Anna Timofeeva-Egorova: Over Fields of Fire

Published by Helion & Company 2010

eBook edition 2011

Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire

Cover designed by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire

Printed by Gutenberg Press Limited, Tarxien, Malta

Text and photographs © Anna Timofeeva-Egorova 2008

Text edited by Sergey Anisimov, translated by Vladimir Kroupnik

Publication made possible by the I Remember website ( http://www.iremember.ru/index_e.htm) and its director, Artem Drabkin.

Hardcover ISBN 978-1-906033-27-9

Digital ISBN 9781907677557

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Translator’s note — lit. ‘crown’.

Translator’s note — Mediaeval warrior heroes comparable with West European knights-errant.

Translator’s note — a common designation for people subjected to repression during Stalin’s purges.

Translator’s note — Young Communist League.

Translator’s note — felt boots.

Translator’s note — a famous animal trainer.

Country Youth School.

Translator’s note — leatherette.

Translator’s note — literally ‘little apple’ — a popular song in the Red Navy.

Translator’s note — diminutive from ‘Vasiliy’.

Translator’s note — abbreviation for Metro Construction.

Translator’s note — FZU — Factory-Plant School — a common educational establishment for young industrial workers in the USSR in 1930s.

Translator’s note — gumboots.

Translator’s note — A historic site in Moscow.

Translator’s note — local trade union.

Editor’s note — literally, ‘Little Anna’.

People’s commissar, or minister.

Translator’s note — a set of sports and fitness tests.

Translator’s note — a set of tests on primary medical skills.

Translator’s note — shooting skills award for civilians.

Translator’s note — a recreation park in Moscow.

Translator’s note — literally, “ Comsomol Crack Worker”.

Translator’s note — another diminutive for Anna.

Translator’s note — ‘Labour’.

Translator’s note — abbreviation of ‘ rabochiy correspondent’ or working correspondent — a correspondent who worked at industrial operations.

Translator’s note — Russian abbreviation for the Air Force of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army.

Translator’s note — a five day period — in the 1930s in the USSR the normal seven-day week was replaced by a five-day week.

Translator’s note — a national group in the Northern Caucasus.

Editor’s note — The Society of Assistance to Defence, Aviation and Chemical Construction. It was established in 1927 by the merging of the Voluntary Society of Friends of the Air Fleet, Chemical Defense and Industry of the USSR and the Society of the Assistance to Defence. In 1948 it was divided into three Societies — the Voluntary Society of Assistance to the Army, the Voluntary Society of Assistance to the Air Force, and the Voluntary Society of Assistance to the Navy.

Translator’s note — Sergeant-Major.

Translator’s note — a province in Southern Russia.

Translator’s note — a common Russian name for the Baltic countries.

Editor’s note — with 31 or 32 personal and 16 shared victories.

Editor’s note — a diminutive form of Victor.

Translator’s note — diminutive for Louka.

Translator’s note — literally, ‘little hawk’ — a common nickname for Soviet fighters.

Editor’s note — a pro-Communist organisation for 9-14 year old children in the USSR, similar to the Scout movement.

Translator’s note — a penal colony run by the NKVD — People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs.

Editor’s note — addressing a person using both their first and second (patronymic) name is a sign of respect in Russia.

Editor’s note — a common name for the Great War in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s.

Translator’s note — another diminutive for Vasiliy.

Translator’s note — a common nickname for the counter-revolutionary forces during the Civil war in Russia (1918-1922).

Translator’s note — abbreviation of Communist University.

Translator’s note — Moscow Garment.

Translator’s note — Moscow City Council.

Translator’s note — another diminutive for Anna.

Translator’s note — a trio of judges — a typical court during Stalin’s purges.

Editor’s note — Yurka, Yurochka — diminutives for Yuri.

Translator’s note — diminutive from Alexey.

Translator’s note — died during Stalin’s purges in 1937.

Translator’s note — Provincial Comsomol Committee.

Translator’s note — the President of the USSR — a notable figure during Stalin’s reign.

Translator’s note — diminutive for Vasiliy.

Translator’s note — surname of famous Soviet test-pilot brothers in the 1930s.

Editor’s note — the highest mark of the five-point system still employed in Russia.

Translator’s note — abbreviation for ‘squadron commander’.

Translator’s note — between the Volga and Moscow rivers.

Translator’s note — a Moscow street.