The book is written according to the memoirs of a colonel of the Tsarist, later Soviet army, hereditary Don Cossack Gerasim Vladimirovich Demenev (surname changed), who dedicated his life to serving and defending the Fatherland. The fate of this Russian officer reflected the history of Russia at the beginning and middle of the 20th century. The main character fought on the fields of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, World War I, the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War, and was awarded many orders and medals of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet government. But, despite his merits, G.V. Demenev did not escape the fate of many citizens of Russia during the Soviet period. Because at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he fought under the command of Lieutenant General A.A. Vlasov (at the same time he heroically led the group of soldiers entrusted to him out of the enemy encirclement and was wounded), Colonel G.V. Demenev was demoted to the rank and file, deprived of all government awards, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison on several counts (including for “failing to discern an ‘enemy of the people’ in General Vlasov”). The entire family of the protagonist - his wife and three children - was also subjected to repression. Having served the full term of undeserved punishment in KarLag, G.V. Demenev died in September 1955, three days short of the amnesty. The book is addressed to everyone interested in the history of Russia in the 20th century.