“Twice Twelve is Twenty Four. Magic Power of Digits!”, a new book by Valentina Filina-Pattison, 2021

CHAPTER 2. THE WAR
Having resided in Russia before, I never had a full picture of WWII. For the Russians, there was a Great Patriotic War connected to the Eastern Front and partly Manchjuria. Only now after 21 years living in Canada, thanks to different types of mass media, I started to collect the whole picture of the WWII. Especially after the Netflix contribution in 2019, who restored an old original version and gave a good perspective of events, including the Stalingrad, Japanese front, Normandy etc.
Let’s watch to yourselves and have your own opinion.

And what about MARIA?
MARIA as the majority of the population of the city of Bryansk, having heard by radio in the News about the fast approaching the Nazi Army to her city, sarted to pack up all her belongings and kids, joined the crowd for evacuating in the direction to Chelyabinsk, one of the remote Urals town. The train was overcrowded, moved slowly stopping at every possible stop allowing people in. So inside the train the atmosphere was not easier. Kids were crying asking for food, the smell was unbearable. There was sitting one dame next to MARIA, she started to whine and complain about the smell (she appeared to be a wife of the chief of the train). She reproached MARIA in not obeying to the sanitary norms for kids and herself (Little Val got diarreah at the moment). The conflict was ripening. At that time the soldies had interfered into the situation and took it under their control. They asked the dame politely but insistently to quit the train. They had sympathy for a regular Russian lady with two kids. Later the diarreah turned to worse, and MARIA had to quit the train herself in search of the medical help for the youngest VAL. MUM saved her daughter’s life. That was the main trait of the character of MARIA through her whole life.
But herself she had a very difficult life of a refugee walking on foot. Very soon she joined the column of the same kind of people, refugees on the road.
MARIA found out that she was pregnant with the third baby( a boy whom she delivered on the 18-th of January,1942 and called him GENNADIY). This event happened to be in the village of Liski, Voronezh region.
Because of that fact Maria was given a cart harnessed by a horse. In such “so-called privilieged position” she traveled some while when she heard the voice of the Column commander “Lie down on the ground: The Nazi’s airraid!”
(to be continued)
Listen to Marlene Ditrich, a very popular singer and actress of her time:

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