At the age of nineteen, Mitya's life was just beginning. He was passionately fond of painting and painted scenery for the theater. It was here, at the theater, that he truly fell in love for the first time.But the war was already raging nearby, and Mitya could not and did not want to stay away. Despite his limp, he tried with all his might to get to the front, but was invariably refused. However, he soon managed to help his hometown. Like thousands of other ordinary people, he participated in the construction of defensive fortifications near Moscow in the terrible autumn of 1941.…This book is about strong friendship and first love, about courage and bravery, about the small joys that can be found even when there is war all around, and, of course, about the daily feat that brought the Great Victory closer. The story "He fell on the grass..." is largely autobiographical. The events described in the story happened to its author. Viktor Dragunsky, who is primarily familiar to readers from the hilarious "Deniskin Stories," appears in a completely different light here.The story is narrated by Mitya Koroleva, who at the age of nineteen becomes a militia member and digs anti-tank ditches near Moscow at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. He finds friends here, real comrades-in-arms, and meets a simple village girl... but the war is getting too close. The story "He fell on the grass..." is largely autobiographical. The events described in the story happened to its author. Viktor Dragunsky, who is primarily familiar to readers from the hilarious "Deniskin Stories," appears in a completely different light here.The story is narrated by Mitya Koroleva, who at the age of nineteen becomes a militia member and digs anti-tank ditches near Moscow at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. He finds friends here, real comrades-in-arms, and meets a simple village girl... but the war is getting too close.