And the dawns here are quiet, the sequence of the girls’ deaths. Characteristics of the main characters of the work And the dawns here are quiet, Vasiliev
1 0 0
Beloved Komelkova
1 1 0
Galya Chetvertak is an orphan, a pupil of an orphanage. In the orphanage she received her nickname for her short stature. Dreamer. She lived in a world of her own fantasies, and went to the front with the conviction that war is romance. After the orphanage, Galya ended up in a library technical school. The war found her in her third year. On the first day of the war, their entire group was sent to the military commissar. Everyone was assigned, but Galya didn’t fit anywhere, either in age or height. During the battle with the Germans, Vaskov took Galya with him, but she, unable to withstand the nervous tension of waiting for the Germans, ran out of cover and was shot by the Nazis. Despite such a “ridiculous” death, the foreman told the girls that she died “in a shootout.”
1 1 0
One of the main heroines of Boris Lvovich Vasiliev’s story “And the dawns here are quiet...”.
Zhenya is a very beautiful red-haired girl, the other heroines were amazed at her beauty. Tall, slender, with fair skin. My wife is 19 years old. Zhenya has her own account with the Germans: when the Germans captured Zhenya’s village, Zhenya herself managed to hide the Estonian woman. In front of the girl's eyes, the Nazis shot her mother, sister and brother. She goes to war to avenge the death of her loved ones. Despite the grief, “her character was cheerful and smiling.” In Vaskov's platoon, Zhenya showed artistry, but there was also enough room for heroism - it was she who, calling fire on herself, led the Germans away from Rita and Vaskov. She saves Vaskov when he fights the second German who killed Sonya Gurvich. The Germans first wounded Zhenya and then shot her point-blank.
2 0 0
Senior sergeant, deputy platoon commander of female anti-aircraft gunners.
2 1 0
One of the main heroines of Boris Lvovich Vasiliev’s story “And the dawns here are quiet...”.
Liza Brichkina is a simple village girl, originally from the Bryansk region. The forester's daughter. One day, their father brought a guest to their house. Lisa really liked him. Seeing the conditions in which the girl is growing up, the guest invites Lisa to come to the capital and enter a technical school with a dormitory, but Lisa did not have the chance to become a student - the war began. Lisa always believed that tomorrow would come and be better than today. Lisa died first. She drowned in a swamp while carrying out the task of Sergeant Major Vaskov.
1 0 0
Postman
1 0 0
Sergeant Major Vaskov's landlady
1 1 0
One of the main heroines of Boris Lvovich Vasiliev’s story “And the dawns here are quiet...”.
Rita is strict, she never laughs, she just moves her lips a little, but her eyes still remain serious. “Rita was not one of the lively ones...” Rita Mushtakova, the first of her class, out of great love, married senior lieutenant Osyanin, with whom she gave birth to a son, Albert. And there was no happier girl in the world. At the outpost she was immediately elected to the women's council and enrolled in all the circles. Rita learned to bandage the wounded and shoot, ride a horse, throw grenades and protect against gases, and then... war. On the very first day of the war, she turned out to be one of the few who did not get confused and did not panic. She was generally calm and reasonable. Rita's husband died on the second day of the war during a counterattack on June 23, 1941. Having learned that her husband is no longer alive, she goes to war in her husband’s place in order to protect her little son, who is left with his mother. They wanted to send Rita to the rear, but she asked to go into battle. They drove her away, forced her into the heated vehicles, but the persistent wife of the deceased deputy head of the outpost, Senior Lieutenant Osyanin, appeared again at the fortified area headquarters every other day. In the end, she was hired as a nurse, and six months later she was sent to the regimental anti-aircraft school. The authorities valued the unsmiling widow of the hero-border guard: she noted it in orders, set it as an example, and therefore respected her personal request - to be sent, after completing her studies, to the area where the outpost stood, where her husband died in a fierce bayonet battle. Now Rita could consider herself satisfied: she had achieved what she wanted. Even the death of her husband faded into the farthest corner of her memory: Rita had a job, and she learned to hate quietly and mercilessly... In Vaskov’s platoon, Rita became friends with Zhenya Komelkova and Galya Chetvertak. She died last, putting a bullet in her temple and thereby saving Fedot Vaskov. Before her death, she asked him to take care of her son. The death of Rita Osyanina is psychologically the most difficult moment of the story. Boris Vasiliev very accurately conveys the state
1 1 0
One of the main heroines of Boris Lvovich Vasiliev’s story “And the dawns here are quiet...”.
Sonya Gurvich is a girl who grew up in a large, friendly Jewish family. Sonya is originally from Minsk. Her father was a local doctor. She herself studied for a year at Moscow University and knew German well. A neighbor at lectures, Sonya’s first love, with whom they spent only one unforgettable evening in a cultural park, volunteered for the front. Knowing German, she could have been a good translator, but there were many translators, so she was assigned to an anti-aircraft gunner (of whom, in turn, there were few). Sonya is the second victim of the Germans in Vaskov's platoon. She runs away from the others to find and return Vaskov’s pouch, and stumbles upon patrol saboteurs who killed Sonya with two stabs in the chest.
