Evening star., 1941-07-20
Rout Of 42 Nazi Tanks
|Credited 10 Soviet
Towns Home Guards
u Destroyed by Hurting
Bottles of Gasoline; Boys
Captured ; 'Chutists
Nv EJICENE PETROV

with long gray mustache. He is a
little pale but very calm. His shin
ing eyes are all the time directed
at me. His right arm is bandaged.
This is the high school teacher,
Andrei Mikhailov. He has just ar
rived from rather large Byelow-
Russian town now occupied by the
Germans. Mikhailoy speaks readily,
1 would even say with pleasure. He
feels the necessity to speak to tell
everything. He says. You see, all
this is for history. Nothing should
be lost to history"
Here is what the old teacher told
your correspondent:
"Our town was the first bombed
the night of June 26. Numerous
incendiary bombs were dropped.
There was one bomb for every five
square yards of ground.
The discipline of the population
was striking. Only the very first
bombs seemed frightening because
the people feared they would ex-
plode. But in a very few minutes
everybody, from children to old peo-
pie, began throwing sand over the
falling bombs or casting them into
tubs of water
Bombed Civilians.
"At least 10 per cent of the bombs
were destroyed in this way. But
hn of
caused much damage. Fires began
and while the flremen and volunteer
brlgadeS were fighting the fires. Ger
mans began dropping Shrapnel and
high-eyploSive bombs into the CEN
ter or town, some weighing thou
sands of Kilograms. Such bombs are
generally used for military objec-
tiveS, but the Germans used them
to bomb peaceful quarters.
Neither by this bombing nor by
those following -bombin9s occurred
several times daily-Were the Ger
mans able to damage a single fac
tory, water main or railway station
Military ObjectiyeS were carefully
guarded by anti-aircraft guns, and
German pilots preferred to avoic
the risk. Thowing bombs at the
peaceful population was much safer
Soon people got accustomed to
the bombing and learned to hide
so casualties were rare. EMPLOYEES
behaved well, not leaving their
desks even after the alarm signal
and taking shelter only when Ger
man planes appeared over the build
ings
SchOOlbOys Capture Parachutists.
The trolley car brigades were
the bravest of all. One girl was re-
luctant to stop her car despite the
bombing-it was daytime-because
she told me, Let them see that we
are not afraid Amazing. in the
face of wars horrors, is the lack OF
fear.
All were united by hatred OF
and contempt toward the Ger
mans. This war is a true peoples
war. since the Germans are being
fought not only by the army, bu
by all the population.
Five days before the Germans
entered our town my pupils. livine
in a summer camp at the country
side, noticed three German para
chutists who landed in a small
forest clearing The boys encircled
the Germans and hid behind trees
There they applied the knowledge
learned in school.
One of my pupils shouted ir
German. Hands up The Germans
began firing. but they did not
know from where the voice came
The boys waited a little. then re-
peated the command. The Ger
mans fired again. Shooting contin
ued for several hours until all the
German bullets were exhausted.
Then the boys. armed with
sticks and fails, attacked the en-.
emy. The Germans finally sur.
rendered. were bound and triumph
antly led into town. The children
begged TO lead the war prisoner!
through the streets themselves.
Nazi Tanks Landed Near Town.
On July German forces WERE
stationed 40 kilometers from oul
town. Our town was perfectly quiet
Life was going on as usual. Durine
the night, the people were aroused
by the news that the Germans were
landing presumably by air trans
port, which would be a novel meth.
cd of thrusting spearheads pas
troop concentrations unit of mo-
torcycliStS and AZ light tanks
kilometers away.
There are no fronts now a!
there were during the first World
War. Our army was somewhere
ahead fighting fiercely and begin.
ming to counterattack Our towr
decided to put an end to the raio
without calling for help.
Several days had passed since
popular guards had been formed
and brewery workers had prepared
bottles filled with gasoline. Sever
hundred thousand bottles were
ready for the popular guards ano
guerrilla fighters who came fol
them from nearby villages.
Germans Destroyed.
Il took part in our towns de-
fenSe The first German motor.
cyclists driving into our town bega1
shooting from machine guns, desir-
ing to create a panic among thu
population. The people showed
perfect calmness. Incendiary bot
ties were hurled at the enemies, whC
soon retreated.
beforehand, our town had beer
surrounded by anti-tank trenches
German tanks tried to cross them
The Germans used the following
maneuver:
They drove their tanks inside the
trenches and turned them into
something like forts. firing at oul
town from there. We crept close
to them and threw our incendiary
bottles.
The fight continued the whole
day. Almost every motorcyclist anc