On March 11 of this year, we gathered to honor the memory of the women who gave their lives for Victory.

In those distant, difficult years, women not only ensured the rear but were also on the frontlines: nurses and doctors, radio operators and anti-aircraft gunners. They stood side by side with the men, bringing a little capriciousness and liveliness into the harsh reality.

We examined the role of women in war using the example of Boris Vasilyev’s novel And the Dawn Is Quiet….

This is what Boris Vasilyev’s novel And the Dawn Is Quiet… is about – the women who, not by the book, went on guard, sunbathed, and openly mocked their superiors. And Vasukov, who had already been disappointed by women, thawed and grew attached to his female fighters in skirts.

A Brief Overview of the Novel
The work was written in 1969 and first published in the magazine Yunost (Youth). It is a realistic war novel dedicated to women at war. Each of the heroines has her own backstory, each planned her future, but alas, it was not meant to come true.

Initially, Vasilyev planned to write about seven soldiers defending a railway station. Later, he decided to replace the men with female anti-aircraft gunners because the topic of women in war had been little explored in literature at the time.

Plot
In a remote forest, at a strategically important railway junction, a group of female anti-aircraft gunners comes under the command of Senior Sergeant Fedot Vaskov. One of the girls, Rita Ovsyankina, returning from an unauthorized absence, discovers two saboteurs. After analyzing the report, Vaskov decides to send five girls to capture the saboteurs. However, when they arrive at the location, there are sixteen enemies. Five inexperienced girls against sixteen seasoned foes.

Vaskov decides to send Liza Brichkina for reinforcements. Liza, familiar with the forest, almost crosses a swamp when a burst of air scares her. She stumbles, and the swamp swallows her. The remaining girls engage in an unequal battle with the enemies, despite their fear and inexperience. One by one, they die, showing courage. Vaskov continues to hope for reinforcements, unaware of Liza’s death.

Vaskov, left alone, captures the surviving saboteurs.

Years later, he returns to the battlefield to erect a monument to his fallen subordinates.

Main Characters

Fedot Vaskov — Senior Sergeant, 32 years old, a strict but caring commander. He loses his subordinates but survives with a sense of guilt.

Rita Osyanina — Serious, strong-willed woman. A widow. Her husband, a border guard, died in the first days of the war. Rita ran away on unauthorized leave, not to a man as suspected, but to her son, who was living nearby.

Zhenya Komelkova — Beautiful, brave, has survived the loss of her family. The life of the party.

Liza Brichkina — Quiet, shy, dies in the swamp before reaching her comrades.

Sonya Gurvich — Intellectual, dreamy, dies due to inexperience.

Galya Chetvertak — The youngest, naive, dies in a panic, running towards the enemies.

The Meaning of the Title
And the Dawn Is Quiet… is a contrast between peaceful nature and the horrors of war. The calm of the morning and the quiet in these places remind us of the high price at which this peace was preserved.

Genre and Style
The novella belongs to “lieutenant prose” as it was written by someone who experienced the war. Vasilyev uses simple yet emotional language to convey the atmosphere of the front lines.

Film and Book
In 1972, Stanislav Rostotsky filmed the novel, which became a cult classic. It closely follows the book but has some minor differences.

The meeting was warm and interesting.