1 0 0
Major, Vaskov's commander
1 1 0
The main character of Boris Lvovich Vasiliev's story "And the dawns here are quiet...".
Petty Officer Fedot Vaskov is the commandant of the 171st patrol in the Karelian wilderness. The crews of the anti-aircraft installations of the patrol, finding themselves in a quiet situation, begin to suffer from idleness and get drunk. In response to Vaskov’s requests to “send non-drinkers,” the command sends two squads of female anti-aircraft gunners there... Fedot completed four classes of the regimental school, and in ten years rose to the rank of senior officer. Vaskov experienced a personal drama: after the Finnish war, his wife left him. Vaskov demanded his son through the court and sent him to his mother in the village, but the Germans killed him there. The sergeant major always feels older than his years. The author emphasizes the peasant mind and peasant spirit in the “gloomy foreman” Fedot Vaskov. “Solid taciturnity”, “peasant slowness”, special “masculine thoroughness” since “he was the only man left in the family - the breadwinner, the water provider, and the breadwinner.” The female anti-aircraft gunners subordinate to him call thirty-two-year-old Vaskov behind his back as “an old man” and “a mossy stump who has twenty words in reserve, and even those from the regulations.” “All his life, Fedot Evgrafovich followed orders. He did it literally, quickly and with pleasure. He was the transmission gear of a huge, carefully adjusted mechanism.” Having encountered with his “search group” of five “girls with three-rulers in an embrace” sixteen armed fascist thugs from head to toe, rushing through the Sinyukhin ridge to the Kirov railway, to the “canal named after. Comrade Stalin,” Vaskov “hid his confusion. I thought and thought, turned my heavy brains, sucked at all the possibilities of the upcoming deadly meeting. From his military experience, he knew that “playing Hovanki with a German is almost like playing with death”, that the enemy “must be beaten. Beat until he crawls into the lair,” without pity, without mercy. Realizing how difficult it is for a woman, who always gives birth to life, to kill, he taught and explained: “These are not people. Not people, not people, not even animals - fascists. So look accordingly"
The story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet,” written by Boris Lvovich Vasiliev (life: 1924-2013), first appeared in 1969. The work, according to the author himself, is based on a real military episode when, after being wounded, seven soldiers serving on the railway prevented a German sabotage group from blowing it up. After the battle, only one sergeant, the commander of the Soviet fighters, managed to survive. In this article we will analyze “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” and describe the brief content of this story.
War is tears and grief, destruction and horror, madness and the extermination of all living things. She brought misfortune to everyone, knocking on every house: wives lost their husbands, mothers lost their sons, children were forced to be left without fathers. Many people went through it, experienced all these horrors, but they managed to survive and win the hardest war ever endured by humanity. We begin the analysis of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” with a brief description of the events, commenting on them along the way.
Boris Vasiliev served as a young lieutenant at the beginning of the war. In 1941, he went to the front while still a schoolboy, and two years later was forced to leave the army due to severe shell shock. Thus, this writer knew the war firsthand. Therefore, his best works are precisely about it, about the fact that a person manages to remain human only by fulfilling his duty to the end.
In the work “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” the content of which is war, it is felt especially acutely, since it is turned on an unusual side for us. We are all used to associating men with her, but here the main characters are girls and women. They stood up against the enemy alone in the middle of Russian land: lakes, swamps. The enemy is hardy, strong, merciless, well armed, and many times outnumbers them.
The events take place in May 1942. A railway siding and its commander are depicted - Fyodor Evgrafych Vaskov, a 32-year-old man. The soldiers arrive here, but then start partying and drinking. Therefore, Vaskov writes reports, and in the end they send him anti-aircraft gunner girls under the command of Rita Osyanina, a widow (her husband died at the front). Then Zhenya Komelkova arrives, replacing the carrier killed by the Germans. All five girls had their own character.
Five different characters: analysis
“And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” is a work that describes interesting female characters. Sonya, Galya, Lisa, Zhenya, Rita - five different, but in some ways very similar girls. Rita Osyanina is gentle and strong-willed, distinguished by spiritual beauty. She is the most fearless, courageous, she is a mother. Zhenya Komelkova is white-skinned, red-haired, tall, with childish eyes, always laughing, cheerful, mischievous to the point of adventurism, tired of pain, war and painful and long love for a married and distant man. Sonya Gurvich is an excellent student, a refined poetic nature, as if she came out of a book of poems by Alexander Blok. She always knew how to wait, she knew that she was destined for life, and it was impossible to avoid it. The latter, Galya, always lived more actively in the imaginary world than in the real one, so she was very afraid of this merciless terrible phenomenon that is war. “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” portrays this heroine as a funny, never-grown-up, clumsy orphanage girl. Escape from an orphanage, notes and dreams... about long dresses, solo parts and universal worship. She wanted to become the new Lyubov Orlova.
The analysis of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” allows us to say that none of the girls were able to fulfill their desires, because they did not have time to live their lives.
