On the Lake Peipus glittering ice.
The bloody battle is on.
Alexander Nevsky himself leads the fight.
The Livonian Order went to war with us.
Maybe we'd lose that battle
But the prince found a wise solution.
Because of the ambush, we attacked on the move
And the knights then went under the water.
Their armor was so heavy.
That Alexander Nevsky success.
Drowned opponent, languished.
Our people beat him.
There is blood and mud everywhere on the ice.
So the prince won.
Severe reprisals against the enemy.
Glory to our Fatherland and heroes!

They agreed on Lake Peipsi.
"Pig" stuck in us so smartly,
We rushed from the flanks like a lynx!

And the enemy fled to the fragile ice,
Then he floundered in the water.
Spring has helped us for sure.
And an angel looked down from heaven.

- Yes, a glorious battle happened,
- Go ahead, guys! shouted the prince.
- They are with a sword to Russia - the Fatherland,
- So here is our sword, like a dance of death!

- The German knights were defeated,
- Complete victory, friends!
And glory seems to be on the wings
Ringing rushed around the world.

Teutonic Order with Russian troops
On Lake Peipus agreed:
Prince Nevsky heroic feat
He gave the people freedom, life!

Barinova Zhanna

The squads were all going to battle,
At the Raven Stone, which is in the ice.
Russians stood all with a prayer,
With the Lord for Russia and for the country ...

Alexander Nevsky commander,
Built the defense then
Behind the Raven Stone on the way,
Russian troops were here...

Beats a pig built by a wedge,
But our Russians are standing,
The tip of the pig suddenly became a tyn,
The Germans ran and yelled...

Strength breaks strength mercilessly,
Knights can't resist
It's hard for us to beat the Teutonic knights,
We will stand up for Russia and our mother ...

The crackle of shields, the ringing of knightly armor,
The ringing of swords and screams all around,
The battle of the squads is approaching success,
The knights are running - they are frightened ...

Alexander Nevsky Victory
Raised that Russia for all ages,
And since then the Baltic neighbor
The hand has not risen to Russia ...

A little light has risen, the snow is powdering,
Cool breeze runs
And the day is rainy, bad weather,
And there is ice on the lake.

Hear the horses breathing
Their trampling, neighing, and their manes
Like a thousand lashes;
Their riders are imperturbable.

They came to fight to the death
They are submissive to their fate
They won't go back home
They are majestic silent.

And on the rock stands a hero,
That Nevsky, formidable and smart,
Watching the horizon
The Livonian Order is waiting.

Footsteps were heard in the silence
On the ice in a roaring crowd,
Crusaders were walking, their swords
Sparkled in the morning light.

And in armor, in helmets,
Their horses are covered with steel,
They instill fear in the soul
And their hearts are covered with darkness.

The earth submitted to them all,
Where did their regiments go?
And now Russia is left alone,
They came to us with a war.

But our army is in rows,
It stands and does not shake the system,
And the flanks are dashing cavalry
Ready to go into battle.

Putting your shelves like a "pig",
Livonians in a friendly crowd,
Having mastered this tactic,
On the ice they strive for a break.

The horses neighed hastily,
And fear sparkles in their eyes
But Alexander is relentless
Change does not make in the troops.

Here is the first fell, the second and the third,
The Russian infantry is trembling,
The Livonian Order did not notice
That the cavalry is running from the rear.

And the crusaders were
Killed in their own networks
And for the first time in centuries
They are crashing.

Russian peoples rejoice,
Fire burns in all hearts
The time of bad weather is passing,
The beaten fear goes away.

Gromova Nastyunya

Trouble came, it was not expected,
They did not think and did not guess.
Calls invitingly not far away,
The people flock to the veche *.
The boyars of Novgorod are rogues,
Well dressed, shod.
Though they do not like the prince.
They are afraid they will lose power.
We decided to allocate kuna **,
I don't want to stay in tune ***,
To arm the brave
Let the ends **** fork up.
Trouble always comes
And finds the weak
But the Nevsky prince, he is so great,
Orders to fight.
In a short time there is a squad
Only half of the troops.
Runners run in all directions.
Craftsmen - well done
Who takes the sword, and who takes the spear,
Let's chase the thieves across the sea.
Militia ready for battle
And gets assigned:
Reach with a squad to Chudskoye
Help defeat the dashing enemy.
They came, lined up, stand,
They are not told to go ahead.
Decided, knights pig*****
Cut right at the root.
A regiment was built, followed by another.
In ambush, the prince stands large.
We went to storm the Germans early,
They hit with their ram.
Stuck all pig on the attack
There are no equals to the Russians in this fight.
Who struck with a sword, and who was deaf,
Everyone showed what is more capable of hitting.
The militia was broken
For the prince, this is a disappointment.
When the pig is stuck in a fight
He prepared to attack.
An avalanche set in
The cavalry rushed off.
The Germans could not stand the battle,
They ran far beyond the sea.
Who did not die in a bloody fight,
They whine here like dogs.
Novgorod met everyone with a victory,
The Great invited to dinner.
And before the eyes of Hagia Sophia
The prince said a word about Russia (Rus):
Whoever comes to us with a sword will perish,
It won't reach any other.
Russia stood, stands today,
And in that is the foreknowledge of the Lord.
Whoever comes to us with a sword, we will beat him,
Who with friendship - everyone pour.
Friends we will always praise
Enemies… nothing to add.

Ponomarev Boris
___________________________

* national assembly;
** currency unit;
*** be unknown;
**** streets in Novgorod;
***** way to build troops.

Nature wakes up
After a long sleep
sweet time of the year
Red girl-spring!

At this time, at sunrise
From the western border
The Teutonic Order flew
Fight with Alexander Nevsky.

Lake Peipsi Forest
Became a battlefield there
Ice-covered at rest
Dozing, surrendering to the snow.

Knights, shining with steel,
Hidden by strong armor
Having rebuilt, they appeared
Terrible, impudent "pig".

Clouds of arrows shooting from a bow
Russians, the best shooters,
Knowing military science
They retreated to their regiments.

It seems to be getting darker
From arrows flying in the sky
With a clang of menacing metal
That shelling has called off.

And the pig is a stubborn wedge
Went through an iron wall
And crashing into the formation of the squad
I began to crush them under me.

The formation of the squad broke up
The horses passed by in the shadows,
Behind the "pig" wedge
Tightly, again in the ranks converged.

The path, cutting off to retreat
Nevsky made the right move
And the "pig" with an iron shadow
She hurried forward.

To the lake valley
Riders raced, and behold
Somewhere near the middle
Settling, the ice cracked.

Knights in heavy armor
Like stones went under the ice
Submitting to death soon
That abyss of dark waters.

Know the enemy now Russia
Be afraid of the enemy, and do not climb
Inexhaustible forces
In spirit, in disposition she has.

The chronicle message has reached us,
life was in Russia, as always without embellishment.
Neighbors attacked in the past to take
seize and shackle the people!
The enemy rushing in captivated, ruining everyone around,
and breaking our cordon developed his success.
The crusader wanted cities in Russia -
besieged, took Izborsk, and then entered Pskov.

The German went further, deep into our estates,
he is ready to throw arrows into the Russian land!
In the spring, the enemy stood at Lake Peipus,
and the traitor merchant told him everything:
“At the Raven Stone, there the army approached,
many Russian regiments, but the darkness covered them.
There, a man is equipped anyhow, with something,
chop those regiments and go to Novgorod!

And the Russians in the regiments become heroic,
Nevsky stood at their head to defend Russia.
He is for his land, not sparing his stomach,
in the battle he threw the squad into the fields of ice.
The enemy went like a wedge forward, advanced ahead,
arrows flew straight at him in a sheaf.
... They blew their horns so that the Russians would go into battle,
spears put up the system, leaning in a succession!

Equestrian enemy is so heavy, all in steel armor,
the horses snort viciously, the knocked-down knight drooped ...
Taking the "pig" in pincers, in an hour, the enemy system is broken,
overturned "German" rushed home!
... The enemy rider fell, he was crushed by a horse,
that the war is not in the fields, then later they will say - ah! ..
And there is blood everywhere on the ice, hell for those who drown
ice water, Russians all around on ice.

There was a groan over the lake, and only anger around,
the Livonian Order was disgraced in front of everyone.
The enemy is drowning under the ice, and victory has come,
taking the captives in a collar, the army took away with them! ..
At the feast, the prince said: “Whoever enters us with a sword,
from the sword, he himself will find death here!
The messengers went to the world to say about victory,
... And whoever comes to Russia with peace, there is grace!

Zaitsev Alexander

For the glory of the papacy
Burning cities of Russia -
Only burnt skeletons
And from Izborsk, and from Pskov
Yes temples black crosses.

Mercy was unknown
Holy army of Christ
And here is the last hurdle
Between Revel and Novograd
Victoriously occupied by the German

And here is Russia in front of them -
Space without end
It beckons with fields of life,
Beauties with tarry eyes,
Moshnoy rich merchant ...

... Boiled, enraged New town –
Swords flashed steel grin,
The horns of the princes blew the fees -
And he came to Pereslavl with grief,
And he called for Prince Nevsky.

And he came back and filled
With the courage of a fiery heart,
And swore proud, adamant,
What, leading the banners,
Will fight to the end.

And with faith in the Orthodox heart,
With the word "Motherland" in the mouth
Come spring snows
Faithful squads with princes,
Looping through dark forests.

And here on the lake on Chudskoye
Appointed by Nevsky main battle -
He won't back down, he won't let go
Glorify the power of Russian steel
In battle with the knightly horde.

Out of the covers are banners,
The fierce horns are rattling -
Shine at the edge of the sky
Armor, hoofing horses
And they want to attack the enemy.

The cold wind beats in the visor,
Dangerously brittle ice cracks,
But the evil sting is hungry for blood
Is it a sword, an ax, a dagger,
And the knights go forward.

Walk chamber, arrogantly
Servants of other heavens
To the sound of church hymns,
In a solid armor of blessings,
Carrying the fire, and the sword, and the cross.

And they're digging into each other
Behind the ranks of the sides of the army -
An evil blizzard rumbles battle
And it seems to be quite bad -
The victory of the knights is near.

But tightly "crow stone"
Forged in battle "holy army"
And Alexander is torn from the rear
And from the flanks puff like a flame
The ambush regiments are in a hurry.

And the Teutons are overturned -
Now their lives are on the line
And the ice that melted in the sun
Glass under their feet beats -
And the knights go to the bottom ...

... And from those times long gone
The immortal words are:
"Russia is always open for friendship,
But who dares to break the world -
Fall by our sword!"

