Works about the Great Patriotic War. Books about the heroes of the Great Patriotic War

Boris Vasiliev “Not on the lists” — a story by Boris Vasiliev in 1974.
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Alexander Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin" (another name is “The Book about a Fighter”) is a poem by Alexander Tvardovsky, one of the main works in the poet’s work, which has received nationwide recognition. The poem is dedicated to a fictional character - Vasily Terkin, a soldier of the Great Patriotic War
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Yuri Bondarev “Hot Snow” » is a 1970 novel by Yuri Bondarev, set at Stalingrad in December 1942. The work is based on real historical events - the attempt of the German Army Group Don of Field Marshal Manstein to relieve Paulus's 6th Army encircled at Stalingrad. It was that battle described in the novel that decided the outcome of the entire Battle of Stalingrad. Director Gavriil Yegiazarov made a film of the same name based on the novel.
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Konstantin Simonov "The Living and the Dead" - a novel in three books (“The Living and the Dead,” “Soldiers Are Not Born,” “The Last Summer”), written by the Soviet writer Konstantin Simonov. The first two parts of the novel were published in 1959 and 1962, the third part in 1971. The work is written in the genre of an epic novel, the storyline covers the time interval from June 1941 to July 1944. According to literary scholars of the Soviet era, the novel was one of the brightest Russian works about the events of the Great Patriotic War. In 1963, the first part of the novel “The Living and the Dead” was filmed. In 1967, the second part was filmed under the title “Retribution.”
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Konstantin Vorobyov "Scream" - a story by Russian writer Konstantin Vorobyov, written in 1961. One of the writer’s most famous works about the war, which tells about the protagonist’s participation in the defense of Moscow in the fall of 1941 and his capture by Germans.
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Alexander Alexandrovich “Young Guard” - a novel by Soviet writer Alexander Fadeev, dedicated to an underground youth organization operating in Krasnodon during the Great Patriotic War called the “Young Guard” (1942-1943), many of whose members died in fascist dungeons.
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Vasil Bykov “Obelisk” (Belarus. Abelisk) is a heroic story by the Belarusian writer Vasil Bykov, created in 1971. In 1974, for “Obelisk” and the story “To Live Until Dawn,” Bykov was awarded the USSR State Prize. In 1976, the story was filmed.
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Mikhail Sholokhov “They Fought for the Motherland” - a novel by Mikhail Sholokhov, written in three stages in 1942-1944, 1949, 1969. The writer burned the manuscript of the novel shortly before his death. Only individual chapters of the work were published.
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Anthony Beevor's The Fall of Berlin. 1945" (English Berlin. The Downfall 1945) - a book by the English historian Antony Beevor about the storming and capture of Berlin. Released in 2002; published in Russia by the publishing house "AST" in 2004. It was recognized as a No. 1 bestseller in seven countries, excluding the UK, and entered the top five in a further 9 countries.
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Boris Polevoy "The Tale of a Real Man" — a 1946 story by B. N. Polevoy about the Soviet pilot ace Meresyev, who was shot down in a battle during the Great Patriotic War, seriously wounded, lost both legs, but by force of will returned to the ranks of active pilots. The work is imbued with humanism and Soviet patriotism. It was published more than eighty times in Russian, forty-nine in the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR, thirty-nine abroad. The prototype of the hero of the book was a real historical character, pilot Alexei Maresyev.
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Mikhail Sholokhov “The Fate of Man” - a story by Soviet Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov. Written in 1956-1957. The first publication was the newspaper “Pravda”, No. December 31, 1956 and January 2, 1957.
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Vladimir Dmitrievich “Privy Advisor to the Leader” - a confessional novel by Vladimir Uspensky in 15 parts about the personality of I.V. Stalin, about his environment, about the country. Time of writing the novel: March 1953 - January 2000. The first part of the novel was first published in 1988 in the Alma-Ata magazine “Prostor”.
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Anatoly Ananyev “Tanks are moving in a diamond pattern” is a novel by Russian writer Anatoly Ananyev, written in 1963 and telling about the fate of Soviet soldiers and officers in the first days of the Battle of Kursk in 1943.
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Yulian Semyonov “The Third Card” - a novel from a cycle about the work of the Soviet intelligence officer Isaev-Stirlitz. Written in 1977 by Yulian Semyonov. The book is also interesting because it involves a large number of real-life personalities - OUN leaders Melnik and Bandera, Reichsführer SS Himmler, Admiral Canaris.
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Konstantin Dmitrievich Vorobyov “Killed near Moscow” - a story by Russian writer Konstantin Vorobyov, written in 1963. One of the writer’s most famous works about the war, telling about the defense of Moscow in the fall of 1941.
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Alexander Mikhailovich “The Khatyn Tale” (1971) - a story by Ales Adamovich, dedicated to the struggle of partisans against the Nazis in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. The culmination of the story is the extermination of the inhabitants of one of the Belarusian villages by Nazi punitive forces, which allows the author to draw parallels both with the tragedy of Khatyn and with the war crimes of subsequent decades. The story was written from 1966 to 1971.
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Alexander Tvardovskoy “I was killed near Rzhev” - a poem by Alexander Tvardovsky about the events of the Battle of Rzhev (First Rzhev-Sychev Operation) in August 1942, during one of the most intense moments of the Great Patriotic War. Written in 1946.
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Vasiliev Boris Lvovich “And the dawns here are quiet” - one of the most piercing works about the war in its lyricism and tragedy. Five female anti-aircraft gunners, led by Sergeant Major Vaskov, in May 1942, on a distant patrol, confront a detachment of selected German paratroopers - fragile girls enter into mortal combat with strong men trained to kill. The bright images of the girls, their dreams and memories of their loved ones, create a striking contrast with the inhuman face of the war, which did not spare them - young, loving, gentle. But even through death they continue to affirm life and mercy.
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Vasiliev Boris Lvovich "Tomorrow there was war" - Yesterday these boys and girls were sitting at school desks. Crammed. They quarreled and made up. We experienced first love and misunderstanding of parents. And they dreamed of a future - clean and bright. And tomorrow...Tomorrow there was a war . The boys took their rifles and went to the front. And the girls had to take a sip of military hardship. To see what a girl's eyes should not see - blood and death. To do what is contrary to female nature is to kill. And die ourselves - in battles for the Motherland...

