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Voices of War
Sadly, each year there are fewer and fewer of those who witnessed that war and those who actually brought us that victory. Hence, their agreement to share their memories, fears and feelings with us is even more precious.
Going through the videos on the site you will hardly come across pathetic speeches or heroic descriptions. You will mostly hear ordinary people talking about everyday life, with the only remarkable thing being that their lives went on during the war. They eagerly tell about their comrades and generals, but it is difficult for them talk about themselves. They may not be very keen to talk about battles and how the war was conducted, but get inspired when talking about common things like wartime cuisine. These are simple folk, not used to talking on camera. That’s the most precious thing about these interviews.
In this section the highlight of the whole "War Witness" project is presented. The following are short videos featuring very private and very intimate impressions of veterans and civilians who survived the war.
What makes the project unique is that it is really international: our correspondents went to interview war witnesses not only from Russia, but also from Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, the UK, France and the US. RT has been searching for those who could share their memories via veteran organizations, museums and personal contacts internationally. Most of the materials collected are truly unique. For instance, there are only two surviving non-USSR citizens who were awarded "The Hero of the USSR" – the country's highest honor – during wartime. One of them resides in France, and now you have the opportunity to watch RT’s interview with him on our website.
"It’s a law: as soon you lose sight of your enemy, consider yourself shot down."
Ivan Molchanov
Russia
- fighter squadron commander
- 18th guards fighter wing
We stood side by side while receiving the orders for our first joint combat mission, the group of Major Jean Tulasne and our group of Sibirin. I asked, “How are we going to communicate?” And they said, “Easy! ‘Fritz below!’ ‘Fritz above!’ ‘Fritz right!’ ‘Fritz left!’” And that was it. That’s how we communicated in the air.
Views: 1428 Comments: 1
"All they could say was “Ma… Ma…” – they were calling their mothers."
Jean-Jacques Loos
France
- "malgre-nous"
- wehrmacht deserter
- allied armies commando
Alsace was occupied by the Germans for the first time in 1871. But they made a mistake: they put the Prussians in charge, who conducted themselves – well, like Prussians. And Alsatians didn’t like that at all. As for my generation, we were raised with a French mentality. Alsatians learned to be anti-German anyway, because we knew by heart the stories of our grandparents.
Views: 1556 Comments: 0
"We just thought about helping, getting these guys back to safety."
Ed Johann
USA
- watertender 3rd class
- us navy
We were just, like, amazed at first. Like some fellows were saying “Jesus!” Surprised how they had maneuvers on a Sunday morning. And then we found out that it wasn’t maneuvers when the explosions started, fires and the smoke. It was like a bedlam. It was just traumatic. We started going over to the other ships and taking the wounded. They would lower the wounded down. And we would put them in our boat and take them to the hospital ship.
Views: 1535 Comments: 2
"I still see that hand-to-hand fighting in my dreams."
Mikhail Popkov
Russia
- deputy commander, rifle company
We were pushing towards chalk hills in the area of the village of Bolkhovets. When we reached the foot, our artillerymen launched their fire support but it wasn’t precisely calculated. We are infantry. I’m a real infantryman here, not a mortar gunner, just an infantryman. And so, as we fell flat on our faces at the foot of those hills, we had our full share of friendly artillery fire. We lost several men.
Views: 1752 Comments: 5
"Today, we realize we could've caused so much grief for our families."
Leon Gautier
France
- allied armies commando
- operation overlord, 1944
In early 1943, we were offered a choice: to join a naval corps in Northern Africa or to join the commandos in Great Britain. About 80 of us volunteered to become commandos and were sent to Britain. It was there that I joined the so called “Green Berets”, the commandos who were the special service units, the elite troops, of which I became part of.
Views: 1185 Comments: 3
"I didn’t know German but still realized this was not a friendly discussion but an order."
Andre Baumann
France
- civilian
You know, it was a mass exodus when all the French who were fleeing crowded the roads. I was living in a small village, we saw refugees passing through – a day went by, two days… Then this madness spread to the people in our village, and they too decided they wanted to leave. So we left with the other farmers, in a horse-drawn wagon. We loaded some of the furniture and mattresses onto the wagon, hung cages with chickens underneath, and left.
Views: 1683 Comments: 1
"I’m still crying remembering the wounded."
Raisa Dyabina
Russia
- nurse
We evacuated the wounded from the frontline at night. Usually they were carried away by bus, but almost none of them could get on the bus on their own. So we had to carry them on stretchers. And the Germans had a very good recon patrol. They were always aware of our movements and knew that the approaching transport meant that we were planning to transfer the wounded.
Views: 1461 Comments: 4
"Well, that serves them right. They had it coming to them."
Alphonse Hueber
France
- ‘malgre-nous’
- incorporated by force in wehrmacht alsace
Later in the war Germany was suffering setbacks, especially in January and February 1943 with Stalingrad. Of course, we rejoiced over that, because that meant that Germany was going to be defeated. But the downside of it was that Germany finally declared forced conscription. I was sent to the Eastern front on August 15, 1944. I was the youngest soldier on this entire front in Lithuania.
Views: 1375 Comments: 0