Who wrote about the war authors. Works about the Great Patriotic War

Many decades distance us from the terrible events of 1941-45, but the topic of human suffering during the Great Patriotic War will never lose its relevance. This must always be remembered so that such a tragedy never happens again.

A special role in preservation belongs to the writers, who, together with the people, experienced the horror of wartime and managed to truly reflect it in their works. The masters of the word completely crossed out the well-known words: "When the guns speak, the muses are silent."

Works of literature about the war: main periods, genres, heroes

The terrible news of June 22, 1941, echoed with pain in the hearts of all Soviet people, and writers and poets were the first to respond to it. For more than two decades, the topic of war has become one of the main topics in Soviet literature.

The first works on the theme of the war were imbued with pain for the fate of the country and filled with determination to defend freedom. Many writers immediately went to the front as correspondents and chronicled events from there, creating their works in hot pursuit. At first, these were operational, short genres: poems, stories, journalistic essays and articles. They were eagerly awaited and re-read both in the rear and at the front.

Over time, works about the war became more voluminous, these were already stories, plays, novels, the heroes of which were strong-willed people: ordinary soldiers and officers, workers of fields and factories. After the Victory, a rethinking of the experience begins: the authors of chronicles tried to convey the scale of the historical tragedy.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, works on the topic of war were written by “younger” front-line writers who had been on the front lines and gone through all the hardships of a soldier's life. At this time, the so-called "lieutenant's prose" appears about the fate of yesterday's boys, who suddenly found themselves in the face of death.

“Get up, the country is huge…”

Perhaps, in Russia one cannot find a person who would not recognize the invocative words and melody of the "Holy War". This song was the first response to the terrible news and became the anthem of the warring people for all four years. Already on the third day of the war, poems were heard on the radio. A week later, they were already performed to the music of A. Aleksandrov. To the sounds of this song, filled with extraordinary patriotism and as if torn from the soul of the Russian people, the first echelons went to the front. In one of them there was another famous poet - A. Surkov. It is to him that the no less famous "Song of the Bold" and "In the Dugout" belong.

The poets K. Simonov (“Do you remember, Alyosha, the roads of the Smolensk region ...”, “Wait for me”), Y. Drunina (“Zinka”, “And where does the strength suddenly come from ...”), A. Tvardovsky (“I was killed under Rzhev") and many others. Their works about the war are imbued with the pain of the people, anxiety for the fate of the country and unshakable faith in victory. And also warm memories of the home and loved ones left there, faith in happiness and in the power of love, capable of creating a miracle. The soldiers knew their poems by heart and recited (or sang) in the short minutes between battles. It gave hope and helped to survive in inhuman conditions.

"Book of a Fighter"

A special place among the works created during the war years is occupied by A. Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin".

She is a direct evidence of everything that a simple Russian soldier had to endure.

The protagonist is a collective image in which all the best qualities of a Soviet soldier are embodied: courage and courage, readiness to stand to the end, fearlessness, humanity and at the same time an extraordinary cheerfulness that persists even in the face of death. The author himself went through the entire war as a correspondent, so he knew well what people saw and felt in the war. The works of Tvardovsky determine the "measure of the personality", as the poet himself said, her spiritual world, which cannot be broken in the most difficult situations.

"It's us, Lord!" - confession of a former prisoner of war

He fought at the front and was in captivity Experienced in the camps and became the basis of the story, which began in 1943. The main character, Sergey Kostrov, tells about the real torments of hell, through which he and his comrades who were captured by the Nazis had to go through (it is no coincidence that one of the camps was called "Death Valley"). People who are exhausted physically and spiritually, but who have not lost their faith and humanity even in the most terrible moments of their lives, appear on the pages of the work.

A lot was written about the war, but few writers in the conditions of the totalitarian regime spoke specifically about the fate of prisoners of war. K. Vorobyov managed to get out of the trials prepared for him with a clear conscience, faith in justice and boundless love for the Motherland. The same qualities are endowed with his heroes. And although the story was not completed, V. Astafiev rightly noted that even in this form it should stand "on the same shelf with the classics."

“In war, you get to know people for real…”

The story “In the trenches of Stalingrad” by front-line writer V. Nekrasov also became a real sensation. Published in 1946, it impressed many with its extraordinary realism in depicting the war. For former soldiers, this became a memory of the terrible, unveiled events that they had to endure. Those who had not been to the front re-read the story and were amazed at the frankness with which they told about the terrible battles for Stalingrad in 1942. The main thing that the author of the work about the war of 1941-1945 noted was that it exposed the true feelings of people and showed their real value.

The strength of the Russian character is a step towards victory

12 years after the great victory, a story by M. Sholokhov came out. Its name - "The Fate of a Man" - is symbolic: before us is the life of an ordinary driver full of trials and inhuman suffering. From the very first days of the war, A. Sokolov finds himself at war. For 4 years he went through the torments of captivity, more than once went to the verge of death. All his actions are evidence of unshakable love for the Motherland, stamina. Returning home, he saw only the ashes - this is all that remains of his home and family. But here, too, the hero was able to resist the blow: little Vanyusha, whom he sheltered, breathed life into him and gave him hope. So caring for the orphan boy dulled the pain of his own grief.

The story "The Fate of a Man", like other works about the war, showed the true strength and beauty of the Russian people, the ability to resist any obstacles.