Many decades keep us away from the terrible events of 1941-45, but the topic of human suffering during the Great Patriotic War will never lose its relevance. This must always be remembered so that such a tragedy never happens again.

A special role in preservation belongs to writers, who, together with the people, experienced all the horror of wartime and managed to truthfully depict it in their works. The masters of words completely crossed out the famous words: “When the guns speak, the muses are silent.”

Works of literature about war: main periods, genres, heroes

The terrible news on June 22, 1941 resonated with pain in the hearts of all Soviet people, and writers and poets were the first to respond to it. For more than two decades, the theme of war became one of the main ones in Soviet literature.

The first works on the theme of war were imbued with pain for the fate of the country and filled with determination to defend freedom. Many writers immediately went to the front as correspondents and from there they chronicled events and, without delay, created their works. At first these were operational, short genres: poems, stories, journalistic essays and articles. They were eagerly awaited and re-read both in the rear and at the front.

Over time, works about the war became more voluminous, these were already stories, plays, novels, the heroes of which were strong-willed people: ordinary soldiers and officers, workers of fields and factories. After the Victory, a rethinking of the experience began: the authors of chronicle works tried to convey the scale of the historical tragedy.

In the late 50s - early 60s, works on the theme of war were written by “junior” front-line writers who had been on the front line and gone through all the hardships of a soldier’s life. At this time, the so-called “lieutenant’s prose” appears about the fate of yesterday’s boys who suddenly found themselves facing death.

"Get up, huge country..."

Perhaps you cannot find a person in Russia who would not recognize the invocation words and melody of the “Holy War”. This song was the first response to the terrible news and became the anthem of the warring people for all four years. Already on the third day of the war, poems were heard on the radio, and a week later they were already performed to the music of A. Alexandrov. To the sounds of this song, filled with extraordinary patriotism and as if bursting from the soul of the Russian people, the first echelons went to the front. In one of them there was another famous poet - A. Surkov. It is he who owns the no less famous “Song of the Brave” and “In the Dugout”.

The poets K. Simonov (“Do you remember, Alyosha, the roads of the Smolensk region...”, “Wait for me”), Y. Drunina (“Zinka”, “And where does the strength suddenly come from...”), A. Tvardovsky (“I was killed by Rzhev") and many others. Their works about the war are imbued with the pain of the people, anxiety for the fate of the country and unshakable faith in victory. And also warm memories of your home and the loved ones who remained there, faith in happiness and in the power of love, which can create a miracle. The soldiers knew their poems by heart and read (or sang) in the short minutes between battles. This gave us hope and helped us survive in inhuman conditions.

"Book about a fighter"

A special place among the works created during the war years is occupied by A. Tvardovsky’s poem “Vasily Terkin”.

She is direct evidence of everything that an ordinary Russian soldier had to endure.

The main character is a collective image that embodies all the best qualities of a Soviet soldier: courage and courage, willingness to stand to the end, fearlessness, humanity and at the same time extraordinary cheerfulness, which persists even in the face of death. The author himself went through the entire war as a correspondent, so he knew well what people saw and felt during the war. Tvardovsky’s works determine the “measure of personality,” as the poet himself said, its spiritual world, which cannot be broken in the most difficult situations.

“It’s us, Lord!” - confession of a former prisoner of war

He fought at the front and was captured. His experiences in the camps became the basis of the story, begun in 1943. The main character, Sergei Kostrov, talks about the real torment of hell that he and his comrades had to go through when they were captured by the Nazis (it is no coincidence that one of the camps was called “Death Valley”). People who were physically and spiritually exhausted, but who did not lose faith and humanity even in the most terrible moments of their lives, appear on the pages of the work.

A lot has been written about the war, but few writers under the totalitarian regime spoke specifically about the fate of prisoners of war. K. Vorobyov managed to emerge from the trials prepared for him with a clear conscience, faith in justice and immeasurable love for the Motherland. His heroes are endowed with the same qualities. And although the story was not completed, V. Astafiev rightly noted that even in this form it should stand “on the same shelf with the classics.”

“In war you really get to know people...”

The story “In the Trenches of Stalingrad” by front-line writer V. Nekrasov also became a real sensation. Published in 1946, it amazed many with its extraordinary realism in its depiction of war. For former soldiers, this became memories of the terrible, unveiled events that they had to endure. Those who had not been to the front re-read the story and were amazed at the frankness with which the terrible battles for Stalingrad in 1942 were told. The main thing that the author of the work about the war of 1941-1945 noted is that it revealed the true feelings of people and showed their true value.

The strength of Russian character is a step towards victory

12 years after the great victory, M. Sholokhov’s story was published. Its title - “The Fate of Man” - is symbolic: the life of an ordinary driver, full of trials and inhuman suffering, passes before us. From the very first days of the war, A. Sokolov finds himself at war. For 4 years he went through the agony of captivity, and more than once came close to death. All his actions are evidence of his unshakable love for the Motherland and perseverance. Returning home, he saw only ashes - this is all that remained of his home and family. But even here the hero was able to resist the blow: little Vanyusha, whom he sheltered, breathed life into him and gave him hope. So caring for the orphan boy dulled the pain of his own grief.

The story “The Fate of a Man,” like other works about the war, showed the true strength and beauty of the Russian person, the ability to withstand any obstacles.

Is it easy to remain human

V. Kondratyev is a front-line writer. His story “Sashka”, published in 1979, is one of the so-called lieutenant prose. It shows without embellishment the life of a simple soldier who found himself in hot battles near Rzhev. Despite the fact that he is still quite a young man - only two months at the front, he was able to remain human and not lose his dignity. Overcoming the fear of imminent death, dreaming of getting out of the hell in which he found himself, he does not think about himself for a minute when it comes to the lives of other people. His humanism is manifested even in his attitude towards an unarmed captured German, whom his conscience does not allow him to shoot. Fiction about the war, like “Sashka,” tells about simple and brave guys who did hard things in the trenches and in difficult relationships with others and thus decided the fate of themselves and the entire people in this bloody war.