Further developments
The heroes of “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” fought for their homeland like no one had ever fought before. They hated the enemy with all their souls. The girls always followed orders precisely, as young soldiers should. They experienced everything: losses, worries, tears. Right before the eyes of these fighters, their good friends died, but the girls held on. They fought to the death until the very end, did not let anyone through, and there were hundreds and thousands of such patriots. Thanks to them, it was possible to defend the freedom of the Motherland.
Death of Heroines
These girls had different deaths, just as the life paths followed by the heroes of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” were different. Rita was wounded by a grenade. She understood that she could not survive, that the wound was fatal, and she would have to die painfully and for a long time. Therefore, gathering the rest of her strength, she shot herself in the temple. Galya's death was as reckless and painful as she herself - the girl could have hidden and saved her life, but she did not. One can only guess what motivated her then. Perhaps just momentary confusion, perhaps cowardice. Sonya's death was cruel. She did not even manage to understand how the blade of the dagger pierced her cheerful young heart. Zhenya’s is a little reckless and desperate. She believed in herself until the very end, even when she was leading the Germans away from Osyanina, and did not doubt for a moment that everything would end well. Therefore, even after the first bullet hit her in the side, she was only surprised. After all, it was so implausible, absurd and stupid to die when you were only nineteen years old. Lisa's death happened unexpectedly. It was a very stupid surprise - the girl was pulled into the swamp. The author writes that until the last moment the heroine believed that “there will be tomorrow for her too.”
Sergeant Major Vaskov
Sergeant Major Vaskov, whom we have already mentioned in the summary of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” is ultimately left alone in the midst of torment, misfortune, alone with death and three prisoners. But now he has five times more strength. What was human in this fighter, the best, but hidden deep in the soul, was suddenly revealed. He felt and worried both for himself and for his girls “sisters”. The foreman laments, he does not understand why this happened, because they need to give birth to children, not die.
So, according to the plot, all the girls died. What guided them when they went into battle, not sparing their own lives, defending their land? Perhaps just a duty to the Fatherland, to one’s people, perhaps patriotism? Everything was mixed up at that moment.
Sergeant Major Vaskov ultimately blames himself for everything, and not the fascists he hates. His words that he “put all five down” are perceived as a tragic requiem.
Conclusion
Reading the work “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” you involuntarily become an observer of the everyday life of anti-aircraft gunners at a bombed crossing in Karelia. This story is based on an episode that is insignificant in the enormous scale of the Great Patriotic War, but it is told in such a way that all its horrors appear before the eyes in all their ugly, terrible inconsistency with the essence of man. It is emphasized both by the fact that the work is titled “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” and by the fact that its heroes are girls forced to participate in the war.
The story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet,” a brief summary of which is given later in the article, tells about the events taking place during the Great Patriotic War.
The work is dedicated to the heroic feat of anti-aircraft gunners who unexpectedly found themselves surrounded by Germans.
About the story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
The story was first published in 1969, it was approved by the editor of the magazine “Youth”.
The reason for writing the work was a real wartime episode.
A small group of 7 soldiers recovering from wounds prevented the Germans from blowing up the Kirov Railway.
As a result of the operation, only one commander survived, who subsequently received the medal “For Military Merit” at the end of the war.
The episode is tragic, however, in the realities of wartime this event is lost among the horrors of a terrible war. Then the author remembered the 300 thousand women who bore the hardships of the front along with male soldiers.
And the plot of the story was built on the tragic fates of female anti-aircraft gunners who die during a reconnaissance operation.
Who is the author of the book “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
The work was written by Boris Vasiliev in the narrative genre.
When the Great Patriotic War began, he had barely finished 9th grade.
Boris Lvovich fought near Smolensk, received a shell shock, and therefore knew first-hand about front-line life.
He became interested in literary work in the 50s, writing plays and scripts. The writer took up prose stories only 10 years later.
The main characters of the story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
Vaskov Fedot Evgrafych
The sergeant-major, whose command the anti-aircraft gunners were placed in, occupied the commandant’s position at the 171st railway siding.
He is 32 years old, but the girls gave him the nickname “old man” for his intractable character.
Before the war, he was an ordinary man from the village, had a 4th grade education, and at the age of 14 he was forced to become the sole breadwinner in the family.
Vaskov's son, whom he sued from his ex-wife after the divorce, died before the start of the war.
Gurvich Sonya
A simple, shy girl from a large family, born and raised in Minsk. Her father worked as a local doctor.
Before the war, she managed to study for a year at Moscow State University as a translator and spoke German fluently. Sonya's first love was a bespectacled student studying in the library at the next table, with whom they timidly communicated.
When the war began, due to the excess of translators at the front, Sonya ended up in a school for anti-aircraft gunners, and then in Fedot Vaskov’s detachment.
The girl loved poetry very much, her cherished dream was to see her many household members again. During a reconnaissance operation, Sonya was killed by a German with two knife blows to the chest.
Brichkina Elizaveta
Country girl, daughter of a forester. From the age of 14 she was forced to leave school and take care of her terminally ill mother.
I dreamed of entering a technical school, so after my mother’s death, following the advice of one of my father’s friends, I was going to move to the capital. But her plans were not destined to come true; they were adjusted by the war - Lisa went to the front.
