The Dawns Here Are Quiet short film. And the dawns here are quiet. Further developments

And the dawns here are quiet. A story that brought its author, Boris Lvovich Vasiliev, real fame. Written in 1969, it was almost immediately published in the magazine Yunost. A year later the work was transferred to the theater stage. In 1970, the story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet...” was filmed. In this story, the author unfolds before the reader the story of military operation, which started in one of the Russian forests. Having gone to work, the soldiers, led by the sergeant major, discover that the Germans outnumber them.

The detachment is left without reinforcements, they are doomed to death: some succumb to fear, others courageously defend their native land. But the fact is that all the fighters, except the sergeant major, are women. Losing each of his “soldiers”, one after another, main character story, the foreman, thinks with bitterness about the unnaturalness of what is happening. Women who die at the hands of the enemy should be in a completely different place, in the family, giving birth and raising children. This idea, which is repeated in a reprise in the work, is the main thought of the author.

Boris Vasiliev raises themes of cowardice, heroism, duty, but also asks the problem of “woman and war.” And this problem leads the reader to an even greater problem, because the woman in this work is synonymous with life, the continuer of the family.

“And the dawns here are quiet...” summary

Replenishment

It was hot May 1942. At the 171st railway siding, the chief officer was Fedot Vaskov. Vaskov is 32 years old, he is lonely, since his wife ran away with her lover and his little son died. The soldiers were constantly changing because the place was calm, the soldiers drank moonshine and walked with local women. Fedot Evgrafych demands that people who don’t drink and “don’t party” be sent to him - in response, the authorities send a detachment of young anti-aircraft gunners.

Sergeant Major Vaskov does not know how to behave with young women; they respond to any remark with a giggle, “on all fronts” they dry their clothes, or even lie down to sunbathe in what their mother gave birth to. The main one in the first section of the platoon is Margarita Osyanina. She was the first to get married in her class, and remained a widow on the second day of the war. Rita left behind a small son, Albert, whom she sent to his parents in the village two months before the war.

The death of her husband made her somehow special among the other girls; she remained the sternest among them. When Zhenya Komelkova appears among the girls, Rita’s peculiarity disappears. A year before Zhenya came here, the Germans shot her entire family. She saw it with her own eyes, from the house opposite, where her Estonian neighbor hid her. Despite the great loss, Zhenya laughs and smiles, she is very beautiful, slim, with long hair. Zhenya and Rita become friends.

The squad is moving forward

After some time, it becomes clear that it was not in vain that Rita asked to transfer her platoon here. Every three days, Osyanina runs away without permission somewhere after dinner and returns at dawn. On one of these trips, in the morning, Rita sees two Germans going into the forest. She wakes up Vaskov, he informs his superiors and decides to move forward to track down the enemy: kill one of the Germans, take one prisoner for questioning. He takes with him: Zhenya, Rita, Lisa Brichkina, Sonya Gurvich and Galya Chetvertak.

The squad moves out and follows a short path. Vaskov correctly guesses that the Germans will take the long path, and he himself leads the girls along the short road, through the swamp, to Lake Vop. Positioned in ambush, the foreman and the girls finally wait for the Germans. But when the Germans come ashore, Fedot Vaskov must solve a big problem in his head: not two, but sixteen Germans came ashore.

We are waiting for reinforcements

Lisa Brichkina is sent back to the village to inform her superiors that reinforcements are urgently needed. Lisa, the daughter of a forester, runs, thinking about her past life, which was spent caring for her sick mother, and about her feelings for foreman Vaskov. She misses the right place, stumbles and dies in the swamp. At this time, the sergeant major and the rest of the girls do not yet know about this. They must play for time: pretending to be lumberjacks, they light fires and cut down trees.

When the fighters moved on, Vaskov discovers that he forgot his tobacco pouch. Cheerful Sonya decides to return for him, especially since they have already walked along this path twice. Unfortunately for her, Sonya meets the Germans who kill her. The foreman and Zhenya track down two Germans and avenge Sonya. Soon they fire at the enemy squad, but only wound one.