Is it easy to be human

V. Kondratiev is a front-line writer. His story "Sasha", published in 1979, is from the so-called lieutenant's prose. It shows without embellishment the life of a simple soldier who found himself in hot battles near Rzhev. Despite the fact that this is still quite a youth - only two months at the front, he was able to remain a man and not lose his dignity. Overcoming the fear of imminent death, dreaming of getting out of the hell in which he found himself, he does not think about himself for a minute when it comes to the lives of other people. His humanism is manifested even in relation to an unarmed captured German, whom his conscience does not allow him to shoot. Artistic works about the war, like "Sashka", tell about simple and brave guys who did hard work in the trenches and in difficult relationships with others and thus decided the fate of their own and the whole people in this bloody war.

Remember to live...

Many poets and writers did not return from the battlefields. Others went through the whole war side by side with the soldiers. They were witnesses of how people behave in a critical situation. Some resign themselves or use any means to survive. Others are ready to die, but not to lose their self-respect.

The works about the war of 1941-1945 are a comprehension of everything seen, an attempt to show the courage and heroism of the people who stood up to defend their Fatherland, a reminder to all living things of the suffering and destruction that the struggle for power and world domination brings.

A huge number of works are devoted to the military theme. Many of them depict real people and authentic historical events. These books are imbued with a special tragedy, and do not allow the reader to forget about the heroic deeds of people who found themselves at the front and faced death face to face. The best books about the war, the list of which is located below, have gained immense popularity among readers and have become public domain.

A story about a real person

"A Tale of a Real Man" opens the list of the best military works. The author of the book, Boris Polevoy, saw all the horrors of the war throughout the entire period of battles during the Second World War. The writer was a correspondent for the Pravda newspaper, so he visited many fronts. The story is based on real events that took place in the life of the Soviet pilot Alexei Maresyev. As a result of hostilities, the main character was seriously injured, because of which the pilot had to amputate both legs. Despite this, Alexei did not lose heart and found the strength to return to the ranks of the pilots and perform many heroic deeds.

Live until dawn

"Survive Until Dawn" included in the list of the best books of military subjects. Its author is the Belarusian writer Vasil Bykov, for which he was awarded the honorary State Prize of the USSR. The main character of the story is Lieutenant Igor Ivanovsky. He has to complete a difficult task: to blow up the German base with ammunition. Things don't go according to plan and the operation fails. However, the fighter does not give up. Being seriously wounded, he undermines himself so that the enemy suffers losses.

Not on the list

"Not listed" is one of the best books about the war, which belongs to Boris Vasiliev. The actions of the book take place at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War and are directly related to the siege of the Brest Fortress by the Germans. Just before the start of hostilities, the main character Nikolai Pluzhnikov gets into it. There he meets a girl named Mirra, with whom he begins an affair. A stubborn confrontation between the protagonist of the fascist army begins, which will last for nine months. Pluzhnikov makes attempts to rescue his beloved, who turns out to be pregnant from this hell, but she is killed. Despite everything, Nikolai continues to wage a desperate struggle against the German soldiers.

War has no woman's face

"War is not a woman's face"- a book about the war, written by Svetlana Aleksievich. Historical events during the Second World War are shown through the eyes of a woman. The author of the book is trying to convey that a woman and war are completely incompatible. A woman is created to give life, and war is to take it away. The novel includes stories of real front-line soldiers. For a long time the book was not published, as Aleksievich was accused of debunking the image of a Soviet female hero. When published, the book gained immense popularity primarily among the female half of the readers.

Cursed and killed

"Cursed and Killed" deserves the title of the best work about the war. The book was written by former front-line soldier Viktor Astafiev, who volunteered for the front. The author shares his own impressions and expresses his own opinion in relation to the war. He describes in detail the historical events that took place in those terrible years. Astafiev shows the brutal bloody reality without embellishment and hints that he sees absolutely no point in a war during which millions of people had to suffer.

Living and dead

"Alive and Dead"- one of the most significant works about the war written by the Russian writer Konstantin Simonov. The book is an epic novel, which includes three parts. The first part is nothing more than a reproduction of the personal front-line diary of the author, who, as a correspondent, visited many fronts and saw the fighting live. In the book, the writer reproduces events from the very beginning of the war to its end. The author shows the fierce struggle of the Russian people against the Nazis.

And the dawns here are quiet

"And the dawns here are quiet"- Boris Vasiliev's book about the war, included in the list of the best. The plot is based on a real story related to the events of the Great Patriotic War. Several soldiers perform a heroic deed, stopping the enemy, who was about to blow up the Kirov railway. During the operation, all soldiers die. Only the commander can escape. To give the greatest tragedy, the author decided to replace male images with female ones. The prototypes of the work are also real girls with whom Vasiliev studied at the same school.

Hot Snow

"Hot Snow"- the best novel about the war by Yuri Bondarev. The action in the work takes place near Stalingrad in 1942. The author based the book on real events that took place during the Great Patriotic War. The German group is trying to release the army of Paulus, surrounded on all sides. The main characters of the work are two lieutenants who command artillery platoons. A far from simple relationship develops between them due to different views on life and characters. One of them, named Drozdovsky, dreams of becoming a hero, but in the end, another lieutenant Kuznetsov becomes him. Most of the events of the book are described against the backdrop of hostilities.

Battalions ask for fire

"Battalions ask for fire"- one of the best works of military subjects, written by Yuri Bondarev. In the center of the plot are two battalions that were supposed to cross the Dnieper in order to divert enemy forces. The commanders were ordered to fortify the bridgehead and start a fight. After that, artillery was supposed to bring down fire on the enemy, but this did not happen. In the course of the unfolding events, the higher leadership gives a new order, and two battalions remain trapped by the enemy, doomed to certain death. All that remains for them is to hope that help will come and fight to the last.

