About the product
The story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” by Boris Vasiliev is one of the most heartfelt and tragic works about the Great Patriotic War. First published in 1969. The story of five female anti-aircraft gunners and a sergeant major who entered into battle with sixteen German saboteurs. On the pages of the story, the author conducts a conversation with the reader about the unnaturalness of war, about personality in war, about the strength of the human spirit.
The main theme of the story is a woman at war, “the mercilessness of war.” This topic was not raised in literature about the war before the appearance of Vasiliev’s story. To understand the events of the story, you can read the summary of “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” chapter by chapter on our website.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Ilyina Galina Sergeevna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 36 years.
“And the dawns here are quiet”: Sergeant Major Vaskov could easily shoot all the Germans alone
Almost everyone in our country has watched the film “The Dawns Here Are Quiet,” so there is no need to recall its contents. Let us dwell on the moment when Sergeant Major Vaskov and the girls met a detachment of German saboteurs. There are only six of us and they are armed with carbines. There are sixteen Germans and all are armed with machine guns (the correct name is a submachine gun, but we will call it more commonly - machine gun).
There are more Germans, and, according to the authors, they are better armed. With which, without really thinking, the viewer agrees. Everything seems to be logical: the rifles in the sergeant major’s squad are older weapons and fire single shots, while the machine gun is a newer weapon and fires in bursts. And hence the further development of the plot, with all that it implies.
But let's look at the plot offered to us from the point of view of how the weapons offered to us were used in reality.
The sergeant major and his detachment took up a position where the river blocked the Germans’ path. To cross it, you need to overcome one and a half hundred meters of open space with very inconvenient terrain. Including several tens of meters you have to walk along a stormy stream, with icy water and a rocky bottom. Simply put, turn into an easy target for an experienced shooter.
For Vaskov, it is enough to choose a convenient position among the rocks and place one of the girls next to him to reload the carbines. The remaining three girls (one was sent for help) should be placed in secluded places among the rocks a little further away. Their task will be to fire at everything that moves. It is important not so much to hit as to distract the Germans from the foreman and create the illusion of a large detachment. Vaskov himself, with three carbines (regularly reloaded), calmly shoots saboteurs while trying to cross the river.
In the film, this situation is complicated by the Germans, who are firing heavy machine guns from their shore. But this is where the problem arises. In the film and story, all saboteurs are armed with MP.40 submachine guns. The table firing range is two hundred meters. You can aim from it at a distance of a hundred meters, with single shots, folding the butt back and having good support: for example, resting it on the ground. In the situation presented to us, the Germans could not conduct targeted fire from their shore. When crossing the river, one could only shoot in random bursts. For your own peace of mind. They could only frighten Vaskov, who was well hidden among the rocks, which would hardly have any effect on an experienced military man. The carbines that the sergeant major had in his squad allowed an experienced shooter to hit a target at a distance of three hundred meters.
Thus, having a significant advantage in the range of aimed fire, Vaskov could shoot an enemy slowly wandering through a stormy stream, as if in a shooting gallery. It is clear that having lost at least three or four people, the Germans stopped trying to cross. It’s only in bad movies that a crowd goes on the attack and doesn’t pay attention to losses.
After which, the foreman could calmly retreat. And then find and take another similar position. Fortunately, there are plenty of rocks and rushing rivers in this area. If during each such clash the sabotage group lost three or four people, then there would soon be nothing left of their detachment. Moreover, Vaskov, who knew the area, could also set up ambushes, knocking out the enemy one by one in the thicket of the forest, where his carbine in any case gave an advantage over the machine guns of the saboteurs.
It turns out that the authors were let down by the widespread stereotype of German soldiers. In films they are always shown with machine guns around their necks and bursts of fire from their stomachs.
In fact, the MP.40 submachine gun was by no means a mass weapon of the Wehrmacht. It was originally created to arm the crews of armored vehicles, however, due to its simplicity and low cost, it was used more widely. But more broadly, it is not universal. In the Wehrmacht infantry squad, only one person had a submachine gun - the squad commander. Everyone else was armed with rifles.
