“I had to defend the Fatherland...” These words could well have been said by Lieutenant Igor Karetnikov, one of the participants in the defense of the encircled blockade of Leningrad. Ensign Batmanov, who did not divide matters into “border” and “non-border”, could have uttered them, and without hesitation stood in the way of dangerous scoundrels, for whom the words “Motherland” and “Fatherland” are an empty phrase... The heroic destinies of Russian officers in the works of a recognized master of Russian action-packed prose!