p December 1941

p I go into battle a Communist, and I pledge that I shall fight bravely, skilfully and worthily, not begrudging my blood and even my life to wipe out this nazi plague. All I ask is, after fascism is destroyed, if I am killed, to let my parents know that I died for Lenin’s cause. The address is Tatiana Androsova, Noviki Village, Malevichesky Village Soviet, Zhlobinsky District, Gomel Region, Byelorussian S.S.R.

p I pledge I shall not leave the battlefield even if I am wounded as long as I have strength.

p Comradely greetings, 

p Communist soldier Ivan Androsov

p In the dark days of October 1941, Hitler’s hordes tried to overrun the old Russian gunsmith town of Tula.

p For many days, the soldiers fought a persistent battle against overwhelming odds.

p On December 4 and 5, the town was almost completely surrounded. All highways linking it up with Moscow and the nearest district centres were cut off. Only to the north-west of Tula there remained a narrow strip of land which the enemy forces had not managed to overrun.

In one of the fierce encounters with Guderian panzer, a brave young Communist of the 150th Regiment, Ivan Androsov, met his end. The steel monsters were bearing down on a tiny handful of gallant soldiers who met them with hand grenades and incendiary bottles. The first, then the second and third stopped dead and burst into flames. But more came on. And as they came, Ivan Androsov hurriedly jotted down the last words he was ever to write. Three sheets from his notebook were put in his Party card. At the next enemy rush he hurriedly grabbed at his gun, but an enemy bullet got there first.