During the shelling, Galya Chetvertak, a former student at the library technical school who ended up at the front because of romantic ideas, succumbs to fear. She is horrified by Sonya's death, but Vaskov does not see this. He takes her with him, puts her in an ambush, and when the right moment comes to shoot the enemy, Galya gives herself away, the Germans kill her. The foreman leads the Germans with him to save the surviving Zhenya and Rita. Vaskov is wounded in the arm. He finds a hut, an enemy camp, and kills another German. On his way, near the swamp, he notices Brichkina’s skirt and realizes that the girl is stuck in the swamp and there will be no help.

Last Stand

The survivors Zhenya and Rita meet Fedot on the shore like sisters and brother. They hug, cry, the foreman tells the girls about Lisa’s death and that the last battle awaits them; they cannot let the enemy near the railway. The girls are ready for this. In an unequal battle, the Germans first wound Rita, and while Vaskov hides her, Zhenya dies. Rita understands that she will not survive and confesses to Vaskov where she ran at night: not far from the crossing, her mother lives in the city, with Rita’s little son. The woman asks Fedot to take care of the baby. Not wanting to die in agony, Rita shoots herself in the temple.

Vaskov, left alone, first buries Rita and Zhenya. And then he goes to the hut, the German camp. He kills one German and the other four surrender. The enemy simply could not imagine that the foreman was alone. And the foreman himself, tying up the last German, bitterly promised to kill everyone for the five girls they had killed. The story ends with a life-affirming epilogue. Many years pass. Old Fedot Evgrafych and Albert Fedotych bring a marble slab to Rita’s grave.

AND THE DAWNINGS HERE ARE QUIET...

It was May 1942, at the 171st crossing, the soldiers were thrilled with idleness and silence. The raids stopped, but scouts were constantly circling over the junction, so the command kept two anti-aircraft quadruples there. The commandant of the patrol was the gloomy foreman Fedot Evgrafych Vaskov, who was tired of fighting drunkenness in his unit and asked the command for non-drinking soldiers. Finally, the military was sent to his disposal, who certainly would not drink moonshine and flirt with local beauties. These were the first and second squads of the third platoon of the fifth company of the Separate Anti-Aircraft Machine-Gun Battalion, consisting of young girls. The foreman was even confused at first. Then he himself built bunks in the fire shed, since the anti-aircraft gunners refused to billet with their mistresses.

There was silence at the crossing, but it was not easy for the commandant. The new subordinates turned out to be combative and cocky girls, so he was constantly afraid to say something wrong, lest he get caught in a sharp tongue.

The thirty-two-year-old commander was afraid of hints and jokes about courtship, so he always walked around staring at the ground. The girls considered him among themselves and called him an old man. Vaskov, in fact, soon began to cough at every step - after he accidentally stumbled upon the first department, sunbathing under the bright May sun. Commander Osyanina, a stern, unsmiling girl, was with everyone.

Rita Osyanina was the first of her class to marry a border guard commander who died on the second day of the war.

The young woman managed to send her little son to his parents in the rear back in May, so when the war began, she was eager to fight. She was sent to the regimental anti-aircraft school. Then she found herself at a crossing point. Rita always kept herself apart from the other girls, who seemed still green to her, although they were her age.

It was to Osyanina’s department that they sent Evgenia Komelkova, a red-haired, white-skinned beauty, the lover of one of the staff commanders, who was married. Unexpectedly, Rita opened up with Evgenia, telling her about her life. She only briefly noted that Rita now has personal scores to settle, just like she did, having lost her entire family at one point. Evgenia was very cheerful and mischievous. Only she could stir up commander Osyanina. Having arrived at their destination with her squad, Rita suddenly began to disappear from time to time at night. Some of the girls knew about these absences, but, thinking that the proud woman had taken a boyfriend, they remained silent.

