Yakov Okunev

“ New saps are made, the network of trenches is extended, new earth-banks are heaped up, false covers are constructed in order to deceive the enemy. And all this work is done while the battle is in progress, while the guns are roaring ceaselessly, while lead and iron are falling as thick as hail. Yet, we experience no fear in performing the work; on the contrary, we are in good spirits, for we forget about everything except the fact that this spot needs straightening out, another place needs deepening, a third, levelling.
And the bullets fall and fall, without end . ”

“ There is nothing more dreadful than the sight of human habitation laid waste by the war. A few shells from a gun of large caliber lay a building in ruins, so that nothing remains but piles of dirt, broken stones, and pieces of wood. And if a town or a village happen to be within the range of the guns, whose hurricane-like cannonade usually precedes an attack, then every building in it is razed to the ground, and on the spots upon which so recently stood the homes of men nothing is now seen except smoke-stacks, which, for some reason or other, shells, shrapnel, and bullets usually miss. ”

“ We are "fighting units." Now the volunteer Somov, who is a graduate of two universities, is not distinguishable from the Olonetz peasant Kistiakov, who can scarcely count as far as one hundred. And what differentiation can there be when all our movements are co-ordinated and brought under one control, not so much by discipline, which may be considered consciously and complied with without the loss of one's individuaity, but as if by a mighty instinct, which destroys all mental superiority, all differences of intellectual capabilities, points of view, strivings, and aspirations. ”

“ I cannot hear anything, except a chaos of sounds, that remind one of the noise made by an in-flowing tide, or of a peculiar buzzing.
It is impossible to describe the impressions of an attack. There are no impressions. There is only a feeling that you overcome an obstacle. ”

“ We have seen cases in which a "dum-dum" bullet would enter the body, and, on coming out, tear a hole as large as a saucer. We have seen dreadful sufferings; a thousand times have we imagined ourselves in the place of our wounded comrades. ”

“ There are perhaps fifteen of us, educated men, amidst four thousand peasants, coming from Riasan, and Poltava, and Kostroma, and Tula. And having marched with them from Sandomir to Stry and to the forests of Unterwalden, we have become like them, have acquired their ways, their habits, their motions, because these ways "seem "handier," because it is more convenient to do exactly as those peasants dressed in military uniforms.
"Why do we walk around and around, instead of fighting?" asks Kistiakov. ”

“ Zverev lit another cigarette, but threw it away also, cursing the tobacco for being wet.
"Tobacco is the thing a military man needs most, and it get wet, the Devil take it! What are you going to do without tobacco in time of war?" ”

“ We have now become accustomed to everything, we have passed through everything, and it is impossible to frighten or to surprise us with any unexpected circumstance. Attacks, forced marches, flank movements, rapid changes of front, tramping through impassable roads and often simply through fields and woods—all this we have already tried, and it seems that the rest of the campaign cannot have any further tests for our strength, endurance, and patience. ”

“ But war is a state in which fear is conquered by fear. One must possess a greater courage to flee than to go forward; for the bullets and the shells are behind, while, as you move ahead, they fly over your head, and when you are close to your enemy, the only question is to break through, i. ”

“ Not that he is in such a martial mood, but "walking around and around" means making long, interminable marches, in an attempt to surround the unseen enemy, and these marches are much more difficult and tiresome than a battle lasting many days.
Kistiakov is certain that the enemy is "beating it." ”

“ In the meantime, we have to remake the captured trenches, "turn them the other way around," as the soldiers say; i. e., remove the earth-bank from one side of the trench to the other.
We are in the midst of a whole labyrinth of trenches. We are in the first line, the cover line, that temporarily shelters the attacking infantry. The trenches are very deep, in places
"THE GERMANS ARE GONE."
A Polish village after the Germans left it, as drawn by a war artist. (Lukomorye)
covered with logs and earth, with openings for rifles and indentations for commanders. ”

“ As usual, the soldiers "prepared" for battle: put on clean underwear, if they had any, and washed themselves*.
"You must be clean when you go out to die," they say.
Tomilin, who had entered the army as a volunteer, was sitting in a corner of the trench, deep in thought. ”