All Quiet on the Western Front

"All Quiet on the Western Front" included in the list of the best books about the war. The novel belongs to the famous German writer Erich Maria Remarque. This is a work about the cruel reality that the soldiers had to face, who just yesterday were carefree boys. The author describes the fate of the "lost generation", which were disfigured by the war, could not adapt and find a use in civilian life. The protagonist of the anti-war novel is a young soldier named Paul Boyer, on whose behalf the story is being told. The work covers a four-year time period (1914-1918), when Germany was fighting against several states at once, including Russia, America, etc.

Great battles and the fate of ordinary heroes are described in many works of fiction, but there are books that cannot be passed by and that must not be forgotten. They make the reader think about the present and the past, about life and death, about peace and war. AiF.ru has prepared a list of ten books dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War, which are worth re-reading during the holidays.

“The Dawns Here Are Quiet…” Boris Vasiliev

“The Dawns Here Are Quiet…” is a warning book that makes you answer the question: “What am I ready for for the sake of my Motherland?”. The plot of Boris Vasiliev's story is based on a truly accomplished feat during the Great Patriotic War: seven selfless soldiers prevented a German sabotage group from blowing up the Kirov railway, which was used to deliver equipment and troops to Murmansk. After the battle, only one commander of the group survived. Already while working on the work, the author decided to replace the images of the fighters with female ones in order to make the story more dramatic. The result is a book about female heroes that amaze readers with the veracity of the story. The prototypes of five female volunteers entering into an unequal battle with a group of fascist saboteurs were peers at the school of a writer-front-line soldier, and they also have the features of radio operators, nurses, intelligence officers whom Vasiliev met during the war years.

"The Living and the Dead" Konstantin Simonov

Konstantin Simonov is better known to a wide range of readers as a poet. His poem “Wait for me” is known and remembered by heart not only by veterans. However, the veteran's prose is in no way inferior to his poetry. One of the writer's most powerful novels is the epic The Living and the Dead, which consists of the books The Living and the Dead, Soldiers Are Not Born, and Last Summer. This is not just a novel about the war: the first part of the trilogy practically reproduces the personal front-line diary of the writer, who, as a correspondent, visited all fronts, passed through the lands of Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland and Germany, and witnessed the last battles for Berlin. On the pages of the book, the author recreates the struggle of the Soviet people against the fascist invaders from the very first months of the terrible war to the famous "last summer". Simonovsky's unique look, the talent of a poet and publicist - all this made The Living and the Dead one of the best works of art in its genre.

"The Fate of Man" Mikhail Sholokhov

The story "The Fate of a Man" is based on a real story that happened to the author. In 1946, Mikhail Sholokhov accidentally met a former soldier who told the writer about his life. The fate of the man so impressed Sholokhov that he decided to capture it on the pages of the book. In the story, the author introduces the reader to Andrei Sokolov, who managed to maintain his fortitude, despite difficult trials: injury, captivity, escape, family death and, finally, the death of his son on the happiest day, May 9, 1945. After the war, the hero finds the strength to start a new life and give hope to another person - he adopts an orphaned boy, Vanya. In The Fate of a Man, a personal story against the backdrop of terrible events shows the fate of an entire people and the firmness of the Russian character, which can be called a symbol of the victory of Soviet troops over the Nazis.

"Cursed and Killed" Victor Astafiev

Viktor Astafiev volunteered for the front in 1942, was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the medal "For Courage". But in the novel "Cursed and Killed" the author does not sing of the events of the war, he speaks of it as a "crime against reason". On the basis of personal impressions, the front-line writer described the historical events in the USSR that preceded the Great Patriotic War, the process of preparing reinforcements, the life of soldiers and officers, their relationship with themselves and their commanders, and military operations. Astafiev reveals all the filth and horrors of the terrible years, thereby showing that he sees no point in the huge human sacrifices that fell to the lot of people during the terrible war years.

"Vasily Terkin" Alexander Tvardovsky

Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin" received national recognition back in 1942, when its first chapters were published in the Western Front's newspaper Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda. The soldiers immediately recognized the protagonist of the work as a role model. Vasily Terkin is an ordinary Russian guy who sincerely loves his Motherland and his people, perceives any hardships of life with humor and finds a way out of even the most difficult situation. Someone saw in him a comrade in the trench, someone an old friend, and someone guessed himself in his features. The image of the national hero was so fond of the readers that even after the war they did not want to part with it. That is why a huge number of imitations and "sequels" of "Vasily Terkin" were written, created by other authors.

"War has no woman's face" Svetlana Aleksievich

“War does not have a woman’s face” is one of the most famous books about the Great Patriotic War, where the war is shown through the eyes of a woman. The novel was written in 1983, but was not published for a long time, as its author was accused of pacifism, naturalism, and debunking the heroic image of a Soviet woman. However, Svetlana Aleksievich wrote about something completely different: she showed that girls and war are incompatible concepts, if only because a woman gives life, while any war kills first of all. In her novel, Aleksievich collected the stories of front-line soldiers to show what they were like, girls of the forty-first year, and how they went to the front. The author led the readers along the terrible, cruel, unfeminine path of war.

"The Tale of a Real Man" Boris Polevoy

"The Tale of a Real Man" was created by a writer who went through the entire Great Patriotic War as a correspondent for the Pravda newspaper. During these terrible years, he managed to visit partisan detachments behind enemy lines, participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, in the battle on the Kursk Bulge. But the world fame Polevoy brought not military reports, but a work of art written on the basis of documentary materials. The prototype of the hero of his "Tale of a Real Man" was the Soviet pilot Alexei Maresyev, who was shot down in 1942 during the offensive operation of the Red Army. The fighter lost both legs, but found the strength to return to the ranks of active pilots and destroyed many more Nazi aircraft. The work was written in the difficult post-war years and immediately fell in love with the reader, because it proved that there is always a place for a feat in life.