The gloomy Sergeant Vaskov immediately aroused great sympathy in the girl. During a reconnaissance mission, Lisa was sent through the swamp for help, but was in too much of a hurry and drowned. After some time, Vaskov will find her skirt in the swamp, then he will understand that he is left without help.
Komelkova Evgeniya
Cheerful and beautiful red-haired girl. The Germans shot all members of her family; the merciless reprisal took place right before Zhenya’s eyes.
Her neighbor saved the girl from death. Burning with the desire to avenge the death of her relatives, Zhenya became an anti-aircraft gunner.
The girl’s attractive appearance and perky character made her the object of Colonel Luzhin’s advances, so the authorities, in order to interrupt the romance, redirected Zhenya to the women’s detachment, so she came under the command of Vaskov.
In reconnaissance, Zhenya twice showed fearlessness and heroism. She saved her commander when he was fighting a German. And then, exposing herself to bullets, she led the Germans away from the place where the foreman and her wounded friend Rita hid.
Chetvertak Galina
A very young and sensitive girl, she was short in stature and had a habit of making up stories and fables.
She grew up in an orphanage and didn’t even have her own last name. Because of her small stature, the elderly caretaker, who treated Gala in a friendly manner, came up with her surname Chetvertak.
Before being called up, the girl almost managed to complete 3 years of library college. During a reconnaissance operation, Galya was unable to cope with fear and jumped out of cover, falling under German bullets.
Osyanina Margarita
The senior person in the platoon, Rita was distinguished by her seriousness, was very reserved and rarely smiled. As a girl, she bore the surname Mushtakov.
At the very beginning of the war, her husband, Lieutenant Osyanin, died. Wanting to avenge the death of her loved one, Rita went to the front.
She gave her only son, Albert, to be raised by her mother. Rita's death was the last of five girls in intelligence. She shot herself, realizing that she was mortally wounded and was an unbearable burden for her commander Vaskov.
Before her death, she asked the foreman to take care of Albert. And he kept his promise.
Other characters in “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
Kiryanova
She was Rita's senior comrade in the industrial platoon. Before serving on the border, she took part in the Finnish War. Kiryanova, along with Rita, Zhenya Komelkova and Galya Chetvertak, were redirected to the 171st crossing.
Knowing about Rita’s secret attacks on her son and mother during her service with Vaskov, she did not betray her long-time colleague, interceding for her that morning when the girl met the Germans in the forest.
A brief retelling of the story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
The events of the story are greatly abbreviated. Dialogue and descriptive moments are omitted.
Chapter 1
The action took place in the rear. At the inactive railway siding at number 171, there are only a few surviving houses. There were no more bombings, but as a precaution, the command left anti-aircraft installations here.
Compared to other parts of the front, there was a resort at the junction, the soldiers abused alcohol and flirted with local residents.
Weekly reports from the commandant of the patrol, Sergeant Major Vaskov Fedot Evgrafych, on the anti-aircraft gunners led to regular changes in personnel, but the picture was repeated again and again. Finally, after analyzing the current situation, the command sent a team of female anti-aircraft gunners under the leadership of the foreman.
The new squad had no problems with drinking and revelry, but for Fedot Evgrafych it was unusual for Fedot Evgrafych to command a female, cocky and trained squad, since he himself had only 4 years of education.
Chapter 2
The death of her husband made Margarita Osyanina a stern and withdrawn person. From the moment of the loss of her beloved, the desire for revenge burned in her heart, so she remained to serve on the border near the places where Osyanin died.
To replace the deceased carrier, they sent Komelkova Evgenia, a mischievous red-haired beauty. She also suffered from the Nazis - she had to see with her own eyes the execution of all family members by the Germans. Two dissimilar girls became friends and Rita’s heart began to thaw from the grief she had experienced, thanks to Zhenya’s cheerful and open disposition.
Two girls accepted the shy Galya Chetvertak into their circle. When Rita finds out that she can transfer to the 171st crossing, she immediately agrees, since her son and mother live very close by.
All three anti-aircraft gunners come under the command of Vaskov and Rita, with the help of her friends, makes regular night trips to her relatives.
Chapter 3
Returning in the morning after one of her secret forays, Rita encountered two German soldiers in the forest. They were armed and carried something heavy in bags.
Rita immediately reported this to Vaskov, who guessed that these were saboteurs whose goal was to undermine a strategically important railway junction.
The sergeant major conveyed important information to the command over the phone and received orders to comb the forest. He decided to go to Lake Vop a short way across the Germans.
Fedot Evgrafych took five girls with him, led by Rita, on reconnaissance. These were Elizaveta Brichkina, Evgenia Komelkova, Galina Chetvertak and Sonya Gurvich as a translator.
Before sending, the soldiers had to be taught how to put on proper shoes so as not to wear out their feet, and also forced to clean their rifles. The conditioned danger signal was the quack of a drake.
Chapter 4
The shortest path to the forest lake was through a marshy swamp. For almost half a day the team had to walk waist-deep in cold swamp slush. Galya Chetvertak lost her boot and footcloth, and part of the way through the swamp she had to walk barefoot.