Serko

Death flew over the sinful Earth,
She waved her sharp scythe.
From the shoulder mowed both to the right and to the left,
And those who were cowardly, and all those who fought bravely.

I did not make out faces and estates,
And even those who were full of love ...
Over Lake Peipsi in a bloody slaughter
Two armies met in an unwanted meeting.

"Pig" rolled impudent Teutons,
There were Germans, Latvians, Estonians in it.
And even horses clad in armor,
They walked importantly, like soldiers in the ranks.

And the Russians stood in on foot,
As in a parade, proudly, faces are not cut.
And banners with images developed,
And everyone thought: "Holy Russia is with us ..."

The Teutons expected cowardice and fear.
Metal is always more reliable than a shirt.
But these Russians were not afraid of Death either.
And even the dead fought with the Teutons.

From Russian impudence, the “pig” squealed like a boar.
And slowly in the heat of battle drove
On the ice in spring. Here are the hummocks.
The dews led the knights farther and farther, fighting.

The ice crackled under the heavy "pig",
And now the knights at Death under the scythe.
The knights screamed in horror and fear,
They saw in a moment why a shirt is needed.

Forged armor was pulled into the abyss,
How cute adversaries drowned!
And the one who tried to get out on the ice,
I instantly ran into Russian spears.

And Death does not care, it is outside the world.
She grabbed souls, and drowned bodies.
And finally filled the knapsack,
And leaned to the side with a knapsack.

Through the centuries, admiring that battle,
Descendants will say, touching old books:
“Those who come to us with trouble will perish!
We will win!" - verified by the War ...

Karakulina Larisa

Oh, you are a goy, *
Yes Mother Russia
Yes keep you
Mother of God!
I sing about you
My darling
Let blossom to you
Will return!

And how was it
Many years ago,
When the knights
Brothers of the Order,**
Aky Kites
On the swan
To Mother Russia
Pounced.

That year
Trouble is black
black raven
sank down on
Russian land
Taking Izborsk fortress,
And, having occupied Pskov,
Dark cloud
Moved on.

It's not thunder
And not hail knocks -
And not a cloud
Hiding the sun
This is a column of dust
It flies from the hooves.
It's moving
German knights
With a miracle-evil.***
To holy Russia
To burn her down
To plunge into sadness.

And knowing about it
Prince of Novgorod
faithful to him
With a retinue
From the Great
Novogorod,
speaking urgently,
Went to the enemy.
Prince thereof
to call Alexander
And for the father -
Yaroslavich.
For the victory he
On the river Neva
Nevsky was nicknamed
All this time.

flew headlong
Prince on knights
And Koporye took -
Strong fortress...
Soon the whole earth
Novgorod
From enemies was
They are cleared.
Forty miles in total
Enemies didn't come
To the desired
Novogorod.

With an army, a great prince
Arrived in Novgorod
Here, taking
Shelves local,
He led the troops
In the land of the Chud tribe,
What is subject
It was for the knights.

Turned around along the way
Alexander south.
Ran into Pskov
Aky wind, he is.
That hit by surprise
Pskov could not resist.
In that mortal battle
Only knights
Palo seventy
And countless
Enemy warriors.

They captured six
Knights taken.
And the traitors
six boyars,
Those who surrendered Pskov,
Everyone was hanged.
Only Tverdilo, thief, ****
Avoided the loop -
Enemies had time
He will be buried.

Pskov returning Russia,
Prince west way
Kept on.
Walked on ice
He Chud-Lake
And, in Livonia
Intruding, began to search
enemy
He sent ahead
Pskov detachment
With the governor
What to call Domash.
And he came across
small squad
Yes to main
The forces of the knights.
A fight ensued.
Domash himself died,
Pskovites, who could
Turned back.

to Alexander
The regiment came to help -
Father sent it
Reinforcement.
That squad brought
Alexandra brother,
His younger brother
Yaroslavovich.

The prince did not wait
Worst enemy
"Having sharpened my
Heart of courage,
He "resurrected"
On Chud-lake
And on ice
At Raven's
black stone,
What's on Uzmeni
(the place is narrow)
Shelves began to build -
Russian army.

Closer to the coast
The detachment stood up, praying.
And from the sides of it -
Stronger shelves
Not without intent
The prince placed
From hitting them
The enemies will run.

Only a pig ***** with his own
The snout will break through the system
And oh shore them
Hitting hard,
Won't hold on
Falls on ice.
Here is an ambush regiment
That pig will be killed.

Russian army,
Praying to Christ
filled with
military spirit,
Their hearts have become
"like the lions of the heart."
But everyone knows -
Love to motherland
Stronger than any lat.

The Germans were moving
As always, pig
Slicing army
Enemy.
And for this
At the forefront
A strong detachment marched
Mounted knights.
Alexandru was
well familiar
That German system
Named wedge.

“And be cutting that
great and evil
People, knights,
Crush of breaking
Mines" was heard
The terrible sound of swords
Merged with him into a rumble.
And it seemed to everyone
What are frozen
Lake waters
They moved from their place.
And you can't see the ice
Everything is covered in blood.

And, cramped
Russian army,
The Germans huddled...
And couldn't stand it
Their April ice
He cracked,
All began to break.
All the Germans fell
The monster ran.
And, chasing her,
As in the air
Many miles on ice
Cut with a sword.

Defeat
German knights
It was complete.
And with glory
Winner
The prince was returning
Alexander in Pskov.
And in his regiment
At their horses
There were captives
"Bosses of rhetoric".******

And all over Russia
Rumor has swept
About that victory
Above the dumbass.

Yury Yuri
_____________________

* Appeal adopted in oral folk poetry.
** The combined forces of the Livonian Order of the Sword with Teutonic Order.
*** Chud - Chud foot soldiers.
**** Thief (old Russian).
***** "Pig" Russians derisively called the battle formation of the Germans "wedge".
****** Barefoot knights.

Poem "Battle on the Ice"

Chapter first

All night the cannonade thundered,
Pskov was surrounded on three sides,
Red Guard detachments
With difficulty they made their way to the platform.

And then in the blink of an eye
With a whistle rushed here
Germans to the very windows
Packed trains.

For no apparent reason
One train went to hell.
One hundred and three German lower ranks,
Three officers were there.

There were puddles of blood on the rails,
Remains of meat and bones.
So unfriendly in Pskov
Uninvited guests were welcomed!

They hid in the houses, the lights were turned off,
The city was dark and prickly.
We did not bring the enemy
The key is on a golden platter.

To intimidate the population
Was assembled for the Hay parade.
Keeping a fierce balance
The soldiers walked behind the row.

Silent and long like fish
Put on tails;
Leopold of Bavaria himself arrived
Distribute Iron Crosses.

The Germans were in strong helmets,
Numbered inside
And painted on top
Concern "Farben Industry"

And the population was silent,
I looked at each house in silence.
So they look at the enemies first,
To take them by the throat later.

Found in the whole city only
Five sons of bitches.
With servility, with feeling, really
Greeted "dear" guests.

Five city landowners
Deciding to snatch a piece,
Considered a good deal
Concoct an address for the Germans.

They humbly asked:
To return their names,
The Germans of half of Russia must
Grab it next month.

One of them in dissenting opinion
I asked Siberia not to forget
He had an estate in those parts
And I didn't want to be a loser.

On an old, faded postcard
Captured that moment:
Dvoryanchik, dry and liquid,
Reads a document to the Germans.

His goatee
(But now he shaved off his beard!)
His manner and gait
(But he changed his gait!)

His chic business card
(But he took off his business card a long time ago!) —
His used now on that postcard
And the photographer himself did not know.

But if he is not dead and wanders
Near the border through the forests,
People like him are found everywhere.
By wolf's faded eyes.

He will not hide them with a mint cap,
He will not hide them under glasses,
Like on a postcard, furtively
Look familiar pupils.

And the German, photographed next to him,
He's in the Gestapo somewhere
And twenty years with the same look
Looks at the Russian land.

Chapter Two

... transfer more firmly with the Germans Plskovichi
and brought them Tverdilo Ivankovich
with hoarfrost and myself the time to own Plskov s
Germans, fighting the village of Novgorod.
Novgorod First Chronicle.
Two days since Pskov was lost by us,
And you can see for a hundred miles around -
Above the tower is an order banner:
There is a black cross on a white field.

In the big chambers,
With a wry smile on your lips,
Sitting Livonian in black armor
With crosses in ten places.

He sits arrogantly, as at a feast,
Putting a black helmet at the feet
And in a businesslike way
Feet in iron shoes.

He won easily
There was pestilence, and famine, and crops.
Novgorod was attacked by the Swedes,
The Tatars were at the gate.

The prince was found shabby,
Running from Pskov to the Germans,
He gave them the city in words,
For this table and shelter got.

When Izborsk was taken to starvation
And Pskov itself was burned by a third,
There were traitors who
It did not give the veche a hand to warm.

The former are deprived of honor,
They, in order to regain power,
Not like the Germans - even to hell
Could open the gate...

The Livonian looks down at the veche,
On the black floating smoke.
Tverdilo - thief and translator -
I sat down in the chair next to him.

He was in Riga and in Wenden,
Credit is open to him everywhere,
He, flattering the German, about treason
He speaks German with him.

He and his friends asked him
And they ask again: having gathered the army,
The Livonians of half of Russia must
Select next month.

But the red-haired German looks past,
There, where hanging from the teeth,
Ropes creak beneath them
Five blue dead.

Yesterday, under the wet howl of a snowstorm,
In a back alley Pskov
They ran into three Livonians,
Don't let them draw their swords.

But an hour later help
Along the narrow streets of Pskov
Walked a bloody road
Trample of the dead and the living.

One blacksmith, Ontsyfor-Cloud,
Made my way to the city wall
And rushed down straight from the steep
On a knightly alien horse.

They chased after him, but did not catch up,
They passed through the city with fire,
Who was not finished off with a spear,
They took him out with a rope.

They hang. Below them is the shore
Above them is a low moon,
German Komtur Hermann Dering
Watching them from the window.

He is very glad that he is merciful,
Dear knightly lord
Helped to hang impudent smerds,
Raising a hand against the gentlemen.

They are hung securely
He is only saddened by
That the whole city is impossible
Hang along oak walls.

But he will do his best
No wonder there is an ancient law:
Where the knight was let in,
There he will grab the whole verst.

No wonder, proudly arching your neck,
Curves twirling mustaches,
Pskov trample the pavements
His most Christian dogs.

Chapter Three

... and ini Plskovichi ran into Nov
a city with wives and children...
Novgorod First Chronicle
Leaving the Germans a hundred fathoms,
Ontsyfor, dismounting, jumped into the forest,
Through the mud, through the remnants of the crust
With a horse climbed into a deep ravine.

