Pictured: A written prayer Marshal V. I. Chuikov carried with him, given to him by his mother before the Battle for Stalingrad. It reads, "O Powerful One, the one who turns night into day and makes rough soil into a garden of flowers, make light work what is hard for me, and help me."
As a believer and a person of faith, my worldview is shaped by Christianity. When I encounter others who share this faith, there is an instant connection and understanding. Researching Marshal Chuikov’s life and work has been a fascinating study and learning about his deep personal faith inspires me. His mother Elizaveta Fyodorovna was a devout Christian with a strong influence, and her prayers of protection for him and his brothers did not go unanswered.
Before Vasily Ivanovich headed to Stalingrad, his faithful mother met with him and gave him a meaningful gift. In 2008, Marshal Chuikov’s son Alexander Vasilievich shared the following anecdote:
“In early 1942, returning from China, my father found himself near Tula not far from his native Silver Ponds. There he formed an army to be sent to the Stalingrad region and visited his parents' house several times. Before leaving for the front, he received a blessing from his mother—a prayer and a pectoral cross. Was the prayer found after his death the one recorded in 1942? Who knows… But when in 2006 a new school was built in Silver Ponds and named after V. I. Chuikov, a bronze monument was erected at the façade. Vasily Ivanovich sits in the uniform of a lieutenant general with the Orders of the Red Banner and Red Star on his chest and an Orthodox cross in hand. The officials saw a discrepancy here, but the fellow countrymen who knew Chuikov unanimously confirmed: ‘It was so!’ And we all believe that the prayer found in his [communist] party card is the one received from his mother before being sent to Stalingrad.”
Later during a harrowing experience in the liberation of Ukraine, Vasily Ivanovich recognized God's clear protection as saving him from certain death. His son related the following in 2012:
“At the headquarters of the army, a commotion had already begun: the commander had disappeared! And [my] father gave a clear-text radiogram with his coordinates. The Germans intercepted it and immediately threw three flights of attack aircraft on this house - nine planes! And they wrapped up such a ‘carousel’!
There was not a single chance to survive under this shelling. My father told me how he jumped out of the hut, and there was a field around, and there was nowhere to hide! ‘I,’ he recalled, ‘leaned against the wall and did not even bend over.’ So he stood while this raid lasted. ‘When the stormtroopers finally flew away, I turned around: the wall was actually not there - it was all like a sieve. And on me - not a scratch! And I understood that God saved me. I wanted to cross myself, but my hands were cramped from tension - I [could not] unclench my fist. I tried to fold my fingers into the sign of the cross - it didn’t work.’ So he crossed himself with his fist. Since then, it [was] a habit for my father to cross with his fist.”