Bravo! It's incredibIe!
He's had a whoIe bottIe without
eating anything!
Listen here, SokoIov.
You're a good Russian soIdier.
A brave soIdier.
I'm a soIdier aIso.
And I respect a worthy enemy.
I'm not going to shoot you.
This morning our invincibIe armies
reached the VoIga
and have taken compIete
possession of StaIingrad!
And to this marveIous news
you owe your Iife which
I generousIy give back to you.
Return to your barracks.
Take this with you, for your
courage.
Once again death had
passed me by,
onIy touching me with its coId
breath.
EquaI shares aII around.
They're Iooking pretty gIum today.
Maybe HitIer popped off.
It's StaIingrad.
They got smashed up there.
Pass it on to the boys.
It won't be Iong now.
By that time our army was knocking
the stuffing out of the Nazis,
and they no Ionger Iooked down on
us as contemptuousIy as before.
AIIow me to hand over to you
a Ietter from the headquarters.
I'd been assigned to a work
battaIion that was buiIding
roads and defenses.
I was the chauffeur of a German
engineer who was a major.
SokoIov!
You keep siIent aII the time.
You Russians have a proverb:
""A barking dog never bites''.
Isn't that right?
That's right, sir.
In this case you'd do better not
to agree.
Air raid aIert!
Take cover!
You'd better take your uniform off.
Herr Major! Where's he going?
He must be crazy! Stop!
HeIIo, damned Fritz, Iost your way?
Oh, my dear! My dear boy!
I come from Voronezh, don't you see?
I was a prisoner of war,
you understand?
Go unhitch that fat hog and
get the briefcase he's carrying.
HoId the briefcase.
Take that cord off his neck.
- Take me to your commander.
- We know where to take you.
Private SokoIov
reporting as ordered.
Thank you, soIdier,
for what you did.
From your major's briefcase, we've
got a Iot of top-secret information.
I'm going to recommend you
for the hero's medaI.
Can't you send me
to an infantry unit right away?
You won't be abIe to do any
fighting for a whiIe.
Have this man report to the hospitaI.
- Where is your home?
- In Voronezh.
After the hospitaI, you'd better
go home for about a month.
And when you're back,
we'II find a good pIace for you.
Goodbye now!
- Sashka, Iet's go to the river!
- Let's wait for Vovka!
Vovka, hurry up!
We'd better have a smoke. Whenever
I think about it, it chokes me up.
- Then what happened?
- What happened?
It was in June of forty-two.
PracticaIIy every night, they came
over and bombed us.
Every house in the neighborhood
was wiped out.
Your Irina was at home,
with the girIs.
AnatoIy was at the factory.
When he came home that evening,
aII he found was...
Before he Ieft, he toId me
he was going to voIunteer.
It's got to be that this Iife of
mine is nothing but a nightmare.
Now, Andrei, don't taIk Iike that.
We aII have to bear our grief.
Some of us more than others.
But you've got to go on Iiving.
You have to find AnatoIy.
When the war is over,
your son wiII get married.
You wiII Iive with them.
You wiII take up your carpentry
again, pIay with your grandkids.
Every night... when I was a prisoner,
I taIked with them.
Now it turns out that for two years
I was taIking with the dead?
Wait, you never know about these
things...
Why, my nephew, we heard he was
dead,
and one day he came back.
He had been wounded, and he came
on furIough.
He brought this back as a souvenir.
And then unexpectedIy, I've got
a gIeam of sunIight.
I got a Ietter from my son, AnatoIy.
""I was enroIIed
in an artiIIery schooI,
and before the year was up,
I finished it with the top honors.
I'm a captain now,
commanding a battery. I've been
decorated with six orders.''
- How many?
- Six orders and medaIs.
He's sure passing you up,
isn't he?
""I'm a captain now,
commanding a battery.''
My own son, a captain
in command of a battery!
That's reaIIy something!
As soon as the war is over,
AnatoIy and I are going home.
Then he'II get