South of the Main Offensive

The story of a heroic group of Red Army soldiers during the winter of 1945 who must hold fast and die at their positions `south of the main offensive' without calling for the reinforcements that are needed at the main front for a major assault against the Nazi hordes. Although not a pacifist novel, the author's deep humanism prevents this from being just another story of wartime adventures. "Baklanov was 17 when the Nazis invaded his country. He was the only one of the 20 boys in his high school graduating class to survive the war."--New York Times