In August forty-fourth (novel)

• Captain Pavel Vasilyevich Alyokhin - Senior Operational Investigation Team of the Counterintelligence Directorate of the 3rd Belorussian Front .
• Senior Lieutenant Yevgeny Tamantsev, nicknamed “Skorohvat,” is an operative who searches for military counterintelligence in Alekhine’s group.
• Guard Lieutenant Andrei Stepanovich Blinov, nicknamed "Kid" - an intern sent to Alyokhin's group after being wounded at the front.
• Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Fedorovich Polyakov, nicknamed En Fe, is the head of the search department of the Counterintelligence Department of the 3rd Belorussian Front.
• Lieutenant General Alexei Nikolayevich Egorov - Head of the Counterintelligence Directorate of the 3rd Belorussian Front.

The novel takes place in August 1944 on the territory of the Byelorussian SSR , recently liberated by Soviet troops. In the front line of two Soviet fronts - the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belorussian , there is a highly qualified group of German agents who, through external surveillance and residency, obtains valuable intelligence information for the German command. The search for these agents is carried out by one of the operative-search groups of the SMERSH Counterintelligence Directorate of the 3rd Belorussian Front, under the leadership of Captain Alekhine. An almost two-week search did not produce tangible results.

The headquarters of the Supreme High Command (VGK) in the regime of extraordinary secrecy plans a large-scale military operation at this theater of operations - it is planned to encircle a 700,000-strong German group (see Memel operation ). However, the texts of intercepted and decrypted radiograms of German agents leave no doubt - any movements of the Soviet troops and equipment become known to the Abwehr . It is understandable to the Stavka - having such a group of German agents in the rear of two fronts, it is impossible to prepare a blow unexpected for the Germans.

The Neman search case is taken over by the Supreme High Command Headquarters, in fact, personally by Stalin . Stalin invites the SMERSH Main Counterintelligence Directorate, as well as the People’s Commissariats of Internal Affairs and State Security to stop the leak of strategically important information by any means. However, the specifics of the counterintelligence investigative activities are such that full-scale military operations involving thousands of people often do not give the desired result. Counterintelligence insists that from day to day a group of agents will be taken, and it is necessary to work with methods proven by counterintelligence. The People's Commissars of Internal Affairs and State Security insist - a military operation is needed with combing through a huge forest. Counterintelligence agents are categorically opposed - after all, such an operation can give nothing and scare agents away, while there is good reason to believe that the Soviet counterintelligence knows the area in which the walkie-talkie is hidden, and the estimated time when the German agents will take out the walkie-talkie for the next session radio communications.

The forces of the NKVD forces for protecting the front of the front, border guards, sappers, and SMERSH operatives from other fronts are gathering in the alleged area of ​​the Neman group. A major military operation is being prepared. To find agents or their hiding place with a walkie-talkie, the troops will be combed through a huge Shilovichi forest. Alyokhin’s chief, Lt. Col. Polyakov, understands that during military operations, agents usually die, breaking the strings leading to the spy network, which they use. However, Moscow responds with all the requests of counterintelligence to give them some more time. The categorical condition of Moscow is to stop information leakage by any means during the day. The only hope of Polyakov and Alekhine is to take agents before the start of the military operation, and by all means alive, to receive information from them and neutralize the entire residency.

Around the huge forest, where a cache is supposedly located with the walkie-talkie of the wanted group, an encirclement ring closes. After that, combing of the terrain will begin. Inside this ring, there are nine groups of counterintelligence agents in ambushes, who, in case the wanted persons appear, should check them with an ambush and secure them, then detain them and interrogate them, having achieved a “moment of truth”. Captain Alyokhin’s group is located in the most promising place — for it’s important for front-line counterintelligence that this group should take the wanted persons — then they will probably not punish anyone. Lieutenant Colonel Polyakov is right: three unknown men in the form of Soviet officers are moving towards an ambush. However, Alekhine receives an order by radio: to leave the forest immediately before the start of a military operation. Alekhine makes a decision - to stay and check the unknowns.