It became the most bloody in the history of mankind and lasted almost 4 years, was reflected in the heart of everyone as a cruel tragedy that claimed the lives of millions of people.

People of the Pen: The Truth About War

Despite the growing temporal distance between those distant events, interest in the topic of war is constantly growing; The current generation does not remain indifferent to the courage and exploits of Soviet soldiers. A big role in the veracity of the description of the events of the war years was played by the word of writers and poets, apt, uplifting, guiding and inspiring. It was they who, writers and poets-front-line soldiers, having spent their youth on the battlefields, conveyed to the modern generation the history of human destinies and deeds of people on which life sometimes depended. The writers of the bloody wartime truthfully described in their works the atmosphere of the front, the partisan movement, the severity of campaigns and life in the rear, strong soldier friendship, desperate heroism, betrayal and cowardly desertion.

A creative generation born of war

Front-line writers are a separate generation of heroic personalities who have experienced the hardships of the war and post-war period. Some of them died at the front, others lived longer and died, as they say, not from old age, but from old wounds.

The year 1924 was marked by the birth of a whole generation of front-line soldiers known throughout the country: Boris Vasilyev, Viktor Astafyev, Yulia Drunina, Bulat Okudzhava, Vasil Bykov. These front-line writers, whose list is far from complete, faced the war at the moment when they were just 17 years old.

Boris Vasiliev is an extraordinary person

Almost all the boys and girls of the 1920s failed to escape during the terrible wartime. Only 3% survived, among which, miraculously, was Boris Vasiliev.

He could die in the 34th year from typhus, in the 41st surrounded, in the 43rd from a mine stretch. The boy went to the front as a volunteer, went through the cavalry and machine-gun regimental schools, fought in the airborne regiment, studied at the Military Academy. In the post-war period, he worked in the Urals as a tester of tracked and wheeled vehicles. He was demobilized with the rank of engineer-captain in 1954; the reason for demobilization is the desire to engage in literary activities.

The author devoted such works to the military theme as “Not on the lists”, “Tomorrow there was a war”, “Veteran”, “Do not shoot at white swans”. Boris Vasiliev became famous after the publication in 1969 of the story "The Dawns Here Are Quiet ...", staged in 1971 on the stage of the Taganka Theater by Yuri Lyubimov and filmed in 1972. Approximately 20 films were shot according to the writer's scripts, including "Officers", "Tomorrow there was a war", "Aty-bats, there were soldiers ...".

Front-line writers: a biography of Viktor Astafiev

Viktor Astafiev, like many front-line writers of the Great Patriotic War, in his work showed the war as a great tragedy, seen through the eyes of a simple soldier - a man who is the basis of the entire army; it is to him that punishments are given in abundance, and rewards bypass him. This collective, semi-autobiographical image of a front-line soldier who lives the same life with his comrades and has learned to fearlessly look death in the eye, Astafyev largely wrote off from himself and his front-line friends, opposing him to the rear dwellers, who for the most part lived in a relatively non-dangerous front-line zone throughout the entire war. It was for them that he, like other poets and writers of the Great Patriotic War, felt the deepest contempt.

The author of such well-known works as "King Fish", "Cursed and Killed", "Last Bow" for his alleged commitment to the West and a penchant for chauvinism, which critics saw in his works, in his declining years was left to the mercy of fate by the state, for who fought and sent to die in his native village. It was precisely such a bitter price that Viktor Astafyev had to pay, a man who never refused what was written, for the desire to tell the truth, bitter and sad. The truth, about which writers-front-line soldiers of the Great Patriotic War were not silent in their works; they said that the Russian people, which not only won, but also lost a lot in itself, simultaneously with the influence of fascism, experienced the oppressive influence of the Soviet system and its own internal forces.

Bulat Okudzhava: the sunset turned red a hundred times...

The poems and songs of Bulat Okudzhava (“Prayer”, “Midnight Trolleybus”, “Merry Drummer”, “Song about Soldier's Boots”) are known by the whole country; his stories "Be healthy, schoolboy", "Date with Bonaparte", "Journey of amateurs" are among the best works of Russian prose writers. Famous films - "Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha", "Fidelity", the screenwriter of which he was, were watched by more than one generation, as well as the famous "Belarusian Station", where he acted as a songwriter. The singer's repertoire includes about 200 songs, each of which is filled with its own story.

Bulat Okudzhava, like other front-line writers (photo can be seen above), was a vivid symbol of his time; his concerts were always sold out, despite the lack of posters for his performances. Spectators shared their impressions and brought their friends and acquaintances. The song “We need one victory” from the movie “Belorussky Station” was sung by the whole country.

Bulat met the war at the age of seventeen, leaving after the ninth grade to the front as a volunteer. Private, soldier, mortar, who fought mainly on the North Caucasian front, was wounded from an enemy aircraft, and after being cured, he ended up in the heavy artillery of the High Command. As Bulat Okudzhava said (and his fellow front-line writers agreed with him), everyone was afraid in the war, even those who considered themselves braver than the rest.

War through the eyes of Vasil Bykov

Coming from a Belarusian peasant family, Vasil Bykov went to the front at the age of 18 and fought until the Victory, passing through such countries as Romania, Hungary, Austria. Was wounded twice; after demobilization he lived in Belarus, in the city of Grodno. The main theme of his works was not the war itself (historians, not front-line writers, should write about it), but the possibilities of the human spirit, manifested in such difficult conditions. A person must always remain a person and live according to his conscience, only in this case is the human race able to survive.

Features of Bykov's prose became the reason for accusations by Soviet critics of desecrating the Soviet mode. Widespread harassment was organized in the press, censorship of the release of his works, their prohibition. Due to such persecution and a sharp deterioration in health, the author was forced to leave his homeland and live for some time in the Czech Republic (the country of his sympathies), then in Finland and Germany.

