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Show Soviet Mother Wins Revenge Husband, Two Sons Lost In Battle, She Takes To Piloting Tank. MOSCOW, USSR. "A Mother'i Revenge" might be the title of the story of Maria Vasilyevna Oktya-brskaya. Oktya-brskaya. She is a 38-year-old guards sergeant in the tank corps and has recently been awarded the order of the Patriotic war first degree for valor in battle. Maria comes from Sevastopol. In prewar days she, her husband and their two sons had a happy home life. A chauffeur by profession, Maria was domestically, minded and gave much time to sewing, embroidering em-broidering and decorating her modest mod-est apartment. But like so many Russian women she was trained for war. She had received the Voro-shilov Voro-shilov badge for marksmanship and had mastered the machine gun. War came. Maria's husband, Ilya Fedotovitch, became a regimental commissar. Her two sons enlisted. She remained at home, Soon she received the news that her husband had died "the death of the brave." Her two sons also perished. Her father and mother found themselves in German-occupied territory. Sevastopol Se-vastopol was in flames and Maria, alone now, had to abandon her home and . flee eastward. She couldn't settle down to any peaceful pursuit. She wanted to go to work not as a Red Cross nurse, stretcher bearer, sniper or infantryman but as a tank driver. She was consumed with a passion to avenge the death of her husband and her two sons.- -' Writes to Stalin. She wrote to Premier Marshal Josef V. Stalin that she was contributing con-tributing 50,000 rubles for the purchase pur-chase of a tank which she herself wanted to drive. "I want the tank named Fighting Comrade," she wrote. "I am a chauffeur by profes-. sion and can handle a machine gun and have also earned the Voro-shilov Voro-shilov badge for marksmanship." Stalin replied: "Your wish shall be fulfilled." Maria went to the front with her "Fighting Comrade." Her crew was made up of young men and she treated them like a mother. She rose earlier than they, cooked breakfast for them, washed and mended their clothes and in the evenings sat up with them talking about their homes, their families, their plans, their future. Then came the first baptism of fire. She was sent in to attack advancing ad-vancing German infantry. She piloted pi-loted the tank while gunners took a heavy toll of the enemy. This battle proved a real triumph for Maria and her crew. Then came other battles. Maria became a seasoned soldier. Her "Fighting Comrade" went on scouting expeditions, expedi-tions, lay in ambush, participated in frontal attacks and pincer movements. move-ments. Has Her Revenge. Maria was having her revenge on the army that had killed her husband hus-band and her sons, that may have made slaves of her father and mother, moth-er, might even have ended their lives. Then a shell struck the "Fighting Comrade," disabled it. There was no one near to tow it to the rear. Maria and the crew remained for three days beside the damaged tank. When it was repaired she once more went into battle. Once, after a hard fight, the "Fighting Comrade," together with other tanks, hid in a forest. Suddenly Sud-denly German artillery started shelling them. The "Fighting Comrade" Com-rade" was hit. Maria and her crew jumped out and started to repair the damaged caterpillar. Shelling continued con-tinued incessantly. Maria was urged to leave the repairing to the men. But she insisted on doing her share. Two shells exploded nearby and Maria felL But she wasn't dead. She was taken to a hospital and it was there that the colonel of her unit brought her the news that she was awarded a high decoration for valor. "My men must also be decorated," deco-rated," she said to the colonel. "They have been," he answered. Although still in the hospital, Maria is happy. Her one desire is to recuperate quickly and go back to the front with her own or another "Fighting Comrade." |