Having reached the shore, the whole team was able to rest, wash dirty clothes and have a snack. To continue the campaign, Vaskov made a birch bark chunya for Gali. We reached the desired point only in the evening; here it was necessary to set up an ambush.
Chapter 5
When planning a meeting with two fascist soldiers, Vaskov was not very worried and hoped that he would be able to capture them from the forward position, which he placed among the stones. However, in case of an unforeseen event, the foreman provided for the possibility of retreat.
The night passed peacefully, only the fighter Chetvertak became very ill, walking barefoot through the swamp. In the morning, the Germans reached the Sinyukhin ridge between the lakes; the enemy detachment consisted of sixteen people.
Chapter 6
Realizing that he had miscalculated and that he could not stop the large German detachment, Vaskov sent Elizaveta Brichkina for help. He chose Lisa because she grew up in nature and knew her way around the forest very well.
To detain the Nazis, the team decided to depict the noisy activity of lumberjacks. They lit fires, Vaskov cut down trees, the girls called around and cheerfully called to each other. When the German detachment was 10 meters away from them, Zhenya ran straight to the river in order to distract the attention of enemy scouts by swimming.
Their plan worked, the Germans took a detour, and the team managed to gain a whole day of time.
Chapter 7
Lisa was in a hurry for help. Having not followed the foreman’s instructions about a pass on an island in the middle of the swamp, she, tired and cold, continued on her way.
Having almost reached the end of the swamp, Lisa became thoughtful and was very frightened by a large bubble that swelled right in front of her in the dead silence of the swamp.
Instinctively, the girl rushed to the side and lost support under her feet. The pole that Lisa was trying to lean on broke. The last thing she saw before her death was the rays of the rising sun.
Chapter 8
The foreman did not know exactly about the trajectory of the Germans, so he decided to go on reconnaissance with Rita. They found a halt, 12 fascists were resting near a fire and drying clothes. It was not possible to establish where the other four were.
Vaskov decides to change his location, and therefore sends Rita to fetch the girls and at the same time asks to bring his personalized pouch. But in the confusion, the pouch was forgotten in the old place, and Sonya Gurvich, without waiting for the commander’s permission, ran for the expensive item.
After a short time, the sergeant major heard a barely audible scream. As a seasoned fighter, he guessed what this cry meant. Together with Zhenya, they went in the direction of the sound and found the body of Sonya, killed by two stabs in the chest.
Chapter 9
Leaving Sonya, the foreman and Zhenya set off in pursuit of the fascists so that they would not have time to report the incident to their own. Rage helps the sergeant major clearly think through a plan of action.
Vaskov quickly killed one of the Germans; Zhenya helped him deal with the second, stunning the Fritz in the head with a rifle butt. This was the first hand-to-hand combat for the girl, which she endured very hard.
Vaskov found his pouch in the pocket of one of the Fritzes. The entire team of anti-aircraft gunners, led by the foreman, gathered near Sonya. The body of a colleague was buried with dignity.
Chapter 10
Making their way through the forest, Vaskov’s team unexpectedly ran into the Germans. In a split second, the sergeant-major threw a grenade forward, and machine-gun bursts began to crackle. Not knowing the enemy's strength, the Nazis decided to retreat.
During the short battle, Galya Chetvertak was unable to overcome her fear and did not participate in the shooting. For this behavior, the girls wanted to condemn her at a Komsomol meeting, however, the commander stood up for the confused anti-aircraft gunner.
Despite extreme fatigue, perplexed about the reasons for the delay in help, the foreman goes on reconnaissance, taking Galina with him for educational purposes.
Chapter 11
Galya was very frightened by the real events that were taking place. A dreamer and writer, she often immersed herself in a fictional world, and therefore the picture of a real war unsettled her.
Vaskov and Chetvertak soon discovered two bodies of German soldiers. By all indications, the soldiers wounded in the firefight were finished off by their own comrades. Not far from this place, the remaining 12 Fritz continued reconnaissance, two of whom had already come very close to Fedot and Gala.
The sergeant-major reliably hid Galina behind the bushes and hid himself in the rocks, but the girl could not cope with her feelings and jumped out of the shelter screaming right into the machine-gun fire of the Germans. Vaskov began to lead the Germans away from his remaining fighters and ran to the swamp, where he took refuge.
During the chase, he was wounded in the arm. When dawn broke, the sergeant-major saw Liza’s skirt in the distance, then he realized that now he could not count on help.
Chapter 12
Being under the yoke of heavy thoughts, the foreman went in search of the Germans. Trying to understand the enemy’s train of thought and examining traces, he came across the Legonta monastery. From a hiding place, he watched as a group of 12 fascists hid explosives in an old hut.
The saboteurs left two soldiers for security, one of whom was wounded. Vaskov managed to neutralize the healthy guard and take possession of his weapon.
The foreman with Rita and Zhenya met on the river bank, in the place where they pretended to be lumberjacks. Having gone through terrible trials, they began to treat each other like brothers. After a halt, they began to prepare for the last battle.
