Works about the Great Patriotic War are a whole genre that unites many books that are unlike each other. The best military works are included in the school curriculum and are studied in depth in universities.
"The Dawns Here Are Quiet" - the feat of Soviet anti-aircraft gunners
The piercingly tragic story of Boris Vasiliev is dedicated to the military feat of an unusual platoon, consisting of five young girls. The young anti-aircraft gunners had just finished their studies, and the war forced them to enter the front. Their commander is a former intelligence officer, a participant in the Finnish War, stern but fair. During the mission, the girls notice an enemy group nearby and decide to stop the saboteurs. However, the forces are unequal. The story was published in 1969, and three years later it was filmed. The film has become one of the most beloved films among the people.
In 2008, a television series was filmed based on the story.
"Vasily Terkin" - a life-affirming poem
While many works about the war are filled with tragedy, Alexander Tvardovsky's poem is written in a light, optimistic key. Its main character is a simple soldier Vasily Terkin, a merry fellow and a joker. He looks to the future with hope and never gets discouraged. But during the attack, Terkin turns into a real fighter who knows no mercy. The first chapters of the poem began to appear in newspapers during the war, in 1942. They have gained immense popularity. Many soldiers admitted that excerpts from Vasily Terkin helped them not to surrender and instilled confidence in victory. Unlike many works of that time, Tvardovsky did not insert long positive discourses on the theme of the party and Stalin into the poem. Because of this, the work received a lot of criticism from the party nomenclature.
In 1963, Tvardovsky published another work about his beloved hero - "Terkin in the Next World."
"War does not have a woman's face" - a view from a woman's side
The work of Svetlana Aleksievich is memoirs, documentaries, and fictional essays. This book was written many years after the Great Patriotic War and contains many stories from eyewitnesses. Both women and men took part in the war - in front of her, everyone was equal. But due to physical and psychological characteristics, women felt the tragedy of what was happening more acutely. The book contains stories and reflections about those from whom the war took away all their feminine essence - about women soldiers, about nurses on the battlefield, about the wives of soldiers who were left with small children. There is no emphatic praise of Soviet heroes and no belittling of the Germans here. Everything is described truthfully, without embellishment. The tragic story of women who survived the war became the first book in Aleksievich's series Voices of Utopia.
