Sasha is a story. The first work of the writer Vyacheslav Kondratiev . Written in the middle of the XX century . Published by the author in February 1979 in the journal "Friendship of Peoples" .
Story
Sasha fought for two months, but for the first time he was close to the enemy. He was the first to see the Germans, and it was he who warned his company about them. The Germans went to the trick - they calmed down, and in the grove there was a voice saying that the sowing campaign began in the villages, and offering work and freedom to everyone. But the company deciphered this trick and gave the order to start the battle. During the battle, Sasha took the “tongue”, which he himself had to deliver to headquarters. On the way, the German all the time looked at Sasha, and he told him that the Russians did not mock the prisoners.
At the battalion headquarters, he did not find anyone. Only the battalion commander was in place, but Sasha was not recommended to lead the German to him - the day before, during the battle, a girl whom the commander loved was very much killed. Sasha, nevertheless, went to the battalion commander, and after talking to the German, he ordered him to be shot. Sasha tried to object, saying that he had promised life to the German, showed him a flyer where all the prisoners were guaranteed a return to their homeland, but the battalion commander became even more angry. Then Sashka decided to lead the German to the brigade headquarters, violating the order of the battalion commander. The battalion commander caught up with them, looked sternly at Sasha, smoked a cigarette and left, telling the German to lead the brigade headquarters.
Heading into the evacuation hospital, Sashka and two more wounded, instead of food, received coupons for the road, for which food could be obtained only 20 kilometers from the site in Babin. Sashka and Zhora did not reach the place that day, having decided to spend the night in the village. They were allowed to spend the night, but there was nothing to feed the soldiers - the Germans took everything. The next day, having reached Babin, they saw that there was no food item either. Sashka, Zhora and Lieutenant Volodya who joined them went further. Going on the way to the village, they again could not find food, but the villager advised them to go to the field, dig up the potatoes remaining from the fall and bake cakes. Having found the field, Sasha and Volodya stopped, and Zhora went on. Soon there was a sound of an explosion and, rushing forward, Sasha and Volodya saw the dead Zhora - he apparently turned off the field onto the road, where he hit the mine left by the Germans.
Finally, Sasha and Volodya got to the evacuation hospital. But they did not stay there - Volodya really wanted to go to Moscow to see his mother. Sashka also decided to go to the house, which was next to Moscow. On the way, they entered the village where they had eaten - this village was not captured by the Germans. In the next hospital, they stopped for dinner. When the food was distributed, there were only 2 spoons of millet porridge in each plate, and Volodya went to swear with the authorities. When the dispute reached the special, Sashka decided to plead guilty, because he was just a soldier, and the only punishment that awaited him was sending him to the front line , but he still had to return there. The Specialist recommended Sasha to leave the hospital, and quickly, but the doctors did not release Volodya. Sasha arrived in Moscow, and, standing on the platform, felt as if he had fallen into another world. This difference of such a calm Moscow from the front line helped him to understand clearly that his place was there on the front line.
Additional Information
- In 2013, the story was included in the list of “ 100 books ” recommended to schoolchildren by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for independent reading.