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Martinuk Maria Fedorovna
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Our hero’s name is Maria Fyodorovna Martyinjuk, she is a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Now she lives in the settlement Taximo. Maria Fyodorovna is a wonderful woman, who overcame a lot of trials in her life. You can see yourself how hard it was......
The hard beginning of the war service.
As well as all children, Maria went to school in village Korenovskaya, and after finishing the school she has submitted the application to a military registration and asked to send her at the front. And on August, 7 Maria Fyodorovna has been assigned to dig entrenchment. She and many other people have been taken out for Krasnodar, formed battalions, and …the work began. The work was very difficult but it was necessary for our victory.
Fascists’ planes bombed people, cities villages and ... laughed. Laughed, because they were stronger than the Russian, because they killed the defenseless, because the lives of many people were in their hands. One day a bomb has got into a house where wounded men, some food and many other things were. What a shock was it for Maria Fyodorovna, when she saw the head of a horse and a human’s leg flying in the air. Just imagine how awful it was! She laughed and laughed and could not calm down. There were explosions everywhere and the girl tried to find a safe place. She hid himself but continued to laugh. Planes returned again. The fascists have started to bomb again. The pilots used machine guns. Maria Fyodorovna saw faces of pilots: they laughed, and it was visible, that this firing gave pleasure to them . They even have dumped leaflets. One phrase from that leaflet was remembered well: « … the girls must not dig the trenches or these trenches would be used for your mummies … ». And in the end the miss that people came over to on their party.
After bombardment the German groups have started to recede at night but in the afternoon "Messers" chased each person and shot from machine guns. The panic has begun. Everybody ran away but nobody knew where to. Maria ran too. She ran 30 - 35 kilometers and has fallen asleep from powerlessness .When she has woken up, she has understood: there were nobody there. She was alone. She was captured with awful fear, and she has run very fast. She heard clatter of horses, the time was limited. Not far from Tuapse she has met a regiment. There she was given out a shirt, underpants, boots and jersey. The hair-do was not any more. She and other girls knitted scarves themselves . Can you imagine how did the girls look like? She was always hungry (it was given out only 100 grams of a corn flour for one person) and cold. Soon Maria Fyodorovna had to go into a hospital. After hospital she and five more young girls were sent to a spare regiment. Maria Fyodorovna was given out documents, and some food for two days. Soon all the food was eaten up. Approaching to first aid points, they saw officers eating the first dish, the second one.... « How lucky they are, they are decent people here, in regimentals. I wish we were them. », thought the girls and went further. In five days they came to their first aid point. Maria Fyodorovna gave their documents to the chief of a staff.
Remember how did she look like? In worn-out man’s clothes in boots and in a self-knitted scarf. And all hat was so dirty that when she came to a dispensary where Maria Fyodorovna had to become a nurse, all soldiers came to see her. She said “ I was like a monkey with dirty face, hands and clothes. Maria was ashamed and didn’t know what to do. She was beautiful before.... Fortunately a girl Julja has appeared ,she took her to take a bath. After long-awaited bathing Maria Fyodorovna has been received full regimentals: the female shirt, breeches, a skirt, a shirt, a cap, an overcoat and certainly boots . She has dressed them first of all, having forgotten about everything. Maria Fyodorovna was happy, in fact for the first time she has felt herself a woman.
What a surprise it was for soldiers when they have seen changed "monkey", it was like in a fairy-tale about Cinderella. They have seen new Maria- in full regimentals, with a fine hair-do, and her hair were smart. Guys have started to look at her with interest.
But after the first fight everything has changed. Maria Fyodorovna will never forget the eyes of one bad wounded soldier, the eyes filled with paint and melancholy. Maria Fyodorovna's voice shivered, when she told all this.
One day her friend Julia told her that commander Nedajvozov wanted to marry Maria because he has fallen in love with her. They had no problem with clothes and feed. But to take clean water was very difficult. They took water from trench, where people died. One day they have eaten up salty fish. Certainly Maria wanted to drink and drank some dirty water. These water nearly have killed Maria Fyodorovna because water was infected. Maria was brought into hospital. « The belly typhus », - the doctor has diagnosed, - « if she survives the critical period (12 days) , she will live, but if not … »
t is awful illness. Maria Fyodorovna has been cut her beautiful hair, she was feverish, many days she was between death and life. « I felt, that someone watched me », - Maria Feydorovna tells, - « it was my mum, she has specially arrived to look after me ».
The feeling that her dearest person is very close to her , helped Maria to survive. Having woken up once morning, she felt terrible hunger and, having seen a piece of sausage on the plate, she has swallowed it very quickly. the doctor abused the nurse for this slice, in fact he could be fatal for her. Maria Fyodorovna's intestines reminded a paper. But our Maria was the girl with strong character. When he became stronger she started to learn how to walk, because she has lost this skill during her illness.
Maria Fyodorovna's mum brought products, looked after daughter and soon she was well again.
After typhus Maria was sent home for a month. Going along the street of her native town, Maria has met the school girlfriends, she smiled them, but they didn’t recognize her.
In the yard of her house a dog met her, he started to lick her legs. There was nobody at home, Maria Fyodorovna sat on a sofa and began to wait for her relatives. Suddenly Maria’s Dad came in. He couldn’t believe that this thin soldier was his daughter. He cried for a long time and couldn’t stop crying.” What has happened with my girl?” he repeated.
The collective farm gave her the whole basket of strawberry and the beef leg. After rest she has returned to army and has found out, that her groom was killed. She was sent to Crimea.
A way from Masha to Maria Fyodorovna
Maria Fyodorovna is 80 years old, but she remembers all horror of war . But there were situations when she felt shame for her actions. For example, before the war started, she and some other girls went to dances, not far from their village there was an airport, where a lot of pilots were. One cadet couldn’t dance at all and he was nicknamed “Bungler”. The war began, it means great hunger and great coldness. One day Maria Fyodorovna and some girls came to a village and asked to spend the night at one woman’s house. The woman let them in, but refused to feed them, because she had her own children. In the evening somebody knocked at the door and three soldiers came in, they brought some cereal to the mistress and asked her to cook something, the woman asked soldiers to feed the girls. And five young girls sat down at the table and Started to eat. Maria Fyodorovna put off her shirt, and appeared in a dress which she wore todances. Suddenly one of soldiers asked her: « Where are you from? » Masha answered. What a surprise was for her when she found out that it was that “Bungler”. She was ashamed because she remembered the time when she laughed at him on dances.
And another situation. Maria Fyodorovna had to take some papers to the chief of a staff. She ran as fast as she could and was very pleased that she made it very fast. But the commander, having looked at papers, looked at the girl and said with a hard voice: « Why are you smiling? You have brought a message that 82 soldiers are killed». Maria Fyodorovna couldn’t say anything, but in fact she did not know what hascarried.
Such situations learnt Maria how to live. She saw the people die. She made mistakes many times . Now Maria Feyodorovna is 80 years old, and when we see this clever kind and courageous woman, we can’t believe that everything has happened to her.
The way from Маsha to Maria Fyodorovna Martyinjuk was uneasy for her.
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