Горячий снег

Urii Vasilevich Bondarev (1924–2020) — odin iz sozdatelei tak nazievaemoi leitenantskoi prozie — proizvedenii o Velikoi Otechestvennoi voine, napisannieh ee neposredstvenniemi uchastnikami. Dlia nego Stalingradskaia bitva 1942 goda, o kotoroi rasskazievaetsia v romane «Goriachii sneg» (1970), — ne prosto stranica istorii, a etap sobstvennoi frontovoi biografii: svoi perviei boi Urii Bondarev prinial na Stalingradskom fronte. Pod Stalingradom nasmert vstala artilleriiskaia batareia, pregrajdaia put tankoviem diviziiam generala Manshteina. Zdes i seichas molodiee artilleristie tvoriat istoriu: ot itoga operacii zavisit uspeh Stalingradskoi bitvie i, mojet biet, daje ishod voinie. Stieliee morozniee zori, krugovorot krovi i ujasa, stremlenie viejit, nevozmojnost otstupit… I sredi vsego etogo teplitsia v dushah geroev prostoe jelanie lubit i biet lubimiemi, kotoroe silnee straha smerti i priblijaushihsia nemeckih tankov.

Yuri Vasilyevich Bondarev (1924-2020) is one of the creators of the so—called lieutenant's prose, works about the Great Patriotic War written by its direct participants. For him, the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942, which is described in the novel "Hot Snow" (1970), is not just a page of history, but a stage of his own front—line biography: Yuri Bondarev took his first battle on the Stalingrad front. An artillery battery stood up to its death near Stalingrad, blocking the path of General Manstein's tank divisions. Here and now, young gunners are making history: the success of the Battle of Stalingrad and, perhaps, even the outcome of the war depend on the outcome of the operation. Frozen frosty dawns, the cycle of blood and horror, the desire to survive, the inability to retreat… And among all this, the heroes have a simple desire to love and be loved, which is stronger than the fear of death and approaching German tanks.