Yuri Vasilyevich Bondarev (1924–2020) — a well-known Russian writer, screenwriter, and public figure who fought during the Great Patriotic War near Stalingrad and took part in the liberation of Kyiv and Zhytomyr.
The heroes of his novella “Youth of Commanders,” at the end of the war, decide to continue their service at an artillery school. Young sergeants and officers, mindful of the horrors of war, now learn to command, relying on their front-line experience.
This work is about the formation of a personality, testing, and responsibility in the conditions of wartime and postwar everyday life.
The collection also includes the stories “Unforgettable,” “Late Evening,” “Lida,” “The River,” “"Forgive Us!"” and “Skvortsov.”