He missed the chase
And the horse did not give out - did not neigh.
No wonder in hard palms
Ontsyfor snoring overwhelmed him.

Rather come to Novgorod!
No rest, at any cost!
Let the long forest echo
Seven days jumping behind!

Before the first night
Noticed someone's blue corpse
And under a stuck cart
Already swollen horse croup.

Then the carts went more and more often,
And people drove ahead
Through the thick forests,
Through the naked wolf windbreak.

They threw the house and belongings and rushed
From Pskov to Novgorod. Is always
Enemies of Russia got
Some empty cities.

On the third day over the ferry
He saw fires, bags
And hundreds of stray carts
By the gray swollen river.

Everyone was waiting here, in the mud and cold,
To carry the ice from the upper reaches.
Ontsyfor took off his weapon,
The horse has a heavy saddle.

Down on the wet stone
He took off his boot, then another
And, crossed wide,
I stepped into the wave with my bare feet.

From the cold, the jaws pounded,
With a horse swam to slippery rocks.
From the other side they shouted
So that he would quickly jump to Novgorod.

I don't remember myself from the cold,
He didn't really hear the words.
But as a sign that everything will be fulfilled,
He waved his wet hat.

Through rain and hail, without drying out,
Oncyfor the rest of the day
I drove to Novgorod without rest,
From the foam of the white horse.

In the evening on a deaf lane
Among the trampled earth
Wolves attacked horse trail
And with a howl they followed the trail.

But the horse did not give out, thank God,
Rode through the woods all night until
Did not collapse on the road in the morning,
On the ground, slamming the rider.

The owner freed his leg
Cursing the damn road
For some reason I touched my fingers
The glassy, ​​wet eye of a horse.

There was a German horse
And served well...
And with a staggering step
Ontsyfor went to Novgorod.

Yes, even if your legs are broken,
In rain, mud and darkness
He is two, he is three such roads
He crawled silently on his stomach.

It was lunch hour. Saturday.
The end of trade has come
When through the Spassky Gate
Ontsyfor got to Novgorod.

Screaming left and right
That Pskov was given to the Livonian dogs,
He wandered, staggering, between the shops,
Sheds, forges and trays.

And, hastily wiping your hands,
Hiding chests underground
Locking goods in lari,
Hanging locks on benches

Along all the rows in a wide crowd,
Merchants moved to the veche,
Smaller people, bakers,
Cloth workers and blacksmiths.

Following the sedate posadnik,
Under the armpits, picking up from the ground,
Up the stairs
Ontsyfor was dragged.

And, rising through the force,
Looking all around,
He screamed, banging on the railing
With a bony black fist:

"There was Pskov - and there is no more Pskov,
It's time to put on the coats
Not that and you will have to soon
Kiss the German boot!

Chapter Four

To the volost in Novgorod
found time Lithuania, Nemtsi, Chud and
catching all the horses and cattle in the Luga, not on
than and go around the villages ...
Annals of the First Sofia

... send the Novgorodians Spiridon Vladyka
by Prince Alexander Yaroslavlich
Annals of Abraham
Livonians broke into the depths of Russia,
We reached Luga, Tesov fell.
Near Novgorod itself, boasting,
The Livonian master approached.

Parchment waving ready,
Hung a round seal
The Pope himself is their crusade
Blessed to start soon.

They waged war in the Livonian spirit:
They took everything that can be taken;
Children are dying of hunger
There is nothing to yell at in the villages.

The enemy is at the gate, and the prince is away,
Which month was coming to an end
How is he with the whole squad together
In Pereyaslavl he went to his father.

There was a reason for this:
Prince Alexander was nice while
Thug Swede and German
His heavy hand.

But having come to Novgorod with victory,
He pinched the tail of the boyars
And immediately became no better than the Swede
For them - not asked and not nice.

The boyars took over at the veche,
Shutting up the lesser people,
Showed the way to the prince
And escorted to the gate.

Now, when with the Livonian pack
I had to fight hard
We went to the veche quarrels, disputes:
Call back or don't call.

The boyars and Vladyka were sent,
But besides these mothers,
Lesser elected ambassadors
Slimmer than five.

So that the prince would come back,
To make him more accommodating
They sent those military men,
With whom he beat the Swede.

He remembered them - they are at the party
Boyars against all
They raised speeches for the prince
And with axes climbed into an argument.

They sent them, and to them in addition,
So that requests come out hot,
sent at random,
Two rescued Pskovites.

Ontsyfor rode with them;
To Pereyaslavl ten days
Had to forest roads
Whip frozen horses.

For the third day, as the whole embassy
Waiting for an answer, baklusha beats
And, cursing hospitality,
Visiting the prince eats and drinks.

And, rattling boots,
For the third day the embassy house
Takes big steps
Archbishop Spyridon.

The wagon is broken - not a hindrance,
I tucked my cassock into my belt,
He rode a third of the way,
Never taking a breather.

He was a priest of the military fold,
I wore earplugs for seven years
And Novgorod orders
He pointed up to Vyatka.

To him, fed by war,
And now it would be nothing
And replace the surplice with armor
And the shepherd's staff - with a sword.

For three days he endured humiliation,
He beat bows, carried gifts,
Three days, how to reign again
He asked the prince to Novgorod;

The prince is in no hurry to answer -
It leads by the nose, then it is silent ...
The bishop walks until dawn
And the staff knocks on the floor.

Rising at dawn, Ontsyfor is near
With another visiting Pskov
Passed once Trade row,
Asking what's what.

The goods felt on the shelves,
Heard the bells
I told the merchants of Pereyaslavl,
What is against Pskov, the city is thin.

Let's go back. At the turn
In one of the fortress towers,
The gates creaked open,
And the prince passed through them.

Turning to the creak of constipation,
Seeing the prince's helmet,
Two Pskovs, winking,
He was hit in the forehead.

He lingered, involuntarily
Crushing them with a horse's chest,
“The boyars sent you, or what?
Want to pity me?"

The prince was sinewy and hard as a stone,
But not wide and small in stature,
I couldn't believe that he
Broke horseshoes.

Face in the paternal breed,
He carried separately from everything
Cool stern chin
And a hooked hard nose.

Sat, ruffled, high
In a huge battle saddle,
Like a small but strong falcon,
Folded wings on the rock.

Without responding, looking straight ahead
In the notch of the princely armor,
Ontsyfor repeated stubbornly:
"Defend us from the Germans!"

The prince smiled and suddenly,
Whipping the horse with a strap,
Turned the horse to the West
And shook his fist.

Then he asked angrily, quickly:
How the Germans are armed
Who was appointed to the masters
And strong eh with Denmark friendly.

And prickly in his eyes,
And the way he got angry
Ontsyfor understood - the Germans are better,
Don't wait for him, get out.

Ontsyfor raised his hand to the sky
In burns, in scars, in nodules
And shouted to the whole neighborhood,
What would God hear in the clouds:

"Let the devil take me to hell,
Let thunder break out on the spot
When I'm on the Pskov wall
I won't get in first with an ax!

If I don't die until that moment,
Perhaps you will see me, prince!
The prince turned in place abruptly
And silently drove the horse away.

The prince was vindictive. exile
He did not forgive the Novgorodians,
The whole city is crying and moaning
Wouldn't return it back.

Grievances were not forgotten
He could drive the ambassador away
But, covering all grievances,
Hatred of aliens grew.

Sharper than anything, he heard a long time ago
How they crawl to visit us,
More tireless than mice
The Russian border is being gnawed.

They crawl under our roof
Hiding under each bush
Where not with swords - there with trade,
Where not with trade - there with the cross.

They crawl. And he will be stupid
Who draws the sword too late
Who, because of their quarrels, will forget
Stop the Livonian plague.

The prince swore once and again swears:
Livonians cannot see Russia!
He will even return to Novgorod,
To give them a knee in the ass.

Chapter Five

He is soon the city of Pskov and exile
German is cut, and ineh is a bandage and hail
free the Germans from the godless...
Pskov Second Chronicle
The prince first took Koporye,
German town broke
German bollards in Lakeland
Who killed, who caught.

Having summoned the troops, having collected the carts,
Waiting for the Suzdal regiments,
In winter, in bitter cold
He suddenly overlaid Pskov.

Clamped by the Great and Pskov,
Oak surrounded by a wall,
Pskov raised his head
Over the entire surrounding area.

And above the high walls
Cutting off the entrance and entrance to the city,
The order banner stuck out -
There is a black cross on a white field.

Forming a crane wedge,
Because of the surrounding forest
By noon in the Pskov valley
Russian troops broke in.

The prince himself, putting on a new casing
Over the iron scale
Rode the direct route to Pskov,
ahead of their shelves.

There were Pskovians and Ladoga residents,
Izhorians went, eat and everything,
There were claps, stinks, townspeople -
Here Novgorod gathered all.

Putting aside arshins for a while,
People and merchants went to live,
Of them gathered in a squad
All Novgorod Ends.

Rushed, showing prowess,
Squads on their horses;
Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Suzdal
They were sent to help.

Happy before the fight
Grey-bearded old wolf
Archbishop behind him
He led his cavalry regiment.

In saddlebags jumping,
Clutching from the habit of the occasion,
The boyars rode separately,
Behind each servant in two rows.

Everyone, even the oldest, fat ones,
long gone to rest,
The prince himself from their vast estates
Iron hand fished out.

Any of them once fought,
Went for Novgorod on a campaign,
Yes, the horse is dead, the campaign is forgotten,
And the sword rusted for a year.

But the prince deprived them of rest -
What to do on the stove,
Isn't it better under the Pskov wall
In open field fight?

For a long time the boyars have become
Dislike the prince. their swords,
Their armor of heavy steel,
Their intractable speeches

I preferred military men
In simple chain mail with an ax -
He tested them many times.
And always remembered kindly!

All the way he, with anger
Chasing with everyone equally
He did not let the boyars warm the bones,
Don't take off your armor, don't get off your horse.

. . . . . . . . .

The sun was rising. It became clear -
German shields are on fire.
Livonians on the walls are insulting
They speak Basurman.

The prince in the battle saddle bent down,
Ran the frozen horse,
Turned to the squad from the fly
And he waved his whip in the air.

On the towers, knowing every ledge,
Hooks, slits and knots,
In silence, the first to attack
Pskov regiments rushed.

The prince saw how bearded
Climb up the tower
Pskov, with whom he once
I spoke in Pereyaslavl.

Ontsyfor crawled higher, higher,
He took out the cornice with his hand,
Slowly climbed onto the roof
And the enemy's banner pulled down.

Torn the cloth to shreds,
He threw them away
And, spitting on the palm of your hand,
Pulled a tree from the roof.