And, of course, no one would arm a sabotage group with machine guns. They would have had completely different weapons, and therefore everything would have happened differently.
Kirill Shishkin
Main characters
- Vaskov Fedot Evgrafych - 32 years old, sergeant major, commandant of the patrol where the female anti-aircraft gunners are assigned to serve.
- Brichkina Elizaveta -19 years old, the daughter of a forester, who lived before the war on one of the cordons in the forests of the Bryansk region in “a premonition of dazzling happiness.”
- Gurvich Sonya is a girl from an intelligent “very large and very friendly family” of a Minsk doctor. After studying for a year at Moscow University, she went to the front. Loves theater and poetry.
- Evgeniya Komelkova – 19 years old, “her character was cheerful and smiling.” Zhenya has her own score to settle with the Germans: her family was shot.
- Osyanina Margarita was the first of her class to get married, and a year later she gave birth to a son. The husband, a border guard, died on the second day of the war. Leaving the child with her mother, Rita went to the front.
- Chetvertak Galina is an orphanage student and a dreamer. She lived in a world of her own fantasies and went to the front with the conviction that war is romance.
My impressions of the book I read
Boris Vasiliev's story describes a small episode from the long history of the Great Patriotic War. 1942 The Germans are throwing saboteurs into the location of the anti-aircraft machine gun battery, commanded by Sergeant Major Vaskov. The foreman, together with five girls, must stop the Nazis and protect the White Sea-Baltic Canal from explosion. Danger brings all six together and reveals the extraordinary spiritual qualities of the foreman, who is ready to put himself under bullets to save the girls. In my opinion, Vaskov absorbed the best qualities of a defender, a soldier, thanks to whom victory in the war was won. In the story, the main characters are women, or rather girls. Two incompatible principles collide: the fragile world of female beauty and the world of evil, murder, violence. There is no place for a woman in war, because she is a mother whose hatred of murder is inherent in nature itself. By the end of the story, all the heroines die, and with the death of each of them, a thin thread “in the endless yarn of humanity” breaks off. Vaskov is having a hard time with the death of each of the girls and feels guilty. The story makes you think: if this insignificant incident at a small junction costs so much, then what price should the people pay for victory in a war that lasted four years. The story made a great impression on me. She will cultivate love for the homeland in future generations, because this feat cannot leave anyone indifferent.
Other characters
- Kiryanova is a sergeant, deputy platoon commander of female anti-aircraft gunners.
And we also have:
for the most impatient -
A very brief summary of “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
for the most sociable -
The main characters of “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”
for the most curious -
Analysis “And the dawns here are quiet” Vasiliev
Summary
Chapter 1
In May 1942, at 171 railway sidings, which found themselves in the midst of military operations going on around them, several yards survived. The Germans stopped bombing. In case of a raid, the command left two anti-aircraft installations.
Life on the patrol was quiet and calm, the anti-aircraft gunners could not stand the temptation of female attention and moonshine, and according to the report of the commandant of the patrol, Sergeant Major Vaskov, one half-platoon, “swollen with fun” and drunkenness, was replaced by the next... Vaskov asked to send non-drinkers.
The “teetotal” anti-aircraft gunners arrived. The fighters turned out to be very young, and they were... girls.
It became calm at the crossing. The girls made fun of the foreman, Vaskov felt awkward in the presence of “learned” soldiers: he only had a 4th grade education. The main concern was the internal “disorder” of the girls - they did everything not “according to the rules.”
Chapter 2
Having lost her husband, Rita Osyanina, the commander of a squad of anti-aircraft gunners, became stern and withdrawn. Once they killed a serving girl, and instead of her they sent the beautiful Zhenya Komelkova, in front of whose eyes the Germans shot her loved ones. Despite the tragedy she experienced, Zhenya is open and mischievous. Rita and Zhenya became friends, and Rita “thawed out.”
