War Witness: A woman at war

Zoya Kochkina - intelligence section commander, anti-aircraft artillery battalion, Russia
War caught up with me in Smolensk. I lived in Smolensk then. After 10 days I was left homeless, without clothes, without anything -- I had only a passport and a Komsomol membership card. I came after a night alarm to find that there was no house anymore, as it had burnt down. It was tough. I had nowhere to live, nowhere to sleep. And I had no money. But thanks to good people -- I left Smolensk 4 hours before it was invaded by the Nazis, I was taken away by chance by the security officers of the regional bureau of the State Bank. The director said, "Take the girl with you, or she will die". But they stopped at Kardymov. Where was I supposed to go? I did not know where to go.
Finally, one of them came up to me and asked if I had money. I told him -- sure, I have! Yes, I felt awkward to say that I did not even have money. But they all came around, gathered all the money they had in their pockets, put it into a hat and brought it to me. I said, "I won't take it". It was embarassing to take it. I was 20. Taking money from guys... But they said that in any case they were going to the front. I took the money and it did come in handy on my way!
I was walking alone. And I would ask people, "What is the way to get to Moscow?" And they answered, "Go through that village". When I was approaching villages, I often heard, "Germans are coming, Germans!" I had to go back or in the other direction. That's how I got to Mozhaysk. I saw a special train carrying the wounded and asked the train master, "Please, take me with you -- I will be taking care of the wounded". But no - no matter how hard I begged or how much I cried.... Well, It was the train driver who took me on the train. He gave me a canvas and asked to be quiet. That's where I witnessed the most terrible scenes -- a Nazi plane flying and shelling all the wounded falling out of the carriage... And then the carriage was hit by a bomb, everything was flying apart... It was simply terrifying...
I spent two months traveling to Yaroslavl. I was born in a village near Yaroslavl. I came to my mother and I realized that it was I who needed to help. Well, I came to the city and inquired of the city committee of the Komsomol if they had any jobs. I worked day and night shifts, when trains with the wounded were arriving in Yaroslavl and we were taking them to city hospitals. And then children from the Leningrad siege were arriving. I even had to live at the plant where I worked for more than a month in the winter. And on April 10, 1942, I, along with several other girls from the plant, joined Artillery Regiment 201, which was defending the city of Yaroslavl.