How Soviet cavalrymen fought for… the TSAR!

It happened in September 1941. One of the Soviet cavalry divisions was armed with sabers from the Russian Imperial Army, bearing the inscription: "For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland"

Such inscriptions were usually etched out, but with this batch, an error was made. The scandal was immediately reported to Stalin, who summoned General Nikolai Yakovlev, head of the ‘Glavnogo artilleriyskogo upravleniya’ (‘Main Artillery Directorate’; ‘GAU’), as it was in his warehouse that the blades were stored.

"After summoning me, Stalin asked what kind of sabers these were. I reported that they were combat sabers. But, of course, as head of the GAU, I am to blame, since the artillery depot that issued them did not remove the inscription. Apparently, there simply wasn't time," Yakovlev recalled.

At the meeting, Stalin chuckled and asked if these sabers could be used to cut down the enemy. The general responded affirmatively. "Well, let them chop down 'For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland', it's no big deal," concluded the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, waving his hand away.