Remember to live...

Many poets and writers did not return from the battlefields. Others went through the entire war side by side with the soldiers. They witnessed how people behave in a critical situation. Some resign themselves or use any means to survive. Others are ready to die, but not lose their self-esteem.

Works about the war of 1941-1945 are an understanding of everything seen, an attempt to show the courage and heroism of the people who stood up to defend their Fatherland, a reminder to all living people of the suffering and destruction that the struggle for power and world domination brings.

These books are about the exploits of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, about death, love and hope, about grief and joy, about the desire to live and self-sacrifice for others - in a word, about what this war was like and what we had to pay for it.

Valentin Rasputin. "Live and Remember"

The story takes place in 1945, in the last months of the war, when Andrei Guskov returns to his native village after being wounded and hospitalized - but it just so happens that he returns as a deserter. Andrei just really didn’t want to die, he fought a lot and saw a lot of death. Only Nasten’s wife knows about his actions; she is now forced to hide her fugitive husband even from her relatives. She visits him from time to time at his hideout and it is soon discovered that she is pregnant. Now she is doomed to shame and torment - in the eyes of the entire village she will become a walking, unfaithful wife. Meanwhile, rumors are spreading that Guskov is not dead or missing, but is hiding, and they are starting to look for him. Rasputin's story about serious spiritual metamorphoses, about moral and philosophical problems facing the heroes, was first published in 1974.

Boris Vasiliev. “Not on the lists”

The time of action is the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the place is the Brest Fortress besieged by the German invaders. Along with other Soviet soldiers there is also Nikolai Pluzhnikov, a 19-year-old new lieutenant, a graduate of a military school, who was assigned to command a platoon. He arrived on the evening of June 21, and in the morning the war begins. Nicholas, who was not included in the military lists, has every right to leave the fortress and take his bride away from harm, but he remains to fulfill his civic duty. The fortress, bleeding and losing lives, heroically held out until the spring of 1942 and Pluzhnikov became its last warrior-defender, whose heroism amazed his enemies. The story is dedicated to the memory of all unknown and nameless soldiers.

Vasily Grossman. "Life and Fate"

The epic manuscript was completed by Grossman in 1959, was immediately recognized as anti-Soviet due to its harsh criticism of Stalinism and totalitarianism, and was confiscated in 1961 by the KGB. In our homeland, the book was published only in 1988, and then with abbreviations. The novel centers on the Battle of Stalingrad and the Shaposhnikov family, as well as the fate of their relatives and acquaintances. There are many characters in the novel whose lives are somehow connected with each other. These are fighters who take a direct part in the battle, and ordinary people who are not at all prepared for the troubles of war. They all manifest themselves differently in war conditions. The novel changed a lot in popular ideas about the war and the sacrifices that the people had to make in an effort to win. This is, if you like, a revelation. It is large-scale in the scope of events, large-scale in freedom and courage of thought, in true patriotism.

Konstantin Simonov. "The Living and the Dead"

The trilogy (“The Living and the Dead,” “Soldiers Are Not Born,” “The Last Summer”) chronologically covers the period from the beginning of the war to July 1944, and in general, the people’s path to the Great Victory. In his epic, Simonov describes the events of the war as if he sees them through the eyes of his main characters Serpilin and Sintsov. The first part of the novel almost completely corresponds to Simonov’s personal diary (he served throughout the war as a war correspondent), published under the title “100 Days of War.” The second part of the trilogy describes the period of preparation and the Battle of Stalingrad itself - the turning point of the Great Patriotic War. The third part is devoted to our offensive on the Belarusian front. War tests the novel's heroes for humanity, honesty and courage. Several generations of readers, including the most biased of them - those who themselves went through the war, recognize this great work as truly unique, comparable to the highest examples of Russian classical literature.

Mikhail Sholokhov. "They fought for their homeland"

The writer worked on the novel from 1942 to 1969. The first chapters were written in Kazakhstan, where Sholokhov came from the front to visit an evacuated family. The theme of the novel is incredibly tragic in itself - the retreat of Soviet troops on the Don in the summer of 1942. Responsibility to the party and the people, as it was understood then, could prompt smoothing out rough edges, but Mikhail Sholokhov, as a great writer, openly wrote about insoluble problems, about disastrous mistakes, about chaos in front-line deployment, about the absence of a “strong hand” capable of to clean up. The retreating military units, passing through the Cossack villages, did not, of course, feel welcome. It was not understanding and mercy that befell them from the inhabitants, but indignation, contempt and anger. And Sholokhov, having dragged an ordinary person through the hell of war, showed how his character crystallizes in the process of testing. Shortly before his death, Sholokhov burned the manuscript of the novel, and only separate pieces were published. Whether there is a connection between this fact and the strange version that Andrei Platonov helped Sholokhov write this work at the very beginning is not even important. The important thing is that there is another great book in Russian literature.

Victor Astafiev. "Cursed and Killed"

Astafiev worked on this novel in two books (“Devil’s Pit” and “Beachhead”) from 1990 to 1995, but never finished it. The title of the work, covering two episodes from the Great Patriotic War: the training of recruits near Berdsk and the crossing of the Dnieper and the battle to hold the bridgehead, was given by a line from one of the Old Believer texts - “it was written that everyone who sows unrest, war and fratricide on earth, will be cursed and killed by God." Viktor Petrovich Astafiev, a man by no means of a courtly nature, volunteered to go to the front in 1942. What he saw and experienced melted into deep reflections on the war as a “crime against reason.” The action of the novel begins in the quarantine camp of the reserve regiment not far from the Berdsk station. New recruits Leshka Shestakov, Kolya Ryndin, Ashot Vaskonyan, Petka Musikov and Lekha Buldakov find themselves there... they face hunger and love and reprisals and... most importantly, they face war.

