Victory Day - the only starting point for us: Veteran of Great Patriotic War, member of Council of Panfilov division, sniper Lidiya Bakiyeva

Mrs. Bakiyeva, where did you catch the Victory Day? How did you leave for the front?

It was Konigsberg, the front line. We tried to take the city by storm incurring big losses that were especially tragic in the last hours of the war. On May 8 by night the soldiers already knew that the war was over: the Nazis came by and asked where they had to surrender weapons. Every one cheered the news.

I was born in Almaty. In 1941 I was too young to go to the front. I joined the Russian Army only in 1943 after six-month training at a sniper school. I am proud of studying at the school that Soviet Hero Aliya Moldagulova had graduated from.

You were only 18 at that time. Weren't you afraid of going to war? How was the training at the school?

There were geographic maps at each school, each enterprise those days. Every day we marked each city and town occupied by the Nazis. That was really scary.

The training lasted for 14 hours a day. Training polygon was 8 km away from the school. We had to walk up to 16 km per day.

Trainers at school were mostly men. Under their control we studied to master Mosin-Nagant rifle. Besides, we also studied to master machine guns, sub-machines, grenade launchers and practiced in grenade throwing.

Mrs. Bakiyeva, what did you do after war?

After returning to Almaty, I graduated the Kazakh Polytechnic Institute (currently Kazakh National Satpayev Technical University) and worked at Almaty heavy machine-building plant. I worked as a bookkeeper first, but the work didn't correspond to my character. I am more interested in working with people; therefore I worked as a design engineer for many years.

It seems unlikely, but do you keep in touch with people whom you fought with?

In accordance with the data of 2009, 2480 veterans of the Great Patriotic War lived in Almaty. To date this figure has reduced. Of course, there is nobody who fought with me shoulder to shoulder in here. But five veterans who passed training at the same sniper school live in the city. I am a member of the Council of Veterans which consists of several sub-councils. I am a member of the Council of Panfilov division and Moscow defenders. We try to help each other as far as possible.

During the War Lidiya Bakiyeva participated in campaigns on liberation of Belarus, Lithuania, and East Prussia. Her personal sniper sheet includes 78 killed Nazis.

After the war she was a member of Kazakhstan team on shooting and skating despite an injury in her leg. L. Bakiyeva lost her farther and husband at war.