History lessons

In the autumn of 1941 about four thousand riders from our valley and the steppe went to the front on their own horses. They called it the Talas division. In the summer of 1942, on the Don, it was destroyed. After that the army came back for the breeding stallions, and the breeders hid them in the high valleys, and said: we gave the stallions once.

At every school in our district they know this story and they are proud of it, a little too proud, I think. In my lessons I add the names. Not the heroes of the textbook. The names of the riders from our own street. The 9th class goes to the cemetery on Saturday with the lists. We read them aloud.