Vladimir Bogomolov. "In August '44"

The novel, published in 1974, is based on actual documented events. Even if you have not read this book in any of the fifty languages ​​into which it has been translated, then you have probably all seen the film with the actors Mironov, Baluev and Galkin. But the movie, believe me, will not replace this polyphonic book, which gives a sharp drive, a sense of danger, a full platoon and at the same time a sea of ​​information about the “Soviet state and military machine” and about the everyday life of intelligence officers.

So, the summer of 1944. Belarus has already been liberated, but somewhere on its territory a group of spies goes on the air, transmitting strategic information to the enemies about Soviet troops preparing a grandiose offensive. A detachment of reconnaissance officers led by a SMERSH officer was sent to search for spies and a direction-finding radio.

Bogomolov is a front-line soldier himself, so he was terribly meticulous in describing the details, and in particular, the work of counterintelligence (the Soviet reader learned a lot from him for the first time). Vladimir Osipovich simply tormented several directors who were trying to film this exciting novel; he nagged the then editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda for inaccuracy in the article, proving that it was he who was the first to talk about the Macedonian shooting technique. He is a delightful writer, and his book, without the slightest loss of historicity and ideological content, became a real blockbuster in the best sense.

Anatoly Kuznetsov. "Babi Yar"

A documentary novel based on childhood memories. Kuznetsov was born in 1929 in Kyiv and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War his family did not have time to evacuate. And for two years, 1941 - 1943, he saw how destructively the Soviet troops retreated, then, already under occupation, he saw atrocities, nightmares (for example, sausage was made from human flesh) and mass executions in the Nazi concentration camp at Babi Yar. It’s terrible to realize, but this “former occupation” stigmatized his entire life. He brought the manuscript of his truthful, uncomfortable, scary and piercing novel to the magazine “Youth” during the Thaw, in ’65. But there the frankness seemed excessive, and the book was redrawn, throwing out some parts that were “anti-Soviet,” so to speak, and inserting ideologically verified ones. Kuznetsov managed to defend the title of the novel by a miracle. Things got to the point that the writer began to fear arrest for anti-Soviet propaganda. Kuznetsov then simply stuffed the sheets into glass jars and buried them in the forest near Tula

In all the stories of the Belarusian writer (and he mostly wrote stories), the action takes place during the war, of which he himself was a participant, and the center of meaning is the moral choice of a person in a tragic situation. Fear, love, betrayal, sacrifice, nobility and baseness - all this is mixed in different heroes of Bykov. The story “Sotnikov” tells about two partisans who were captured by the police, and how in the end, one of them, in complete spiritual baseness, hangs the other. Based on this story, Larisa Shepitko made the film “The Ascension”. In the story “It Hurts Not the Dead,” a wounded lieutenant is sent to the rear, with the order to escort three captured Germans. Then they come across a German tank unit, and in the shootout the lieutenant loses both prisoners and his companion and is himself wounded in the leg for the second time. Nobody wants to believe his report about the Germans in the rear. In “The Alpine Ballad,” Russian prisoner of war Ivan and Italian Julia escaped from a fascist concentration camp. Pursued by the Germans, exhausted by cold and hunger, Ivan and Julia become closer. After the war, the Italian lady will write a letter to Ivan’s fellow villagers, in which she will tell about the feat of their fellow countryman and about three days of their love.

The famous book, written by Granin in collaboration with Adamovich, is called the book of truth. For the first time it was published in a magazine in Moscow; the book was published in Lenizdat only in 1984, although it was written back in 1977. Publishing the "Siege Book" in Leningrad was prohibited as long as the city was led by the first secretary of the regional committee, Romanov. Daniil Granin called the 900 days of the blockade “an epic of human suffering.” On the pages of this amazing book, the memories and torments of exhausted people in a besieged city seem to come to life. It is based on the diaries of hundreds of blockade survivors, including records of the deceased boy Yura Ryabinkin, the scientist-historian Knyazev and other people. The book contains siege photographs and documents from the archives of the city and the Granin Foundation.

More than 70 years ago, the worst war in Russian history ended. The horror and pain are gradually forgotten, the last witnesses who could tell the younger generation how their ancestors lived, suffered, and fought are gone.

All that remains are films and books about the war of 1941-1945, the task of which is to show the truth and convey that this should not happen again. Now they are talking again about war, which could become a solution to political or economic problems.

War solves nothing! It brings destruction, torment and death. Books about the war of 1941-1945 are books of memory to the civilian population, soldiers and officers who died or were injured, their perseverance, courage and patriotism.

The heroism of the people who guarded the Brest Fortress from the Nazis back in 1941 was not made public for a long time. And only the painstaking work of Sergei Smirnov was able to recreate all the events of the terrible defense. Defenders of the Motherland fought in endless battles for the right to live.

B. Vasiliev’s poignant story about the hard times of war is filled with the endless courage of young girls who prevented German soldiers from blowing up a strategically important section of the railway. Young heroines, even dying, fought for the blue sky above their heads!

The front-line poem “Vasily Terkin” is dedicated to the difficult life and heroic defense of Soviet soldiers of their native land from the fascist occupiers. Vasily is the “life of the party,” a brave warrior and resourceful person. He embodies in his image the best that is in Russian people!

The dramatic story by M. Sholokhov describes the real difficulties that Soviet soldiers faced during the retreat from the Don in 1942. The lack of an experienced commander and strategic mistakes when attacking the enemy were aggravated by the hatred of the Cossacks.

In the documentary novel, Yu. Semyonov reveals the unpleasant truth about the attempts to create a military alliance between Germany and the USA. The author exposes in the book the joint activities of German fascists and “corrupt” American security forces during the war in the person of Isaev-Stirlitz.

Yu. Bondarev took part in many bloody battles against the fascist invaders. The story tells about a traitorous colonel who, during a military operation, unexpectedly decided to abandon his battalions to the mercy of fate, leaving them without a firing rear behind them...