Their friend becomes the “runaway” Galya Chetvertak.
Hearing about the possibility of transferring from the front line to a patrol, Rita perks up: it turns out that she has a son next to the patrol in the city. At night, Rita runs to visit him.
Chapter 3
Returning from an unauthorized absence through the forest, Osyanina discovers two strangers in camouflage robes with weapons and bags in their hands. She hurries to tell the patrol commandant about this. After listening carefully to Rita, the sergeant major understands that she has encountered German saboteurs moving towards the railway, and decides to go to intercept the enemy. 5 female anti-aircraft gunners have been allocated to Vaskov. Worried about them, the foreman tries to prepare his “guard” for the meeting with the Germans and cheer them up, jokes, “so that they laugh, so that cheerfulness appears.”
Rita Osyanina, Zhenya Komelkova, Lisa Brichkina, Galya Chetvertak and Sonya Gurvich with the senior group Vaskov take a short route to Vop-lake, where they expect to meet and detain the saboteurs.
Chapter 4
Fedot Evgrafych safely leads his soldiers through the swamps, bypassing the swamps, to the lake (only Galya Chetvertak loses her boot in the swamp). It’s quiet here, “like in a dream.” “Before the war, these regions were not very populated, but now they have become completely wild, as if lumberjacks, hunters, and fishermen had gone to the front.”
Chapter 5
Expecting to quickly deal with the two saboteurs, Vaskov still chooses a retreat path “to be on the safe side.” While waiting for the Germans, the girls had lunch, the foreman gave a combat order to detain the Germans when they appeared, and everyone took up positions.
Galya Chetvertak, wet in the swamp, fell ill.
The Germans appeared only the next morning: “gray-green figures with machine guns at the ready kept coming out of the depths,” and it turned out there were not two of them, but sixteen.
Chapter 6
Realizing that “five funny girls and five clips for a rifle” cannot cope with the Nazis, Vaskov sends the “forest man” Lisa Brichkina on a patrol to report that reinforcements are needed.
Trying to scare off the Germans and force them to go around, Vaskov and the girls pretend that lumberjacks are working in the forest. They call to each other loudly, fires are lit, the foreman is cutting down trees, and the desperate Zhenya even bathes in the river in full view of the saboteurs.
The Germans left, and everyone laughed “to the point of tears, to the point of exhaustion,” thinking that the worst was over...
Chapter 7
Lisa “flew through the forest as if on wings,” thinking about Vaskov, and missed a noticeable pine tree, near which she needed to turn. Moving with difficulty in the swamp slurry, I stumbled and lost the path. Feeling the quagmire swallow her up, she saw sunlight for the last time.
Chapter 8
Vaskov, realizing that the enemy, although he has disappeared, can attack the detachment at any moment, goes with Rita on reconnaissance. Having found out that the Germans stopped for a rest, the foreman decides to change the location of the group and sends Osyanina to fetch the girls. Vaskov is upset when he discovers that he forgot his pouch. Seeing this, Sonya Gurvich runs to pick up the pouch.
Vaskov does not have time to stop the girl. After some time, he hears “a distant, weak voice, like a sigh, an almost silent cry.” Guessing what this sound could mean, Fedot Evgrafych calls Zhenya Komelkova with him and goes to his previous position. Together they find Sonya, killed by her enemies.
Chapter 9
Vaskov furiously pursued the saboteurs to avenge Sonya's death. Having quietly approached the “Krauts” walking without fear, the foreman kills the first, but does not have enough strength for the second. Zhenya saves Vaskov from death by killing the German with a rifle butt. Fedot Evgrafych “was full of sadness, full to the very throat” because of the death of Sonya. But, understanding the state of Zhenya, who is painfully enduring the murder she committed, she explains that the enemies themselves violated human laws and therefore she needs to understand: “these are not people, not people, not even animals - fascists.”
