'Camping wives': why women who went through the war were reluctant to get married
'24.07.2020'
Source: Culturology
If men, returning from the war, proudly wore the status of "hero", then many women preferred to hide this fact of their biography, writes Culturology.
During the war, from 800 thousand to one million women fought on the side of the USSR. All of them were in different conditions and got there for different reasons. Nurses and nurses went to the front by conscription and more often than others, like those women whose specialties allowed them to work as radio operators and signalmen. But many women were also among those whose front-line professions are not considered to be female. They flew airplanes, were snipers, scouts, and drivers. They worked at the headquarters as topographers and reporters, many women were intelligence officers, they even met in tank platoons, artillery and infantry.
If men, returning from the war, proudly bore the status of "hero", then women preferred to hide this fact of their biography. The label "military field wife" was stuck to everyone indiscriminately, even in spite of heroic deeds and military achievements. The victory did not become a sufficient reason to give women, who shared the military hardships on an equal basis with men, at least in peacetime to be happy.
The defense of the Motherland and even just military service in the USSR was an honor, including for women. In the first months of the war, rallies were held with the participation of women, who also demanded to be sent to the front and rushed after the men in order to defend the country's borders. Up to 50% of the applications from volunteers wishing to go to the front were from the weak half of humanity. So, in the first weeks, 20 thousand applications came from Muscovites (more than 8 thousand of them were subsequently drafted) and 27 thousand from Leningrad girls (5 thousand went to the front, after another 2 thousand fought on the Leningrad front).
Considering the fact that young, healthy and fighting girls, unmarried and childless, were eager to go to the front as volunteers, it goes without saying that they were guaranteed increased attention at the front. Considering that many men had wives and children in the rear, who took upon themselves all the hardships and difficulties, doing too much work, after the end of hostilities, the legal wives gave such "front-line soldiers" a warm welcome, hanging on them the labels "military-field wife ". It got to the point that mothers chased their daughters who had returned from the war, under the pretext that after such a "shame" no one would marry her sisters, and that the daughter would rather perish.
Did the women volunteers rushing to the front then suppose that such an unenviable fate awaited them?
Field wives - who were called that and why they were disliked
In 1947, the "abandoned wives" wrote a letter to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Yes, at that time it was considered normal to discuss family problems at party meetings, but the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ?! But the authors of the letter were not so simple, and there were almost 60 of them - all of them are the wives of former military commanders. Women demanded to protect their rights, as those who for 20 years or more were in an official marriage with the highest military ranks, but were subsequently left to fend for themselves.
As it turned out, the abandoned "generals", who wandered around the garrisons with their husbands in their youth and often raised their husband's career success with their own hands, were out of work after the war, since their husbands returned from the war with ... new wives. Unexpectedly, given that the official wives did not anticipate such a turn of events from the person who went to defend the Motherland. This meant not only a lonely, but also a poor old age, since all the husband's pensions and his property were transferred to the new wife.
Well, what about the girls who ended up in the war? Among them were many young and beautiful, and those who took courtship, and from the highest military ranks. In a male society, the principle of hierarchy worked: if a general liked a girl, and just someone who was higher in rank, hardly anyone would have dared to look after her. Medicines and radio operators, who, as a rule, were from simple and poor families, such attention was flattering. Well, when else would they have caught the general's attention? Even if they knew that his family was waiting for him at home, they believed that the war would write off everything, and the temptation to receive a promotion from the chief was too high.
After the end of the war, not all bosses were in a hurry to marry young military field wives, many returned to their official ones, and the young had no choice but to accept this fact. Zhukov repeatedly in his letters called for an end to promiscuity and "sexual intemperance", but no serious punishments followed. Perhaps because he also had his own military field wife.
Ordinary soldiers maliciously joked about the girls who became military field wives, hinting at their venality and commercialism. After all, "love" at the front among women happened exclusively with the highest ranks, and not with ordinary guys. There were attacks on women at the front from all sides.
How was the life of women at the front arranged and what happened during pregnancy
Despite the fact that everyone knew that this was the commander's "fighting friend", the girls always had ranks and positions, they did a certain job, and did not just travel with the general as an officer. If the fan was especially influential, then the girl was transferred to a relatively safe job, closer to the headquarters.
Although the fighting comrades-in-arms accused the girls of the fact that their "love" manifests itself only to the highest ranks, this can be explained by many circumstances.