The story is based on the boundless heroism and dedication of Alexei Maresyev, a Russian pilot who carried out many brilliant military operations in the air. After a difficult battle, field doctors amputated both of his legs, but he still continued to fight!

The war novel is based on the story of the real-life secret organization “Young Guard”, whose members fought against Hitler’s henchmen. The names of the dead Krasnodon boys are forever inscribed in bloody letters in Russian history...

The cheerful and young guys from 9 “B” have just started their holidays. They wanted to swim and sunbathe in the hot summer, and then, in the fall, proudly go to the tenth grade. They dreamed, fell in love, suffered and lived life to the fullest. But the sudden outbreak of war destroyed all hopes...

Hot southern sun, foamy sea waves, ripening fruit and berry expanse. Carefree boys fell in love with beautiful girls for the first time: touching kisses and hand-in-hand walks under the moon. But an “unjust” war suddenly looked into the windows of the houses...

Viktor Nekrasov was a participant in the Great Patriotic War: he was able to describe the difficult everyday life of the front line without embellishment. In the middle of 1942, our soldiers were defeated near Kharkov and, by the will of fate, ended up in Stalingrad, where a fierce battle took place...

The Sintsovs are an ordinary family, carefree vacationing on the Simferopol coast. Happy, they stood near the station and waited for fellow travelers to the sanatorium. But like a bolt from the blue, the news of the beginning of the war sounded on the radio. But their one-year-old baby remained “there”...

Soldiers Are Not Born is the second book in the Living and the Dead trilogy. 1942 The war has already “crept” into all the houses of the vast country, and fierce battles are taking place on the front lines. And when the enemies came too close to Stalingrad, a turning point battle took place...

The summer of 1944 came, which, as it turned out later, was the last for the bloody war. The entire powerful army of the USSR, first with uncertain steps, and then with sweeping steps, cheerfully and to the accompaniment of bravura music, marches towards a great victory, sweeping away all enemies on its way!

The brutal Battle of Stalingrad lasted a long time, in which many Russian soldiers were killed. They tried to defend their homeland and in the end they succeeded! The German occupying group "Don" suffered a crushing defeat, which influenced the outcome of the war...

The Siege Book documents the memories of hundreds of people who lived through endless 900 days of suffering and struggle for life in a city surrounded by fascist occupiers. The “living” details of people locked in cages cannot leave anyone indifferent...

Savka Ogurtsov leads an absolutely amazing life! He studies at the Jung School, located on the notorious Solovetsky Islands. Every day the hero of the autobiographical book lives with adventures. But when the war came, I suddenly had to grow up...

A chance meeting with a former fellow soldier, who had long been on the list of missing persons, forced V. Bykov to rethink his view of some things. A fighter I knew was a prisoner of the Nazis for many years, actively collaborating with them and hoping to someday escape...

The strong-willed Russian people were able to defeat the German occupiers. Soviet writer D.N. Medvedev was the commander of the largest partisan detachment, desperately fighting against fascism. The book describes simple life stories of people behind enemy lines.

Soldiers marched aty-baty - Boris Vasiliev
In 1944, a bloody battle took place that claimed the lives of eighteen young men. They fought desperately for their homeland and died a heroic death. Three decades later, their grown-up children walk along the road of their father’s glory, not for a moment forgetting the terrible sacrifice of their parents...

The autumn of 1941 arrived. The Bogatko family lives in a quiet village not far from a large village. One day, fascists show up at their house bringing policemen. Petrok hopes to settle the matter with them peacefully, but Stepanida is strongly opposed to strangers...

The Great Patriotic War claimed the lives of over two million Belarusians. Vasil Bykov writes about this, praising the immortal feats of ordinary citizens fighting for the right to live in a free country. Their heroic death will always be remembered by people living today...

On the northwestern front, our soldiers took part in the battles for the liberation of the Baltic states and part of Belarus. One day in 1944, Russian counterintelligence officers discovered a secret group of fascists under the code name “Neman”. Now it needs to be quickly destroyed...

Neeson Khoza managed to write in a language accessible to children the amazing, joyful and tragic events of besieged Leningrad. Little residents of the captured city, together with adults, walked along the “road of life” equally, eating crumbs of bread and working for industry...

Russian soldiers fought fiercely for the Brest Fortress, forever dying the death of the brave. These stone walls have seen too much grief: now they are surrounded by blissful silence. Nikolai Pluzhnikov is the last defender who managed to hold out for almost a year against the Germans...

It is generally accepted that “war does not have a feminine face,” but is this really so? S. Alekseevich collected many stories about life in a military camp from front-line soldiers, not forgetting about the assistance of the rear in victory. Over four terrible years, the Red Army accepted more than 800,000 beauties and Komsomol members...

M. Glushko talks about the terrible youth that befell her during the turbulent war years. On behalf of 19-year-old Ninochka, the full horror of the fascist occupation is revealed, which had not been “seen” to the girl for some time. Pregnant, she wants only one thing: to give birth to a healthy child...

All children of the Soviet Union knew the tragic fate of the artist Guli Koroleva. The activist, Komsomol member and athlete went to the front almost a year after the start of the war, saying goodbye to Hedgehog and her family forever. Her fourth, posthumous, height was a hill in the village of Panshino...

Writer Vasil Bykov saw the hardships of the war against the Nazis every day. Too many brave people plunged headlong into the pool and never returned. The uncertainty of the future makes the heroes of the work suffer from hopelessness and powerlessness, but still they survived!

Zoenka and Shurochka are two daughters of Lyubov Kosmodemyanskaya, who died for their belief in the victory of the Red Army over the Hitler regime. In a surprisingly bright book, every reader will trace the girls’ entire lives from birth to their painful death at the hands of German fascists...

Mother of man
The Human Mother is the personification of a Woman bending over her Child. The writer spent all four years of the fascist occupation as a war correspondent. He was so moved by the story of one woman that he forever captured it in his book...

