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| 'Our entire regiment was a miner.' How mobilized miners became warriors |
| 2023-08-28 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Viktoriya Tolkacheva [REGNUM] Donbass is a mining region. The land of steppes and waste heaps, even the smallest inhabitants of these lands know about it. We can say that it was here that such a holiday as Miner's Day was born: first, in the city of Irmino, miner Alexei Stakhanov set a record for coal production, and then an important date was officially approved at the suggestion of the Ministers of the Coal Industry of the USSR Dmitry Onika and Alexander Zasiadko. The Zasyadko mine is still operating in Donetsk, the city of Stakhanov has a glorious history in the LPR, and the miners, “soldiers” of a difficult but peaceful profession, not only work for the good of their land, but also defend it with arms in their hands. Back in 2014, many units of the people's militia of the LPR and DPR were replenished with ordinary hard workers who, with all their courage, opposed the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Among these workers were also miners, who, after working dangerously underground, were not easily intimidated by shelling and armored vehicles. This year, the memory of the fallen and living miners - the defenders of Donbass decided to perpetuate in a separate monument. The Russian Military Historical Society plans to open a separate monument in Lugansk, which will be dedicated to two generations of heroes: modern times and the times of the Great Patriotic War. The monument will represent two soldiers who have real prototypes. This is a participant in the Great Patriotic War Ivan Shcheglov , who was awarded the Order of Glory of the III degree for military merits, and his great-grandson, a member of the SVO Sergey Sidenko , who volunteered for the front in February 2022. Is such a history and continuity of generations real? Quite. Since today there are still many men of mining professions defending the borders of the people's republics. One of them is the fighter Aleksey with the call sign Cosmonaut, a resident of a small urban-type settlement located between the mining towns of Rovenki and Anthracite. The astronaut got to the mobilization front in February 2022. The man tells about it simply: a summons came, so he collected a duffel bag and went to the military registration and enlistment office. It became hard later, when, without any preparation, he and the same miners ended up in the Kharkov direction. The newly minted fighters did not fully understand what they needed to do, and they had to gain experience in the course of hostilities - for six months in the Kharkov region they learned to fight from scratch. - Our entire regiment was a miner, and there were people who did not even serve in the army. I myself served in the army 26 years ago,” says Alexei. — At first, we had one and a half thousand people, miners who took up arms. After leaving Kharkov, our regiment has already changed two times for sure. Now we have fighters from Mari El in our regiment, there are guys from Perm, from Ulyanovsk. The backbone of the miners remained, somewhere around 150 people, and the rest of the composition changed to mobilized Russians. According to Cosmonaut, working in a mine is somewhat comparable to war. You may not return from the mine either, as this work is quite dangerous. This is hard work, but you can get used to it over time, and this is what, perhaps, allowed the man to quickly adapt to the fighting. During his life, the man changed three mines, gave this work almost 27 years of his life, but what is important, he continued the dynasty of miners. His father also worked in this area, and before that, his grandfather, who also fought for the freedom of his homeland during the Great Patriotic War. - My grandfather on my father's side died early, and I know little about him. And my mother's father Yakov Grigoryevich Lissitzky started the war in Latvia as a lieutenant. At the very beginning, they were surrounded, the grandfather led people behind him, ended up in the NKVD, but he was given a second chance, and as a result he became the commander of an engineering and sapper regiment. He liberated the Bryansk region, Belarus, Poland. He did not get to Berlin, he remained in Poland, where he was a commandant in one of the cities, ”recalls Alexey. In Poland during the war, Yakov Grigorievich met his future wife, they had a son, and then two more children - the mother of the Cosmonaut and her younger brother. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, my grandparents returned to the Donbass, as my grandfather was from the village of Kartushino, which is adjacent to the place of residence of Alexei himself. The combat path of the Cosmonaut, of course, differs from the path of the grandfather, but this does not make it any easier. First there was the Kharkov region, then the border of the Belgorod region. From November to December 2022, they had to make war in the Popasna area, after which they had to hold the defense near Soledar. Aleksey's call sign, which is unusual for a miner, has its own separate history. Initially, he was called Cosmos, by the nickname that he received at the Komsomolskaya mine because of his high growth. And then colleagues nicknamed the Cosmonaut. Alexey suits the fact that he is a hereditary miner. The man's family is also proud of him as a soldier defending his home. The astronaut admits that the front changed a lot of things in his head, and most importantly, in his soul. Now the main goal is victory, which will allow children to live in peace. And only then it will be possible to return to peaceful work. Miner with the call sign "Cosmonaut", went to fight like his grandfather in 1941 - Such a disaster came, we had to take up arms. Many of the guys I knew are no longer alive. It is bitter and painful to lose friends. But we advance our victory, getting closer and closer to it. And for the sake of those guys who are no longer with us, I think we all have to win, - says Alexey. - I want to wish my colleagues, fellow miners one thing: that everyone return home alive, safe and sound. Victory will be ours, boys, together we are strong. This is how the Donbass has been living for many years: it works and fights, glorifies its land with labor and protects its homes. And the monuments in the republics have prototypes of real heroes: miners Ivan Shcheglov and Sergey Sidenko, Yakov Lissitzky and Alexei Kosmonavt. Eternal memory to the fallen, strength, courage in the slaughter and alive at the front. Happy Miner's Day! |
| Posted by:badanov |