One day, returning, as usual, to the barracks, Rita accidentally stumbled upon an unfamiliar tall man standing with his back to her. She stepped into the bush, watching as another stranger joined him and they went into the forest. As soon as the unknown people disappeared, Rita, as she was, barefoot, ran to the foreman. She told the commander about strangers in the forest. Vaskov ordered the girl to raise the team on combat alert. The sergeant major contacted the command and reported that two Germans in camouflage robes had been spotted in the forest. The order was given to catch the Germans. Five people were assigned to the sergeant major. The group also included Rita, who had seen the enemies with her own eyes. Besides her, the red-haired and mischievous Komelkova, the thin Sonya Gurvich, the stocky Liza Brichkina and Galya Chetvertak, who was inseparable from Komelkova, were supposed to go into the forest.

Vaskov decided that the Germans were most likely making their way to the railway track, the path to which ran through Lake Vop. They don’t know the shortcut, so they’ll take a detour. The sergeant major and his detachment will be able to get ahead of the Germans along a short route and meet them on the lake. Vaskov hoped that he would hide his girls more reliably, and he himself would find something to talk about with the Germans.

His soldiers walked briskly. The foreman tried to treat his subordinates more harshly, so that they would leave their hobbies and take the campaign seriously. They walked in pairs. The commander had to go with Gurvich, the translator. He learned that the girl herself is from Minsk and her relatives are now “under the Germans.” She worried about them, knowing how the Nazis dealt with Jews. The detachment approached the swamp. The foreman cut down six good slugs for his army and for himself and explained to the girls how best to move through the dangerous place. During a difficult trek, Chetvertak's boot got sucked in. Komelkova wanted to help, but Vaskov stopped her with a loud shout. There was a quagmire all around, a step to the side threatened certain death. The detachment went out to rest on a small island. Galya came out wearing only stockings. After giving the girls a little rest, the foreman led them further. Finally we reached the stream, and the commander gave us forty minutes to wash ourselves, wash our clothes and recover. He himself, having washed himself, made a quarter from birch bark chunya. They put two of the commander’s woolen socks on the unlucky soldier’s bare foot, wrapped him in a footcloth and tied the chunya with a bandage.

Having had a snack, the detachment moved on. Vaskov quickly drove them away so that the girls’ clothes would dry and they would not freeze. Sometimes he started running. He ran until he was out of breath, but the fighters held firm, only they were flushed. In the evening we went to Lake Vop. Here they decided to wait for the Germans. The squad had to successfully select positions - main and reserve. According to calculations, the enemies could appear no earlier than four hours later. The position was excellent: the Germans would only be able to pass along a narrow strip of sand near the shore; in order to reach the detachment, they would have to go around the ridge for three hours, while Vaskov’s fighters could retreat directly. After lunch, by order, the girls left all their belongings in a reserve position under the guard of Chetvertak. Vaskov himself took the rest to their places, ordering them to lie down like mice.

Returning to the reserve position, Vaskov discovered that Gali had a fever: walking in cold water without a boot had taken its toll. The foreman poured alcohol into the mug and forced Chetvertak to drink it. Then he broke the spruce branches, laid them down, covered Galya with his overcoat, ordering her to rest. It had already passed midnight, and the Germans were still not visible. Vaskov began to worry that he had missed them altogether, being afraid to engage in open battle, feeling sorry for his girl fighters. Rita, calming the commander, suggested that the Germans had stopped, because they were people too. The foreman sent her to rest.

At dawn, he woke Osyanina, pointing out to her the alarmed forty. The squad took its position. Finally, two people slipped out to the edge, but the bushes continued to sway behind them. The girls counted sixteen people from their hiding places.

