Customer Reviews

His Battalion ; And, Live Until Dawn (Contemporary Russian Writing)

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Vasil Bykov is a respected Belorussian author whose best-selling novels are based on his own experiences in the War. In this book are two separate stories about two officers' difficult roles in command. In "His Battalion", the seasoned Captain Voloshin must lead his force in a hastily-planned attack on a well-fortified German stronghold. So undermanned is his battalion, that he must place the pregnant corpsman as ranking officer in command of one unit. In "Live Until Dawn", inexperienced but impetuous young lieutenant Ivanovski leads his ski-mounted team in a night raid to destroy a German munitions-dump. After a late start and a series of deadly mishaps, his dream of glorious victory is reduced to a final hard reality: he must survive until daylight to sell his own life as dearly as possible. Both of these stories spotlight the desperate conditions during the War and the tragic cost in Russian lives for the smallest gains. As a writer during the post-Stalin period, Bykov is not afraid to point an accusing finger at the deficiencies of the regime and its toll on the Soviet defenders. But beyond that, Bykov's sympathetic characters, through their thoughts and remeniscences, give the reader a glimpse of the humanity and comaraderie of soldiers struggling for their country's survival.

Please, note, original language is BELARUSIAN, not Russian.
Vasil Bykau - belarusian patriot, who wrote his books in Belarusian language.