Boy And Girl In A Tank

by RICHARD E. LAUTERBACH

How a Soviet couple bought a tank and drove off to battle War Correspondent Lauterboch is just home from a year in Russia. This story is one of the most stirring he brought back. He stumbled on it when he read a tuo-line communique. He spent months tracking it down, tells it here in its entirety for the first time. We think it is one of the wars most significant stories: It explains so well why Russias men and women together crushed the Nazis. When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, Ivan Boiko and his pretty wife, Alexandra, were working in the Siberian town of Magadan, far from the front. Ivan was 26 years old, a muscular, barrelchested bland giant, and the best driver of heavy trucks at the huge Magadan factory. Small, gentle Alexandra, 23, was a private secretary. She had always yearned to be a chemist. In fact she had started her studies at a Kiev chemical institute when her fiance, Ivan, volunteered for work in the rugged, pioneer sector of the Northeast, where wages were higher and opportunity for advancement was greater. So Alexandra went along with him and they were married. As the Nazi blitzkrieg burst across the Ukraine, the Boikos listened to the war news on their radio with mounting fury. First Kiev, Alexandras home town, fell to the Germans. Then the tanks of the Wehrmacht rumbled into Ivans birthplace, the village of Nezhin. From friends they heard reports of burned homes, ravaged cousins, relatives dragged off to Germany as slave labor. Ivan and Alexandra volunteered for the Red Army. But the Magadan draft officials said. No, were sorry. We cannot spare such a driver. And you, Alexandra, are essential to your department. We need you both. The labor supply here is critical." During the long dark days and nights of 1941 and 1942, when the Germans rolled toward the heart of Russia, the Boikos worked restlessly, dreamed of fighting. Repeatedly they applied for permission to join the Army. Repeatedly they were turned down. Sorry, you are essential. At times Ivan would become nostalgic, strumming his guitar and singing old Ukrainian folk songs. Alexandra would brood unhappily, remembering her childhood in Kiev. She kept her hands busy knitting socks and sweaters for the army. One evening after a long, exhausting days labor Ivan arrived home elated, waving a copy of the local newspaper. As Alexandra listened wide-eyed, Ivan read a small news item about a beekeeper who had written a letter to Stalin offering to purcliase a new airplane for a young pilot. Stalin liad permitted him to buy it. That very night Ivan, with Alexandras help, sat down and drafted a letter to the Kremlin. His big list trembled as he wrote about their desire to fight against the invaders. He wrote that he and Alexandra were exceptionally good workers, always over-fulfilling their plans. In doing so they worked overtime, too, and had accumulated a lot of money. A Letter to Italia But what good is money when our motherland is in danger? wrote Ivan. "We want to invest our savings of 50,000 rubles (about $10,000) to buy a war machine, so that with our own hands we can destroy the German fascists.Thats fine, said Alexandra, but maybe he wont think Im strong enough? So Ivan added that they were both strong and tough, that they had braved the sleet, hail and subzero climate of Magadan, as well as extremely difficult working conditions, without ever becoming tired or sick. Then for many months the Boikos waited for the answer. Their faith was strong, and they never once gave up hope. During the long Siberian nights Ivan taught Alexandra how to drive his heavy truck, how to repair the motor. Together they studied what books on mechanics were available, pored over maps, planned how they would help regain the rich farmlands of their beloved Ukraine. On February 9, 1943. a plain envelope postmarked "moskva" arrived at the Boiko home. liagerly Ivan ripped it open. The signature at the bottom was unmistakable: "J. Stalin. The note was typical of the Soviet leader. brief and friendly. "Thank you. Ivan Feodorovich and Alexandra Leontivna, for your interest in the Red Army, Stalin wrote them. Your wish will be fulfilled. Accept my warm greetings. Enrolled In Tank School When they liad trained replacements for their jobs, the Boikos enrolled at an elite school for tank specialists where they studied a year. Classroom work was difficult for Ivan who, raised in an orphans home, had started to earn his living before finishing grade school. Alexandra, who had a secondary education, assisted her husband. They studied hard, managed to complete the tank course in the same group. They both received officers epaulets with the tiny gold tank insignia and the small gold stars signifying the rank of junior lieutenant. Alexandra was appointed a tank commander, while Ivan became only a tank driver. Just a few days after they were graduated, a brand new tank arrived from a plant in the Urals. Painted in huge white letters on its gleaming

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