“Now you are citizens, just the same as us officers, so why do you not ask for better living conditions, like we officers enjoy. Why don’t you demand cots, blankets, mattresses and so on? You live like swine, sleep on bough beds quite unsuitable for a citizen, and receive only 75 kopeks per month.”
When we began to explain that in time of war conditions dictate that it is not permissible to have cots, blankets and mattresses in the trenches, the officers said that you are a fool, an ass and blockhead. They said “In our mess we eat your soup and leave you only water, and we still get a fabulous sum for rations and dinner.”
And they said many such words, which could have incited antagonism, but we have our preachers, who ardently persuaded us not to believe the officers, to be patient and keep hope. We realized all this ourselves and acted as our conscience dictated. For now I will finish writing, and will write again the 14th or the 15th of this month, that is in two days.
I did not write you for so long, because I had a premonition that you are no longer in Tbilisi, and I don’t know the address in Moscow. I have not received your letter in which you wrote that you moved to Moscow. Our spirit at the
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front could not be better, not one of our soldiers has deserted. I receive letters in which they write that there is desertion from the reserve regiments, but not from the front lines. You need not fear for the front. In my following letters I will write you about the general state of the war, that is I will write my views on the war and its conclusion. For now good bye, give my greetings to your mama Olga Petrovna. I wish you the very, very best.
—Respectfully yours N. Filatov.
3. ACTIVE ARMY
18. VI. 1917
Greatly-respected Olga Valerianovna,
Yesterday I received your books, sent June 5th of this year, probably from Yaroslavl. For kindly remembering me I send you my thanks a million times over. On May 17th I was summoned by a telephoned telegram from the 772nd regiment to our regiment. On that same day our regiment moved from the reserve to replace another regiment in position at the front. I spent on the road, that is marched, for two days, since the distance was seventy-five versts. When I arrived at my detachment, all the crews and machine guns were in position, with the exception of drivers [of horses] and six crew members. I was allowed to rest and I rest until today, but it is not rest, but worse than the front lines during battle. The problem is as follows. Prior to the first of June there was no committee in our command. But I lie! The committee existed, but from the first days when there was work to do they scattered. In our command there are, that is they are divided into two hostile camps. The drivers can’t bear the sight of the crews in the trenches, and the trench soldiers regard the drivers likewise. I should point out that the drivers are few and all from the first mobilization, also the command of the machine gun detachments is benevolently disposed towards them, and there are many more trench soldiers.
In the former regime our kind chief himself settled everything graciously and would put this man on sentry duty for 8 hours, that one for 12 hours, and sometimes he had the charity to order someone put on post for 20 hours. Now he refuses to do this, while enmity has intensified. Everyone has the right to say what he wants, and here it has become my lot to be the go-between between the two warring factions. I’m the advocate of one and the other, and so enjoy the favor of both hostile camps. I took up this job from the first of June. At first this work was slow to progress, and I gave it all my energy. On the 14th the sergeant-major said to me the following: “Filatov, the whole unit is
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starting to come together, the former hostilities are no longer heard. Everyone is counting on you.” He had a lot of other things to say, too. On July 1st we will have more elections. I think I’ll ask to be relieved of this duty and go off to the trenches for a rest, because it’s difficult to feed the wolves and have to answer for the safety of the sheep. Here you need a head as tough as a horse, I figure. The entire distribution of uniforms is my responsibility. All this time I’m up to my neck with things to do. In addition to that, there is often the desire to be at meetings and gatherings. I’d like to take a look with my own eyes at the head of the Minister of War, Kerensky1 and see how he governs Russia in this troubled time. You know, Olga Valerianovna, when I’ve heard all I can of the various stories of the terrible unrest in Russia, I think that Russia can’t take it any longer, if it goes on like this, Russia will not be able to endure, and all will be lost.
All is well at our front. Everyone is prepared to die for freedom. Only we have some deficiencies. The matter is as follows. Some sorts of diseases of malnutrition and heart palpitations from walking uphill have recently appeared along the front. We are fed well and I don’t understand where this malnutrition comes from. These illnesses are thinning our ranks little by little, and there are no reinforcements. Few troops are coming up from the rear. Throughout our entire division, one no longer observes any hostile feelings towards the gentlemen officers, everywhere you can see friendly relations between soldiers and the officers. Twice I managed to be at the regimental deputies’ meeting. I saw and heard how the officers address the soldiers with all sorts of questions, and how they light up papirosy for want of pipe tobacco. From this I can confidently say that for the time being there are no severe conflicts between soldiers and officers in our division. A soldier or an officer who returns late from leave is punished only in the rear. Our citizens are behaving badly. That only delays everything more and more and puts off long-awaited PEACE.
For now, Olga Valerianovna, good bye, be healthy, give my greetings to your mama Olga Petrovna. I wish you the very very best.