Pskov was recaptured. The walls are everywhere
Dead bodies were lying around.
And blood with a knock, as in dishes,
It flowed along the logs to the ground,

And on the wall, calling for revenge,
Still hanging from the teeth,
Swinging in a row in the old place
Five half-rotted dead.

They're in a fight with an intruder
Here they put their belly
And snow and rain cuts their bones,
And the worm gnaws, and the raven tears.

Let's bury them in earthly darkness
And we will take an eternal oath -
Livonian dogs and their descendants
We won't give up an inch!

Pskov was devastated by fire,
The entrance to the house is littered with snow -
Knights of Christ for a reason
They hosted here for a year.

Prince Alexander settled down
In the upper room where the commander lived.
As you can see, the commander settled down here -
A whip of bull veins was lying around,

The logs were smoldering in the oven,
Forgotten dog dozed in the warmth
And the unfinished stood
Two fryazh goblets on the table.

The commander himself seemed to have sunk into the water,
The blizzard closed all the roads.
In this damn weather
He won't get far.

Under the battle axes
All the rest fell.
Only three were raked alive
And they brought him to Alexander.

They behaved arrogantly
Pretty sure the prince
Let them all go without fail
Flattered by the ransom of the order.

One of them put his foot down
Chewed his lips proudly
He asked the prince in Russian: is it a lot
Would he like to take them?

The prince was genuinely surprised:
Loving the Livonians since childhood,
He himself would rather strangle himself,
Than let them go.

And so that they live, admiring Pskov,
To make the city more visible from above,
Let any tower be chosen
And he will hang them on her.

In the morning, it was still light,
The prince ordered to blow the horns:
The Russian squads did not fit,
Sitting on the stove, waiting for the enemy.

Hurry! Don't let him wake up
Not letting the wounds lick,
Reaching across the border
Punish the beast in the lair.

The air was full of horse snoring,
An iron clinking bit.
To the West, to the Livonian borders,
The prince led the militia.

And, passing under the Pskov tower,
The troops were seen in the sky,
Like the three rulers of yesterday
They hung silently on the wall.

They looked down at the firs
For hundreds of miles of foreign land,
For everything you want to own
But, to their dismay, they couldn't.

Driving spurs into the sides of horses,
Rode away under the thunder of horseshoes
Livonian and prince, who
Pskov was verbally sold to them.

Two friends in Riga for help
Hurry through the dense forests
And grimly squabbled all the way,
How to bite dogs.

Clutching the reins in rage,
The Livonian prince reproached:
“Where is Pskov? Where are the Pskov lands
What in words did you conquer?

Why did you swear to us in vain
That the Russian troops are bad? .. "
And with a fist, red from the cold,
He shook under the prince's nose.

Chapter Six

Novgorod First Chronicle
On blue and wet
Chudsky cracked ice
At six thousand seven hundred and fifty
From Creation,

Saturday, April 5th
Raw dawn sometimes
advanced considered
Marching Germans dark system.

On the hats are feathers of cheerful birds,
Helmets have pony tails.
Above them on heavy poles
Black crosses were swinging.

Squires behind proudly
They carried family shields,
Bear muzzles on them,
Weapons, towers and flowers.

Everything was so damn beautiful
As if these gentlemen
Already broken our strength
Went here to play.

Well, let's bring the shelves to the shelves,
We have had enough embassies, betrayals,
Oshyu us Raven Stone
And at our right hand Uzmen.

Below us is ice, above us is the sky,
Our cities are behind us,
No forest, no land, no bread
Never take you again.

All night, crackling with pitch, they burned
Behind us are red bonfires.
We warmed our hands before the fight,
So that the axes do not slip.

Corner forward, especially from everyone,
Dressed in fur coats, in Armenians,
Stood dark with malice
Pskov foot regiments.

The Germans pestered them with iron,
They stole their children and wives,
Their yard is plundered, cattle is slaughtered,
The crops are trampled, the house is burned down.

The prince put them in the middle,
To be the first to take the pressure, -
Reliable in the dark
Man's forged ax!

Prince in front of the Russian regiments
He turned the horse from the flight,
With steel-clad hands
Under the clouds angrily poked.

“Let God judge us with the Germans
Without delay here on the ice
We have swords with us, and come what may,
Let's help God's judgment!"

The prince galloped to the coastal rocks,
Climbing on them with difficulty,
He found a high ledge,
From where you can see everything around.

And looked back. Somewhere behind
Between trees and stones
His regiments are in ambush,
Keeping horses on a leash.

And ahead, on the ringing ice floes
Thundering with heavy scales,
Livonians ride a formidable wedge -
Pig iron head.

The first onslaught of the Germans was terrible.
In the Russian infantry corner,
Two rows of horse towers
They crashed through.

Like angry lambs in a storm,
Among the German cones
Flashing white shirts
Men's lamb hats.

In washed underwear shirts,
Throwing sheepskin coats on the ground,
They rushed into mortal combat,
Gate wide open.

So it's easier to hit the enemy with a swing,
And when you have to die
It's better to have a clean shirt
Dirty with your own blood.

They are open-eyed
They marched against the Germans with their bare chest,
Cutting fingers to the bone
Bowed spears to the ground.

And where the spears bent down,
They are in desperate slaughter
They cut through the German system
Shoulder to shoulder, back to back.

Ontsyfor made his way deep into the ranks,
With a crumpled neck and rib,
Spinning and jumping, chopped
Large heavy axe.

Seven times his ax was raised,
Armor warped seven times,
Seven times the Livonian bowed
And with a clang collapsed from the horse.

With the eighth, the last by vow,
Ontsyfror became face to face,
When its ninth on the side
Sword struck on the sacrum.

Ontsyfor silently turned around,
With difficulty, he mustered the rest of his strength,
I rushed at the red-haired German
And cut it down with an axe.

They fell to the ground next to
And they fought for a long time.
Ontsyfor with a clouded look
I noticed a gap in his armor.

Peeling the skin from the palm of your hand,
He climbed all five
Where the helmet is German edge
It was loosely linked to the armor.

And at the last breath
He is in the fingers, hard and thin,
Deadly squeezed goodbye
Fleshy knight's apple.

Already mixed people, horses,
Swords, axes, axes,
And the prince is still calm
Watching the battle from the mountain.

The face is frozen, as if on purpose,
He fastened his helmet to the bridle
And a hat with a wolf trim
He pulled it over his forehead and ears.

His companions were bored
The horses trampled, the fire smoldered.
The old boyars grumbled:
“Is the prince’s sword not sharp?

Not so fought fathers and grandfathers
For your inheritance, for your city,
Rushed into battle, looking for victory,
Risking the prince's head!

The prince silently listened to the conversations,
Frowning on a horse, he sat;
Today he did not save the city,
Not a fiefdom, not your lot.

Today by the power of the people
He closed the way for the Livonians,
And the one who took risks today -
He risked all Russia.

Let the boyars lie together -
He saw everything, he knew for sure
When the ambush regiments need
Give the agreed signal.

And, only after waiting for the Livonians,
Having mixed ranks, they were drawn into battle,
He, blazing with a sword in the sun,
He led his squad.

Raising swords of Russian steel,
Bending the spear shafts,
They flew out of the forest with a cry
New York regiments.

They flew over the ice with a clang, with thunder,
Leaning towards shaggy manes;
And the first on a huge horse
The prince got into the German system.

And, retreating before the prince,
Throwing spears and shields
The Germans fell from their horses to the ground,
Lifting iron fingers.

The bay horses got excited,
Ashes rose from under the hooves,
Bodies dragged through the snow
Stuck in narrow stirrups.

There was a big mess
Iron, blood and water.
In place of the knights
There were bloody footprints.

Some lay choking
In bloody ice water
Others rushed away, crouched,
Cowardly spurring horses.

Under them the horses drowned,
Under them, the ice stood on end,
Their stirrups pulled to the bottom,
The shell did not let them swim.

Brelo under sideways glances
A lot of captured gentlemen,
For the first time with bare heels
Diligently slapping on the ice.

And the prince, barely cooled down from the landfill,
Already watched from under the arm
Like a pitiful remnant of fugitives
He went to the Livonian lands.

Chapter Seven

... and that great Nemtsev and Chudi were slashing ...
Novgorod First Chronicle
The cannonade did not stop.
The city was semi-encircled
Red Army detachments
It was pierced from three sides.

The Germans, having abandoned the defense,
Covered in murky darkness,
Wagons were hurriedly marked:
"Nah Deutschland" - so, home!

Hurry! Not salty sipped
In the mud, in the dust, they walked to the station
From the land where the past year
They have been fruitless.

And yet, it's not so fruitless -
All that we managed and could
They are from Pskov nobly
They were transferred to their fatherland.

They pulled in a crowd, indiscriminately,
Sheets of iron from the roofs of Pskov,
Set of physical instruments
From two city gymnasiums.

From the warehouse - timber,
From the elevator - grain,
From the hospital - blankets,
From the factory - bread wine.

Having finished all the work of the day,
In the evening a detachment came out
And copper door handles
Filmed from all doors in a row.

Now - already at the retreat -
Herr lieutenant with great difficulty
I was able to resist the urge
Also search every house.

He is bitter, like a cat on lard,
I looked at the door, where, as luck would have it,
The copper latch shone,
Polished like glass.

They no longer threatened
Take Petrograd. Vice versa,
loaded with great haste
And departed from the gate.

Horns of the last echelons,
Rows of closed windows
And on the last of the wagons
Last waylight.

Well, good luck! Let them tell
Like the charms of a foreign land
They liked them so much that even
Others lay down to sleep in it!

Remained at the Pskov cemetery
Big gray rock
She sprawled wide
Under the shadow of the Prussian eagle.

And in rank, with a sense of proportion,
Buried around her
Separately non-commissioned officers,
Separately lower ranks.

I'm sorry soldier. They served
Fighting, not knowing for whom,
Disgracefully laid down their heads
Far from the Rhine.

I'm sorry soldier. But once you arrive
To impose someone else's order -
You have become an enemy. And whoever it is
Mercy you have no right to wait.

Conclusion

Now, when at the school desk
"Mein Kampf" students cramming
And Nazi fingers on the cards
Russia is divided into pieces,

We will remind them in order -
First a terrible day when
Seven miles Livonians without looking back
They ran away from the Chudskoye ice.

Then we recall the day of the fall
The last order banners,
When, having given away all possessions,
The Order was abolished by Russia.

Recall the memorable date
When Berlin trembled,
When from a Russian soldier
The great Frederick fled back.

Remind them by old maps
Places where they found their death
Prussians, together with Bonaparte
Looking for foreign land.