The brave girl Lara Mikhienko became a symbol of fearlessness and courage of partisan detachments in the Great Patriotic War! She wanted a peaceful life and didn’t want to fight at all, but the damned fascists made their way into her home village, “cutting off” her from loved ones...

Many girls were drafted into the Soviet Army to fight fascism. This happened to Rita too: when she came home after a hard day at the factory, she discovered a terrible agenda. Now a very young girl has become a miner and “teacher” of a subversive service dog...

The son of the all-Union children's writer Nikolai Chukovsky wrote a memorable story about the siege of Leningrad and the pilots of the 16th squadron, who sought to destroy as many Nazis as possible. Comrades on earth and in the sky - they lived an ordinary life and did not want to die at all!

How often do we praise the exploits of some people, forgetting about the great achievements of modest and insignificant individuals during their lifetime. Burying P. Miklashevich as a national teacher in one village, people completely forgot about Moroz, another teacher who wanted to save children from the Germans during the war...

Ivanovsky saw a heavy cart, loaded with fascist occupiers, slowly approaching him. On a quiet and clear night, he wanted only one thing: to survive until dawn, and therefore, as tightly as possible, he clutched to himself the saving roundness - the deadly grenade...

V. Astafiev participated in many battles of the Red Army against the German minions of fascism. But there was only one thing he always tried to understand: why does cruelty reign and millions of people die for tyranny? He, along with other soldiers, resisted death...

In the last part of the trilogy, published after Stalin’s death, V. Grossman sharply criticizes his years of power. The writer hates the Soviet regime and Nazism in Germany. He exposes the class cruelty that led to the most terrible war in the history of mankind...

Writer Valentin Rasputin tried to understand why some soldiers from the multimillion-strong Soviet Army preferred to desert the battlefield rather than die a brave death. Andrei returned to his native land as an escaped warrior: he could trust his life only to his wife...

The well-known story by E. Volodarsky was based on the military situation of the actually existing penal battalions in the ranks of the Red Army. It was not the heroes of the people who served there, but deserters, political prisoners, criminals and other elements that the Soviet government wanted to remove...

Front-line soldier V. Kurochkin, in his most famous book, recalls the terrible war years, when the battalion ranks went into the unknown in order to fight the Nazis with dignity. All pages of the work are permeated by the idea of ​​humanism: people on Earth should live peacefully...

In 1917, Alyosha rejoiced at fluffy snowflakes and white snow. His father is an officer who went missing in 1914. The boy sees columns of wounded front-line soldiers and envies the heroic death of the soldiers. He doesn’t yet know that he himself will become a great officer in a completely different war...

V. Nekrasov is a Soviet writer and front-line soldier who went through the entire Great Patriotic War. In his story about Stalingrad, he returns again and again to the most terrible moments in the life of Soviet soldiers who fought fierce, bloody battles for the great city...

S. Alekseevich dedicated the second part of the cycle about the war to the memories of those who were still very small children in 1941-1945. It is unfair that these innocent eyes saw so much grief and, like adults, fought for their lives. Their childhood was captured by fascism...

Volodya Dubinin is an ordinary boy from the Crimean city of Kerch. When a terrible war came, he decided to create his own partisan detachment and, together with adults, exterminate the German occupiers. His short life and heroic death formed the basis of a sad story...

The merciless war made many children orphans: their parents were missing or died in battle. Vanechka also lost his father, who shot as hard as he could at the hated fascists. When he grew up, he went to study at a military school to honor the memory of his dad...

Alexander is an experienced intelligence officer of the Red Army. By order of the commander, the hero crossed the border and ingratiated himself with the Nazis, calling himself Johann Weiss. He went through many hierarchical steps and finally reached the “tops” of the fascist government. But has he remained the same?

The autobiographical work “Take Alive” reveals the work of Soviet intelligence, “examining” the terrible plans of the German fascists. The reader will also learn about secret special operations and classified information that intelligence officers were well guarded from the people's enemy...

In the summer of 1944, two reconnaissance units of the Soviet army were given the task of finding the military fortifications of the Nazis, their provisions and weapons depots. And the heroes of the book boldly rushed towards danger, honestly fulfilling their duty to the destroyed Motherland...

V. Pikul, in his “sea” military book, writes about the heroic actions of the Northern Fleet, which defended the icy steppe from the fascist invaders of the territory. Brave scouts risked their lives in order to penetrate the enemy camp, leaving their loved ones on the shore...

about the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
I know it's not my fault

That others

didn't come back from the war

The fact that they are the ones who are older,

who is younger -

We stayed there, and it’s not about the same thing,

That I could have them

but failed to save, -

That's not what we're talking about, but still,

still, still...

Alexander Tvardovsky
The theme of the Great Patriotic War, having appeared from the very beginning of the war in our literature, still worries both writers and readers. Unfortunately, authors who knew about the war first-hand are gradually passing away, but they left for us in their talented works their insightful vision of events, managing to convey the atmosphere of bitter, terrible and at the same time solemn and heroic years.

Books about war must be read from childhood so as not to lose the thread of memory of the valor of our compatriots who gave us life. We offer you an annotated recommendation list of the best works about the Great Patriotic War. The list is compiled in alphabetical order by authors. All presented literary masterpieces have a full-text analogue on the Internet.