The most famous works of the writer: "Death of a Man", "Crane Cry", "Alpine Ballad", "Kruglyansky Bridge", "The Dead Do Not Hurt". As Chingiz Aitmatov said, Bykov was saved by fate for honest and truthful creativity on behalf of a whole generation. Some works were filmed: "Survive Until Dawn", "Third Rocket".

Writers-front-line soldiers: about the war in a poetic line

The talented girl Yulia Drunina, like many front-line writers, went to the front as a volunteer. In 1943 she was seriously wounded, due to which she was recognized as disabled and retired. This was followed by a return to the front, Yulia fought in the Baltic states and the Pskov region. In 1944, she was again shell-shocked and declared unfit for further service. With the title of foreman and the medal "For Courage", Yulia after the war released a collection of poems "In a soldier's overcoat", dedicated to front-line time. She was accepted into the Writers' Union and forever enrolled in the ranks of front-line poets, referring to the military generation.

Along with the creativity and release of such collections as "Alarm", "You are near", "My friend", "Country - youth", "Trench Star", Yulia Drunina was actively engaged in literary and social work, was awarded prestigious prizes, more than once was elected a member of the editorial boards of central newspapers and magazines, secretary of the board of various writers' unions. Despite universal respect and recognition, Julia devoted herself completely to poetry, describing in verse the role of a woman in the war, her courage and tolerance, as well as the incompatibility of the life-giving feminine principle with murder and destruction.

the fate of man

Front-line writers and their works made a significant contribution to literature, conveying to posterity the veracity of the events of the war years. Perhaps one of our relatives and relatives fought with them shoulder to shoulder and became the prototype of stories or novels.

In 1941, Yuri Bondarev - the future writer - along with his peers participated in the construction of defensive fortifications; after graduating from an infantry school, he fought near Stalingrad as a commander of a mortar crew. Then a concussion, slight frostbite and a wound in the back, which did not become an obstacle to returning to the front, participation in the battle went a long way to Poland and Czechoslovakia. After demobilization, Yuri Bondarev entered them. Gorky, where he happened to get to a creative seminar under the guidance of Konstantin Paustovsky, who instilled in the future writer a love for the great art of the pen and the ability to say his word.

All his life, Yuri remembered the smell of frozen, stone-hard bread and the aroma of cold burns in the steppes of Stalingrad, the icy cold of frost-calcined guns, the metal of which was felt through mittens, the powder stench of spent cartridges and the desert silence of the night starry sky. The work of front-line writers is permeated with the sharpness of the unity of man with the Universe, his helplessness and at the same time incredible strength and perseverance, increasing a hundredfold in the face of terrible danger.

Yuri Bondarev became widely known for his novels The Last Volleys and The Battalions Ask for Fire, which vividly portrayed the reality of wartime. The work "Silence", highly appreciated by critics, was turned to the theme of Stalin's repressions. In the most famous novel, Hot Snow, the theme of the heroism of the Soviet people during the period of their most difficult trials is sharply raised; the author described the last days of the Battle of Stalingrad and the people who defended their homeland and their families from the Nazi invaders. The red line is Stalingrad in all the works of the front-line writer as a symbol of soldier's stamina and courage. Bondarev never embellished the war and showed "little great people" who did their job: they defended their homeland.

During the war, Yuri Bondarev finally realized that a person is born not for hatred, but for love. It was in frontline conditions that the crystal clear commandments of love for the Motherland, fidelity and decency entered the consciousness of the writer. After all, in battle everything is naked, good and evil are distinguishable, and everyone made their own conscious choice. According to Yuri Bondarev, life is given to a person not just like that, but to fulfill a certain mission, and it is important not to waste yourself on trifles, but to educate your own soul, fighting for a free existence and in the name of justice.

The stories and novels of the writer have been translated into more than 70 languages, and over the period from 1958 to 1980, more than 130 works by Yuri Bondarev were published abroad, and the paintings based on them (“Hot Snow”, “Coast”, “Battalions ask for fire”) watched by a huge audience.

The activity of the writer was marked by many public and state awards, including the most important one - universal recognition and reader's love.

"Span of the Earth" Grigory Baklanov

Grigory Baklanov is the author of such works as "July 1941", "It was the month of May ...", "A span of land", "Friends", "I was not killed in the war." During the war he served in a howitzer artillery regiment, then as an officer he commanded a battery and fought on the Southwestern Front until the end of the war, which he describes through the eyes of those who fought on the front line, with its formidable front-line everyday life. Baklanov explains the reasons for the heavy defeats at the initial stage of the war by mass repressions, the atmosphere of general suspicion and fear that prevailed in the pre-war period. A requiem for the young generation ruined by the war, the exorbitant high price for victory, was the story "Forever - nineteen."

In his works dedicated to the peaceful period, Baklanov returns to the fate of the former front-line soldiers, who turned out to be warped by the ruthless totalitarian system. This is especially clearly shown in the story "Karpukhin", where the life of the hero of the work was broken by official heartlessness. According to the scripts of the writer, 8 films were shot; the best film adaptation is "It was the month of May ...".

Military literature - for children

Children's front-line writers have made a significant contribution to literature, writing for teenagers works about their peers - the same as they are, boys and girls who happened to live in wartime.

• A. Mityaev "Sixth incomplete".
• A. Ochkin "Ivan - I, Fedorovs - we."
• S. Alekseev "From Moscow to Berlin".
• L. Kassil "Your defenders."
• A. Gaidar "The Oath of Timur".
• V. Kataev "Son of the Regiment".
• L. Nikolskaya "Must stay alive."