Let us remind you not to forget
Like the November cold
We beat away with bayonets
Them in the eighteenth year.

Let's turn the year by year.
Not once, not twice in seven centuries,
Shining with brand new weapons,
Ranks of foreign regiments were advancing towards us.

But, repeating past experience,
They fled from the Russian fields,
Losing weapons on the way
And not burying the dead.

In our museums we have accumulated
For many battles, for seven centuries
Rows covered with old dust
Foreign standards and badges.

How we already beat them,
Let these gentlemen remember
And now we are stronger than we used to be.
And the hour will be terrible when,

Not forgetting, not forgiving
One move forward
Defending your homeland
An angry people will come.

Someday, meeting with friends,
We will remember in many years
What was cut into the ground by the edges
Violent caterpillar track

That crumpled the bread of a soldier's boot,
That we were facing a war
What is to the West from us once
It was a fascist country.

The day will come when freedom
conquered in battle,
Fascism to shake off the people
We will give our hand.

On that day, under joyful cliques
We will praise the whole country
Liberated and great
The people of Germany are native.

We believe in it, it will be so
Not today, tomorrow the battle will break out,
Not today, tomorrow will wake us up
Bugler with a military pipe.

And if the great thunder strikes
Over a pack of dogs and executioners,
For us, the sun will still be
Shine with the fire of your rays.

Konstantin Simonov

Exactly today Saturday 5 April, as then 772 years ago.

Battle on the Ice (German: Schlacht auf dem Eise, lat. Prœlium glaciale - “Battle of the Ice”), also the Battle on Lake Peipus (German: Schlacht auf dem Peipussee) - a battle that took place on April 5, 1242 (Saturday), between Novgorodians and Vladimirians under the leadership of Alexander Nevsky, on the one hand, and the army of the Livonian Order, which in 1237 included the Order of the Sword (after the defeat at Saul). General battle of the unsuccessful conquest campaign of the Order of 1240-1242. It took place on the ice of Lake Peipsi. Wiki

April 18 is the Day of military glory of Russia - the Day of the victory of Russian soldiers of Prince Alexander Nevsky over German knights on Lake Peipus (Battle on the Ice).

from the poem "Battle on the Ice":

On blue and wet
Chudsky cracked ice
At six thousand seven hundred and fifty
From Creation,

Saturday, April 5th
Raw dawn sometimes
advanced considered
Marching Germans dark system.

On the hats are feathers of cheerful birds,
Helmets have pony tails.
Above them on heavy poles
Black crosses were swinging.

Squires behind proudly
They carried family shields,
Bear muzzles on them,
Weapons, towers and flowers.

Everything was so damn beautiful
As if these gentlemen
Already broken our strength
Went here to play.

Well, let's bring the shelves to the shelves,
We have had enough embassies, betrayals,
Oshyu us Raven Stone
And at our right hand Uzmen.

Below us is ice, above us is the sky,
Our cities are behind us,
No forest, no land, no bread
Never take you again.

...
...
...

There was a big mess
Iron, blood and water.
In place of the knights
There were bloody footprints.

Some lay choking
In bloody ice water
Others rushed away, crouched,
Cowardly spurring horses.

Under them the horses drowned,
Under them, the ice stood on end,
Their stirrups pulled to the bottom,
The shell did not let them swim.

Brelo under sideways glances
A lot of captured gentlemen,
For the first time with bare heels
Diligently slapping on the ice.

And the prince, barely cooled down from the landfill,
Already watched from under the arm
Like a pitiful remnant of fugitives
He went to the Livonian lands.

AND IT WILL BE SO WITH EVERYONE!!!

CHAPTER ONE 1918

All night the cannonade thundered.
Pskov was surrounded on three sides.
Red Guard detachments
With difficulty they made their way to the platform.
And then in the blink of an eye
With a whistle rushed here
Germans to the very windows
Packed trains.
For no apparent reason
One train went to hell.
One hundred and three German lower ranks,
Three officers were there.
There were puddles of blood on the rails,
Remains of meat and bones.
So unfriendly in Pskov
Uninvited guests were welcomed!
They hid in the houses, the lights were turned off,
The city was dark and prickly.
We did not bring the enemy
The key is on a gilded platter.
To intimidate the population
Was assembled for the Hay parade.
Keeping a fierce balance
The soldiers walked behind the row.
Silent and long like fish
Put on tails;
Leopold of Bavaria himself arrived
Distribute Iron Crosses.
The Germans were in strong helmets,
Numbered inside
And painted on top
Concern "Farben Industry".
And the population was silent,
I looked at each house in silence.
So they look at the enemies first,
To take them by the throat later.
Found in the whole city only
Five sons of bitches
With servility, with feeling, really
Greeted "dear" guests.
Five city landowners
Deciding to snatch a piece,
Considered a good deal
Concoct an address for the Germans.
They humbly asked:
To return their names,
The Germans of half of Russia must
Grab it next month.
One of them in dissenting opinion
I asked Siberia not to forget
He had an estate in those parts
And I didn't want to be a loser.
On an old, faded postcard
Captured that moment:
Dvoryanchik, dry and liquid,
Reads a document to the Germans.
His goatee
(But now he shaved off his beard!)
His manner and gait
(But he changed his gait!)
His chic business card
(But he took off his business card a long time ago!) -
His used now on that postcard
And the photographer himself did not know.
But if he is not dead and wanders
Near the border through the forests,
People like him are found everywhere.
By wolf's faded eyes.
He will not hide them with a mint cap,
He will not hide them under glasses,
Like on a postcard, furtively
Look familiar pupils.
And the German, photographed next to him,
He's in the Gestapo somewhere
And twenty years with the same look
Looks at the Russian land.

CHAPTER TWO 1240 - 1242

Translate more firmly with Nbmtsi Plskovichi
and brought them Tverdilo Ivankovich
with inmi, and yourself often own Plskov
with NЪmtsi, fighting the village of Novgorod.
Novgorod First Chronicle
Two days since Pskov was lost by us,
And you can see for a hundred miles around -
Above the tower is an order banner:
On a white field is a black cross.
In the big chambers,
With a wry smile on your lips,
Sitting Livonian in black armor
With crosses in ten places.
He sits arrogantly, as at a feast,
Putting a black helmet at my feet
And in a businesslike way
Feet in iron shoes.
He won easily
There was pestilence, and famine, and crops.
Novgorod was attacked by the Swedes,
The Tatars were at the gate.
The prince was found to be shabby,
Running from Pskov to the Germans,
He gave them the city in words,
For this table and shelter got.
When Izborsk was taken to starvation
And Pskov itself was burned by a third,
There were traitors who
It did not give the veche a hand to warm.
The past is deprived of honor,
They, in order to regain power,
Not like the Germans - even the devil
Could open the gate...
The Livonian looks down at the veche,
On black floating smoke.
Tverdilo - thief and translator -
I sat down in the chair next to him.
He was in Riga and in Wenden,
Credit is open to him everywhere,
He, flattering the German, about treason
He speaks German with him.
He and his friends asked him
And they ask again: having gathered the army,
The Livonians of half of Russia must
Select next month.
But the red-haired German looks past,
There, where, hanging from the teeth,
Ropes creak beneath them
Five blue dead.
Yesterday, under the wet howl of a snowstorm,
In a back alley Pskov
Three Livonians were attacked,
Don't let them draw their swords.
But an hour later help
Along the narrow streets of Pskov
Walked a bloody road
Trample of the dead and the living.
One blacksmith, Ontsyfor-Cloud,
Made my way to the city wall
And rushed down straight from the steep
On a knightly alien horse.
They chased after him, but did not catch up,
They passed through the city with fire,
Whom they did not finish with a spear,
They took him out with a rope.
They hang. Below them is the shore
Above them is a low moon,
German Komtur Hermann Dering
Watching them from the window.
He is very glad that merciful
Dear knightly lord
Helped to hang impudent smerds,
Raising a hand against the gentlemen.
They are hung securely
He is only saddened by
That the whole city is impossible
Hang along oak walls.
But he will do his best
No wonder there is an ancient law:
Where the knight was let in,
There he will grab the whole verst.
No wonder, proudly arching your neck,
Curves twirling mustaches,
Pskov trample the pavements
His most Christian dogs.

CHAPTER THREE

And inii Plskovichi vbzhasha in Nov
city ​​with wives and children ...
Novgorod First Chronicle
Leaving the Germans a hundred fathoms,
Ontsyfor, dismounting, jumped into the forest,
Through the mud, through the remnants of the crust
With a horse climbed into a deep ravine.
He missed the chase
And the horse did not give out - did not neigh.
No wonder in hard palms
Ontsyfor snoring overwhelmed him.
Rather come to Novgorod!
No rest, at any cost!
Let the long forest echo
Seven days jumping behind!
Before the first night
Noticed someone's blue corpse
And under a stuck cart
Already swollen horse croup.
Then the carts went more and more often,
And people drove ahead
Through the thick forests,
Through the naked wolf windbreak.
They threw the house and belongings and rushed
From Pskov to Novgorod. Is always
Enemies of Russia got
Some empty cities.
On the third day over the ferry
He saw fires, bags
And hundreds of stray carts
By the gray swollen river.
Everyone was waiting here, in the mud and cold,
To carry the ice from the upper reaches.
Ontsyfor took off his weapon,
The horse has a heavy saddle.
Down on the wet stone
He took off his boot, then another
And, crossed wide,
I stepped into the wave with my bare feet.
From the cold, the jaws pounded,
With a horse swam to slippery rocks.
From the other side they shouted
So that he would quickly jump to Novgorod.
I don't remember myself from the cold,
He didn't really hear the words.
But as a sign that everything will be fulfilled,
He waved his wet hat.
Through rain and hail, without drying out,
Oncyfor the rest of the day
I drove to Novgorod without rest,
From the foam of the white horse.
In the evening on a deaf country road
Among the trampled earth
Wolves attacked horse trail
And with a howl they followed the trail.
But the horse did not give out, thank God,
Rode through the woods all night until
Did not collapse on the road in the morning,
On the ground, slamming the rider.
The owner freed his leg
Cursing the damn road
For some reason I touched my fingers
The glassy, ​​wet eye of a horse.
There was a German horse
And it worked well...
And with a staggering step
Ontsyfor went to Novgorod.
Yes, even if your legs are broken,
In rain, mud and darkness
He is two, he is three such roads
He crawled silently on his stomach.
It was lunch hour. Saturday.
The end of trade has come
When through the Spassky Gate
Ontsyfor got to Novgorod.
Screaming left and right
That Pskov was given to the Livonian dogs,
He wandered, staggering, between the shops,
Sheds, forges and trays.
And, hastily wiping your hands,
Hiding chests underground
Locking goods in lari,
Hanging locks on benches
Along all the rows, in a wide crowd,
Merchants moved to the veche,
Smaller people, bakers,
Cloth workers and blacksmiths.
Following the sedate posadnik,
Under the armpits, picking up from the ground,
Up the stairs
Ontsyfor was dragged.
And, rising through the force,
Looking all around,
He screamed, banging on the railing
With a bony black fist:
"There was Pskov - and there is no more Pskov,
It's time to put on the coats
Not that and you'll have to soon
Kiss the German boot!"