Chapter 13
Vaskov’s team held the defense of the shore as if the entire Motherland was behind them. But the forces were unequal, and the Germans still managed to cross to their shore. Rita was seriously wounded by a grenade explosion.
To save the foreman and her wounded friend, Zhenya, firing back, ran further into the forest, taking the saboteurs with her. The girl was wounded in the side by a blind shot from the enemy, but she didn’t even think about hiding and waiting out.
Already lying in the grass, Zhenya fired until the Germans shot her at point-blank range.
Chapter 14
Fedot Evgrafych, having bandaged Rita and covered her with spruce paws, wanted to go in search of Zhenya and her things. For peace of mind, he decided to leave her a revolver with two cartridges.
Rita understood that she was mortally wounded; she was only afraid that her son would remain an orphan. Therefore, she asked the foreman to take care of Albert, saying that it was from him and from her mother that she was returning that morning when she encountered German soldiers.
Vaskov made such a promise, but did not have time to move a few steps away from Rita when the girl shot herself in the temple.
The foreman buried Rita, and then found and buried Zhenya. The wounded arm ached greatly, the whole body burned from pain and tension, but Vaskov decided to go to the monastery to kill at least one more German. He managed to neutralize the sentry; five Fritz were sleeping in the monastery, one of whom he shot immediately.
Having forced them to tie each other up, barely alive, he led them into captivity. Only when Vaskov saw the Russian soldiers did he allow himself to lose consciousness.
Epilogue
Some time after the war, in a letter to his comrade, one tourist describes amazing quiet places in the area of two lakes. In the text, he also mentions an old man without an arm, who came here with his son Albert Fedotich, a rocket captain.
Subsequently, this tourist, together with his new comrades, installed a marble slab with the names on the grave of the female anti-aircraft gunners.
Conclusion
A poignant story about female heroism during the Great Patriotic War leaves an indelible mark on hearts. The author repeatedly emphasizes in his narrative the unnatural nature of women's participation in hostilities, and the blame for this lies with the one who started the war.
In 1972, director Stanislav Rostotsky made a film based on the story. He dedicated it to the nurse who carried him away from the battlefield, saving him from certain death.
The courageous death of girls in the work “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
The work “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” written by Boris Lvovich Vasiliev (lived from 1924-2013), was published in 1969. This story, as the writer himself said, was written on the basis of an episode that happened during the terrible and terrible Great Patriotic War, when wounded soldiers, there were only seven of them, prevented the Germans from blowing up the railway. After this cruel and terrible battle, only one soldier remained alive, the one who commanded the Soviet detachment and had the rank of sergeant. Next we will talk about a brief summary of this work with comments.
The Great Patriotic War brought a lot of grief, destruction and death. It destroyed many lives and families, mothers buried their still very young sons, children lost their parents, wives became widows. Soviet citizens experienced all the hardest hardships of the war, its horror, tears, hunger, death, but still survived and became winners.
Vasilyev B.L. was still a schoolboy in 1941, when the war began, but he, without hesitation, went to the front and served with the rank of lieutenant. In 1943 he received a severe concussion and was unable to fight further. Therefore, he knew what battles were, and his best books were written precisely about war and how a man remained a man while fulfilling his military duty.
In the story by B.L. Vasiliev “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” tells about military events. But the main characters of this work are not men, as is usually the case, but young girls. They resisted the Nazis, being among swamps and lakes. But the Germans outnumbered them and were strong, resilient, they had excellent weapons, and there was a complete lack of pity.
The action of the story takes place in the May days of 1942 at a railway crossing, commanded by Fedor Evgrafovich Vaskov, he was only thirty-two years old. The fighters arrived here, but a spree and even drunkenness began. Because of this, the commander wrote several reports and female anti-aircraft gunners arrived on this patrol; they were commanded by Margarita Osyanina, she was widowed, having lost her husband at the front. Then the Nazis killed the shell carrier, and Evgenia Komelkova took her place. There were five girls in total, but they all had different personalities.
The girls (Margarita, Sophia, Galina, Evgeniya, Elizaveta), the author writes about them, are different, but still similar to each other. Osyanina Margarita is gentle, internally beautiful, and has a strong-willed character. She is the bravest of all the girls and has motherly qualities.
Evgenia Komelkova has white skin, red hair, tall stature and the eyes of a child. She has a cheerful character and is prone to excitement and adventure. This girl is tired of war, grief and complicated love for a man, because he is already married and is very far from her. Sophia Gurvich has the poetic, refined character of an excellent student; one gets the impression that Blok wrote about her in his poems.
Brichkina Elizaveta believed that her destiny was to be alive, she knew how to wait. And Galina preferred life in the world of imagination rather than in the real world; she was very afraid of war. This girl is presented in the story as a funny, still immature, clumsy girl from an orphanage. She ran away from the orphanage and dreamed of being like actress Lyubov Orlova, wearing long beautiful dresses, receiving attention from fans.
Unfortunately, the dreams of these anti-aircraft gunner girls did not come true, because they did not have time to really live in this world and died very young.
