''Volokolamsk Highway'' (Russian: ''Волоколамское шоссе'') is a novel written by Alexandr Bek, published in Russian in 1944, with later translations into English, Hebrew, Spanish, Chinese, German and many other languages during the 1940s and '50s. The novel, based on real events in October, 1941, during the Battle of Moscow, describes defensive fighting over several days by a single battalion of the
316th Rifle Division The 316th Rifle Division was formed as a Red Army division during World War II. The division was initially formed in July 1941, renamed the 8th Guards Rifle Division on 18 November 1941. The division was recreated at Vjasniki in July 1942, fought ...
against elements of German
Army Group Center
Army Group Centre (german: Heeresgruppe Mitte) was the name of two distinct strategic German Army Groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army for ...
. Both for its realism and for its practical advice on infantry tactics in modern war, ''Volokolamsk Highway'' became standard reading for junior officers in the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
and later
Soviet Army
uk, Радянська армія
, image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg
, alt =
, caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army
, start_date ...
, the forces of the arising State of Israel, and most socialist and revolutionary movements during the latter part of the 20th century. The novel has been out of print in English for several decades.
Creation and inspiration
After a short term of service as a volunteer in the 8th (Krasnaya Presnya) Volunteer Rifle Division, Bek, who already had an established reputation as a writer, was reassigned as a war correspondent. In March, 1942, he was attached to the former 316th Rifle Division, now the 8th Guards "Panfilov" Rifle Division, where he met then-Captain Baurjan Momysh-Uly. Bek had been told of Momysh-Uly's heroic conduct as a Senior Lieutenant in command of the 1st Battalion of the 1077th Rifle Regiment in the October battles before Moscow. Bek saw this as the basis of a lightly-fictionalized novel to commemorate the defenders of the Soviet capital. Momysh-Uly was very reluctant to cooperate, but he eventually gave his story, and Bek captured his reluctance in the novel. In the end, Momysh-Uly strongly disapproved of Bek's book, which he claimed to be an unrealistic depiction of events, and criticized the author relentlessly for the remainder of his life. He later produced his own series of books to tell the story from his perspective.
Plot summary
The structure of the novel is as an interview between a war correspondent and the commander of the battalion. The opening paragraph is as follows: The remainder of the novel is almost entirely told in the first person by Momysh-Uly, and is in two parts.
Part One begins with Momysh-Uly and the correspondent negotiating the terms of their collaboration. Momysh-Uly then recounts the arrival of the battalion along the
Ruza River
The Ruza (russian: Руза) is a river in the Moscow Oblast in Russia, left tributary of the Moskva.I.V. Panfilov arrives in the battalion's position on Oct. 13. He points out that while the defensive positions of the battalion are good, Momysh-Uly has made no provisions for offensive action in the
no-man's-land
No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...
between the Ruza and the Germans. A party of picked men then successfully stage a deep raid at night against a German-held village, raising the morale of the entire battalion.
The story then goes back to July. The division is being organized near
Alma-Ata
Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of t ...
, from men from
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
(like Momysh-Uly) and
Kirghizia
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
. The remainder of Part One describes the formation and training of the division, the growing personal relationship between Momysh-Uly and Panfilov, and the sound advice the former takes from the latter.
Part Two begins with the battalion dug in very thinly along the Ruza, trying to cover a sector 8 km wide. Other sectors are coming under attack from German tanks. Panfilov visits for an hour, and persuades Momysh-Uly to send two platoons into no-man's-land to set up ambush positions along the two roads leading to his sector, and describes how they should fall back to the main position. One platoon is very successful in this operation, but the second cuts and runs after its first encounter.
On Oct. 23 the main position comes under attack, with an
artillery barrage
In military usage, a barrage is massed sustained artillery fire (shelling) aimed at a series of points along a line. In addition to attacking any enemy in the kill zone, a barrage intends to suppress enemy movements and deny access across tha ...
directed by a spotting aircraft. Much of the barrage falls on dummy positions, and the battalion takes few casualties. Just as German infantry are about to attack, the Russian artillery observer is wounded by German shellfire, and Momysh-Uly (who is a former artilleryman) takes over, directing fire from the eight guns supporting his battalion from a church steeple. This fire blunts the German attack.
At the close of the day, Momysh-Uly learns that Germans to his north have penetrated the front, and that the scratch battalion to his south has been routed; he is facing
encirclement
Encirclement is a military term for the situation when a force or target is isolated and surrounded by enemy forces. The situation is highly dangerous for the encircled force. At the strategic level, it cannot receive supplies or reinforcemen ...
. He helps lead a counter-attack to the north, then orders a retreat eastwards to a grove of woods. Following this, he is presented with 87 stragglers from the routed scratch battalion. At first he wants nothing to do with them, as they had already broken and run once. On impulse he decides to test them, by leading them into a night counter-attack against the Germans in the village they have captured just east of the Ruza. To his surprise, all 87 follow him and redeem themselves by killing Germans, destroying a lot of their equipment, and burning their bridge across the river. He then welcomes them to join his battalion. He further orders them to recover their battalion guns, which delays the withdrawal of the rest of the battalion, almost fatally. In the end, Momysh-Uly devises a tactic to enable his entire combat group to escape from encirclement, breaking through German forces bogged down in the mud, and the troops rejoin the division in Volokolamsk, much to the approval of Gen. Panfilov.
Impact of the Novel
Bek also wrote two sequels, ''Several Days'' and ''General Panfilov's Reserve''. The series gained international, as well as Soviet, recognition: Published in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
in 1946, ''Volokolamsk Highway'' "held an almost cult status in the Palmach and later in the Israeli Army" according to media researcher Yuval Shachal, and became a standard tactical handbook in the Israeli Defense Forces. Inspired by the novel, future Israeli Chief of the General Staff Motta Gur once held a "Panfilov Roll Call" for two soldiers who deserted from his company when he was a young officer, shaming them in front of the other troops; he wrote that it was a common practice in the IDF at the time. During 2005, Ehud Barak told "we, as young officers, were raised on Momyshuly." ''Volokolamsk Highway'' was popular in Cuba, as well. Fidel Castro told
Norberto Fuentes
Norberto Fuentes (born March 2, 1943 Havana) is a writer and journalist.
He has published ''Hemingway in Cuba'' and ''Ernest Hemingway: Rediscovered'', both available in English, as well as ''Dulces guerreros cubanos'', ''Condenados de Condado'' ...
that "the idea to use the love of the Motherland for convincing people to support me, came to me after reading the novel." The novel was well known among members of the
Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces
The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias; FAR) are the military forces of Cuba. They include ground forces, naval forces, air and air defence forces, and other paramilitary bodies including the Territorial T ...
; in 1961,
Raul Castro
Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul.
Raul, Raúl or Raül may r ...
told a journalist that every regimental commander was "compelled to have a copy". In Jesús Díaz's acclaimed 1987 novel ''Las iniciales de la tierra'', the protagonist cites Bek's book as a major influence on his life. The novel was also included in the list of "compulsory reading" for members of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
Ministry of National Defense
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
issued its Order no. 50/63 - drafted on the initiative of
Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
- which introduced ''Volokolamsk Highway'' as part of the political education program for the soldiers of the
National People's Army
The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990.
The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) a ...
. In the official history of the NVA, historian Major General Reinhard Brühl had cited it as having a major influence on the soldiers.Reinhard Brühl. ''Armee für Frieden und Sozialismus: Geschichte der Nationalen Volksarmee der DDR''. Militarverlag der DDR (1987). . pp. 319-321.