During the verification of documents and things, the inspected attacked counterintelligence officers, wounded Captain Alekhine, and killed the seconded representative of the commandant’s office. Alekhine’s group nevertheless managed to detain German agents, seize the radio and achieve the “moment of truth” from the group’s radio operator.

Documentary

• The novel contains a large number of wartime documents (orders, reports, summaries, reports, orientations, government telegrams and other official documents). The author reports that he cites real documents from which official information has been removed ( security stamp , resolutions, who transmitted, who accepted, etc.), as well as that the names of generals and senior officers, the name of several military units, have been changed in the documents and text of the novel and small towns ^[5] . All this gives the novel a kind of documentary. The expert opinion No. 3/14861 of August 7, 1974 on the novel says: “Documents published in the material, with the exception of binding elements (names and military ranks of participants in events, time and place of action, serial numbers of formations and units), are textually identical to the authentic corresponding documents ” ^[6] .
• During the creation of the novel, V. Bogomolov, a former GRU officer of the General Staff , received support and advice on the documentary material used in it from I. I. Ilyichev , head of the GRU of the People’s Commissariat of Defense of the USSR in 1942–45, who worked in those years Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Hero of the Soviet Union, retired colonel V.V. Karpov , with whom the author was associated with long personal, and with I. I. Ilyichev , official relations.

Historical Inaccuracies

• V. S. Abakumov is recognized in the novel in the Head of the GUKR SMERSH, however, he received the rank of colonel general only in 1945 .
  From February 4, 1943, Viktor Semenovich Abakumov was a commissioner of rank 2 GB, which corresponded to the rank of Colonel General, but since he served in the SMERSH GUKR during the war years, NPO loved to be called Colonel General, and on July 9, 1945, like many other leaders of the GB, he was re-certified and he became colonel-general, V. N. Merkulov from the rank 1 commissar of the rank of army general, and L.P. Beria from the rank of general commissar of the state mark became Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Professional jargon

The novel is almost the first work of the Soviet era, in which the veil of secrecy about the actions of the Soviet special services is opened. The novel uses professional counterintelligence jargon - Macedonian shooting , pendulum swing, the effect of emergency gutting (the moment of truth), vasomotor, organoleptic and others. Bogomolov was accused of writing and fiction, but the writer insisted rather firmly that he did not invent anything ^[7] .

Swing of the pendulum

“The most rational actions and behavior during short-term fire contacts during force detention”, called “swing of the pendulum” by counterintelligence officers. It includes instant snatching of weapons, and the ability to use the distraction factor, the nervousness factor, and, if possible, the backlight, and the instant unmistakable reaction to any enemy actions, and the proactive rapid movement under the shots, and constant deceptive movements (from the very first seconds) “ Feint game ”), and sniper accuracy of hitting the limbs when shooting in Macedonian (“ disconnecting the limbs ”), and continuous psychological pressure until the end of the force detention. By “swinging the pendulum” the capture of a strong, well-armed and active resistance opponent is achieved. Judging by the description, Tamantsev “swings the pendulum” in the most difficult and effective performance “out of the way ”. ^[8] :

Macedonian shooting

Letter to the Chief Editor of Komsomolskaya Pravda G. N. Seleznev
In Komsomolskaya Pravda, May 6, p. in B. Pilipenko’s publication “The order to leave before dawn ...” it was printed: “And if you didn’t know how to shoot in Macedonian, as one writer came up with, then in any case he simply shot without a miss ...”
Shooting in the Macedonian style in fiction is described only in my novel, and therefore only on May 6 did 11 people call me, and yesterday the editor informed me of the reader’s letter to the publishing house (which published the novel) about the publication in Komsomolskaya Pravda. Since the novel was published in the USSR alone with a circulation of over seven million copies, there will be, I believe, hundreds of such letters from readers with perplexed questions about Macedonian shooting.
<...> (You also framed Ya. P. Kiselev with a bald statement in the newspaper, since in April 1974, before I published the novel at the KGB Press Office, at their request, two references (totaling 42 pages) were sent to me indicating various special terms used in the novel in the open Soviet press, in particular, there are three examples of mention and a brief description of Macedonian shooting (that is, shooting on the move with two pistols (or revolvers) at a moving target) in documentary publications in an open Soviet tskoy Print 40s - 50s and one case describing dual wield in a semi-closed Soviet press (w-l "border guard").