The anti-aircraft gunners defended their country, they hated the fascists, and always carried out orders accurately. They suffered losses, tears, and experiences. Their friends were dying next to them, but the girls did not give up and did not allow the enemy to pass through the railroad crossing. Their feat allowed the Fatherland to win freedom. There were a lot of such patriots.
These girls had completely different lives, and death overtook them in different ways. Margarita was wounded by a grenade, and in order not to die long and painfully from this mortal wound, she killed herself with a shot to the temple. Galina's death matched the character of the girl herself (with pain and recklessness). Galya could have hidden and survived, but she didn’t hide. Why this happened is unclear, maybe cowardice or short-lived confusion. Sophia died from a dagger pierced into her heart.
Eugenia's death was somewhat reckless and desperate. The girl was confident in herself until her death, even leading the fascists away from Margarita, she thought that everything would end well. And when she received the first bullet in the side, she was only surprised, because she did not believe that she was dying at nineteen years old. Elizabeth's death was stupid and unexpected - she drowned in a swamp.
After the death of the anti-aircraft gunners, their commander Vaskov was left alone with three captured Germans. He saw death, troubles and inhuman torment. But his internal strength became five times greater, all the best qualities hidden in the depths of his soul appeared unexpectedly. He felt and lived not only for himself, but also for his “sisters”.
Vaskov grieved for them, did not understand why they died, because they were supposed to live long and give birth to beautiful children. These girls died without sparing their young lives, fulfilling their duty to the country, they fought bravely, courageously, and were examples of patriotism. Anti-aircraft gunners defended their Fatherland. But the foreman blames himself, not his enemies, for their deaths. He claimed that he “put down all five of them.”
After reading this story, I am left with an indelible feeling that I myself observed the everyday life of these anti-aircraft gunner girls at a Karelian railway crossing destroyed by bombing. The basis of this work was an episode, although, of course, it was insignificant on the scale of the terrible Great Patriotic War, but it is described in such a way that all its severity and horrors appear in all its ugliness and unnaturalness of human essence. The title “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” and the brave girls participating in these terrible events only emphasize this.
Composition
“And the dawns here are quiet...” is a story about war. The action takes place during the Great Patriotic War. At one of the railway sidings, soldiers of a separate anti-aircraft machine-gun battalion are serving. These fighters are girls, and they are commanded by Sergeant Major Fedot Evgrafych Baskov. At first this place was a quiet corner. The girls sometimes shot at planes at night. One day something unexpected happened. The Germans appeared. Chasing them into the forest, the girls, led by Vaskov, enter into an unequal battle with them. They die one after another, but rage and pain, the desire for revenge help Vaskov win.
The whole story is written in an easy, colloquial language. Thanks to this, you better understand the thoughts of the characters and what they do. Against the backdrop of the terrible events of May 1942, this junction looks like a resort. At first it really was like this: the girls sunbathed, danced, and at night “excitedly fired at flying German planes with all eight guns.”
There are six main characters in the story: five female anti-aircraft gunners and foreman Vaskov.
Fedot Vaskov is thirty-two years old. He completed four classes of the regimental school, and in ten years rose to the rank of senior officer. Vaskov experienced a personal drama: after the Finnish war, his wife left him. Vaskov demanded his son through the court and sent him to his mother in the village, but the Germans killed him there. The sergeant major always feels older than his years. He is efficient.
Junior sergeant Rita Osyanina married the “red commander” at less than eighteen years old. She sent her son Alik to his parents. Her husband died heroically on the second day of the war, and Rita found out about this only a month later.
Sonya Gurvich is an orphan. Her parents most likely died in Minsk. At that time she was studying in Moscow, preparing for the session. She was a translator in the detachment.
Galya Chetvertak does not know her parents. She was dropped off at an orphanage. Accustomed to surrounding everything with mystery, she made me worry about this. Galya told everyone that her mother was a medical worker. I believe that this was not a lie, but desires presented as reality.
Lisa Brichkina was the daughter of a forester. One day, their father brought a guest to their house. Lisa really liked him. He promised to place her in a technical school with a dormitory, but the war began. Lisa always believed that tomorrow would come and be better than today.
Zhenya Komelkova, the first beauty of the traveling party, grew up in a good family. She loved to have fun, and one fine day she fell in love with Colonel Luzhin. It was he who picked her up at the front. He had a family, and Zhenya was sent on this patrol for contacting him.
One day the girls were transferred from the front line to a site (crossing). Rita asked that her department be sent there, because from there it was easier to get to the city where her parents and son lived. Returning from the city, it was she who discovered the Germans.
The major ordered Vaskov to catch up with the saboteurs (Rita saw two) and kill them. It is in this campaign that the main action of the story unfolds. Vaskov helps the girls with everything. During the stop at the pass, friendly relations reign between them.
The Germans appear. It turns out that there are sixteen of them. Vaskov sends Lisa back to the patrol. Lisa Brichkina died first. She drowned in a swamp while returning to the crossing: “Liza saw this beautiful blue sky for a long time. Wheezing, she spat out dirt and reached out, reached out to him, reached out and believed.” Until the last moment she believed that tomorrow would come for her too.
Sonya Gurvich was shot when she returned for Vaskov’s forgotten pouch.
