43

Not later than February 12, 1942

MY TESTAMENT

p Comrade soldiers, commanders and political instructors, 

p As I go into attack, I pledge to fight to my last breath for the honour and independence of my country. I am not a Party member. But if I shed my blood in battle, consider it the blood of a Communist. Death and destruction to the nazi butchers who have sullied our sacred land!

p Dear comrades-in-arms, if I die in this encounter, consider me a Communist.

p Long live the great Soviet people.

p Convey my greetings to my wife Marusya and daughter Tanya.

S. Volkov

p Stepan Volkov served in a rifle company which had orders to attack enemy stronghold in the village of Ustinovo. Just before the attack, he wrole a pledge to his comrades. On a tiny piece of notepaper he huriiedly jotted down the words of his testament: to fight to the last breath against the nazi butchers. He rolled the note into a ball and put it inside his identity cylinder.

p Volkov was one of the first in the attack. From a nazi trench ahead came a burst of fire. The attackers threw themselves flat. Stepan, grenades in his hands, crawled towards the German trench and threw in his grenades killing several Germans.

p The enemy firing stopped. The way into the village of Ustinovo was free. But at that moment the fearless fighter was hit by an enemy bullet.

After the battle the soldiers buried Stepan Volkov on a hillock close to the village for whose liberation he had given his life. Over his grave they read out the note found on the hero.