A Penal Soldier from the Tank Company

He has been at the front since 1941. He was the only survivor from an entire tank battalion. He lost hundreds of friends, was hit six times himself, wounded, burned in his tank—but he always returned to the ranks. In the terrible autumn of 42, when the fate of Stalingrad was being decided, he fell into the gears of ruthless Order No. 227 (“Not one step back!”). There were no штрафні роти in the tank troops, but there were their own штрафники—those who were given the deadliest, the most impossible, and the fatally dangerous missions. And now he is one of those doomed men. He sets off on a hopeless tank raid into the enemy’s rear—so as to wash away his guilt, which, for him, is nonexistent, with blood…