“A kind word also pleases the Cat”
One of the most famous heroes of the Crimean War was Pyotr Koshka, a sailor who became famous throughout Russia thanks to his valor. There is a legend that during the defense of Sevastopol, a bomb with a burning fuse fell in front of Vice Admiral Vladimir Kornilov. The sailor who was standing nearby was not taken aback and threw it into the cauldron with porridge – the wick went out and an explosion was avoided. The admiral thanked the hero, to which he replied: “The Cat is pleased with the kind word.” It is not known for certain whether this story is true or not, but Pyotr Koshka was indeed distinguished by rare courage and ingenuity:
“In one of the forays he was in the vanguard of hunters (approx. scouts). Having separated from his own people and knowing the terrain well, Koshka quietly crept up to the enemy chain, rushed at three Frenchmen standing in the chain and with this bold trick took them prisoner without meeting any resistance.
Koshka sneaked alone to enemy trenches several times and almost every time returned with a captured weapon or with information about the number of the enemy.
But the feat by which he gained general respect and fame was the following: in one of the attacks from the 3rd bastion, against the British, two of our sappers were killed; During the retreat of the hunting party, they remained in place unnoticed. The next day, from the bastion they saw that our killed sappers were dug waist-deep into the ground near the enemy trench itself, representing, as it were, a target for our shots. Such blasphemy over the bodies of the dead outrages the Russian spirit, and Koshka volunteered as a hunter to bring the bodies of fallen heroes.
Having received permission, he crossed himself and with the words: “Lord, bless,” he set off on a glorious task. – First, between the stones and hillocks, unnoticed by the enemy, the Cat sneaks to the place where the bodies were dug, then boldly stands up and, in full view of the amazed Englishmen, digs up the corpse. They open rifle fire on him, but he continues to work, not paying attention to the whistling of bullets. Having freed the corpse, the Cat hoists it onto his shoulders and returns to the bastion.
Apparently, the Lord protected the brave Koshka: he was not wounded, while the corpse he was carrying was hit by five enemy bullets.
In a sortie on January 17 against the French, where Koshka was also among the hunters, jumping first into the enemy trench, he was wounded with a bayonet in the left side of his chest, but so fortunately that the bayonet passed under the skin without touching the bone.
This first, but harmless, wound cost the life of the Frenchman who wounded him, and the bayonet and gun became the prey of the intrepid warrior. Currently, Petr Koshk is recovering, there is hope that the enemy will soon see him as a guest again. (“St. Petersburg Gazette”, April 5, 1855 )
In the illustrations for this material we used the filmstrip “Sailor Peter Koshka” from 1953. Its full version is available at link)
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
