A piercing story of Soviet and German penal battalions, whose fates are fused together in the crucible of war.
Autumn 1942.
German troops surge toward the southeast, toward Stalingrad, the Volga, and Caucasian oil—this is where the outcome of the Great Patriotic War and the fate of Russia will be decided.
At the tip of the main удар of the Wehrmacht, German penal soldiers from the so-called “five-hundreds” “testing” battalions go in as a probing force.
It was precisely on them that Stalin referenced in his order when introducing penal units into the Red Army.
And now, in the bloody autumn of 42, Soviet and German penal battalions must collide face to face.
Penal soldiers didn’t shout “Hurrah!”
They died in silence.