romance than about politics. Sure, we were fooled by our propaganda. No, my generation didn’t have any apprehension that the war would start soon.

– When did you leave for war?

– I left for war on July 6,1941. I had just graduated from school. We had a traditional ceremony and walked on Red Square. The war began the next day. Well, I regarded myself as no less than Joan of Arc, so I immediately ran to a regional office of the KOMSOMOL (Young Communists League) committee and they sent me to a group of medics. This group was located in our school. We learned how to put on bandages and splints, how to make injections, etc.We were even taught to crawl flat on the ground in our school auditorium. At that time the militia units (DNO) were being formed in Moscow. I was sent to a rifle company of a DNO division as a medic (“saninstructor”). Many of my schoolmates one grade younger were also there. My male classmates were sent to regular units. My duty was to bring the wounded from the battlefield and provide them with primary medical care. But the main thing was just to bring them out. In the end of July, in August, they were still teaching us a little about the military arts, but, as you understand, there were practically no specialists, only at the top. So all that was pretty much theoretical.

– What were you armed with?

– We had three line rifles. Those machine guns that we received later, they didn’t shoot at all. They broke when they got water or sand in them. We were equipped very badly. The regular army units differed a lot. Their weapons were better. They were better trained in war science. And then, our clothing: even officers were poorly dressed, dressed uncomfortably. We wore puttees, those heavy kirza boots (a high boot using an impregnated tarpaulin fabric in lieu of leather) came only in the end of ’42. We received these boots in the spring, when our “valenki” felt boots were so soaked with water that you couldn’t move. We were starving. When we stayed near Moscow, our daily ration for three months consisted of pea flour (pea flour was stored in the form of bricks and used for making soup or puree)
and a piece of horse sausage.

– Do you remember your first battle?

– On October 3 the German troops attacked. (Operation Typhoon started October 2nd. German units organized into 3 infantry armies (9th, 4th, and 2nd), 3 Panzer groups (3rd Hoth, 2nd Guderian, 4th Hoephner), with air cover, were opposed by 80 rifle, 2 motorized rifle, 1 tank, 9 cavalry divisions, whose average strength did not exceed 5-7 thousand men, 13 tank brigades and 12 divisions DNO. Comment by Artem Drabkin). It was very unexpected and we were confused. We had been staying in Smolensk Region near a village, I don’t remember its name, and were allowed to sleep in a house sometimes. I left some of my things there, we didn’t have time to return. That is where my first battle was. Many were killed there and many went missing in action. And then for a long time, until the end of November, we were in encirclement and ambled somewhere taking direction from the sun, without a slightest idea of where our troops were and where the Germans were. There was no food. Well, we dug up frost-bitten potatoes somewhere, ate something… And one time we happened upon a truck broken to pieces, in which there were sacks of cookies soaked in gasoline leaking out from the tanks; so my girlfriend, Ninochka Etman, ate those cookies out of hunger – we barely saved her. Speaking of the puttees: we had two carts. Sometimes I was allowed to ride in one of them. Once I fell asleep in it and the second horse, which was as hungry as we, ate the cloth off my boot. I had to walk with one puttee for a month.

– Do you remember when you first saw a German?

– It was near that village in Smolensk Region. He was a pilot. He bailed out when his plane was hit. When we saw him landing we all ran to him. He realized that we would capture him and shot himself in the head. There was a medical assistant from the city of Velikie Luki with us. She didn’t understand that it was all over. She tried to treat his wound and said, “Hold on, dear, be patient.” She had problems with the officers from Special Department afterwards (“How could she say that to an enemy!”) That was the first time we saw a German uniform. It looked like it was for marching in parades!

We got out of encirclement at Tula, and that’s where they put us into a filtration camp. We had no bread, but we received several large tins of jam. We ate this jam and drank water, that was all we had.I was sent as a medic to an infantry unit. At first I was a company sansinstructor. Then all the girls from the companies were sent to a medical department of our regiment. My duty was to accompany the wounded soldiers from the front line to the field hospital. Once accompanied some wounded soldiers in a truck to our hospital, which was located in a house. A surgeon asked me to assist him in an emergency operation. A few moments later a bomb hit that house. I had a severe injury to the head. The surgeon, both assistants and two hospital attendants were killed. I was unconscious for a few days. As soon as I came to, I returned to the regiment.

– Did people suffer from disease at the front?

