In the dugout

Immediately after the outbreak of World War II, journalist and poet Alexei Surkov became a war correspondent for the newspaper Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda ^{[1] [2]} .

In late autumn 1941, the 78th Infantry Division of the 16th Army , defending Istra, was named the 9th Guards , in connection with which the Political Administration of the Western Front invited the correspondents of Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda to cover this event; Surkov went among others. On November 27 , journalists first visited the division headquarters, after which they went to the command post of the 258th (22nd Guards) Rifle Regiment , located in the village of Kashino .

Upon arrival, it turned out that the command post was cut off from the battalions of the advancing 10th Panzer Division of Germany, and the enemy infantry was approaching the village itself. The mortar shelling that had begun forced officers and journalists to sit in the dugout . The Germans occupied neighboring houses. Then the chief of staff of the regiment, captain I.K. Velichkin crawled to the buildings, throwing grenades at the enemy, which caused a weakening of the enemy’s fire and made it possible to make a breakthrough. Having safely passed the minefield , everyone went to the river and crossed it over still thin ice - under the renewed mortar shelling - to the village of Ulyashino , in which there was a battalion.

When Surkov got to his own, his whole greatcoat turned out to be shattered with fragments. Then he said: “He didn’t take a step further than the headquarters of the regiment. Not a single ... And before death - four steps. " After that, it only remained to add: “It is not easy for me to reach you ...” ^[3]

After coming to the village, staffers and correspondents were stationed in the dugout . Everyone was very tired - so much so that, according to Surkov’s recollections, Velichkin, the chief of staff, sat down to eat soup, fell asleep after the second spoon, as he had not slept for four days. The rest settled near the stove, someone began to play the accordion to relieve tension. Surkov began to make drafts for the report, but the verses turned out.

At night, he returned to Moscow, where he completed his famous poem "In the Dugout" (which soon became a song). Surkov placed the text of the poem in a letter to his wife Sophia Antonovna, writing on the back of the sheet the words "To you, my sun!" . The next day, a letter in the soldier's triangle was sent to the city of Chistopol , where the Surkov family was evacuated ^[3] .

The poet’s daughter, Natalya Alekseevna, later spoke about the relationship between father and mother: “It was a turbulent union of two completely opposite in spirit people, they had some endless relationship. Dad, a man of art, was very easy-going, enthusiastic, cheerful, loved people, while the good man, a real Russian village. And my mother did not like companies, she was a closed person with a complex character, very sober in spirit. But her father’s letter did not survive ... ” ^[3]

In February 1942, the composer Konstantin Listov came to the editorial office of the Frontovaya Pravda newspaper, where Surkov also began working, looking for lyrics for songs. Surkov remembered the written verses, filled them out and gave them to the musician - in his own words, confident that nothing would work. However, a week later, Listov returned to the editor and, taking the guitar from photojournalist Mikhail Savin, performed a new song, calling it "In the dugout." Those present approved the composition, and in the evening Savin, asking for a text, performed the song himself: the melody was remembered from the first performance.

The writer Yevgeny Vorobyov, who worked for Front Truth, copied the notes and text and, along with Mikhail Savin, brought them to the editorial board of Komsomolskaya Pravda . There they sang a song (Vorobyov sang, and Savin accompanied); listeners liked it and was published in the newspaper issue of March 25 , 1942 .

Soon the song went along the front. She was performed by soldiers, front-line creative groups, including she entered the repertoire of the famous Lidia Ruslanova (it was after her performance in April 1942 that the singer’s romance with Major General Vladimir Kryukov began before the soldiers of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps near Volokolamsk ). Often the last line is executed in the version "From your inextinguishable love." During the war, in some performances, the lyrics looked completely different: after the first two verses (without changes), not two, but four followed. There were also a few response songs.

Natalya Surkova recalled that her father during one of the feasts was indignant: “People sing:“ It is warm in the cold dugout / From your inextinguishable love, ”and it is written to me“ from mine! ”To this, the wife answered him:“ Here, Alyoshenka, the people corrected you ”... ^[3]

However, in the summer of 1942, a tacit ban was announced on the song, as someone on top of the line “it’s not easy for me to reach you, but four steps to death” were regarded as decadent. In August, records with the recording of a song performed by Lidia Ruslanova were seized and almost completely destroyed. The poet was recommended to remove the mention of death - Surkov refused. Then the Main Political Directorate imposed a ban on broadcasting the song on the front-line radio and its performance by creative groups. The poet received a letter from six tank guards with the following request: “Write for these people that before death four thousand English miles , and leave us as it is, we all know how many steps to it, to death” . Nevertheless, “optimistic” changes in the song were made - without the knowledge of the author (there is a statement that Konstantin Simonov made them ). The poetess Olga Berggolts told Surkov about the indignation that this replacement caused among the front-line soldiers .

Soon, the ban was "closed my eyes." In the end, the song "In the dugout" performed by Lydia Ruslanova sounded at the walls of the defeated Reichstag and at the Brandenburg Gate .

In the post-war years, the song was performed by Lidia Ruslanova , Agitvzvod led by A. Vladimirtsov , Efrem Flaks , Leonid Utesov , Renat Ibragimov , Yaroslav Evdokimov , Alla Pugacheva (1996 box set of 13 CD, disc 13 - “Songs for encore”) , Dmitry Malikov (“Pianomania” album), Mikhail Gulko (“War album”), Dmitry Hvorostovsky (album “ Songs of the war years ”), Gennady Belov , Evgeny Belyaev , Vladimir Troshin , Pavel Kashin , “ December ” (collection “ We won ! ”) And others. The song sounds in the film " Only Old Men Go to Battle" in 1973, in the 2008 Apostle series.

Various alterations of the song were created, for example, the " Stalingrad " version of "In the Heat" of 1946 by Vladimir Nechaev , mountaineering and student versions. "In the dugout" is translated into a number of foreign languages.

The lyrics were included in the fundamental collections “ 500 Pearls of World Poetry ”, “ Three Centuries of Russian Poetry ” and in the anthology “ Stanzas of the Century ” compiled by Yevgeny Yevtushenko .

In May 1999, a memorial sign was installed in the village of Kashino by the guys from the Istok club in Istra . At its opening, veterans of the 9th Guards Division and the poet's daughter, Natalya Alekseevna Surkova, were present. In Istra district , military song festivals are held.

• Surkov A.A. How the song happened // Istra, 1941. - M.: Moscow Worker, 1975.
• Mukhtarov E. Songs of our Victory // 4 years out of 1000: the 65th anniversary of the Victory is dedicated to: [Yaroslavl in the Great Patriotic War: almanac] / Auth. entry Art. prof. Yu. Yu. Jerusalem; Auth. Coll .: A.E. Vlasov; A.V. Kononets, E.O. Mukhtarov, S.V. Ryabinin, D.E. Ozerova. - Yaroslavl: Yarnovstvo, 2010 .-- 272 p. - ISBN 978-5-88697-190-3 . . - S. 23-76.
• In the dugout (inaccessible link) . The story of one song
• Kashino - the birthplace of the song "In the dugout . " Page based on the materials of the Istok club, Istra
• [1] In the dugout. The story of the creation of the song from the author, Alexei Surkov.

• Recording of a song performed by Lidia Ruslanova (Moscow, 1942)