The sergeant major ordered the soldiers to silently retreat to a reserve position. Vaskov was confused: all his life, as a military man, he carried out only other people’s orders, without caring about what dictated them. Now he didn't know what to do. He had neither machine guns, nor machine guns, nor dexterous men - only five funny girls and five clips for a rifle. Vaskov made a decision. He asked Lisa, the daughter of a forester who grew up in the forest, if she remembered the way back. When she answered in the affirmative, he sent her for help, once again instructing her about the swamp.

When the commander reached the reserve position, the girls rushed to him like sparrows. At first Vaskov wanted to shout at them for not posting a guard, but, looking at their tense faces, he only said that things were bad. Reinforcements could not be expected until nightfall. It was ridiculous to get involved in battle with rifles against machine guns. The foreman decided to confuse the Germans and not let them cross the ridge so that they would go around Lake Legontovo. He laid out all these considerations to his fighters. And he did it deliberately calmly, so as not to cause panic among the girls by asking their opinion. The Germans needed to get to their target as quietly as possible, so they chose the most remote paths. The girls joked around, and then asked the foreman what the Germans would do if they met lumberjacks. The commander liked the idea. Strangers are unlikely to take risks by showing themselves to lumberjacks in case there is another brigade somewhere nearby. They will instantly tell you where to go. Vaskov accepted the girl’s plan for execution and chose a place for the Germans to come straight at them on the other side of the river. He ordered the girls to light fires, make a lot of noise, and take off everything that could identify them as military uniforms. The commander took charge of the left flank so that if the Germans decided to cross, he could kill several and give the girls time to run away. Creating an appearance, Vaskov cut down trees as loudly as possible while running from one place to another. Finally, Gurvich came running from the front line and reported that the strangers were close.

All the girls ran to their places, only Chetvertak lingered on the other side, taking off her chunya. Then the foreman took her in his arms and, like a child, carried her to the other side, grumbling that the water was cold, but the illness was still in the girl.

Gurvich walked ahead, spreading her knees cold water. Turning around, she let her skirt fall into the water. The commandant angrily shouted at her to pick up her hem. The girls made a noise on the shore, sometimes Vaskov joined them so that they could be heard male voice. He himself looked carefully at the opposite bank, where the Germans were supposed to appear. Finally the bushes began to move. The foreman was afraid that the Germans would send reconnaissance to their shore and count the lumberjacks on their fingers. Nearby, Evgeniya suddenly tore off her tunic and, loudly calling the girls to swim, rushed to the water. The Germans again hid in the bushes. Zhenya was splashing in the water, and Vaskov was waiting for a burst of fire to hit the girl at any moment.

He responded and, having knocked down several trees, went ashore. He told Zhenya that a car would be coming from the area. Zhenya pulled Vaskov by the hand, and he saw that, despite the smile, the girl’s eyes were full of horror. Smiling, the foreman quietly ordered Komelkova to leave the shore. However, Zhenya only laughed loudly. Then the commander grabbed her clothes and, shouting for her to catch up, zigzagged along the shore. The girl screamed and ran after Vaskov. Finding himself in the bushes, the foreman wanted to reprimand, however, turning around, he saw that Zhenya was crouched, sitting on the ground and crying. They achieved their goal: the Germans went around Lake Legontova.

They were waiting for Brichkina with reinforcements, not yet knowing that the girl had drowned in the swamp. The Germans hid in the forest, which Vaskov did not like, who believed that “it’s not good to let the enemy and the bear out of sight.” He decided to find out what the enemy was doing. Together with Rita, Vaskov secretly walked along the shore of the lake. Soon Vaskov felt smoke. He left Rita and went on reconnaissance.

The Germans made a halt. Ten people were eating, two were sitting on guard, the rest, according to the foreman, were on guard from other sides. Vaskov sent Rita for the fighters. When the detachment approached, Osyanina remembered that she had forgotten the commander’s pouch. Gurvich, not listening to anything, rushed back.