– There was typhus during the hard battles near Kursk. Until then, most of the people were quite healthy. That was rather strange, because there was no particular sanitation program. Lice were awfully widespread. We used the breaks between the battles to clean our clothes with heat in self-made saunas. On the bank of the Ugra River, I vaccinated our soldiers against diphtheria and tetanus. I just went through the trenches and vaccinated everybody, one by one. Once I figured that I was on the front for three years and three months. I doubt whether we slept under a roof for one year of the whole time. All winters – spruce branches to sleep on and a fire, but sometimes we couldn’t even build a fire, then it was just spruce. I sometimes try to recall how we washed ourselves or our clothes, for example. I don’t remember…

Medic N.N.Peshkova. Political-education
meeting before battle. 954th rifle regiment,
194th rifle division. Moscow Region, 1942.

I was wounded for the second time during the Kursk Operation. Then I was sent to Tula. At the time the 3rd Guards Tank Army was being formed in Tula. That was the army that had recently liberated Kharkov. I don’t know why but they picked me to be the chief of the Young Communist League unit in a tank brigade. I had to teach patriotism and explain politics to young soldiers. After that (1943) I wasn’t a medic any more, but an officer of the regular army. I received a rank of lieutenant and rode by tank.

Then I was wounded for the third time. Well, it wasn’t too serious. We stopped in a village and the Germans found us. They fired at me from a signal pistol and a part of the bullet lodged in my neck.

About heroism? I am thinking about our battalion chief accountant. Once a month he had to visit every unit to fill out the forms so the soldiers could send money to their relatives. Of course, nobody touched the money, but we could send it home. That man, he was an awful coward, he was trembling from fear– but he never missed the day. He kept himself together and crawled there to fill out the papers. Isn’t it heroism?

– How did the people regard the Party, Stalin, patriotism?

– I became a member of the Party when I was 17. It was easy; you were a candidate for three months and then became a member. I must say that during the war most Communists behaved with dignity. Before being enrolled into the Party, a person had to fill a cunning questionnaire. One of the questions read, “What class did you descend from?” I was very smart and wrote honestly, “From the nobility.”(Natalia Nikitichna is a member of the Assembly of Nobles. Comment by Artem Drabkin). Out of the blue, I received an order to report to the chief of the political department of our division. As I stood up in front of his clear eyes, he asked me, “Girl, do you understand what you have written? Are you out of your mind?” I was highly educated and answered that Lenin was a nobleman himself. Anyway, he didn’t make me rewrite that questionnaire.

Patriotism was a real thing, it isn’t exaggeration. Every one of us fought for our Motherland. I never heard that anybody cried “Long live Stalin!”or even “Hurrah!” during the battles. Many people carried a cross. Some people wore icons in pouches around their necks. The army consisted mostly of peasants. People tried to find ways to escape enlisting, maybe not the youth, but their parents who understood that the front means death.

– Did you have romance on the front?

– I should say that I have a very high opinion of the men. They never cursed when I was near. They stopped swearing when I appeared. They were just privates, not intelligentsia. There were no romances, much less harassment. I escaped all this, nobody even tried to court me.

I served as a chief of the KOMSOMOL of the battalion which waded the Dnieper River and defended the Bukrin bridgehead (Around Bukrin, Dnieper was forced by a mech brigade of the 3rd GTA on September 22, 1943. By September 24 the bridgehead was widened to 20 kilometers. Units of the 40th, 27th, and 3rd Tank Armies crossed there. They were opposed by up to 10 German divisions. Comment by Artem Drabkin). It was very frightening there. We were just left on our own, without any food or help from the outside. We were used to decoy some of the German troops so that our main forces could liberate Kiev by November 7.