Galya Chetvertak's nerves could not stand it when she sat with the foreman on patrol.
Rita Osyanina was wounded by a grenade, and Zhenya died while taking the Germans away from her. Rita, knowing that her wound was fatal, shot herself in the temple.
Together with the author, you experience these deaths and the pain of Vaskov, who managed to win.
The story is written very vividly and clearly. Optimistic girls are shown against the backdrop of war. Vaskov's victory symbolizes the victory of the Russians over the Germans. A hard-fought victory full of losses.
At the end of the story, in the epilogue, Boris Vasiliev shows a couple of heroes - Albert Fedotich and his dad. Apparently, Albert is the same Alik, Rita’s son. Fedot Baskov adopted him, the boy considers him his real father.
This means that, despite all the difficulties and hardships, the Russian people are alive and will live.
The depiction of nature is very interesting. Beautiful views drawn by the author highlight everything that happens. Nature seems to look at people with pity and sympathy, as if saying: “Foolish children, stop.”
“And the dawns here are quiet...” Everything will pass, but the place will remain the same. Quiet, silent, beautiful, and only the marble gravestones will turn white, reminding of what has already passed. This work serves as an excellent illustration of the events of the Great Patriotic War.
This story really amazed me. The first time I read it, sitting with a handkerchief in my hand, because it was impossible to resist. It was precisely because of this strong impression, so memorable to me, that I decided to write about this work. The main idea of this story is the invincibility of people fighting for the freedom of the Motherland, for a just cause.
I, like all my peers, do not know war. I don’t know and I don’t want war. But those who died did not want it either, not thinking about death, about the fact that they would no longer see the sun, grass, leaves, or children. Those five girls didn’t want war either!
Boris Vasiliev's story shook me to the core. Rita Osyanina, Zhenya Komelkova, Lisa Brichkina, Galya Chetvertak. In each of them I find a little of myself, they are close to me. Each of them could be my mother, could tell me about beauty, teach me how to live. And I could be in the place of any of them, because I also like to listen to the silence and meet such “quiet, quiet dawns.”
I don't even know which of them is closer to me. They are all so different, but so similar. Rita Osyanina, strong-willed and gentle, rich in spiritual beauty. She is the center of their courage, she is the cement of achievement, she is the Mother! Zhenya... Zhenya, Zhenya, cheerful, funny, beautiful, mischievous to the point of adventure, desperate and tired of war, of pain, of love, long and painful, for a distant and married man. Sonya Gurvich is the embodiment of an excellent student and a poetic nature - a “beautiful stranger”, who came out of a volume of poems by Alexander Blok. Lisa Brichkina... “Oh, Lisa-Lizaveta, you should study!” I would like to study, to see the big city with its theaters and concert halls, its libraries and art galleries. And you, Lisa... The war got in the way! You won’t find your happiness, won’t give you lectures: I didn’t have time to see everything I dreamed of! Galya Chetvertak, who never grew up, is a funny and clumsily childish girl. Notes, escape from the orphanage and also dreams... to become the new Lyubov Orlova.
None of them had time to fulfill their dreams, they simply did not have time to live their own lives. Death was different for everyone, just as their fates were different: for Rita - an effort of will and a shot in the temple; Zhenya’s is desperate and a little reckless, she could have hidden and stayed alive, but she didn’t hide; Sonya's is a dagger strike at poetry; Galya's is as painful and merciless as herself; Lisa - “Ah, Lisa-Lizaveta, I didn’t have time, I couldn’t overcome the quagmire of war...”.
And the Basque foreman, whom I have not yet mentioned, remains alone. Alone in the midst of pain, torment; one with death, one with three prisoners. Is it alone? He now has five times more strength. And what was best in him, humane, but hidden in his soul, was suddenly revealed, and what he experienced, he felt for himself and for them, for his girls, his “sisters.”
As the foreman laments: “How can we live now? Why is this so? After all, they don’t need to die, but give birth to children, because they are mothers!” Tears inevitably come to your eyes when you read these lines.
But we must not only cry, we must also remember, because the dead do not leave the lives of those who loved them. They just don’t grow old, remaining forever young in people’s hearts.
Why is this particular work memorable to me? Probably because this writer is one of the best writers of our time. Probably because Boris Vasiliev managed to turn the topic of war on that unusual side, which is perceived especially painfully. After all, we, including myself, are accustomed to combining the words “war” and “men,” but here are women, girls and war. Vasiliev managed to construct the plot in such a way, to tie everything together in such a way that it is difficult to single out individual episodes, this story is a single whole, fused. A beautiful and indivisible monument: five girls and a foreman, standing in the middle of the Russian land: forests, swamps, lakes, against an enemy, strong, hardy, mechanically killing, who significantly exceeds them in number. But they did not let anyone through, they stood and stand, poured out of hundreds and thousands of similar destinies, exploits, from all the pain and strength of the Russian people.
Women, Russian women, who defeated war and death! And each of them lives in me and other girls, we just don’t notice it. We walk the streets, talk, think, dream like them, but a moment comes and we feel confidence, their confidence: “There is no death! There is life and struggle for Happiness and Love!”