After some time, Vaskov heard a quiet signal. Taking Komelkova and ordering everyone to stay in place, he went after Gurvich. The foreman already guessed what happened. Gurvich was found in a crevasse. The girl only managed to scream because the blow of the German’s knife was designed for a man and did not immediately hit the heart. Nearby there were traces of heavy boots. Vaskov decided to catch up with the Germans, who were making their way through the forest together. Together with Zhenya, they killed these saboteurs, avenging Sonya. Having collected the weapons, the foreman ordered Zhenya to quietly lead the girls to the place where Sonya died.

The commander pulled documents from Sonya's pocket. Everyone buried the girl together, having first taken off her boots and given them to Gala. Chetvertak did not want to put on these boots, but Osyanina shouted at her. The detachment lost time because of the funeral, because of Gali’s persuasion. The foreman gave one machine gun to Osyanina, and kept the other for himself. Let's get moving. By chance, the detachment almost ran into the Germans, but it was not for nothing that the foreman was an excellent hunter. He managed to wave to the girls to scatter, and threw a grenade. A shootout began. However, not knowing who was opposing them, the saboteurs decided to retreat. During the battle, Galya was so scared that she did not fire a single shot and lay there, hiding her face behind a stone. Zhenya came to her senses quickly, although she shot without aiming. But Rita even saved the situation by covering the commander for a while while he was reloading the machine gun. When the Germans retreated, Vaskov found a lot of blood at the scene of the firefight, but the Germans took the body with them.

Upon returning, the commander almost became chairman of the Komsomol meeting opened by Osyanina. The theme of the meeting was Chetvertak's cowardice in the first battle. Vaskov canceled all meetings, saying that in the first battle even strong men are lost. Help still did not arrive, and the Germans could jump out at the detachment again at any moment. The commander, taking Chetvertak with him, ordered Osyanina to move at a great distance after them. In the event of a firefight, they need to hide and, if Vaskov does not return, go to their own.

Vaskov realized that the Germans he killed were not patrols, but reconnaissance, which is why the saboteurs did not miss them. Galya followed the commander sluggishly. Sonya's dead face stood before her eyes, which horrified her. Soon the sergeant major and the soldier came across a hollow in which lay two Fritzes, shot by their own people due to wounds.

Thus, twelve saboteurs remained. Turning around, Vaskov noticed that Chetvertak was afraid. He tried to boost her morale to no avail. The crunch of a branch was heard. The Germans combed the forest in twos. Vaskov and Galya hid in the bushes. The saboteurs could have found Rita and Zhenya.

The Germans were already passing by those hiding, when suddenly Galya, unable to bear it, rushed through the bushes with screams. The machine gun struck briefly and the girl fell. The foreman realized that the game was lost and decided to take the Germans with him, away from the surviving girls.

Firing back, weaving, creating as much noise as possible, Vaskov began to go into the forest. The cartridges are out. The sergeant-major, lightly, began to make his way through the dead wood; he was wounded in the arm. Then the commander began to retreat to the swamps to rest a little there and bandage his hand. He didn't remember how he got to the island. I woke up at dawn. There was no blood flowing. Tina covered the wound, and Vaskov did not pick it off, but wrapped it with a bandage. Remembering that the pine tree had five legs left, the foreman realized that Brichkina had walked without support and had probably drowned. He returned to the shore to look for the girls.

In his search, he came across the Legonta monastery, an ancient, mossy hut. A branch crunched and all twelve saboteurs came out to the hut. One of them was very lame, the rest were loaded with explosives. The Germans decided not to go around the lake, but aimed at the lintel, trying to find a gap. The wounded man and another saboteur remained in the shelter, and a dozen went into the forest. Vaskov neutralized one of the Germans who went to the well and took his weapon. The wounded German hid in the hut, afraid to attract attention to himself.

The foreman was completely desperate to find the girls, but suddenly he heard a whisper. The anti-aircraft gunners rushed across the water towards him and both hung on him at once. Vaskov himself barely held back his tears, hugging his girls. He was so happy that he even now allowed himself to be called not according to the regulations - Fedot or Fedya. The three of us remembered the dead girls.

