His war began at dawn on June 22, 1941. Junior Lieutenant of the border troops, Alexander Gulykin, was among those who took the first and most terrible blow of the enemy that crossed the border. The outpost held until late evening, resisting the onslaught of forces many times greater—almost to the last man. By some miracle making it out to his own side, Alexander ends up in a training camp of the Directorate of Special Departments—the future legendary SMERSh.
A special group of counterintelligence wages its own “quiet” war: clashes with German paratrooper saboteurs, capturing Abwehr agents. A war that frontline correspondents won’t write about, yet it never stops—day or hour.