Chapter 10
The detachment buried Sonya and moved on. Looking out from behind another boulder, Vaskov saw the Germans - they were walking straight at them. Having started a counter battle, the girls and the commander forced the saboteurs to retreat, only Galya Chetvertak threw her rifle away out of fear and fell to the ground.
After the battle, the foreman canceled the meeting where the girls wanted to judge Galya for cowardice; he explained her behavior as inexperience and confusion.
Vaskov goes on reconnaissance and takes Galya with him for educational purposes.
Chapter 11
Galya Chetvertak followed Vaskov. She, who always lived in her own fantasy world, was broken by the horror of a real war at the sight of the murdered Sonya.
The scouts saw the corpses: the wounded were finished off by their own people. There were 12 saboteurs left.
Hiding in ambush with Galya, Vaskov is ready to shoot the marching Germans. Suddenly, the clueless Galya Chetvertak rushed across the enemies and was hit by a machine gun fire.
The foreman decided to take the saboteurs as far as possible from Rita and Zhenya. Until nightfall, he rushed between the trees, made noise, briefly shot at the flickering figures of the enemy, shouted, dragging the Germans with him closer and closer to the swamps. Wounded in the arm, he hides in the swamp.
At dawn, having climbed out of the swamp onto the ground, the sergeant-major saw Brichkina’s army skirt, blackened on the surface of the swamp, tied to a pole, and realized that Liza had died in the quagmire.
There was no hope of help now...
Chapter 12
With heavy thoughts that “he lost his entire war yesterday,” but with the hope that Rita and Zhenya are alive, Vaskov sets off in search of saboteurs. He comes across an abandoned hut, which turns out to be a German shelter. He watches them hide explosives and go on reconnaissance. Vaskov kills one of the enemies remaining in the monastery and takes the weapon.
On the bank of the river, where yesterday “they staged a show for the Fritz,” the foreman and the girls meet - with joy, like family. The foreman says that Galya and Lisa died the death of the brave, and that all of them will have to take on their last, apparently, battle.
Chapter 13
The Germans came ashore and the battle began. “Vaskov knew one thing in this battle: not to retreat. Don’t give the Germans a single piece of land on this shore. No matter how hard it is, no matter how hopeless it is, to hold on.” It seemed to Fedot Vaskov that he was the last son of his Motherland and its last defender. The detachment did not allow the Germans to cross to the other side.
Rita was seriously wounded in the stomach by a grenade fragment.
Firing back, Komelkova tried to lead the Germans behind her. Cheerful, smiling and cheerful Zhenya did not even immediately realize that she had been wounded - after all, it was stupid and impossible to die at nineteen years old! She shot while she had ammo and strength. “The Germans finished her off point-blank, and then looked at her proud and beautiful face for a long time...”
Chapter 14
Realizing that she is dying, Rita tells Vaskov about her son Albert and asks him to take care of him. The foreman shares with Osyanina his first doubt: was it worth protecting the canal and the road at the cost of the death of the girls, who had their whole lives ahead of them? But Rita believes that “The Motherland does not begin with canals. Not from there at all. And we protected her. First her, and only then the channel.”
Vaskov headed towards the enemies. Hearing the faint sound of a shot, he returned. Rita shot herself, not wanting to suffer and be a burden.
Having buried Zhenya and Rita, almost exhausted, Vaskov wandered forward to the abandoned monastery. Having broken into the saboteurs, he killed one of them and captured four. In delirium, the wounded Vaskov leads the saboteurs to his own and, only realizing that he has arrived, loses consciousness.
Epilogue
From a letter from a tourist (written many years after the end of the war), vacationing on quiet lakes, where there is “complete carlessness and desolation,” we learn that a gray-haired old man without an arm and rocket captain Albert Fedotich who arrived there brought a marble slab. Together with the visitors, the tourist is looking for the grave of the anti-aircraft gunners who once died here. He notices how quiet the dawns are here...