By the end of September we reached Dnepr. Our infantry waded to the right bank of the river without heavy weapons, because we didn’t have pontoons. We were lucky. We had a chance to dig trenches in a steep slope, and that saved our lives. When we expanded the bridgehead, we found poppy seeds stored in a shed and ate it, because we were very hungry. It was an ugly story. We fell asleep and when the Germans attacked some people couldn’t wake up. At Bukrin the first internal security units appeared. They were large and well equipped. There we first saw “Katiushas” which we’d heard so much about. We dug in on the floor of a valley while these deadly rockets spewed above our heads with terrible thunder and fire. We were shelled day after day, the sky looked black because of abundant German war planes. Our air forces? We first saw them at the end of the war. It is strange, but when you see a bomb falling, you feel like it is directed right at you. Actually, it is falling above you but can land anywhere. Most people lay face downwards and hid their head in hands. I always lay belly up; I had to watch what was going on. It seemed safer to me.
Lots of people were killed at Bukrin bridgehead. I had a friend in a neighboring battalion. They had 280 graduates from a military college. After the battle at Bukrin, only 16 of them were alive. Bear in mind, they had been trained. Our recruits after the battle were the boys of 16 and older from the nearby villages. They knew nothing and were scared of everything. These were our fresh forces.
At Fastov I was considered MIA for three days. That happened at a big railway switching station in the town of Popelna. We kicked the Germans out of the station and celebrated the November 7 holiday. Some people slept and some drank moonshine. At night the German tanks arrived by train at the station and started to fire. It was useless to resist because those were heavy “Panther” tanks. We’d never seen them before. The order was to mount the tanks and get away. I helped the people to embark, because I was a KOMSOMOL unit chief. I made a mistake while counting our tanks and finally had no tank for myself to leave the station. I had a girl-friend, Galya Tchaikovskaya . She was from Kiev and lived in Popelna in the same log house as I. We decided to run together. Our troops had already gone, we ran alone across a wide field. When we heard the German tanks just behind us, we thought that it was impossible to escape and hid ourselves in a rick in the middle of the field. You’d never believe it, but one of the tanks stopped right near the rick! We even heard the tank troops speaking. We thought it was the end. It is true that you can see all your life running in front of your eyes in such moments. You can recall odd things. We were lucky the tanks went back and we hurried to a neighboring village, to Galya’s godmother. The locals were scared to death that we ‘d be found in their home and quickly sent us further. They disguised us as peasants. I bent my party card to my shoulder. I couldn’t get rid of the pistol, because I’d have been obviously sentenced to death for it by our chiefs. So I tossed my Parabellum into my pocket. The same night the German came to the village and set the guards around it, but they didn’t check us, two girls in rugged clothes. We crossed that big field again and, when it seemed that we were out of sight from the village, burst out running.
We ran without knowing where we were going. Then we bumped into a partisan; we guessed it by his clothes. He led us to his small band. I don’t remember how we managed to find our unit.

-What did you do with the captives?

– Having cleared Fastovo, we went further and found a big group of Italian soldiers. In general, Italians weren’t good warriors. In addition, these didn’t have weapons. But we were in a hard situation ourselves, nearly surrounded, so our officers decided to shoot them. I didn’t watch it, of course. It was a hard experience for everybody, we were just getting back to normal, when the Germans hit us again. Those boys who performed the execution told that the captives offered watches and other expensive things not to kill them. It was terrible, but it was impossible to leave them alive…

– What was your own weapon?

– I received a “Parabellum” as an award. As I recall it wasn’t given for any definite operation, perhaps it came together with the Order of the Red Star. I also had some other pistols and even a machine gun. Of course, I fired but, you know, I don’t remember whether I killed anyone. During the war we didn’t see the enemy close enough. Either we or they retreated. Both sides equally scared.
Actually, there was a situation once when we didn’t fall back in time. I found myself face to face with a German, at the opposite corners of a log house. Each one was afraid to show first. I guess, he was trembling like me. I always wore trousers; perhaps, he didn’t recognize that his rival was a girl. I was extremely frightened, I never saw a person who could kill me so near. How was it resolved? In such a moment you are thinking only about your own life! I don’t remember.

Certificate. Given to Peshkova, Natalia Nikitichna, to certify that
she has been wounded twice: first, a light wound in the region
of the left buttock (fragment wound), and second, a heavy wound
with damage to the base of the skull: fragment wound
in the temple bone region. 9.8.44 Dr. Guards Captain Orlov.

Our battalion was equipped with the T-34’s tanks. The tankists themselves regarded these machines very highly. At the end of 1943 we received English tanks, “Matildas”. Our tankists called them “candles,” because they burned easily and usually didn’t return from the first battle. You know, it is hundred times better to sit upon the tank than inside it! I was inside a tank once, it was pure horror! I have an especially high regard for tankists. They had a higher level of education than the infantry. They perished awfully. If a tank was crushed (and it happened often) it meant death because one, or sometimes two, of the tankists could make their way out of the tank but the third one obviously couldn’t stay alive because of combustion. That was the worst thing, burning of more than 60 percent of the body surface was lethal that time.
I served in that battalion for quite a long time, until I was promoted and became a KOMSOMOL assistant to the political department chief of our brigade. Well, it was farther from the front line. That’ s it.