Knowing that reinforcements would not come, the foreman decided to win one more day. Fedot, having chosen a position, left the girls at a wide reach, and he himself took the toe where Zhenya scared off the Germans a day ago. Soon the detachment entered the battle. While firing back, the sergeant-major constantly listened to see if the girls’ rifles could be heard. The Germans retreated. Zhenya found Vaskova and called her with her. Rita sat under a pine tree, holding her stomach, blood flowing down her hands. After examining the wound, Fedot realized that it was mortally dangerous. The shrapnel tore open the stomach, and the insides were visible through the blood. Vaskov began to bandage the wound. And at that time Zhenya, grabbing the machine gun, rushed to the shore. The foreman could not stop the blood that seeped through the bandage. Zhenya led the Germans into the forest. However, not all the saboteurs left; they circled next to Osyanina and the commander. Vaskov, taking Rita in his arms, ran into the bushes.

Zhenya, the beloved daughter of the Red commander, always believed in herself. Leading the Germans away, she had no doubt that everything would end well. When the first bullet hit her side, the girl was only surprised. She could have hidden, but she shot back to the last bullet, already lying down, not trying to run. The Germans finished her off point-blank, and then looked at her proud and beautiful face for a long time after death.

Rita understood that her wound was fatal. Vaskov hid Osyanina, and he himself went to help Zhenya. The shots died down, and the girl realized that her friend was dead. The tears are over. Rita thought only that her son remained an orphan in the arms of a sick and timid mother.

The foreman approached, he caught Osyanina’s dull gaze and suddenly shouted that they had not won, that he was still alive. He sat down, gritting his teeth, telling Rita that his chest hurt because he gave up all five girls because of some dozen Krauts. In his opinion, when the war is over, he will have nothing to answer the children’s question why he didn’t save future mothers.

Rita told Fedot about her son and asked him to take care of the boy. The foreman, leaving her the revolver, decided to conduct reconnaissance and then get to his own. He covered the girl with branches and, clutching a useless grenade in his pocket, walked towards the river. As soon as the foreman was out of sight, Rita shot herself in the temple. Fedot buried her, like Zhenya, quickly.

Clutching the revolver with the last cartridge in his hand, the sergeant major went to the Germans. He removed a sentry from a familiar hut, and since there was no time to remove the machine gun from him, he flew straight into the house with one revolver. The saboteurs slept off, only one of them made an attempt to get a weapon. Vaskov fired his last bullet at him. In his other hand he held an inactive grenade.

Four Germans could not even think that Fedot alone, without weapons, could come out like that. They tied each other under the empty revolver. The sergeant major tied the last one himself. Fedot was shaking with chills and laughing through his tears: “What, did they take it?.. Five girls, five girls in total! Only five!.. And - you didn’t pass, you didn’t pass anywhere... I myself will personally kill everyone if the authorities have mercy...”

Fedot could never remember the last path: his hand ached, his thoughts were confused, he was afraid of losing consciousness, so he clung to it with all his might. German backs swayed in front, and the foreman himself was tossed from side to side, like a drunk. He lost consciousness only when he heard his people talking.

After the war, tourists vacationing on the lakes saw an old man without an arm and a young rocket captain. They arrived on motorboats and brought a marble slab, which they installed on the grave across the river, in the forest. On the slab were the names of five girls who died in the war.

The first publication of the story took place in the August issue of the magazine “Youth” for the year.

Encyclopedic YouTube

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According to the author, the story is based on an actual episode of the war, when seven soldiers, who, after being wounded, served at one of the junction stations of the Kirov Railway, did not allow a German sabotage group to blow up railway in this area. Only the sergeant, the commander of a group of Soviet soldiers, survived, and after the war he was awarded the medal “For Military Merit.” “And I thought: this is it! A situation when a person himself, without any order, decides: I won’t let you in! They have nothing to do here! I started working on this plot and have already written about seven pages. And suddenly I realized that nothing would work. This will simply be a special case in war. There was nothing fundamentally new in this plot. Work stopped. And then I suddenly came up with the idea - let my hero’s subordinates be not men, but young girls. And that’s it - the story immediately lined up. Women have the hardest time in war. There were 300 thousand of them at the front! And then no one wrote about them."