For the information of the legendary B. Zubkevich and his comrades, aspiring journalist B. Pilipenko and the Komsomolskaya Pravda inspection bureau, I inform you that Macedonian shooting first hit the pages of newspapers in 1934, when in Marseille, Macedonian ustashas, ​​adherents of In the presence of the most thorough guard of the motorcade, the Yugoslav King Alexander and French Foreign Minister Bartou were shot and killed. From the mid-1930s, Macedonian shooting, that is, shooting on the move with two pistols (or revolvers) at a moving target, began to train FBI agents in the United States, and agents of the Scotland Yard operations departments in England. Since 1942, Macedonian shooting began to be cultivated by the detectives of the Soviet military counterintelligence. By 1944, when the novel was taking place, Macedonian shooting was cultivated in at least seven countries.
<...>.

- V. Bogomolov. May 12, 1985 ^[7]

In 1976, an article by Mikhail Kuznetsov was published in the journal Our Contemporary , describing the fate of people who served as prototypes of the main characters and secondary characters ^[10] :

• Alekhine prototype - died during the detention of enemy agents in December 1944 in Poland;
• Tamantsev prototype - died in the winter of 1945 in a trench battle during an unexpected breakthrough of a German tank group;
• The prototype of General Egorov - died shortly after the war, before he reached the age of 50;
• Blinov's prototype — by the way, during the war he was an artilleryman and did not serve a single day in counterintelligence — ended the war with a Hero of the Soviet Union;
• The prototype of Lieutenant Colonel Polyakov, the most civilian of the heroes of the novel ^[10] , completely “left the image” after the war: he graduated from the military academy, became a general and served in the army for another quarter century;
• The prototype of Anikushin is literal and corresponds to all the details. According to Bogomolov, he knew such an officer, who, after being wounded in the service at the commandant’s office, was involved in one search operation and behaved exactly like Anikushin during it. As a result, the senior operative-search group died, and this officer was seriously wounded, but survived.

Another clarification of Vl. Bogomolova is brought by Sergey Trakhimenok : “- I,” Bogomolov said slowly, “there were no prototypes of positive heroes ... <...> - But there were negative ones - there were ... More precisely, there was. So, the prototype of Mishchenko was a well-known saboteur by the name of Grishchenko ” ^[11] .

The novel was first published in No. 10, 11, 12 of the magazine " New World " for 1974 . Later, the novel was reprinted many times.

The novel was translated into three dozen languages, withstood more than a hundred publications, circulation exceeded several million copies.

In other languages

In addition to Russian, the novel was translated and published in Vietnamese, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Norwegian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Mongolian, Uzbek, Hungarian, Finnish, Czech, English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean languages.