Interview: Artem Drabkin
Translated by: Anton Kravchenko
Proofreading: Claire Fuller Martin
Photos from the archive of N.N.Peshkova

Honor and Glory to the Courageous*

The offensive battles lasted for several days. The malicious enemy counterattacked repeatedly. But Comrade Osinov’s fighters and commanders steadfastly deflected the thrust of the drunken Germans. The courageous soldiers realized that it was the fight for their native Dnieper, and that inspired them to heroic feats.
But then the despairing enemy threw a several times stronger force of infantry with tanks and Ferdinands at the detachment. In one place enemy tanks managed to break through to the rear of our detachments. They rushed at the trenches and started “ironing” them. But our fighters, sergeants, and officers didn’t waver. Like lions fought Dedov, Skliarevich, Khripushkin, Karas’kin, Musienko, Skrypnikov, and many others. They obliterated enemy infantry, disabled vehicles, by personal example they led the fighters to heroic deeds, without hesitation they gave lives to their beloved Motherland.
The detachment’s komsorg (KOMSOMOL organizer – trans.) Natasha Peshkova earned for herself a special love and glory. The brave and courageous girl, the loyal daughter of the nation, in the difficult minutes of combat always appeared where an impassioned word was needed, where the personal example of fearlessness could abruptly change the situation, lead the fighters, inspire them to repulse the enemy. And where Natasha Peshkova appeared, the enemy met destructive fire and unbreakable steadfastness of the fighters. Under the adversary’s fire the warrior girl ran over to the almost faltering soldiers and with an upsurge of strong will, with the voice of heart itself, stopped those falling back, inspired them with her steadfastness and bravery, and returned them to the battle formation.
Honor and glory to the steadfast, courageous fighters holding the heights on Slavuta-Dnieper’s right bank.

Leonid Yukhvid

Comments by Natalia Peshkova

*… I saw all these articles already after the war. Even this corps newspaper of ours didn’t reach us, and if it did, it was immediately left for hand-rolled cigarettes. There was no paper, and the newspaper was a valuable which no one was going to distribute.

The Tribe of Victors

The young soldiers and komsomoltsy (Communist Union of Youth members – trans.) of our unit will fittingly celebrate the glorious anniversary of VLKSM (All-Union Lenin’s Communist Union of Youth – trans.). In the bitter struggle against the fascist invaders on Dnieper’s right bank komsomoltsy showed themselves as courageous soldiers, to the end devoted to their Motherland.
Fearlessly and selflessly fights the Stalin’s tribe for the honor and freedom of the native land. In one battle Sergeant Ivan Vovk from Comrade Khramov’s detachment wiped out 3 machine guns of the adversary, a “nomad” mortar, and up to 25 Hitlerites. Komsorg (KOMSOMOL organizer – trans.) Babak wiped out 20 Germans. Komsomolets Private Mikhail Farafonov (Comrade Kornilov’s detachment) with a cry of “We’ll die, but not retreat!” together with other fighters hurled back the superior forces of the counterattacking enemy. Natasha Peshkova fearlessly fights the enemy, leading the fighters by personal example to heroic deeds.
The whole staff knows the feat of komsomolets Aleksandr Shitikov. With bravery and resourcefulness at the decisive moment he managed to halt the thrust of the German infantry and tanks, and then push them back, inflicting severe losses on the enemy.
We can list tens, hundreds more examples of bravery and courage of our komsomoltsy. The young soldiers know neither exhaustion nor fear in their fight against the enemy. They bravely go into battle and crush the adversary even when his forces are superior to them. This way one komsomolets Rozov destroyed a fascist tank, letting it go over his foxhole for this purpose. Komsomoltsy emerge victorious because they unreservedly love their Motherland and because in their hearts burns inextinguishable hatred of the enemy, who dared to infringe upon her freedom, honor, and independence.
The feeling of the sacred duty before the Motherland leads our young soldiers in combat. Fervent love and devotion to great Stalin inspires them to heroic deeds.

Yu. Liudov

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

Let us just remind you just who Obama and Cameron want to send MORE weapons to

Friends of Syria

For those with Short Memories

Rabbit-Killing FSA Terrorists Threaten to Poison Lattakia Drinking Water for an Alawi Genocide (18+)

FSA Terrorists Threaten Alawites and Government Supporters with Genocide Using Chemical Weapons

CHEMICAL WEAPONS: US Armed FSA Syrian Rebels Use SARIN NERVE GAS!

FSA Cannibalism: terrorists eat heart of a dead Syrian soldier in the name of freedom

AND THIS IS WHAT OBAMA CALLS ‘MODERATE’ TERRORISTS. Now before you start saying that Obama doesn’t mean the FSA, when he talks about moderate terrorists. Well British Politician Nick Clegg said on  BBC’s Andrew Marr program, on Sunday that the UK should join the USA in arming the FSA.

JLC

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