CHAPTER FOUR

To the volost in Novgorod
find time Lithuania, Nmtsi, Chud and
catching all the horses and cattle in the Luga, not on
what and yell at the villages ...
Annals of the First Sofia
... send the Novgorodians Spiridon Vladyka
by Prince Alexander Yaroslavlich.
Annals of Abraham
Livonians broke into the depths of Russia,
We reached Luga, Tesov fell.
Near Novgorod itself, boasting,
The Livonian master approached.
Parchment waving ready,
Hanging a round seal
Dad himself is their crusade
Blessed to start soon.
They waged war in the Livonian spirit:
They took everything that can be taken;
Children are dying of hunger
There is nothing to yell at in the villages.
The enemy is at the gate, and the prince is away,
That month was coming to an end
How is he with the whole squad together
In Pereyaslavl he went to his father.
There was a reason for this:
Prince Alexander was nice while
Thug Swede and German
His heavy hand.
But, having come to Novgorod with victory,
He pinched the tail of the boyars
And immediately became no better than the Swede
For them - not asked and not nice.
The boyars took over at the veche,
Shutting up the lesser people,
Showed the way to the prince
And escorted to the gate.
Now, when with the Livonian pack
I had to fight hard
We went to the veche quarrels, disputes:
Call back or don't call.
The boyars were sent with the lord,
But besides these mothers,
Lesser elected ambassadors
Slimmer than five.
So that the prince would rather come back,
To make him more accommodating
They sent those military men,
With whom he beat the Swede.
He remembered them - they are at the party
Boyars against all
They raised speeches for the prince
And with axes climbed into an argument.
They sent them, and to them in addition,
So that requests come out hot,
sent at random,
Two rescued Pskovites.
Ontsyfor rode with them;
To Pereyaslavl ten days
Had to forest roads
Whip frozen horses.
For the third day, as the whole embassy
Waiting for an answer, baklusha beats
And, cursing hospitality,
Visiting the prince eats and drinks.
And, rattling boots,
For the third day the embassy house
Takes big steps
Archbishop Spyridon.
The wagon is broken - not a hindrance,
I tucked my cassock into my belt,
He rode a third of the way,
Never taking a breather.
He was a priest of the military fold,
I wore earplugs for seven years
And Novgorod orders
He pointed up to Vyatka.
To him, fed by war,
And now it would be nothing
And replace the surplice with armor
And the shepherd's staff - with a sword.
For three days he endured humiliation,
He beat bows, carried gifts,
Three days, how to reign again
He asked the prince to Novgorod;
The prince is in no hurry to answer -
It leads by the nose, then it is silent ...
The bishop walks until dawn
And the staff knocks on the floor.
Rising at dawn, Ontsyfor is near
With another visiting Pskov
Passed once Shopping near,
Asking what's what.
The goods felt on the shelves,
Heard the bells
I told the merchants of Pereyaslavl,
What is against Pskov, the city is thin.
Let's go back. At the turn
In one of the fortress towers,
Creaking, the gates parted,
And the prince passed through them.
Turning to the creak of constipation,
Seeing the prince's helmet,
Two Pskovs, winking,
He was hit in the forehead.
He lingered, involuntarily
They are crowded with a horse's chest.
"The boyars sent you, didn't they?
Want to pity me?"
The prince was sinewy and hard as a stone,
But not wide and small in stature,
I couldn't believe that he
Broke horseshoes.
Face in the paternal breed,
He carried separately from everything
Big hard chin
And a hooked hard nose.
Sat, ruffled, high
In a huge battle saddle,
Like a small and strong falcon,
Folded wings, on a rock.
Without responding, looking straight ahead
In the notch of the princely armor,
Ontsyfor repeated stubbornly:
"Defend us from the Germans!"
The prince smiled and suddenly,
Whipping the horse with a strap,
Turned it to the west
And shook his fist.
Then he asked angrily, quickly:
How the Germans are armed
Who was appointed to the masters
And strong eh with Denmark friendly.
And prickly in his eyes,
And the way he got angry
Ontsyfor understood - the Germans are better,
Don't wait for him, get out.
Ontsyfor raised his hand to the sky
In burns, in scars, in nodules
And shouted to the whole neighborhood,
For God to hear in the clouds:
"Let the devil take me to hell,
Let thunder break out on the spot
When I'm on the Pskov wall
I won't get in first with an axe.
If I don't die until that moment,
Perhaps you will see me, prince, me!
The prince turned in place abruptly
And silently drove the horse away.
The prince was vindictive. exile
He did not forgive the Novgorodians,
The whole city is crying and moaning
Wouldn't return it back.
Grievances were not forgotten
He could drive the ambassador away
But, covering all grievances,
Hatred of aliens grew.
Sharper than anything, he heard a long time ago
How they crawl to visit us,
More tireless than mice
The Russian border is being gnawed.
They crawl under our roof
Behind each hide a bush,
Where not with swords - there with trade,
Where not with trade - there with a cross.
They crawl. And he will be stupid
Who draws the sword too late
Who, because of their quarrels, will forget
Stop the Livonian plague.
The prince swore once and again swears:
The Livonians cannot see Russia.
He will even return to Novgorod,
To give them a knee in the ass.

CHAPTER FIVE

He is soon the city of Pskov and exile
NЪmets izseѪche, and ineh bandage and hail
free from the godless Germans ...
Pskov Second Chronicle
The prince first took Koporye,
German town broke
German bollards in Lakeland
Who killed, who caught.
Having summoned the troops, having collected the carts,
Waiting for the Suzdal regiments,
In winter, in bitter cold
He suddenly overlaid Pskov.
Clamped by the Great and Pskov,
Oak surrounded by a wall,
Pskov raised his head
Over the entire surrounding area.
And above the high walls
Cutting off the entrance and entrance to the city,
The order banner stuck out -
On a white field is a black cross.
Forming a crane wedge,
Because of the surrounding forest
By noon in the Pskov valley
Russian troops broke in.
The prince himself, putting on a new casing
Over the iron scale
Rode the direct route to Pskov,
ahead of their shelves.
There were Pskovians and Ladoga residents,
Izhorians went, eat and everything,
There were claps, stinks, townspeople -
Here Novgorod gathered all.
Putting aside arshins for a while,
People and merchants went to live,
Of them gathered in a squad
All Novgorod Ends.
Rushed, showing prowess,
Squads on their horses;
Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Suzdal
They were sent to help.
Happy before the fight
Grey-bearded old wolf
Archbishop behind him
He led his cavalry regiment.
In saddlebags jumping,
Clutching from the habit of the occasion,
The boyars rode separately,
Behind each servant in two rows.
Everyone, even the oldest, fat ones,
long gone to rest,
The prince himself from their vast estates
Iron hand fished out.
Any of them once fought,
Went for Novgorod on a campaign,
Yes, the horse is dead, the campaign is forgotten,
And the sword rusted for a year.
But the prince deprived them of rest -
What to do on the stove,
Isn't it better under the Pskov wall
To fight in an open field?
For a long time the boyars have become
Dislike the prince. their swords,
Their armor of heavy steel,
Their intractable speeches
I preferred military men
In simple chain mail with an ax -
He tested them many times.
And always remembered kindly!
All the way he, with anger
Chasing with everyone equally
He did not let the boyars warm the bones,
Don't take off your armor, don't get off your horse.
.....................................................
The sun was rising. Became visible -
German shields are on fire.
Livonians on the walls are insulting
They speak Basurman.
The prince in the battle saddle bent down,
Ran the frozen horse,
Turned to the squad from the fly
And he waved his whip in the air.
On the towers, knowing every ledge,
Hooks, slits and knots
In silence, the first to attack
Pskov regiments rushed.
The prince saw how bearded
Climb up the tower
Pskov, with whom he once
I spoke in Pereyaslavl.
Ontsyfor crawled higher, higher,
He took out the cornice with his hand,
Slowly climbed onto the roof
And the enemy's banner pulled down.
Torn the cloth to shreds,
He threw them away
And, spitting on the palm of your hand,
Pulled a tree from the roof.
Pskov was recaptured. The walls are everywhere
Dead bodies were lying around.
And blood with a knock, as in dishes,
It flowed along the logs to the ground,
And on the wall, calling for revenge,
Still hanging from the teeth,
Swinging in a row in the old place
Five half-rotted dead.
They're in a fight with an intruder
Here they put their belly
And snow and rain cuts their bones,
And the worm gnaws, and the raven vomits.
Let's bury them in earthly darkness
And we will take an eternal oath -
Livonian dogs and their descendants
We won't give up an inch!
Pskov was devastated by fire,
The entrance to the house is littered with snow -
Knights of Christ for a reason
They hosted here for a year.
Prince Alexander settled down
In the upper room where the commander lived.
As you can see, the commander settled down here -
A whip of bull veins was lying around,
The logs were smoldering in the oven,
Forgotten dog dozed in the warmth
And the unfinished stood
Two fryazh goblets on the table.
The commander himself seemed to have sunk into the water
The blizzard closed all the fetters.
In this damn weather
He won't get far.
Under the battle axes
All the rest fell.
Only three were raked alive
And they brought him to Alexander.
They behaved arrogantly
Pretty sure the prince
Let them all go without fail
Flattered by the ransom of the order.
One of them put his foot down
Chewed his lips proudly
He asked the prince in Russian: is it a lot
Would he like to take them?
The prince was genuinely surprised:
Loving the Livonians since childhood,
He himself would rather strangle himself,
Than let them go.
And so that they live, admiring Pskov,
To make the city more visible from above,
Let any tower be chosen
And he will hang them on her.
In the morning, it was still light,
The prince ordered to blow the horns:
The Russian squads did not fit,
Sitting on the stove, waiting for the enemy.
Hurry! Don't let him wake up
Not letting the wounds lick,
Reaching across the border
Punish the beast in the lair.
The air was full of horse snoring,
An iron clinking bit.
To the west, to the Livonian borders,
The prince led the militia.
And, passing under the Pskov tower,
The troops were seen in the sky,
Like the three rulers of yesterday
They hung silently on the wall.
They looked down at the firs
For hundreds of miles of foreign land,
For everything you want to own
But, to their dismay, they couldn't.
..........................................................
Driving spurs into the sides of horses,
Rode away under the thunder of horseshoes
A Livonian and a princeling who
Pskov was verbally sold to them.
Two friends in Riga for help
Hurry through the dense forests
And grimly squabbled all the way,
How to bite dogs.
Clutching the reins in rage,
The Livonian prince reproached:
"Where is Pskov? Where are the Pskov lands,
What in words did you conquer?
Why did you swear to us in vain
That the Russian troops are bad? .. "
And with a fist, red from the cold,
He shook under the prince's nose.