—N. Filatov
4. ACTIVE ARMY
25th day of June
Greatly respected Olga Valerianovna, I send you my greetings and well wishes. I have read only little of your books, and I have to read aloud, because I am asked to do so. For the most part I read about land issues, because issues
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about land are the most crucial for us tillers of the soil. I don’t need to teach and explain things to you, Olga Valerianovna, you know full well what we need, and because I have to read the same booklet 3 or 4 times and forever stop and explain things. I have to define every foreign word, which is a problem because I don’t know many of them myself, without an encyclopedic dictionary, it’s very difficult. I myself am superbly educated: up until age 18 I knew neither how to read nor write, and books on political issues are not the same as the tales of Pushkin or Krylov.
Nothing exceptional has occurred at the front, everything is the same. The most diverse bits of information reach us from Russia. People return from leave and say that soldiers don’t want to go to the front, that mass-meetings are held everywhere and speeches given that conclude with the words “down with the war.” The rumors reaching us from Russia are more alarming by the day. I’m losing hope for Russia’s salvation, now I think that all is lost, we will be crushed and that the monarchy will reign again. Our soldiers say that Kerensky is bloodthirsty, a second Napoleon. True, I adore Napoleon, I think he was a genius among geniuses. In difficult moments I always remember your words: “I fear for Russia, but I hope she will endure.”
Good bye for now, Olga Valerianovna, be healthy, I wish you all the very best, give my greetings to your mama Olga Petrovna and my wishes for her good health. All the best.
Respectfully yours N. Filatov.
5. ACTIVE ARMY, ROMANIAN FRONT
6/VIII/1917
How do you do, much-respected Olga Valerianovna. I send you my greetings and wish you good health. From your letter I learned that you still have not lost hope, you believe that Russia will endure, but I no longer hope for the salvation of our homeland. Our only possible salvation is peace, and the further continuation of war will be our doom. The best and brightest people
in the upper command ranks are leaving, they flee and abandon us to the tyranny of fate. Newspapers shamelessly describe the failure of the revolution [of February 1917], and even the disorder in the active army—this in my opinion exacerbates Russia’s pain. No matter what sort of disturbances there may be in Russia, anything could be at work behind our back, and when riots broke out at Tarnopol [in western Ukraine] there was a new scent in the air and everyone became alarmed.
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From the 16th of July we began a slow retreat, surrendering every hill with a battle. Our Second Corps had just one road to take. The Germans really wanted to cut off our retreat, they charged drunk into an attack, and we treated them properly to machine-gun fire. The 25th of July Germans, Aus-trians and Turks launched attacks 8 times, we killed whole heaps of them. We suffered no losses on our side, and we practically have no soldiers anyhow. We’ve had no reinforcements since September of last year, we capture and maintain our positions with machine guns, and at night the company soldiers take up posts ahead of the machine guns and go back to the reserve for the day. And in the trenches machine guns always stand ready, very many of them. Besides these, we have extra machine guns at hand, at the slightest alarm these extra guns are placed on the front line. Sometimes we have three machine guns aimed at a single target: be our guests, Gentlemen Germans, Austrians or Turks.
We have withdrawn towards the rear about 20 versts, but covered nearly 100 versts in the process. During our dislocation, that is retreat, we knew no hunger, everything was distributed in advance, we were issued tea and sugar before the retreat. Nothing was left behind for the enemy, not as it was before, with the old government. I received your two packages of books, during our retreat I handed the books and my field office to the transport unit. Misfortune struck and my field office was lost, so I have only a single pen, quill and inkpot, and paper and envelopes I borrowed from my comrades. I will have to cease correspondence for a couple months. We are now in position, with no action thus far. The mood is happy. I read everything I can get my hands on. We spent 3 days constructing ourselves a sturdy, comfortable, winter dugout. Yesterday at 2 in the afternoon a 3-inch shell danced off our dugout, causing no harm. Our dugout can protect us from six-inch shells.
When I read your letter I was surprised to learn that you have become a country preacher for the New Age. You probably have had to endure much deprivation. I think that you have had to experience many, many hardships, and on top of it all you have to remain composed. I read in the papers about how our country folk understand the New Age. It’s amazing how stupid and ignorant we are! Just to explain something insignificant would probably take about 20 hours.
I ask you, Olga Valerianovna, to give my greetings and wishes for good health to your mama Olga Petrovna. All the best, good bye for now, be healthy, and I wish you, Olga Valerianovna, great success in educating our people.
—Respectfully yours N. Filatov
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6. POSITION IN THE KIMPOLUNGSKII SECTOR
November 15th day, 1917
Much-respected Olga Valerianovna, I send you my greetings and wish you good health, I also send regards to your mama Olga Petrovna and wish her good health and all the best.
