The novel by the famous Soviet writer Vadim Kozhevnikov (1909–1984), winner of the State Prize of the USSR and the RSFSR, is a tribute to the deadly work of Soviet intelligence during the Second World War. The main character, Alexander Belov, due to his duty, must take on the guise of an enemy of his Motherland and, risking his life every minute, wage a difficult fight behind enemy lines. “The Shield and the Sword” is not only an action-packed spy story, full of political intrigue and endless tests of the mind and willpower of individuals, it is a broad historical canvas, rich in dramatic collisions, revealing to the reader the social and psychological roots of the most tragic confrontation of the twentieth century. Events of the epic begin to unfold in the thirties of the last century in the territories of the Baltic states, Poland and Germany, where agents of almost all European intelligence services operate and where the transformation of the protagonist from a romantic idealist into a cold-blooded professional begins.