List of foreign publications

• The aching in my heart: collected writings, 635 p., [1] h. de lám. 21 cm. 1982. Moscow Progress - English ;
• The moment of truth: a novel and two stories; ISBN 5-05-001664-9 ; ISBN 978-5-05-001664-5 , Content: Ivan - Zosia - The moment of truth (In August '44). 552 p .; 21 cm. 1982. Moscow: Raduga Publishers - English ;
• The moment of truth: a novel and two stories. ISBN 5-05-001664-9 ; ISBN 978-5-05-001664-5 , 552 S. (Transl. By Bernard Isaacs ...), 1989, Moscow Raduga Publ. - English ;
• The moment of history: (At the time of the war of the Chatsvertag ...): Raman / Uladzimir Bagamola; [peraklўz ruskay mova U. Paўlaў] [Transl. with Russian V. Pavlov]. - Minsk: Mastats. lit., 1984. - 415 p .; 20 cm. (Per.): - Belarusian ;
• In August, the forty-fourth ...: Roman / V. Bogomolov. - M .: Progress, 1979. - 395 p .; 22 cm. - Vietnamese ;
• August-Chetirideset and Fourth: novel, Plovdiv: Hristo G. Danov, 1975. 454 p .: ill. brought from Ruska Sofia Yanevsk and Nedyalka Christ. - Bulgarian ;
• Negyvennégy augusztusában: regény; (V avguste sorok chetvertogo) ISBN 9630718421 ; ISBN 9789630718424 , 483 p .; 22 cm. 1978. Budapest: Europa - Hungarian ;
• En agosto del 44; xiv, 520 p. [traducción: Zoia Barash]. 1977. La Habana: Editorial Arte y Literatura, Series: Biblioteca del pueblo - Spanish ;
• El momento de la Verdad; ISBN 8432084905 ; ISBN 9788432084904 , 486 p. 20 cm. traducción de Josep María Güell. 1990. Barcelona Planeta, Series: Grandes autores de la literatura soviética contemporánea; Number: 6 - Spanish ;
• Četrdesmit ceturtā gada augustā ...: romāns / Vladimirs Bogomolovs; no krievu val. tulk. Hugo Rukšāns. - Riga: Liesma, 1977. - 427, [5] lpp. - Latvian ;
• Keturiasdešimt ketvirtųjų rugpjūtis: romanas / Vladimiras Bogomolovas; iš rusų kalbos vertė Feliksas Pažūsis. Vilnius: Vaga, 1979 (Vilnius: Vaizdo sp.), 398, [2] p. Tiražas 30 000 egz - Lithuanian ;
• Dȯcin Ḋorbedu̇ger on-u naimaduġar sar-a-du, [Sl]: Ȯbȯr Mongġol-un Arad-un Keblel-u̇n Qoriy-a, 1984. “In August '44.” 685 p .; 21 cm. - Mongolian ;
• August 44 [vierundvierzig]: Roman / ;, 495 S .; 21 cm. Wladimir Bogomolow. [Aus d. Russ. von Günter Löffler unter Berücks. von Korrekturen d. Autors]., 1977., Berlin: Verlag Volk u. Welt - German ;
• August 44: Roman / ;, Lizenz d. Verl. Volk u. Welt, Berlin., 495 S. [Aus d. Russ. von Günter Löffler]. 1979. Berlin: Buchclub 65 - German ;
• In August forty-fourth: (Moment of Truth): [Roman] / Vladimir Bogomolov; Per. T. Hirsk. - M .: Rainbow: Oslo Falken, B. G. (1989). - 595 s .; 21 cm. ISBN 5-05-002324-6 (Per.): - Norwegian ;
• In August forty-fourth: Roman / Vladimir Bogomolov; [Trans. A. Bazin]. - M .: Rainbow, B. G. (1989). - 376 p .; 21 cm. ISBN 5-05-001965-6 (Per.): - Portuguese ;
• Қirқ tўrtinchi yil augustida: novel; [Trans. with Russian K. Mirmukhamedov]. - Tashkent: Publishing house lit. and art] 493 p .; 21 cm. 1983. Toshkent: Ғafur Ғulom - Uzbek ;
• Moment of truth: (At sickle forty-fourth ...): Roman / Volodimir Bogomolov; [pereklav z z roiskii movi O. B. Statsky] [Transl. with Russian A. B. Staetskiy]. - Kiev: Dnipro, 1988. - 464, [1] p .; 17 cm. ISBN 5-308-00154-5 (Per.): - Ukrainian ;
• The Moment of Truth [Lahse-ye Hagigat]: Novel. [Translation by C. A. Bayburdi] / Vladimir Bogomolov; [Art. V. Elizarov]. - Tashkent: Rainbow: Tashkent. Department, 1985 .-- 622 p. old arab. pag .: 2 l. ill .; 21 cm. (Per.): - Farsi ;
• Elokuu 1944; ISBN 9512016036 ; ISBN 9789512016037 , 411 p .; 22 cm., Suomentanut Marja Koskinen. 1978. Jyväskylä: Gummerus - Finnish ;
• V srpnu čtyřiačtyřicátého ... 25000 výt. Vyd. ve spolupráci s nakl. Progress, Moskva, Obálku s použitím kresby Jiřího Říhy a vazbu navrhl Leo Novotný, 394, [2] s .; 8 ° přel. Jaroslav Piskáček, 1978, Praha: Lidové nakladatelství - Czech ;
• Neljakümne neljanda augustis ... / Vladimir Bogomolov Vene keelest tõlkinud Laine Soe, 384-leheküljeline tavaformaadis ja kõvas köites romaan, Kaanekujundus Henno Arrak, Mõõdud: 130 × 206 mm Eesti Raamat 1979;

