On the Roads of War: A Soviet Cavalryman on the Eastern Front

by Ivan Yakushin

Ivan Yakushin survived the Siege of Leningrad, fought at the Battle of Kursk and pursued the retreating German army through Russia, Belorussia, Poland and into Germany itself. This is the story of his war.

He tells the tale in his own words, with remarkable clarity of recall, and gives an authentic insight into what combat on the Eastern Front was like for the ordinary soldier. He also provides a detailed, firsthand record of cavalry operations during a highly mechanized war, and this gives his book its special value.

The war for him began in Leningrad where he endured the terrifying first winter of the German siege. He describes the perils and privations that beset the city during a period in which over half a million civilians who lost their lives. Yet it is his vivid recollections of his experiences as an artillery man, then a cavalry officer on the Eastern Front that are at the heart of this rare memoir.

In the Kursk salient Yakushin was severely wounded in the legs, during the Nevel offensive and Operation Bagration he took part in daring cavalry raids behind the German lines and, as the Soviet army penetrated into East Prussia and Germany itself, he was confronted by increasingly desperate German units struggling to defend their homeland.
His descriptions of the merciless fighting during these last months of the war, in particular against the fanatical German Volkssturm, make fascinating reading.

The author, Ivan Yakushin survived the Siege of Leningrad as a teenager, completed an artillery lieutenant's course in 1943 and joined the heavy mortar regiment during the Battle of Kursk. After recovering from a wound he was transferred to the elite 5th

After the war Captain Yakushin came back to Leningrad and worked as an engineer at Admiralty Shipyards, taking part in construction of over 100 ships, until his retirement in 1992. He lives in St Petersburg, has one son and a grandson.

Genres: World War II, Memoir, Autobiography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[Astor Teller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This account is more clean than most memoirs from World War II. Sure, people die and the author Ivan Yakushin mentions atrocities such as cannibalism and rape which he says he never experienced firsthand.

You are spared the bloodshed in this book. This gave the impression of reading a modern fairy tale, a vibe I have encountered in other Russian accounts as they are more in a storytelling mood than being journalists (which a lot of the Western accounts attempts to be).

The really interesting part of this account is that this a seldom glimpse into the cavalry which the author is dumped into, even if he trained to become an artillery officer, but i plays out well as they also have artillery and anti-tank weapons along with the occasional sabre charges.

Ivan Yakushin also shows us the haphazard side of the Soviet army. A good example is when they are issued new anti-tank weapons, omitting the manual, so he has to use a German manual made for using Soviet weaponry.

It’s a short book but it has a lot of interesting tidbits such as the valenki felt boots’ qualities (in frozen sette it can be used as a melee weapon), you meet one of the Old Believers (very Ortodox Christians) who doesn’t know about the war but is hospitable enough to lend his cup to Ivan and his friends so they can quench their thirst, but then has to discard the cup afterwards as it has been desecrated by unbelievers, and you also get to spend some time in Leningrad where the book begins, before Ivan is evacuated with other cadets, most of them dying of bloody diarrhoea because they eat too nutritious food after being starved for too long time.

Especially recommended for people who doesn’t like gory stuff but still wants to read about the war and World War II aficionados.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2005, 'On the Roads of War' is a biographical account of the experiences of a Soviet Cavalryman during WW2. I have read many biographical accounts of WW2 experiences, yet this is the first for me of a Soviet soldier. This is long overdue, as it made a surprisingly good read. That said, it seems very much a sanitized account, although this might be as a result of selective use of the original text by the translator. Some of the footnotes by the editor are a little misleading as well. And yet, I enjoyed it and would like to read more of similar works.

[Paul Reska · Rating 5 out of 5]

informative read

I found that this book provided a very different perspective of the Eastern Front than obviously the German military and civilian especially the Prussian civilians during Operation Bagration.

[Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book for "general interest" but if you already are familiar with the Great Patriotic War (or the Eastern Front in WWII if you prefer) and want to develop a more human connection with the people who fought it, memoirs such as this are powerful and fascinating.

The perspective of an artillery officer in the cavalry is particularly interesting.