Soldiers resting and cleaning weapons in between the fighting

Rest

Sniper Viktor Medvedev of the 3d Ukrainian front, awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal on 2-22-1944, In July 1940 he was drafted into the Red Army. He served on the ship &quot;Kalinin&quot; Pacific Fleet. Later with fellow sailors he volunteered for infantry and served in the battle of Stalingrad,helped liberate Warsaw and went on to Berlin achieving 331 confirmed kills and training 78 snipers.

Hero of the Soviet Union Vassili Zaitsev remembers about Medvedev&quot;- Medvedev was a good man,he liked to crtique the more sluggish snipers. Recently he had discussed some of his experiances with a group of new trainess, He walked up to them and without saying a word,unrolled his tobacco pouch. It was made of red silk and decorated with embroidery. He showed it off as if to say &quot; just imagine the time and love my girl put into making this!&quot; Two empty shell casings rolled out of the pouch. This is all I wanted to say to you he declared. Lets head into the field! I think we will come to understand each other better there. That was right Viktor a soldier learns the snipers art through practice,rather than through talking about it!&quot;

Viktor Medvedev

A partisan takes aim with his 91/30 rifle