Plot

Fedot Vaskov is the commandant of the 171st patrol in the Karelian wilderness. The crews of the anti-aircraft installations on 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. One of them notices two German saboteurs in the forest. Vaskov understands that they are planning to infiltrate strategic targets through the forests and decides to intercept them. He assembles a group of five anti-aircraft gunners and, in order to get ahead of the saboteurs, leads a detachment along a road known to him alone through the swamps to the rocks of the Sinyukhin ridge. However, it turns out that the enemy squad consists of 16 people. Vaskov understands that this force cannot be stopped head-on, and, having sent one of the girls for help - Liza Brichkina, who is secretly in love with him, who dies by drowning in a swamp, decides to pursue the enemy. Using various tricks, he enters into a series of unequal clashes, in which the four girls who remained with him die - the perky beauty Zhenya Komelkova, the intelligent Sonya Gurvich, the orphanage Galya Chetvertak and the serious Rita Osyanina. He still manages to capture the surviving saboteurs, he leads them to Soviet positions and meets his own on the way.

Characters

Vaskov
Fedot Evgrafovich Vaskov is the commandant of a small military unit - patrol station No. 171. Vaskov is 32 years old. Vaskov's rank is foreman. He is a brave, responsible and reliable fighter. Vaskov is a kind and simple person. At the same time, he is a demanding and strict boss. Vaskov tries to ensure that everything is according to the regulations.
Margarita Osyanina
Margarita Osyanina - junior sergeant, squad commander. She has several female anti-aircraft gunners under her command. Margarita is 20 years old. She is a serious, calm and reasonable girl. Margarita is a young widow. Margarita's husband died in the war. She has a small son and a sick mother. When Margarita dies, Vaskov takes Rita’s son to him and raises him.
Evgenia Komelkova
Evgenia Komelkova is an ordinary soldier. Evgeniya is 19 years old. She is the daughter of an officer. Evgenia’s entire family dies in the war, but Evgenia herself is saved. Evgeniya is a beautiful, tall red-haired girl; brave, mischievous and cheerful. At the same time, Evgenia is a reliable and brave fighter. Evgenia heroically dies during a shootout with the Germans.
Elizaveta Brichkina
Elizaveta Brichkina is an ordinary soldier, a girl from a simple family. Her father is a forester. Since the age of 14, Elizaveta has been caring for her sick mother, who dies 5 years later. Elizabeth runs the household herself and helps her father. Elizabeth is going to study at a technical school, but the war begins. Instead of technical school, Elizabeth is forced to dig trenches. Elizaveta is a hardworking, patient girl. Elizabeth drowns in a swamp while performing a combat mission.
Sofia Gurvich
Sofya Gurvich is an ordinary soldier. Sofia is a student at Moscow University, studying with excellent marks. She reads a lot and loves poetry and theater. Sophia is Jewish by nationality. Her father serves as a local doctor in Minsk. Sophia has a large and friendly family. Sophia is a quiet and inconspicuous, but efficient girl. At the front, Sophia serves as a translator, and then as an anti-aircraft gunner. Dies from the knife of a reconnaissance group of German saboteurs
Galina Chetvertak
Galina Chetvertak is the youngest of the five main characters. Galina is an orphan, a “foundling.” She grew up in an orphanage. Before the war, she studied at a library technical school. Galina goes to war for the sake of romance, but the war turns out to be an overwhelming test for her. Galya lies and makes up tall tales all the time. She likes to live in an imaginary world. Galya is short in stature. She was shot in battle while panicking and trying to escape from the Germans .