CHAPTER SIX

And byst with that great Nemtsev and
Chudi...
Novgorod First Chronicle
On blue and wet
Chudsky crackling ice
At six thousand seven hundred and fifty
From the creation of the year,
Saturday, April 5th
Raw dawn sometimes
advanced considered
Marching Germans dark system.
On hats - feathers of birds cheerful,
Helmets have pony tails.
Above them on heavy poles
Black crosses swayed.
Squires behind proudly
They carried family shields,
Bear muzzles on them,
Weapons, towers and flowers.
Everything was so damn beautiful
As if these gentlemen
Already broken our strength
Went here to play.
Well, let's bring the shelves to the shelves,
We have had enough embassies, betrayals,
Oshyu us Raven Stone
And at our right hand Uzmen.
Below us is ice, above us is the sky,
Our cities are behind us,
No forest, no land, no bread
Never take you again.
All night, crackling with pitch, they burned
Behind us are red bonfires.
We warmed our hands before the fight,
So that the axes do not slip.
Angle forward, especially from everyone,
Dressed in fur coats, in Armenians,
Stood dark with malice
Pskov foot regiments.
The Germans pestered them with iron,
They stole their children and wives,
Their yard is plundered, cattle is slaughtered,
The crops are trampled down, the house is burned down.
The prince put them in the middle,
To be the first to take the pressure, -
Reliable in the dark
Man's forged ax!
Prince in front of the Russian regiments
He turned the horse from the flight,
With steel-clad hands
Under the clouds angrily poked.
"Let God judge us with the Germans
Without delay here on the ice
We have swords with us, and come what may,
Let's help God's judgment!"
The prince galloped to the coastal rocks,
Climbing on them with difficulty,
He found a high ledge,
From where you can see everything around.
And looked back. Somewhere behind
Between trees and stones
His regiments are in ambush,
Keeping horses on a leash.
And ahead, on the ringing ice floes
Thundering with heavy scales,
The Livonians are riding in a formidable wedge -
Pig iron head.
The first onslaught of the Germans was terrible.
In the Russian infantry corner
Two rows of horse towers
They crashed through.
Like angry lambs in a storm,
Among the German cones
Flashing white shirts
Men's lamb hats.
In washed underwear shirts,
Throwing sheepskin coats on the ground,
They rushed into mortal combat,
Gate wide open.
So it's easier to hit the enemy with a swing,
And when you have to die
It's better to have a clean shirt
Dirty with your own blood.
They are open-eyed
They marched against the Germans with their bare chest,
Cutting fingers to the bone
Bowed spears to the ground.
And where the spears bent down,
They are in desperate slaughter
They cut through the German system
Shoulder to shoulder, back to back.
Ontsyfor made his way deep into the ranks,
With a crumpled neck and rib,
Spinning and jumping, chopped
Large heavy axe.
Seven times his ax was raised,
Armor warped seven times,
Seven times the Livonian bowed
And with a clang collapsed from the horse.
With the eighth, the last by vow,
Ontsyfor became face to face,
When its ninth on the side
Sword struck on the sacrum.
Ontsyfor silently turned around,
With difficulty, he mustered the rest of his strength,
I rushed at the red-haired German
And cut it down with an axe.
They fell to the ground next to
And they fought for a long time.
Ontsyfor with a clouded look
I noticed a gap in his armor.
Peeling the skin from the palm of your hand,
He climbed all five
Where the helmet is German edge
It was loosely linked to the armor.
And, at the last breath.
He is in the fingers, hard and thin,
Deadly squeezed goodbye
Fleshy knight's apple.
Already mixed people, horses,
Swords, axes, axes,
And the prince is still calm
Followed the battle from the mountain.
The face is frozen, as if on purpose,
He fastened his helmet to the bridle
And a hat with a wolf trim
He pulled it over his forehead and ears.
His companions were bored
Horses trampled, the fire smoldered.
The old boyars grumbled:
"Is the prince's sword not sharp?
Not so fought fathers and grandfathers
For your inheritance, for your city.
Rushed into battle, looking for victory,
Risking the prince's head!"
The prince silently listened to the conversations,
Frowning on a horse, he sat;
Today he did not save the city,
Not a fiefdom, not your lot.
Today by the power of the people
He closed the way for the Livonians,
And the one who risked today -
He risked all Russia.
Let the boyars lie together -
He saw everything, he knew for sure
When the ambush regiments need
Give the agreed signal.
And, only after waiting for the Livonians,
Having mixed ranks, they were drawn into battle,
He flashed his sword in the sun.
He led his squad.
Raising swords of Russian steel,
Bending the spear shafts,
They flew out of the forest with a cry
New York regiments.
They flew over the ice with a clang, with thunder,
Leaning towards shaggy manes;
And the first on a huge horse
The prince got into the German system.
And, retreating before the prince,
Throwing spears and shields
The Germans fell from their horses to the ground,
Lifting iron fingers.
The bay horses got excited,
From under the hooves they raised dust,
Bodies dragged through the snow
Stuck in narrow stirrups.
There was a big mess
Iron, blood and water.
In place of the knights
There were bloody footprints.
Some lay choking
In bloody ice water
Others rushed away, crouched,
Cowardly spurring horses.
Under them the horses drowned,
Under them, the ice stood on end,
Their stirrups pulled to the bottom,
The shell did not let them swim.
Brelo under sideways glances
A lot of captured gentlemen,
For the first time with bare heels
Slapping diligently on the ice.
And the prince, barely cooled down from the landfill,
Already watched from under the arm
Like a pitiful remnant of fugitives
He went to the Livonian lands.

CHAPTER SEVEN 1918

The cannonade did not stop.
The city was semi-surrounded
Red Army detachments
It was pierced from three sides.
The Germans, having abandoned the defense,
Covered in murky darkness,
Wagons were hurriedly marked:
"Nah Deitchland" - therefore, home!
Hurry! Not salty sipped
In the mud, in the dust, they walked to the station
From the land where the past year
They have been fruitless.
And yet, it's not so fruitless.
All that we managed and could
They are from Pskov nobly
They were transferred to their fatherland.
They pulled in a crowd, indiscriminately,
Sheets of iron from the roofs of Pskov,
Set of physical instruments
From two city gymnasiums.
From the warehouse - timber,
From the elevator - grain,
From the hospital - blankets,
From the factory - bread wine.
Having finished all the work of the day,
In the evening a detachment came out
And copper door handles
Filmed from all doors in a row.
Now - already at the retreat -
Herr lieutenant with great difficulty
I was able to resist the urge
Also search every house.
He is bitter, like a cat on lard,
I looked at the door, where, as luck would have it,
The copper latch shone,
Polished like glass.
They no longer threatened
Take Petrograd. Vice versa,
loaded with great haste
And departed from the gate.
Horns of the last echelons,
Rows of closed windows
And on the last of the wagons
Last waylight.
Well, good luck! Let them tell
Like the charms of a foreign land
They liked them so much that even
Others lay down to sleep in it!
Remained at the Pskov cemetery
Big gray rock
She sprawled wide
Under the shadow of the Prussian eagle.
And in rank, with a sense of proportion,
Buried around her
Separately non-commissioned officers,
Separately lower ranks.
I'm sorry soldier. They served
Fighting, not knowing for whom,
Disgracefully laid down their heads
Far from the Rhine.
I'm sorry soldier. But once you arrive
Someone else's order to plant -
You have become an enemy. And whoever it is
Mercy you have no right to wait.

CONCLUSION 1937

Now, when at the school desk
"Mein Kampf" students cramming
And Nazi fingers on the cards
Russia is divided into pieces,
We will remind them in order -
First a terrible day when
Seven miles Livonians without looking back
They ran away from the Chudskoye ice.
Then we recall the day of the fall
The last order banners,
When the one who gave away all possessions
The Order was abolished by Russia.
Recall the memorable date
When Berlin trembled,
When from a Russian soldier
The great Frederick fled back.
Remind them by old maps
Places where they found their death
Prussian, together with Bonaparte
Looking for foreign land.
Let us remind you not to forget
Like the November cold
We beat away with bayonets
Them in the eighteenth year.
Let's turn the year by year.
Not once, not twice in seven centuries,
Shining with brand new weapons,
Ranks of foreign regiments were advancing towards us.
But, repeating past experience,
They fled from the Russian fields,
Losing weapons on the way
And not burying the dead.
In our museums we have accumulated
For many battles, for seven centuries
Rows covered with old dust
Foreign standards and badges.
How we already beat them,
Let these gentlemen remember
And now we are stronger than we used to be.
And the hour will be terrible when,
Not forgetting, not forgiving
One move forward
Defending your homeland
An angry people will go.
Someday, meeting with friends,
We will remember in many years
What was cut into the ground by the edges
Violent caterpillar track
That crumpled the bread of a soldier's boot,
That we were facing a war
What was once to the west of us
It was a fascist country.
The day will come when freedom
conquered in battle,
Fascism to shake off the people
We will give our hand.
On that day, under joyful cliques
We will praise the whole country
Liberated and great
The people of Germany are native.
We believe in it, it will be so
Not today, tomorrow the battle will crash,
Not today, tomorrow will wake us up
Bugler with a military pipe.
"And if the great thunder strikes
Over a pack of dogs and executioners,
For us, the sun will be the same
Shine with the fire of your rays."

On April 5, 1242, 770 years ago, the Russian prince Alexander Nevsky on the ice of Lake Peipus defeated the knights of the Livonian Order, not allowing them to carry out the “drang nach osten”.
If it weren’t for the prince, who had little tolerance for foreign cultures and customs, then for 700 years they would have been eating sausages with beer.

Raising swords of Russian steel,
Bending the spear shafts,
They flew out of the forest with a cry
New York regiments.

Leaning towards shaggy manes;
And the first on a huge horse
The prince got into the German system ...

History and reconstruction of the Battle of the Ice. Video - texts - 3D-pictures in assortment.

Konstantin Simonov, poem "Battle on the Ice"

On blue and wet
Chudsky cracked ice
At six thousand seven hundred and fifty
From Creation,

Saturday, April 5th
Raw dawn time
advanced considered
Marching Germans dark system.

