The best novels about penal prisoners of the Great Patriotic War, worthy of entering the “golden fund” of military prose - they haven’t written about war so piercingly and authentically, so mercilessly and truthfully for a long time! Penal prisoners do not have graves - after the battle they were buried without military honors, Often, simply in craters or abandoned trenches, no monuments were erected to them, they were not presented with orders and medals. Their only reward is to return to duty, “atoning for their guilt with blood.” It’s just that less than half survived to the end of the penalty period... “It was not for nothing that the penal companies were also called “assault” - in every battle they went on the assault, under hurricane fire at point-blank range. I can't help but write about these people. After all, my father was one of them...” (Vladimir Pershanin)Open this book. Look into the eyes of death. Find out how it really happened. What price was paid for the Great Victory...