On the subject: 'No one will understand how I felt killing children': the story of a midwife from Auschwitz
- Ordinary military men died very often, and if a girl suddenly fell in love with someone from the rank and file, then with a greater degree of probability she would soon become free again. And if at the same time one of the officers laid eyes on her, then sending her loved one on a dangerous mission would be the easiest way to get rid of an opponent.
- Often it was the commander's attention that finally saved her from constant encroachments and harassment. If for her they are all equally unloved, then it is better to have one defender.
- When she agreed to the role of a fighting friend, various benefits awaited her, ranging from a cut for a new dress and an extra day off to a promotion.
- The sincere love that broke out between people who found themselves in terrible conditions cannot be written off either. After all, common difficulties, as you know, unite. And it was not in vain that the commanders abandoned their wives and married yesterday's combat friends.
Sometimes, in order to protect themselves, the girls had to use force, and this is not about slaps in the face. War is like war. But one should not think that this was the lot of all women, in a number of detachments the commander made it clear that there could be no hazing between soldiers, and strictly suppressed any courtship. Sometimes friendships were established between the fighters and the soldiers did not give offense to their nurse, protecting not only her life, but also honor.
For most girls, having a “friend” meant that she could no longer be afraid for herself, being constantly in the men's team.
Not without pregnancy, this happened quite often, so there was even an order 009, according to which girls and women, "suddenly" becoming pregnant at the front, were sent to the rear. There was no question that the young mother would return to the battlefield, because the relationship under the conditions of the war could be considered over. And what a "warm" welcome awaited the front-line soldier and her future baby in the rear, one can only guess.
How women from the army were treated in the rear
In her book "War has no woman's face" Svetlana Aleksievich tells about the only woman for the whole battalion, who was given a corner in a six-meter dugout where she had to spend the night. She learned to fight even half asleep, because she constantly had to fight off persistent fans, with whom she had a completely different relationship during the day.
Therefore, she voluntarily moved to the commander's dugout, guided by the principle "it is better to be with one than to be afraid of all at once." Later he returned to his family, and she alone raised their joint daughter.
Such stories happened everywhere, and rumors about the PW (field-field wives) quickly reached the real wives, left behind. Their feelings can also be understood, they truly waited for their men, wrote letters, protected children and tried to survive, working in unbearable conditions. As is often the case, some women willingly blamed other women for what was happening, while men were again “out of work”. Since then, it was believed that since a girl came from the front, then there is no place to put a hallmark on her, for four years she and men, sometimes all this turned into a real persecution.
Even if PPZ managed to become a legal spouse, this did not mean at all that her rumors would be bypassed. The wives of the rest of the officers never accepted such as equals, they were contemptuous. Only after the 70s did the attitude towards women returning from the war become more dignified. Apparently, this fact is explained by the fact that the front-line soldiers have already become adults and elderly women and society was no longer so interested in their love past.
"Rest houses" for German officers
The difference in mentality and approaches to any situation can be traced even in this sensitive issue. Initially, the Germans had brothels that followed along the front line with the army. Servicemen were issued coupons for visiting this institution (usually about 6 times a month), for some merits they could be encouraged with an additional trip and vice versa.
They recruited girls of a certain type - tall and fair-haired. By the way, work in such a place was not considered shameful, rather even very patriotic. The girls underwent regular medical examinations, and the soldiers who came for an hour meeting had to wash themselves with soap and water beforehand. Twice. The Germans did not always formalize brothels, sometimes this responsibility was assigned to the workers of the canteen. The Germans even arranged brothels in concentration camps as an additional way to control the prisoners.
On the principle of the German side, the Soviet side also tried to arrange "rest homes for officers" in wartime. But then the German calculation, and then the Russian soul. The very first batch of officers, having "rested" in such an institution for three weeks, simply took their friends with them. They did not recruit new ones, apparently it became clear that there was no point in such an undertaking.
While it was not clear what awaited tomorrow and whether it would come, this is “tomorrow”, everyone was in a hurry to live, and the girls who had not seen the lives were very afraid that they would not have time to live in a truly adult way. The war will write off everything ... I wrote off, but, alas, not for everyone. Most of all, Soviet women were afraid of being captured, since the German side did not treat them as servicemen, which meant that they were inevitable and painful death.
