WWII veteran Lyulko shared his memories from the front

In an interview with Izvestia on May 9, Semyon Lyulko, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), told how he deceived the military enlistment office at the age of 17 to get to the front, and recalled a 100-kilometer trek through mountainous and wooded areas under shelling.

"I say, 'Can I get through the commission?' It turns out that I deceived them and myself. I was healthy. I passed the commission — wait for the summons," the veteran recalls.

In 1943, the summons came. The head of the personnel department said that Lyulko had a reservation and an order not to let him go, but the veteran remained silent. That's how he got into the 301st regiment, which made a 100-kilometer trek through mountainous and wooded terrain in full combat gear - they only went at night, because planes flew every 5 km.

Having reached the height, the soldiers fought for two days with the German landing force until it scattered. Then the regiment crossed two tributaries of Lake Balaton and took over the headquarters.

"At five o'clock in the morning, we went on the offensive, and when we reached, we met with the American 26th Infantry Division, we hugged and shouted "Hurrah!" And celebrated the holiday, but not on May 9th, of course, but on the 12th," recalls Lyulko.

"Where an ordinary person stops, we, the military, will go to the end"

For the first time in the world, a group of ITS veterans on prosthetic legs climbed Mount Elbrus

On May 7, Izvestia published footage of congratulations from WWII veterans Nikolai Egorovich Loginov, Viktor Andreevich Blagov and Fyodor Fedorovich Rykhlov, who live in Naro-Fominsk. Musical gifts and performances were also organized for them, in which artists from the local Palace of Culture were involved.