For primary classes

		Voronkova L.F. Girl from the city The story “The Girl from the City,” written in the harsh year of 1943, still touches the hearts of children and adults. All the best in a person is most clearly manifested in years of difficult trials. This is confirmed by the story of the little refugee Valentinka, who found herself among strangers in an unfamiliar village.
		Gaidar A.P. The Tale of the Military Secret, of Malchish-Kibalchish and his firm word A heroic tale by a wonderful children's writer. Malchish-Kibalchish embodies all the best features of our boys who dream of accomplishing a real feat in the name of the Motherland. The Great Victory would not have been won if there had not been such big and small heroes. Didn’t the fate of the pioneer heroes repeat the fate of Malchish-Kibalchish?
		Kassil L. Street of the youngest son The story of the life and death of the young partisan Volodya Dubinin, a hero of the Great Patriotic War.
		Kataev V. Son of the regiment The orphan boy Vanya Solntsev, by the will of fate, ended up in a military unit with intelligence officers. His stubborn character, pure soul and boyish courage were able to overcome the resistance of harsh military people and helped him stay at the front, becoming the son of the regiment.
		Mikhalkov S. True story for children Despite the well-known ideological orientation, “True for Children” is a good work about the war, capable of conveying to modern children what our country endured during that terrible time. The poem covers the events of 1941 - 1945. This resource is scanned pages of a book (Children's Literature, Moscow, 1969) with drawings by N. Kochergin.
		Oseeva V.A. Vasek Trubachev and his comrades The heroes of the trilogy “Vasyok Trubachev and his comrades” lived, studied, played pranks, made friends and quarreled several decades ago, but it’s even more interesting to take a trip in a “time machine” and look into their world. But the cloudless time of childhood for Trubachev and his friends turned out to be too short: it was cut short by the Great Patriotic War.
		Paustovsky K. G. The adventures of the rhinoceros beetle The soldier carried with him in his traveling bag a rhinoceros beetle, which his son gave him as a souvenir before leaving for the front. This beetle became a good comrade for the soldier in military life. They went through a lot together, they both have a lot to remember.
		Platonov A. Nikita The story is named after the main character - the little boy Nikita. The writer Andrei Platonov was one of those who forever remembered what kind of person he was as a child - and not everyone remembers this. Probably, Platonov was never told as a child: you are not mature enough yet, this is not for you. That’s why he tells us about little people, but respects them as big ones. And they also respect themselves in his stories, they even see that they, perhaps, are the most important on earth...
		Platonov A. Flower on Earth The world is wide, it contains a lot of interesting things. The little man makes discoveries every day. The hero of the story “Flower on the Earth” suddenly looked at an ordinary flower with completely different eyes. The grandfather helped his grandson to see the holy worker in the flower.
		Simonov K. Son of an artilleryman K. Simonov's ballad is based on real events. The poetic story about Major Deev and Lyonka is remembered from the first reading, it is written so simply, clearly and impressively.
		Yakovlev Yu. Girls from Vasilyevsky Island Yuri Yakovlev in his stories reveals to children the whole truth of life as it is, without hiding from solving problems behind the external fascination of the plot. The book “Girls from Vasilyevsky Island” is a story about little Tanya Savicheva, who died of hunger, written on the basis of her surviving notes.
For grades 5-7
		Bogomolov V.O. Ivan A tragic and true story about a brave boy scout who sacrifices himself every day, consciously carrying out adult service, which not every adult fighter is capable of.
		Kozlov V. Vitka from Chapaevskaya Street The book tells about teenagers who went on a campaign just before the start of the war. They fully experienced the difficulties and dangers of war, like the entire Russian people. This is how they grew up. The story “Vitka from Chapaevskaya Street” by V. Kozlov has been read by more than one generation of boys and girls.
		Korolkov Yu. Pioneers-Heroes. Lenya Golikov During the Great Patriotic War, when the Nazis invaded the Novgorod land, Lenya Golikov joined the ranks of the people's avengers. The story is based on real events. The text is accompanied by drawings by V. Yudin.
		Platonov A. Tree of the Motherland This is not so much a story as a parable that talks about the unnaturalness of war, about the powerlessness of death in the face of the Soldier’s persistent desire to stand in the name of life, to protect his mother, land, Motherland - everything that is dear and sacred to him.
		Platonov A. Sampo “Sampo” is a fabulous self-grinding mill that can feed everyone for free. The parable of Andrei Platonov tells about a small collective farm called “Good Life”, where hardworking people lived who did not dream of a wonderful mill. Everything they had was obtained through labor. But this was not enough to protect the “Good Life” from the evil enemy
		Ochkin A.Ya. Ivan - I, Fedorovs - we This story contains true events and almost all true names. The author describes the military affairs of his friend, “brother” Vanya Fedorov, who died a hero’s death in Stalingrad. Alexey Yakovlevich Ochkin himself started the war on the Don, participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, repeated the feat of Alexander Matrosov at the Kursk Bulge, was seriously wounded more than once, but reached the end along the roads of the war: he participated in the storming of Berlin and the liberation of Prague.
		Rudny V. Children of Captain Granin The Gangut Peninsula, located at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, became the most important strategic point from the first days of the Great Patriotic War. Its defenders not only did not allow a single large enemy ship into the Gulf of Finland that could pose a serious threat to Leningrad, but also drew significant enemy forces onto themselves at the most decisive moment.
		Tolstoy A.N. Russian character During the Battle of Kursk, Lieutenant Yegor Dremov barely managed to escape from a burning tank. He survived and even retained his sight, but his burnt face after several operations changed beyond recognition. This is how he arrived at his home. We learn about this return from the story “Russian Character”.
For 8-9 grades
		Adamovich A., Granin D. Blockade book Daniil Granin called the nine hundred days of the siege of Leningrad “an epic of human suffering.” The documentary chronicle is based on the memoirs and diaries of hundreds of Leningrad residents who survived the siege.
		Adamovich A. Khatyn story In Belarus, the Nazis committed atrocities like nowhere else: more than 9,200 villages were destroyed, in more than 600 of them almost all the inhabitants were killed or burned, only a few were saved. “The Khatyn Tale” is written on documentary material. It is dedicated to the struggle of Belarusian partisans. One of them, Flera, recalls the events of the past war.