In Polish

Despite the positive feedback from Jerzy Putramenta , editor-in-chief of the influential Literatura magazine, the novel was not published in Polish for a number of political reasons ^[12] .

The most detailed reasons for this categorical rejection and refusal of the publication were set forth in an open letter by the literary critic Andrzej Dravić , partially published in Russian in the emigrant journal Syntax ^[13] . They are reduced to psychological rejection of the sharply negative characteristic of the actions of the Polish Home Army in the territory of Western Belarus and Lithuania directed against members of the Soviet Army, government officials and local residents after the liberation of these territories during 1944 to 1945-46, which proved unacceptable to the Polish intelligentsia 1970 -x amid growing anti-communist sentiment and growing popularity of dissident organizations.

В своей оценке деятельности польского подполья Богомолов руководствовался, в том числе, материалами судебного процесса , проходившего с 18 июня 1945 года в Москве в открытом заседании Военной Коллегии Верховного Суда Союза ССР, в которых сообщалось, что: «в результате террористической деятельности АК-NIE в период с 28 июля по 31 декабря 1944 года было убито 277, и тяжело ранено 94, а в период с 1 января по 30 мая 1945 года убито 314 и тяжело ранено 125 солдат и офицеров Красной Армии» ^[2] .

• В 1975 году роман попытался экранизировать известный литовский кинорежиссёр Витаутас Жалакявичюс , но ему пришлось прервать съёмки и картина была закрыта. Вопреки широко распространенному мнению, негативная оценка В. Богомолова проделанной работы по экранизации романа не была основной причиной остановки производства фильма.

Картина Витаутаса Жалакявичюса была остановлена в связи со смертью 21 октября 1975 г. исполнителя одной из главных ролей (генерала Егорова) литовского актёра Бронюса Бабкаускаса. За месяц до этого, в конце сентября, от фильма отказался штатный редактор «Мосфильма» В. М. Дьяченко. Когда картину остановили, выяснилось, что никто не видел ни одного метра отснятого материала. Начались рабочие просмотры. После показа материала — порознь! — консультантам, все трое отказались от дальнейшего участия в работе над картиной. Генеральный директор «Мосфильма» Н. Т. Сизов смотрел материал в конце октября. Мне передали его реакцию и некоторые реплики: «Витас, отчего они у тебя такие расхристанные? Витас, это же не офицеры, а парни с гауптвахты! Витас, да это не офицеры, а уголовники!». Когда зажгли свет, Сизов произнёс фразу, оказавшуюся пророческой: «Витас, ты не понимаешь, что ты снял! Не хочу каркать, но боюсь, что этот материал мы вообще не сможем использовать».