Film adaptations

Theater productions
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - performance by the Moscow Taganka Theater, directed by Yuri Lyubimov (USSR, 1971).
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - opera by Kirill Molchanov (USSR, 1973).
- Orenburg Drama Theatre. M. Gorky, production by Rifkat Israfilov (Russia, 2006).
- “And the dawns here are quiet” - a performance by the Volzhsky Drama Theater, directed by Alexander Grishin (Russia, 2007).
- “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” - a performance by the St. Petersburg Theater “Workshop” under the direction of Grigory Kozlov, director - Polina Nevedomskaya, artist Anna Marcus (Russia, 2011).
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - performance at the Borisoglebsky Drama Theatre. N. G. Chernyshevsky (Russia, 2012).
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - performance by the St. Petersburg school-studio “People's Artists”, directors - Vasily Reutov and Svetlana Vaganova. Cast: Vitaly Gody, Elena Ashcherkina, Yulianna Turchina, Olga Tolkunova, Yulia Yagodkina, Maria Pedko, Alexandra Lamert, Anna Yashina, Ekaterina Yablokova, Yulia Kuznetsova, Nikolay Nekipelov, Lidiya Spizharskaya, Maria Slobozhanina (Russia, 2012).
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - performance by the theater studio “Wonderland”.
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - musical drama, Seversky Musical Theatre, composer - A. Krotov (Novosibirsk), libretto - N. Krotova (Novosibirsk), director - K. Torskaya (Irkutsk), choreographer - D. Ustyuzhanin (St. St. Petersburg), artist - D. Tarasova (St. Petersburg) (Russia, 2015).
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - performance by the Azart Theater (Zarinsk).
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - opera Chinese, composer Tang Jianping, premiered at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on November 5, 2015.
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - composition by the Alapaevsk Exemplary Children's Musical Theater "BARABASHKA", director - K. I. Misharina.
- “And the dawns here are quiet...” - play by the Moscow Theater “Theater Mansion”, directed by Alexey Vasyukov (Russia, 2016).
The story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” summary which is given later in the article, talks 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 based on tragic destinies 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 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 Evgenia

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 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 participated in 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 shouted and called to each other merrily. 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 its old place, and Sonya Gurvich, without waiting for the commander’s permission, ran to get 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.

Plot

Basic storyline The story is a reconnaissance campaign of the heroes of the work. It is during the campaign that the characters’ characters get to know each other, heroism and love feelings manifest themselves.

Characters

Fedot Vaskov

Film adaptations

The story was filmed in 1972, 2005 and 2008:
- "" - film directed by Stanislav Rostotsky (USSR, 1972).
- “” - film directed by Mao Weining (China, Russia, 2005).
- “And the dawns here are quiet” - television series (Russia, 2008).
Theater productions

In addition, the story was staged in the theater:
- Moscow Taganka Theater, director Yuri Lyubimov (USSR, 1971);
- “And the dawns here are quiet” - opera by Kirill Molchanov (USSR, 1973).
- “And the dawns here are quiet” - a performance by the Borisoglebsk Drama Theater. N. G. Chernyshevsky (Russia, 2012).
Editions
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - Karelia, 1975. - 112 p. - 90,000 copies.
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - DOSAAF, Moscow, 1977.
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - Pravda, 1979. - 496 p. - 200,000 copies.
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - Soviet writer. Moscow, 1977. - 144 p. - 200,000 copies.
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - Daguchpedgiz, 1985. - 104 p. - 100,000 copies.
- Georgy Berezko, Boris Vasiliev“Night of the Commander”, “And the dawns here are quiet...”. - Pravda, 1991. - 500,000 p. - ISBN 5-253-00231-6
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - 2010. - ISBN 978-5-17-063439-2
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - Eksmo, 2011. - 768 p. - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-48101-9
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - Astrel, 2011. - 576 p. - 2500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-17-067279-0
- Boris Vasiliev“And the dawns here are quiet...” - AST, 2011. - 576 p. - 2500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-271-28118-1
see also

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