		Aitmatov Ch.T. Early cranes The harsh years of the Great Patriotic War. A distant Kyrgyz village. Men are at the front. The heroes of the story are schoolchildren. The best, the strongest of them must raise abandoned fields, give bread to the front, to families. And children understand this deeply. The war became a severe test for teenagers, but it did not kill their ability to enjoy life, see beauty, and share joy with others
		Baklanov G. Forever - nineteen years old This book is about those who did not return from the war, about love, about life, about youth, about immortality. In the book, parallel to the story, there is a photo story. “The people in these photographs,” the author writes, “I did not meet at the front and did not know. They were captured by press photographers and maybe this is all that remains of them.”
		Vasiliev B.L. And the dawns here are quiet... This work is one of the most piercing works about the war in its lyricism and tragedy. The bright images of the girls - the main characters of the story, their dreams and memories of their loved ones, create a striking contrast with the inhuman face of the war, which spares no one.
		Kazakevich E. Zvezda This work was created on the basis of the author’s experiences in the heat of battle at the front, seeing the suffering and death of people. The tragically sad and bright story about a group of divisional intelligence officers sounds like a revelation and penetrates the souls of people.
		Kosmodemyanskaya L.T. The Tale of Zoya and Shura Children of L.T. Kosmodemyanskaya died in the fight against fascism, defending the freedom and independence of their people. She talks about them in the story. Using the book, you can follow the lives of Zoya and Shura Kosmodemyansky day by day, find out their interests, thoughts, dreams.
		Polevoy B. The Tale of a Real Man “The Tale of a Real Man” is a 1946 story by B. N. Polevoy about the Soviet pilot Meresyev, who was shot down in a battle during the Great Patriotic War. After being seriously wounded, doctors amputated both of his legs. But he decided that he would fly.
		Tvardovsky A.T. Vasily Terkin In the deeply truthful, humorous, classically clear poem “Vasily Terkin”, A. T. Tvardovsky created an immortal image of a Soviet soldier. This work became a vivid embodiment of the Russian character and national feelings of the era of the Great Patriotic War.
		Sholokhov A. Man's destiny A story within a story by M.A. Sholokhov’s “The Fate of a Man” is a story about a common man in a big war, who, at the cost of losing loved ones and comrades, with his courage and heroism gave the right to life and freedom to his Motherland. The image of Andrei Sokolov concentrates the features of the Russian national character.
For high school
	Adamovich A. Punishers “The Punishers” is a bloody chronicle of the destruction of seven peaceful villages in the territory of temporarily occupied Belarus by the battalion of Hitler’s punisher Dirlewanger. The chapters bear appropriate titles: “Village One”, “Village Two”, “Between the Third and Fourth Village”, etc. Each chapter contains excerpts from documents on the activities of punitive detachments and their participants.
	Bogomolov V. Moment of truth The plot develops on the basis of a tense confrontation between SMERSH officers and a group of German saboteurs. “The Moment of Truth” is the most famous novel in the history of Russian literature about the work of counterintelligence during the Great Patriotic War, translated into more than 30 languages.
	Bykov V. Sotnikov All of V. Bykov’s work is characterized by the problem of the moral choice of a hero in war. In the story "Sotnikov" it is not representatives of two different worlds who collide, but people of the same country. The heroes of the work - Sotnikov and Rybak - under normal conditions might not have shown their true nature. The reader will have to think together with the author about eternal philosophical questions: the price of life and death, cowardice and heroism, loyalty to duty and betrayal. An in-depth psychological analysis of every action and gesture of the characters, fleeting thought or remark is one of the strongest aspects of the story. The Pope presented the writer V. Bykov with a special prize from the Catholic Church for the story “Sotnikov”.
	Vorobiev K. Killed near Moscow The story “Killed near Moscow” became the first work by K. Vorobyov from the category of those that were called “lieutenant’s prose” by critics. Vorobiev spoke about the “incredible reality of war,” which he himself witnessed during the battles near Moscow in the winter of 1941. War, bursting into human life, affects it like nothing else, radically changes it.
	Kondratyev V. Sashka The events in the story “Sashka” take place in 1942. The author himself is a front-line soldier and fought near Rzhev, just like his hero. The story shows people in war and in life. The writer considered it his duty to convey the bitter military truth to his readers. He reproduces military life in every detail, which gives his narrative a special realism and makes the reader a participant in the events. For the people fighting here, even the most insignificant detail is forever etched in their memory.
	Nekrasov V. In the trenches of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad, which decided the outcome of the Great Patriotic War, is depicted in many works of art. Viktor Nekrasov’s story “In the Trenches of Stalingrad” still shocks us with its depth and truthfulness. The great and simple heroes of Stalingrad appear before us with their own eyes.
	Platonov A. Recovery of the dead Andrei Platonov was a war correspondent during the war. He wrote about what he saw himself. The story “Recovery of the Dead” became the pinnacle of A. Platonov’s military prose. Dedicated to the heroic crossing of the Dnieper. And at the same time, he talks about the holiness of a mother going to the grave of her children, a holiness born of suffering.
	Tendryakov V. F. People or non-humans V. Tendryakov volunteered for the front after graduating from school at the age of 17. He was a signalman. Some facts of his military biography are reflected in the essay “People or Inhumans.” This is the writer’s reflection on how quickly the transformation of people into non-humans occurs. Without sparing either his compatriots or the fascists, the author shows the tragic relativity of humanity and inhumanity in a person, depending on circumstances.
	Fadeev A.A. Young guard A novel about the Krasnodon underground organization “Young Guard”, which operated in fascist-occupied territory, many of whose members died heroically in fascist dungeons. Most of the main characters of the novel: Oleg Koshevoy, Ulyana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Ivan Zemnukhov, Sergei Tyulenin and others are real people.
	Sholokhov M.A. They fought for their homeland The pages of the novel “They Fought for the Motherland” recreate one of the most tragic moments of the war - the retreat of our troops to the Don in the summer of 1942. The uniqueness of this work lies in Sholokhov’s special ability to combine the large-scale and epic nature of the image (a tradition coming from L. Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”) with a detailed narrative, with a keen sense of the uniqueness of human character. The novel reveals in many ways the fate of three modest ordinary people - miner Pyotr Lopakhin, combine operator Ivan Zvyagintsev, agronomist Nikolai Streltsov. Very different in character, they are connected at the front by male friendship and boundless devotion to the Fatherland.