The Marshal's Baton

This play is about young soldiers—how yesterday’s schoolboys become mature, strong-willed, and courageous men.

Vladimir Vasilievich Karpov (1922–2010) is a Russian and Soviet writer, publicist, and public figure. He is the author of novels, novellas, short stories, and studies about the Great Patriotic War. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Karpov—frontline veteran, unit reconnaissance officer, well-known military writer, laureate of state and international literary prizes, the last first secretary of the Union of Writers of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War, he participated in capturing 79 German “prisoners” (i.e., enemy personnel for interrogation)—a combat record for Soviet intelligence. And his works, including the famous novels “Eternal Battle,” “The Commander,” “Marshal’s Scepter,” and the trilogy “Marshal Zhukov,” keep the reader on edge from the first to the last page.

Director (radio) — Vladimir Aleksandrov

Characters and performers:
Viktor Ageev — Valery Storozhik
Sheshenya, deputy commander — Konstantin Grigoriev
Dementiev, sergeant — Vladimir Anufriev
Golubev, soldier — Viktor Kulyukhin
Vadim Sobolevsky — Igor Kostolevsky
Yury Vetochkin, junior sergeant — Vyacheslav Bogachyov
Semyon Dykhnilkin — Sergey Prokhanov
Stepan Kuznetsov — Sergey Milovanov
Kutsan — Vladimir Goryushin
May, senior warrant officer — Viktor Pavlov
paramedic — Aleksey Kutuzov
regiment commander — Armen Dzhigarkhanyan
Volynets, sergeant — Aleksandr Fatyushin
Zhi-galov, lieutenant — Evgeny Danchevsky
Polina Nikitina — Yevgeniya Poplavskaya
In episodes and mass scenes — artists of Moscow theaters.