Brief summary of the story “And the dawns here are quiet” (B. Vasiliev)
Books telling about the Great Patriotic War should take their rightful place in our memory, because they tell about the great feat of our long-suffering people. Therefore, in this brief retelling, the Literaguru team conveys in abbreviation the legendary story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet.” The main events from this book became the plot of popular films about the Second World War. But, of course, neither cinema nor retellings can convey the full depth of the original, and we recommend that you (if you have not already done so) read the full text of the work, as well as the analysis of the book .
(1103 words) The story takes place in May 1942 at the 171st railway siding. The place turned out to be a “safe haven” amid the ongoing military operations throughout Russia. A couple of courtyards remained here, and the command, in case of bombing, left two anti-aircraft installations. The Germans stopped shelling the crossing, and the lives of the soldiers sent here flowed steadily and peacefully. The young soldiers drank a lot and often stayed with local girls, which upset Sergeant Major Vaskov. He tirelessly wrote reports to headquarters about the new guys and asked to send a non-drinking platoon. And so, the non-drinking anti-aircraft gunners arrived at the location. Young girls. The drinking and partying really stopped, but other characteristic disadvantages of such a “proper platoon” appeared - the girls made fun of the foreman (only 4 years of education), it was impossible to enter the platoon without knocking (there was a squeal), once they went out to sunbathe naked, they did everything wrong according to the charter.
Rita Osyanina is the squad leader. The war took the life of her husband, after which she decided to go to the front, leaving her son to her mother. Only Zhenya Komelkova, who was sent in place of the murdered caterpillar (all her relatives were shot before her eyes), could melt the heart of the stern Rita. She was not at all like the squad leader, despite the horrors she had experienced, Zhenya was cheerful and beautiful; washes and combs the unsightly Galya Chetvertak, and the three of the girls begin to become friends.
The news about a possible transfer to a patrol from the front line gives Rita the opportunity to see her son, and she runs to him in the city at night. On one of these night raids, Osyanina stumbles upon two German intelligence officers who unwisely approached the crossing with weapons and some kind of packages in their hands. Rita informs Vaskov about what she saw, concealing the reasons for her being in that place at such an early hour. Vaskov notices Osyanina’s bare and wet feet, but says nothing - now there is a more important problem. The foreman, having carefully considered the words of the anti-aircraft gunner, concludes that she encountered German saboteurs and determines their route – the railway. Vaskov decides to intercept the Germans and takes 5 girls with him. Since his soldiers are not battle-hardened, he talks and prepares his “squad” for a clash with the enemy, encouraging them with jokes. Ritka Osyanina, Lizka Brichkina, Galka Chetvertak, Zhenya Komelkova and Sonya Gurvich with the foreman set off to intercept the saboteurs at Vol-Ozero. The main task is to get to the lake before the Germans, in order to have time to settle down and prepare, for this it is necessary to take a shortcut through the swamp. Fedot Evgrafych safely transports his “platoon” through the swamp, only little Chetvertak leaves her boot in the swamp. On the shore they build her a new one from a warm sock. There is a mesmerizing silence over the swamp, as if war had never visited these lands. They gained a lot of time from the Germans, so the foreman allowed the girls to wash off the swamp mud and have lunch. Having reached the planned location, Vaskov orders to take the enemy immediately and not stick out anywhere from his positions. The lost boot of the quarter does not pass without a trace, and the girl falls ill. The next morning, German machine guns begin to appear from the forest, and it turns out that there are not 2, but 16 of them. The foreman understands the deplorability of the situation: with him is a detachment of 5 girls, and on the other side are 16 soldiers with a clearly defined task. Fedot Evgafych sends the forester’s daughter, Liza Brichikna, on a patrol for help, to inform them that they need reinforcements. The remaining forces put on a performance for the saboteurs in order to scare them off and force them to take a detour: Zhenya runs out to swim naked, Fedot Evgrafych picks him up and also runs out to the shore unarmed and plays with Komelkova, everyone loudly shouts to each other, burns and chops down trees. The Germans are leaving, and the whole platoon is laughing with tears in their eyes, they still don’t know that the worst is ahead...