Front-line writers, the list of which is far from complete, conveyed the terrible reality of the war, the tragic fate of people and the courage and heroism they showed in an accessible and understandable language for children. These works instill the spirit of patriotism and love for the motherland, teach to appreciate loved ones and relatives, to protect peace on our planet.

The action of the story takes place in 1945, in the last months of the war, when Andrei Guskov returns to his native village after being wounded and hospitalized - but it just so happened that he returns as a deserter. Andrei simply did not want to die, he fought a lot and saw a lot of deaths. Only Nasten's wife knows about his act, she is now forced to hide her fugitive husband even from her relatives. She visits him from time to time at his hideout and it is soon revealed that she is pregnant. Now she is doomed to shame and torment - in the eyes of the whole village she will become a walking, unfaithful wife. Meanwhile, rumors are spreading that Guskov did not die or go missing, but is hiding, and they are starting to look for him. Rasputin's story about serious spiritual metamorphoses, about the moral and philosophical problems facing the heroes, was first published in 1974.

Boris Vasiliev. "Not listed"

The time of action is the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the place is the Brest Fortress besieged by the German invaders. Along with other Soviet soldiers, there is also Nikolai Pluzhnikov, a 19-year-old new lieutenant, a graduate of a military school, who was assigned to command a platoon. He arrived on the evening of June 21, and in the morning the war begins. Nicholas, who did not have time to be included in the military lists, has every right to leave the fortress and take his bride away from trouble, but he remains to fulfill his civic duty. The fortress, bleeding, losing lives, heroically held out until the spring of 1942, and Pluzhnikov became its last warrior-defender, whose heroism amazed his enemies. The story is dedicated to the memory of all unknown and nameless soldiers.

Vasily Grossman. "Life and Destiny"

The manuscript of the epic was completed by Grossman in 1959, was immediately recognized as anti-Soviet because of the harsh criticism of Stalinism and totalitarianism, and was confiscated in 1961 by the KGB. In our homeland, the book was published only in 1988, and even then with abbreviations. In the center of the novel is the Battle of Stalingrad and the Shaposhnikov family, as well as the fate of their relatives and friends. There are many characters in the novel whose lives are somehow connected with each other. These are the fighters who are directly involved in the battle, and ordinary people who are not at all ready for the troubles of war. All of them manifest themselves in different ways in the conditions of war. The novel turned a lot in the mass ideas about the war and the sacrifices that the people had to make in an effort to win. This is, if you will, a revelation. It is large-scale in scope of events, large-scale in freedom and courage of thought, in true patriotism.

Konstantin Simonov. "Alive and Dead"

The trilogy ("The Living and the Dead", "No Soldiers Are Born", "The Last Summer") chronologically covers the period from the beginning of the war to July 44, and in general - the people's path to the Great Victory. In his epic, Simonov describes the events of the war as if he sees them through the eyes of his main characters Serpilin and Sintsov. The first part of the novel almost completely corresponds to Simonov's personal diary (he served as a war correspondent throughout the war), published under the title "100 Days of War". The second part of the trilogy describes the period of preparation and the Battle of Stalingrad itself - the turning point of the Great Patriotic War. The third part is devoted to our offensive on the Belorussian front. The war tests the heroes of the novel for humanity, honesty and courage. Several generations of readers, including the most biased of them - those who went through the war themselves, recognize this work as a truly unique work, comparable to the high examples of Russian classical literature.

Mikhail Sholokhov. "They fought for their country"

The writer worked on the novel from 1942 to 1969. The first chapters were written in Kazakhstan, where Sholokhov came from the front to the evacuated family. The theme of the novel is incredibly tragic in itself - the retreat of Soviet troops on the Don in the summer of 1942. Responsibility to the party and the people, as it was then understood, could induce to smooth out sharp corners, but Mikhail Sholokhov, as a great writer, openly wrote about insoluble problems, about fatal mistakes, about chaos in front-line deployment, about the absence of a “strong hand” capable of to clean up. The retreating military units, passing through the Cossack villages, felt, of course, not cordiality. It was not at all understanding and mercy that fell to their lot on the part of the inhabitants, but indignation, contempt and anger. And Sholokhov, dragging an ordinary person through the hell of war, showed how his character crystallizes in the process of testing. Shortly before his death, Sholokhov burned the manuscript of the novel, and only separate pieces were published. Whether there is a connection between this fact and the strange version that Andrei Platonov helped Sholokhov write this work at the very beginning is not even important. It is important that there is another great book in Russian literature.

Viktor Astafiev. "Cursed and Killed"

Astafiev worked on this novel in two books (“Devil's Pit” and “Bridgehead”) from 1990 to 1995, but never finished it. The name of the work, which covers two episodes from the Great Patriotic War: the training of recruits near Berdsk and the crossing of the Dnieper and the battle to hold the bridgehead, was given by a line from one of the Old Believer texts - “it was written that everyone who sows confusion, wars and fratricide on earth, will be cursed and killed by God. Viktor Petrovich Astafiev, a man by no means of a courtly nature, in 1942 volunteered to go to the front. What he saw and experienced melted into deep reflections on the war as a "crime against the mind." The action of the novel begins in the reserve regiment's quarantine camp near the Berdsk station. There are recruits Leshka Shestakov, Kolya Ryndin, Ashot Vaskonyan, Petka Musikov and Lekha Buldakov ... they will face hunger and love and reprisals and ... most importantly, they will face war.

