A "son of the regiment" wearing the Red Star for bravery, surrounded by his admirers. Sons of the regiment were orphans adopted by Soviet regiments, and were looked after like the soldiers own sons. They lived with the soldiers and fought alongside them in front-line actions. After the war, they found it difficult to adjust to civilian life, the company of other children and to children's activities.
Ding ! OMG the Russian lad in "Cross Of Iron" that befriends Steiner was one of these kids!!! Great post, and Sam Peckinpah was a genius.
Yes the film Cross of Iron is where the young boy is seen running for the food, but it is sad that after the war these boys had no life? While the war was going on they were happy it seems sort of never wanting it to end as this was all that they lived for. Very nice picture, you can see all the people around the boy ary very proud.
It could be my imagination and I'll have to look at the film again but the kid in the photo looks almost identically dressed to the lad in the film. Good points Stalin it was the only thing they new I suppose. Further though I suppose it's hardly surprising they could not cope with life in the playground when it was all over. After all, many hundreds of thousands of grown men from all sides similarly cracked under the weight of all they had seen.