Меня Сизов пригласил только три недели спустя, 16 ноября. Он сразу откровенно сказал: «Мною были допущены четыре непростительные ошибки, и главная из них — в выборе режиссёра. Жалакявичюс, безусловно, талантливый профессионал, выдающийся художник, но работать он может только по международной или литовской национальной тематике. Меня ввела в заблуждение его картина „Никто не хотел умирать“. Как обнаружилось в этом материале, он не представляет себе, что такое армия и война. Он искренне убеждён, что лейтенант может кричать на генерала. У него не только литовские актёры играют под американских ковбоев из „Великолепной семёрки“ — у него даже снятая в Белоруссии деревня больше похожа на литовскую… Почему они такие заросшие, почему выглядят уголовниками — Жалакявичюс объяснить не может… Затрачены большие государственные деньги. Мы с тобой патриоты и обязаны их спасти! Нужно убрать совершенно неприемлемые кадры и даже эпизоды. Может, подсократить сюжет. Досьемки — по минимуму и только в павильоне! Бабкаускаса надо сохранить. Не держись за сценарий и за роман — изменения неизбежны! Необходим новый сокращённый вариант в том же сюжете!». Затем показал мне три заключения по отснятому материалу: одно — режиссёра С. Бондарчука, довольно эмоциональное, второе — Союза кинематографистов, большое, страниц на восемь, оно было подписано писателем Б. Васильевым, и третье — двух киноведов, доктора и кандидата наук. Все отзывы оказались сугубо отрицательными.

В чём же там было дело? В. Жалакявичюс непонятно для чего заставил актёров неделю или больше не бриться, снимал их со щетиной на лицах, с закатанными выше локтя рукавами, без ремней, с расстёгнутыми до пупа гимнастёрками. Они действительно походили на арестантов с гауптвахты. Причём время от времени, неожиданно со злыми лицами применяли друг к другу болевые приёмы. Во всём материале режиссёром была осуществлена вестернизация: герои двигались и говорили, как ковбои в «Великолепной семёрке». Я понимал, что задача, поставленная Сизовым, не решаемая. И в начале 1976 г. в ответ на письмо главной редакции «Мосфильма» дал согласие на любое использование отснятого материала без указания в титрах моего имени и упоминания моего романа. Как мне известно, такие попытки на протяжении пяти или шести лет делались, но оказались бесплодными.

— написал В. Богомолов в период съёмок второй версии фильма в 2000 г. ^{[14] [15]}

В то же время известно, что осенью 1975 года (ещё до вышеприведённого разговора с Сизовым) писатель даже подавал в суд на «Мосфильм», где снималась картина. На суде, который состоялся в начале декабря, Богомолов (уже после встречи с Сизовым), в частности, заявил, что «Жалакявичус — режиссёр, который должен работать на международном материале». По итогам разбирательства суд постановил «производство фильма приостановить и без согласия автора никаких съемок не производить. Попытаться автору и киностудии найти приемлемое решение и продолжить работу, дабы не допустить убыточных расходов картины». В результате компромисс не был достигнут и картина была закрыта ^[16] .

• Вторая попытка экранизации романа оказалась более успешной и в 2000 году вышел на экраны фильм « В августе 44-го… », снятый известным белорусским кинорежиссёром Михаилом Пташуком . Но сам Владимир Богомолов отказался от авторства сценария для обеих экранизаций романа

• Упоминаемый в романе пистолет «Браунинг лонг 07», которым пользуются немецкие диверсанты , является пистолетом «браунинг» обр.1903 года под патрон 9×22 мм Browning Long (модель 9mm M/1907 ).
• Книга упоминается в третьей части романа Владислава Конюшевского «Попытка возврата».
• В 2013 году роман был включён в список « 100 книг », рекомендованных школьникам Министерством образования и науки РФ для самостоятельного чтения.

• Владимир Богомолов «В августе сорок четвёртого», 1973 год. Сто лет — сто лекций Дмитрия Быкова. Выпуск № 79