Vladimir Bogomolov. "In August 44th"

The novel, published in 1974, is based on real documented events. Even if you have not read this book in any of the fifty languages ​​it has been translated into, then everyone has probably watched the film with the actors Mironov, Baluev and Galkin. But the cinema, believe me, will not replace this polyphonic book, which gives a sharp drive, a sense of danger, a full platoon, and at the same time a sea of ​​information about the "Soviet state and military machine" and about the everyday life of intelligence officers.So, the summer of 1944. Belarus has already been liberated, but somewhere on its territory a group of spies goes on the air, transmitting strategic information to the enemies about Soviet troops preparing a grandiose offensive. A detachment of scouts led by a SMERSH officer was sent in search of spies and a direction-finding radio.Bogomolov is a front-line soldier himself, so he was terribly meticulous in describing the details, and in particular, the work of counterintelligence (the Soviet reader learned a lot from him for the first time). Vladimir Osipovich simply harassed several directors who were trying to film this exciting novel, he “sawed” the then editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda for an inaccuracy in the article, proving that it was he who first spoke about the method of Macedonian shooting. He is an amazing writer, and his book, without the slightest loss of historicity and ideological content, has become a real blockbuster in the best possible way.

Anatoly Kuznetsov. "Babi Yar"

A documentary novel based on childhood memories. Kuznetsov was born in 1929 in Kyiv, and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, his family did not have time to evacuate. And for two years, 1941 - 1943, he saw how the Soviet troops retreated destructively, then, already in occupation, he saw atrocities, nightmares (for example, sausage was made from human flesh) and mass executions in the Nazi concentration camp in Babi Yar. It is terrible to realize, but this “former in the occupation” stigma fell on his whole life. He brought the manuscript of his truthful, uncomfortable, terrible and poignant novel to the journal Yunost during the thaw, in 1965. But there frankness seemed excessive, and the book was redrawn, throwing out some pieces, so to speak, "anti-Soviet", and inserting ideologically verified ones. The very name of the novel Kuznetsov managed to defend by a miracle. Things got to the point that the writer began to fear arrest for anti-Soviet propaganda. Kuznetsov then simply put the sheets in glass jars and buried them in the forest near Tula. In 1969, having gone on a business trip from London, he refused to return to the USSR. He died 10 years later. The full text of Babi Yar was published in 1970.

Vasil Bykov. The stories "The Dead Doesn't Hurt", "Sotnikov", "Alpine Ballad"

In all the stories of the Belarusian writer (and he mostly wrote stories), the action takes place during the war, in which he himself was a participant, and the focus of meaning is the moral choice of a person in a tragic situation. Fear, love, betrayal, sacrifice, nobility and baseness - all this is mixed in different heroes of Bykov. The story "Sotnikov" tells about two partisans who were captured by the police, and how, in the end, one of them, in complete spiritual baseness, hangs the second. Based on this story, Larisa Shepitko made the film "Ascent". In the story "The Dead Doesn't Hurt", a wounded lieutenant is sent to the rear, ordered to escort three captured Germans. Then they stumble upon a German tank unit, and in a skirmish, the lieutenant loses both prisoners and his companion, and he himself is wounded in the leg a second time. Nobody wants to believe his report about the Germans in the rear. In the Alpine Ballad, a Russian prisoner of war Ivan and an Italian Julia escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Pursued by the Germans, exhausted by cold and hunger, Ivan and Julia grow closer. After the war, the Italian lady will write a letter to Ivan's fellow villagers, in which she will tell about the feat of their fellow countryman and about three days of their love.

Daniil Granin and Ales Adamovich. "Blockade book"

The famous book written by Granin in collaboration with Adamovich is called the book of truth. The first time it was published in a magazine in Moscow, it was published as a book in Lenizdat only in 1984, although it was written back in 1977. It was forbidden to publish the Blockade Book in Leningrad as long as the city was led by the first secretary of the regional committee, Romanov. Daniil Granin called the 900 days of the blockade "an epic of human suffering." On the pages of this amazing book, the memories and torments of exhausted people in the besieged city seem to come to life. It is based on the diaries of hundreds of blockade survivors, including the records of the deceased boy Yura Ryabinkin, the historian Knyazev and other people. The book contains blockade photographs and documents from the archives of the city and the Granin fund.

“Tomorrow there was a war” Boris Vasilyev (Publishing house “Eksmo”, 2011) “What a hard year! - Do you know why? Because leap year. The next one will be happy, you'll see! - The next one was one thousand nine hundred and forty-one. A poignant story about how 9-B class students loved, made friends and dreamed in 1940. About how important it is to believe people and be responsible for your words. How shameful to be a coward and a scoundrel. The fact that betrayal and cowardice can cost lives. Honor and mutual assistance. Beautiful, lively, modern teenagers. The boys who shouted "Hurrah" when they learned about the beginning of the war ... And the war was tomorrow, and the boys died in the first days. Short, without drafts and second chances, fast-paced lives. A very necessary book and a film of the same name with an excellent cast, Yuri Kara's graduation work, filmed in 1987.

“The Dawns Here Are Quiet” Boris Vasiliev (Azbuka-classika publishing house, 2012) The story of the fate of five anti-aircraft gunners and their commander Fedot Vaskov, written in 1969 by front-line soldier Boris Vasiliev, brought fame to the author and became a textbook work. The story is based on a real episode, but the author made the main characters as young girls. “Women have the hardest time in war,” recalled Boris Vasiliev. - There were 300 thousand of them at the front! And then no one wrote about them.” Their names became common nouns. Beautiful Zhenya Komelkova, young mother Rita Osyanina, naive and touching Liza Brichkina, orphanage Galya Chetvertak, educated Sonya Gurvich. Twenty-year-old girls, they could live, dream, love, raise children ... The plot of the story is well known thanks to the film of the same name, shot by Stanislav Rostotsky in 1972, and the Russian-Chinese TV series in 2005. You need to read the story in order to feel the atmosphere of the time and touch the bright female characters and their fragile destinies.

