Plot Summary:Crimea, Ukraine, ca 1942. WWII. The army of fascist Nazi Germany, in its bid to capture the oil fields to the east, has taken control of large parts of the Ukraine. The Soviet Army has risen from its defeat in June 1941, and is, savage battle by savage battle, slowly retaking the softly rolling hills and brilliant green fields of the Crimea. Second Lieutenant Andrey Besfamilnyy is a "razvedchik", an army scout. He is known as a dare-devil, immune to bullets. His last name - both a Russian surname and a Russian word meaning "without a family" - is the only thing about him that might hint at his childhood, spent abandoned and homeless, surviving alone in the streets. He is the leader of a "razved-vzvod", an elite squad of reconnaissance scouts, specially trained to penetrate deep behind he enemy lines, gather data - uncover the enemy's positions, determine their strengths and weaknesses, and discover their plans - relay that information back to their commanders by radio, and then, if ...