Lisa liked the foreman, and she flew with a message to headquarters, imagining their future life. She has not yet known love; one day her father invited a young forester to their house, Lisa felt attracted, but only on the last day she decided to come to his hayloft, but he drove her away, and the next morning he left a note in which he invited her to study. She blossomed in anticipation, and then the war came. So now, all in her thoughts, Liza forgets about her pain near a noticeable pine tree and makes her way through the slimy swamp by touch, stumbles, loses the path and dies.
Vaskov and Rita go on reconnaissance and decide to change their location. Osyanina leads the girls to a new place, forgetting the foreman’s pouch. Gurvich runs after him. A faint sound is heard in the distance, and the sergeant major already understands what this silent scream means. With Komelkova he returns to his previous position and finds Sonya dead. The foreman furiously takes revenge on his enemies, he pounces on the walking “Krauts,” kills one himself, and finishes off the second with a rifle butt, saving the commander. Fedot is having a hard time with the death of the anti-aircraft gunner, but the emotions on Zhenya’s face after the first murder are even worse. He explains to the girl that the enemies are not people or animals, but fascists. A small detachment buries Gurvich. Having reconnoitered the situation from behind a stone, Vaskov sees the Krauts coming towards them; a counter battle begins, which again leads the enemy astray. Pebble Quarter cannot stand the tension, throws his weapon and falls to the ground. After the battle, the girls will condemn her for cowardice, but the foreman will justify this by her lack of training and it will be she who will be taken on the next reconnaissance mission for training, although she understands in advance that it is in vain. Galya Chetvertak is an orphan and lives in a fantasy world; her ideas about war are very romantic. Sonya's death reveals the reality of what is happening. The scouts see the bodies of the dead: there are 12 “Krauts” left. They hide in an ambush, but Chetvertak again succumbs to fear and runs across the Germans. Automatic queue. Vaskov’s squad was left with 2 anti-aircraft gunners, and he is ready to do everything to protect the remaining girls from death. He fires back and tries to drag the saboteurs with him away from his fighters. He gets wounded and hides in the swamp. There he finds all 5 beds near a pine tree and bitterly realizes that Lizka Brichkina climbed into the swamp without help, and the skirt visible on the surface of the swamp confirms his fears - she died. Now you only need to rely on yourself.
Vaskov accidentally goes out to the hut with the saboteurs, they leave the explosives and leave. The foreman kills one and takes away the weapon. In the same place where Zhenya Komelkova recently bathed naked in front of the Germans, the foreman and the remaining girls collide. He reports the death of Chetvertak and Lisa, everyone understands that the next battle will be the last.
A battle begins on the shore: Rita is wounded in the stomach by a fragment of a grenade (before her death, she tells the foreman about her son, his name is Albert, and asks not to forget about him after the war), Komelkova shoots back to the last bullet and is taken deeper into the thicket of the Germans, getting wounded and dies the same way. Vaskov doubts whether the canal was worth the lives of the dead anti-aircraft gunners. Osyanina assures that behind this canal there was an entire homeland, that it was for it that they went into battle. Later, a shot is heard - Rita has finished her torment.
Embittered, Vaskov breaks into the sleeping Germans, kills one, ties up the remaining four and leads them to a patrol point. Exhausted, with a wound in his hand, he transports all the prisoners through the swamp and, realizing that he has driven the saboteurs to the point of departure, he falls exhausted.
Epilogue
Later, from a letter from one tourist, we learn about the arrival on the quiet lakes of a gray-haired man without an arm and a certain rocket captain named Albert. They were looking for anti-aircraft gunners who had once given their lives for their homeland here and wanted to bury them. The author of the letter notices how quiet the dawns are here...
Author: Fedorova Anastasia
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