"Babi Yar" Anatoly Kuznetsov (Publishing house "Scriptorium 2003", 2009) In 2009, a monument dedicated to the writer Anatoly Kuznetsov was opened in Kyiv at the intersection of Frunze and Petropavlovskaya streets. A bronze sculpture of a boy reading a German decree ordering all Jews of Kyiv to appear on September 29, 1941 with documents, money and valuables ... In 1941, Anatoly was 12 years old. His family did not have time to evacuate, and for two years Kuznetsov lived in the occupied city. "Babi Yar" was written according to childhood memories. The retreat of the Soviet troops, the first days of the occupation, the explosion of Khreshchatyk and the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, executions in Babi Yar, desperate attempts to feed themselves, sausage from human flesh, which was speculated on the market, Kiev Dynamo, Ukrainian nationalists, Vlasovites - nothing escaped the eyes of the nimble teenager. A contrasting combination of childish, almost everyday perception and terrible events that defy logic. In an abridged form, the novel was published in 1965 in the journal Youth, the full version was first published in London five years later. After 30 years of the author's death, the novel was translated into Ukrainian.

"Alpine Ballad" Vasil Bykov (Publishing House "Eksmo", 2010) You can recommend any story of the front-line writer Vasil Bykov: "Sotnikov", "Obelisk", "The Dead Doesn't Hurt", "Wolf Pack", "Go and not return" - more than 50 works by the national writer of Belarus, but the Alpine Ballad deserves special attention. A Russian prisoner of war, Ivan, and an Italian, Giulia, escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Among the harsh mountains and alpine meadows, pursued by the Germans, exhausted by cold and hunger, Ivan and Julia draw closer. After the war, the Italian lady will write a letter to Ivan's fellow villagers, in which she will tell about the feat of their fellow countryman, about three days of love that lit up the darkness and fear of war with lightning. From Bykov’s memoirs “The Long Way Home”: “I foresee a sacramental question about fear: was he afraid? Of course, he was afraid, and maybe sometimes he was a coward. But there are many fears in war, and they are all different. Fear of the Germans - that they could be taken prisoner, shot; fear due to fire, especially artillery or bombing. If an explosion is nearby, it seems that the body itself, without the participation of the mind, is ready to be torn to pieces from wild torment. But there was also fear that came from behind - from the authorities, from all those punitive organs, of which there were no less in the war than in peacetime. Even more".

“Not on the lists” Boris Vasiliev (Azbuka publishing house, 2010) Based on the story, the film “I am a Russian soldier” was shot. Tribute to the memory of all unknown and nameless soldiers. The hero of the story, Nikolai Pluzhnikov, arrived at the Brest Fortress on the evening before the war. In the morning the battle begins, and they do not have time to add Nikolai to the lists. Formally, he is a free man and can leave the fortress with his girlfriend. As a free man, he decides to fulfill his civic duty. Nikolai Pluzhnikov became the last defender of the Brest Fortress. Nine months later, on April 12, 1942, he ran out of ammunition and went upstairs: “The fortress didn’t fall: it just bled out. I am her last drop.

"Brest Fortress" Sergei Smirnov (publishing house "Soviet Russia", 1990) Thanks to the writer and historian Sergei Smirnov, the memory of many defenders of the Brest Fortress has been restored. For the first time, the defense of Brest became known in 1942, from a German headquarters report captured with documents from the defeated unit. The Brest Fortress, as far as possible, is a documentary story, and it quite realistically describes the mentality of the Soviet people. Readiness for a feat, mutual assistance (not with words, but by giving the last sip of water), putting one's own interests below the interests of the collective, defending the Motherland at the cost of one's life - these are the qualities of a Soviet person. In the Brest Fortress, Smirnov restored the biographies of the people who were the first to take the German blow, were cut off from the whole world and continued their heroic resistance. He returned to the dead their honest names and the gratitude of their descendants.

"Madonna with ration bread" Maria Glushko (publishing house "Goskomizdat", 1990) One of the few works that tells about the life of women in the war. Not heroic pilots and nurses, but those who worked in the rear, starved, raised children, gave "everything for the front, everything for victory", received funerals, restored the country to ruin. Largely autobiographical and last (1988) novel by the Crimean writer Maria Glushko. Her heroines, morally pure, courageous, thinking, are always an example to follow. Like the author, a sincere, honest and kind person. The heroine of Madonna is 19-year-old Nina. The husband leaves for the war, and Nina, in the last months of her pregnancy, is evacuated to Tashkent. From a prosperous wealthy family to the very thick of human misfortune. Here is pain and horror, betrayal and salvation that came from people whom she used to despise - non-party people, beggars ... There were those who stole a piece of bread from hungry children, and those who gave away their rations. “Happiness teaches nothing, only suffering teaches” After such stories, you understand how little we have done to deserve a well-fed, calm life, and how little we appreciate what we have.

The list can be continued for a long time. “Life and Fate” by Grossman, “Coast”, “Choice”, “Hot Snow” by Yuri Bondarev, which have become classic adaptations of “Shield and Sword” by Vadim Kozhevnikov and “Seventeen Moments of Spring” by Julian Semenov. Epic three-volume book "War" by Ivan Stadnyuk, "Battle for Moscow. Version of the General Staff, edited by Marshal Shaposhnikov, or the three-volume Memoirs and Reflections by Marshal Georgy Zhukov. There are no number of attempts to understand what happens to people in the war. There is no complete picture, no black and white. There are only special cases, illuminated by a rare hope and surprise that such a thing can be experienced and remain human.