On caps are feathers of cheerful birds,
Helmets have pony tails.
Above them on heavy poles
Black crosses swayed.

Squires behind proudly
They carried family shields,
Bear muzzles on them,
Weapons, towers and flowers.

Everything was so damn beautiful
As if these gentlemen
Already broken our strength
Went here to play.

Well, let's bring the shelves to the shelves,
We have had enough embassies, betrayals,
Oshyu us Raven Stone
And at our right hand Uzmen.

Below us is ice, above us is the sky,
Our cities are behind us,
No forest, no land, no bread
Never take you again.

All night, crackling with pitch, they burned
Behind us are red bonfires.
We warmed our hands before the fight,
So that the axes do not slip.

Angle forward, especially from everyone,
Dressed in fur coats, in Armenians,
Stood dark with malice
Pskov foot regiments.

The Germans pestered them with iron,
They stole their children and wives,
Their yard is plundered, cattle is slaughtered,
The crops are trampled down, the house is burned down.

The prince put them in the middle,
To be the first to take the pressure, -
Reliable in the dark
Man's forged ax!

Prince in front of the Russian regiments
He turned the horse around,
With steel-clad hands
Under the clouds angrily poked.

"Let God judge us with the Germans
Without delay here on the ice
We have swords with us, and come what may,
Let's help God's judgment!"

The prince galloped to the coastal rocks,
Climbing on them with difficulty,
He found a high ledge,
From where you can see everything around.

And looked back. Somewhere behind
Between trees and stones
His regiments are in ambush,
Keeping horses on a leash.

And ahead, on the ringing ice floes
Thundering with heavy scales,
The Livonians are riding in a formidable wedge -
Pig iron head.

The first onslaught of the Germans was terrible.
In the Russian infantry corner,
Two rows of horse towers
They crashed through.

Like angry lambs in a storm,
Among the German cones
Flashing white shirts
Men's lamb hats.

In washed underwear shirts,
Throwing sheepskin coats on the ground,
They rushed into mortal combat,
Gate wide open.

So it's easier to hit the enemy with a swing,
And when you have to die
It's better to have a clean shirt
Dirty with your own blood.

They are open-eyed
They marched against the Germans with their bare chest,
Cutting fingers to the bone
Bowed spears to the ground.

And where the spears bent down,
They are in desperate slaughter
They cut through the German system
Shoulder to shoulder, back to back.

Ontsyfor made his way deep into the ranks,
With a crumpled neck and rib,
Spinning and jumping, chopped
Large heavy axe.

Seven times his ax was raised,
Armor warped seven times,
Seven times the Livonian bowed
And with a clang collapsed from the horse.

With the eighth, the last by vow,
Ontsyfror became face to face,
When its ninth on the side
Sword struck on the sacrum.

Ontsyfor silently turned around,
With difficulty, he mustered the rest of his strength,
I rushed at the red-haired German
And cut it down with an axe.

They fell to the ground next to
And they fought for a long time.
Ontsyfor with a clouded look
I noticed a gap in his armor.

Peeling the skin from the palm of your hand,
He climbed all five
Where the helmet is German edge
It was loosely linked to the armor.

And at the last breath
He is in the fingers, hard and thin,
Deadly squeezed goodbye
Fleshy knight's apple.

Already mixed people, horses,
Swords, axes, axes,
And the prince is still calm
Watching the battle from the mountain.

The face is frozen, as if on purpose,
He fastened his helmet to the bridle
And a hat with a wolf trim
He pulled it over his forehead and ears.

His companions were bored
Horses trampled, the fire smoldered.
The old boyars grumbled:
"Is the prince's sword not sharp?

Not so fought fathers and grandfathers
For your inheritance, for your city,
Rushed into battle, looking for victory,
Risking the prince's head!

The prince silently listened to the conversations,
Frowning on a horse, he sat;
Today he did not save the city,
Not a fiefdom, not your lot.

Today by the power of the people
He closed the way for the Livonians,
And the one who risked today -
He risked all Russia.

Let the boyars lie together -
He saw everything, he knew for sure
When the ambush regiments need
Give the agreed signal.

And, only after waiting for the Livonians,
Having mixed ranks, they were drawn into battle,
He, blazing with a sword in the sun,
He led his squad.

Raising swords of Russian steel,
Bending the spear shafts,
They flew out of the forest with a cry
New York regiments.

They flew over the ice with a clang, with thunder,
Leaning towards shaggy manes;
And the first on a huge horse
The prince got into the German system.

And, retreating before the prince,
Throwing spears and shields
The Germans fell from their horses to the ground,
Lifting iron fingers.

The bay horses got excited,
Ashes rose from under the hooves,
Bodies dragged through the snow
Stuck in narrow stirrups.

There was a big mess
Iron, blood and water.
In place of the knights
There were bloody footprints.

Some lay choking
In bloody ice water
Others rushed away, crouched,
Cowardly spurring horses.

Under them the horses drowned,
Under them, the ice stood on end,
Their stirrups pulled to the bottom,
The shell did not let them swim.

Brelo under sideways glances
A lot of captured gentlemen,
For the first time with bare heels
Slapping diligently on the ice.

And the prince, barely cooled down from the landfill,
Already watched from under the arm
Like a pitiful remnant of fugitives
He went to the Livonian lands.

Excerpt and Poems "Battle on the Ice"

Konstantin Simonov

Saturday, April 5th
Raw dawn time
advanced considered
Marching Germans dark system.

On caps are feathers of cheerful birds,
Helmets have pony tails.
Above them on heavy poles
Black crosses swayed.

Squires behind proudly
They carried family shields,
Bear muzzles on them,
Weapons, towers and flowers.

Everything was so damn beautiful
As if these gentlemen
Already broken our strength
Went here to play.

Well, let's bring the shelves to the shelves,
We have had enough embassies, betrayals,
Oshyu us Raven Stone
And at our right hand Uzmen.

Below us is ice, above us is the sky,
Our cities are behind us,
No forest, no land, no bread
Never take you again.

All night, crackling with pitch, they burned
Behind us are red bonfires.
We warmed our hands before the fight,
So that the axes do not slip.

Angle forward, especially from everyone,
Dressed in fur coats, in Armenians,
Stood dark with malice
Pskov foot regiments.

The Germans pestered them with iron,
They stole their children and wives,
Their yard is plundered, cattle is slaughtered,
The crops are trampled down, the house is burned down.

The prince put them in the middle,
To be the first to take the pressure, -
Reliable in the dark
Man's forged ax!

Prince in front of the Russian regiments
He turned the horse around,
With steel-clad hands
Under the clouds angrily poked.

"Let God judge us with the Germans
Without delay here on the ice
We have swords with us, and come what may,
Let's help God's judgment!"

The prince galloped to the coastal rocks,
Climbing on them with difficulty,
He found a high ledge,
From where you can see everything around.

And looked back. Somewhere behind
Between trees and stones
His regiments are in ambush,
Keeping horses on a leash.

And ahead, on the ringing ice floes
Thundering with heavy scales,
The Livonians are riding in a formidable wedge -
Pig iron head.

The first onslaught of the Germans was terrible.
In the Russian infantry corner,
Two rows of horse towers
They crashed through.

Like angry lambs in a storm,
Among the German cones
Flashing white shirts
Men's lamb hats.

In washed underwear shirts,
Throwing sheepskin coats on the ground,
They rushed into mortal combat,
Gate wide open.

So it's easier to hit the enemy with a swing,
And when you have to die
It's better to have a clean shirt
Dirty with your own blood.

They are open-eyed
They marched against the Germans with their bare chest,
Cutting fingers to the bone
Bowed spears to the ground.

And where the spears bent down,
They are in desperate slaughter
They cut through the German system
Shoulder to shoulder, back to back.

Ontsyfor made his way deep into the ranks,
With a crumpled neck and rib,
Spinning and jumping, chopped
Large heavy axe.

Seven times his ax was raised,
Armor warped seven times,
Seven times the Livonian bowed
And with a clang collapsed from the horse.

With the eighth, the last by vow,
Ontsyfror became face to face,
When its ninth on the side
Sword struck on the sacrum.

Ontsyfor silently turned around,
With difficulty, he mustered the rest of his strength,
I rushed at the red-haired German
And cut it down with an axe.

They fell to the ground next to
And they fought for a long time.
Ontsyfor with a clouded look
I noticed a gap in his armor.

Peeling the skin from the palm of your hand,
He climbed all five
Where the helmet is German edge
It was loosely linked to the armor.

And at the last breath
He is in the fingers, hard and thin,
Deadly squeezed goodbye
Fleshy knight's apple.

Already mixed people, horses,
Swords, axes, axes,
And the prince is still calm
Watching the battle from the mountain.

The face is frozen, as if on purpose,
He fastened his helmet to the bridle
And a hat with a wolf trim
He pulled it over his forehead and ears.

His companions were bored
Horses trampled, the fire smoldered.
The old boyars grumbled:
"Is the prince's sword not sharp?

Not so fought fathers and grandfathers
For your inheritance, for your city,
Rushed into battle, looking for victory,
Risking the prince's head!"

The prince silently listened to the conversations,
Frowning on a horse, he sat;
Today he did not save the city,
Not a fiefdom, not your lot.

Today by the power of the people
He closed the way for the Livonians,
And the one who risked today -
He risked all Russia.

Let the boyars lie together -
He saw everything, he knew for sure
When the ambush regiments need
Give the agreed signal.

And, only after waiting for the Livonians,
Having mixed ranks, they were drawn into battle,
He, blazing with a sword in the sun,
He led his squad.

Raising swords of Russian steel,
Bending the spear shafts,
They flew out of the forest with a cry
New York regiments.

They flew over the ice with a clang, with thunder,
Leaning towards shaggy manes;
And the first on a huge horse
The prince got into the German system.

And, retreating before the prince,
Throwing spears and shields
The Germans fell from their horses to the ground,
Lifting iron fingers.

The bay horses got excited,
Ashes rose from under the hooves,
Bodies dragged through the snow
Stuck in narrow stirrups.

There was a big mess
Iron, blood and water.
In place of the knights
There were bloody footprints.

Some lay choking
In bloody ice water
Others rushed away, crouched,
Cowardly spurring horses.

Under them the horses drowned,
Under them, the ice stood on end,
Their stirrups pulled to the bottom,
The shell did not let them swim.

Brelo under sideways glances
A lot of captured gentlemen,
For the first time with bare heels
Slapping diligently on the ice.

And the prince, barely cooled down from the landfill,
Already watched from under the arm
Like a pitiful remnant of fugitives
He went to the Livonian lands.