First of all, Olga Valerianovna, I will write you the following. At the same time that you had a battle in Moscow, the Germans here at the front were not napping and broke through the front in two places, at Baranovichi [in the Brest region of Belorussia] and in Romania, at Okna [Okna-Muresh on the Muresh River]. Then they began to prepare for an assault on Iassy [in Northeast Romania near the Moldavian border]. I heard the following story. A division, that is this division maintained contact with our division, under the instigation of provocateurs, split along Bolshevik and Menshevik lines, left their positions and began fighting amongst themselves, and the Germans took their trenches with no losses. Our situation became critical. To re-establish our position, we brought up artillery, machine guns and a handful of soldiers to the place where the Germans broke through, after three hours’ artillery bombardment there wasn’t a living soul left in the trenches. Our troops recaptured the trenches with no losses and set-up machine guns. The Germans, after a two-hour artillery bombardment, moved to counterattack in tight formation. We let them come into close range, then the 132nd machine gunners and the 94th battery opened fire all at once. It was a horrible sight. The Germans advanced on our trenches with a pitiful battle cry, we let them in close and then mowed them down at point-blank range. Towards evening the Germans became convinced that it was impossible to take our trenches and the battle ceased.
I absolutely cannot understand how the Germans manage to break through our lines. Never have I seen troops abandon their position, that is, voluntarily leave their entrenchments, though I hear such stories and read about it in the papers, I still don’t believe it. I have witnessed how our soldiers in the trenches, out of ammunition, bore the storm of German artillery fire, but did not think of leaving. Now I believe that our military technology is superior to that of the enemy, we have more than 50 machine guns in our regiment, and more were sent to us, but were not accepted because there are no horses to haul them. We have all the ammunition you could want, in answer to every German round our soldiers send 7.
We began voting for the Constituent Assembly from the 11th of this month. Most votes are cast for no. 3, and a small portion for nos. 4 and 6.2 The soldiers were not prepared to vote, there are many misunderstandings, no conflicts. Yesterday I went to the regiment headquarters, and had the good
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fortune to be in the trenches. An Austrian prisoner came and said that they are given nothing to eat. From our reconnaissance men I obtained Austrian newspapers, magazines and all sorts of other works. I read little, had no time. The Austrians curse Kerensky for continuing the war to appease the bourgeois classes.
I have not received your books, no news is foreseen at present, we await peace. For now, Olga Valerianovna, good bye, be healthy, I wish you all the very best.
—N. Filatov
7. ACTIVE ARMY
December the 6th day, 1917
Greatly-respected Olga Valerianovna, I send you my greetings, wishes for good health, and all the best. Also greetings to your mama Olga Petrovna, whom I wish good health and every blessing.
I foremost write you, Olga Valerianovna, that yesterday I received your letter of 14 November, for which I thank you. You rightly predicted, Olga Vale-rianovna, that there will be many changes. True, we’ve had a little peace. The new war has not overpowered the old one, it ran off someplace, probably after the old war. There is no firing at our position, fraternization has ceased. The first of December we heard artillery and rifle fire in the Austrian deployments. From what the Austrians tell us, they are rioting and want peace.
Our mood has changed recently. Since we learned that the Cossacks have abandoned the front and are creating disturbances in Russia, now everyone has nothing but curses and threats for the Cossacks. They’ll be in a bad way when the war is over, people want to destroy them forever. Any of their movements and uprisings will be put down right away. The Cossacks formerly enjoyed the reputation of being invincible, but in this war they served in headquarters, a safe distance from the action, they are considered cowards, they fear the Germans, went off to war to fight against women, but encounter soldiers with the character of Hindenburg.
You, Olga Valerianovna, imagine the break-up of Russia. That will never ever be, because we will not stand for German aggression, and Russia will become a strong and fearsome state. Do not trouble yourself, Olga Valerianovna with concern for my existence, I never worry for myself, because my life is cheerless. Just imagine, for all the hardships, the cold, hunger and difficult marches that I have endured and experienced in this war, when the war is over I will have to go to work in the mines or in a factory and I will again be re-
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garded as a criminal element. I really don’t want to go there, but am driven by need; there is no chance for me to take up farming. There is little land available and no capital to re-establish operations. I regret that on 14 September 1915 that shell didn’t blow my head off, but now I’d like to live a bit more and see how the war ends.
I am dreadfully bored, my only entertainment is reading books, and I don’t spare my eyes, anything to forget my gloom. I thank you, Olga Valerianovna, for your kindness towards me, your books alone sustain me, if not for the books, I would die from boredom and melancholy. I am quite fed up with living in the mountains. We are fed poorly, and the animals are fed very poorly, so that they can barely pull even empty carts. I cannot imagine, what will be next. I request, Olga Valerianovna, if you have the time, that you write what is happening in Moscow. For now, Olga Valerianovna, good bye, be healthy, I wish you all the very very best.
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