In the flat plains, and fertile farmland of the Russian steppe, along a dirt road that seemed to go on into oblivion the trucks still went on.

After leaving the one place she has ever truly know, the convoy continued on mile after mile, and stopped at more villages than she could even count.

Every time she noticed the same event: Mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles, grandparents, children, siblings and friends, all parting with their family and loved ones with an embracing hug, and waving them off with a tear in their eye.

Hour, after hour it went on like this into the night.

It was early in the morning now, but there was no sleep to be had on that ride. Every truck was filled so tight that you could barely breathe, let alone sit down. And men was sweating due to the body heat that was trapped by the canvas covering that was there to protect the occupants from the outside, and to prevent desertion with the only exit under armed guard.

Nonna was packed into the very front of the bed of the truck, and could only tell the time by the early morning gleam that shown from the opening in the back.

Everyone was tired and thirsty. Other than to pick up more conscious, there were no stops. There was a communal bedpan for everyone inside, but now it was only making the conditions inside the truck even more unbearable.

She and everyone else in there didn't know how much further they needed to go, or how much they could take.

With the sun started to rise however, the convoy finally stopped, and everyone was ordered out.

As she came out, she found herself in the middle of a sea of tents.

Shortly after all of the new conscripts were called into order. With several senior officers looking them over. By Nonna's guess there were probably at least four hundred men from her convoy alone.

After several minutes of uneasy silence, one of the officers stepped forward from the rest in front of the men.

"Greetings comrades! And welcome to the 13th Guards Rifle Division. You have been called upon to fight off the invaders of our glorious Motherland. The fighting will be hard, and many of you will not survive, but the sacrifice you make on the field will help ensure that our nation will never fall under Nazi tyranny." The officer said standing proud before walking in front of the lined up troops.

"This division will stand for any acts of weakness. Any cowards, deserters, and traitors will be shot. You will be expected to remember comrade Stalin's orders and not give a single inch to the invaders while you still live..."

As he continues his introductory speech for the men, talking about loyalty, comradeship, and sacrifice, the men slowly became tired, the long ride through the night without chance of rest in the cramped settings of the overfilled and poorly maintained vehicles took its tale.

"You will be given rest and hot food, until noon. But first you'll have been issued with uniforms for your training and deployment." The officer announced to the men.

Nonna after hearing the announcement moved along with the rest of the men as they were led to a large tent containing several crates.

She was still wearing her normal garb of a long skirt, and plain loose blouse. She got into the tent, being issued a pair of boots along with a light brown tunic, side cap, and trousers before heading to the resting area along with the rest of the men from her village.

"Hey, it's Nonna!" Said Alexander to the others as she approached where they were sitting.

"Hey guys." She greeted as she sat down with them, who returned it warmly.

Nonna was never much of a feminine woman. She played outside since childhood, and she would regularly do some of the most tedious tasks in the fields, including maintaining large pieces of farming equipment.

She was always a close friend with many of the men her age in the village, she would do many of the same things they would do on their free time, such as swim, spar, and hike. Several men even went to her for romantic advice, many of them developing a crush on her as well, though none of them ever had the courage to approach her on the matter.

"So anything I missed?" She asked her friends.

"Not much, other than that we were told to pick someone to be our squad leader." David Explained.

"So, who'd you pick?" She asked, eyeing over her seven comrades to try and guess for herself.

"We kind of... chose to ask you if you want to be it." He told her with the rest of the men giving a nod of their approval.

"Wait, what?" She questioned, completely taken off guard by what they said.

"We all want you to lead our group." David stated, being very direct on the topic.

"I don't think I'm the one who should lead you guys." Nonna declined.

"Why not?" Asked Alexander.

"Because I'm just qualified for the position. Like you Alexander, you're the son of the magistrates; you should know everything about leadership. And Kimek, your one of the smartest people I know." She said, though not wanting to just simply place the burden on someone else.

"But neither of us had ever had anything close to military experience." Kimek explained.

"That's right! Nonna your father was a War Hero since the Revolution; no one else has anything close to an idea on what to do to you." Stated Vladislav, ever since his childhood was always told stories on the heroic deeds executed by Nonna's father by his own whenever he asked him about the days of the Russian Civil War.

"And there is no one in the village as loyal and willing to help others as you Nonna. You could have simply Yackov's son be taken instead, but you volunteered to take his place." Alexander continued.

"But I couldn't have simply stood by and let that happen." Nonna returned.

"Yes, and that's why we want you, there is no one that any of us would rather follow than you."

"Plus having a female corporal as our squad leader would allow us to get some favors." Added Kimek who got a very cold stare in return from Nonna.

Kimek might have been one of the smartest people in the group; he was also the most perverted.

After getting her mind off of Kimeks little remark, Nonna finally made her decision.

"OK, I'll take the post, but only because you forced me to."


After some time of the group talking, and a small amount of Rye, Nonna began to reflect about what the others said about her as she played down on a soft patch of grass.

The primary remark on her mind being the one being about her father.

Though he never really liked to talk about the subject, what she was told from the other men in the village who served with him said he was in the army since the Great War where he fought in the trenches of the eastern front where he became acquainted with other members of the Bolshevik Party. He eventually joined the Red Army in the beginning of the Revolution, and always volunteered for the hottest areas of fighting throughout the Civil War. He later became among one of the very first tank commanders in the Soviet Union as the army went through its first stages of modernization.

Throughout her entire life, he always was away from home, he never wanted to bring his family with him for he was always stationed at the most hazardous frontiers, and he would had never wanted to put his loved ones in harm's way.

She would always remember waiting at the edge of the village with Katyusha when he promised he'd come back on leave.


"Do you see him yet?" Katyusha asked while looking at her sister.

"Not yet." Nonna replied as she looked towards the dirt road that seemed to head off for eternity, and then turning towards her little sister. "Don't worry, he'll come."

Just as she said that, a small speck came over the horizon on the road accompanied with the sound of an engine.

"Is it him?!" Katyusha asked as the vehicle drew near.

Nonna looked again at the approaching object before turning back to her. "I believe so; no one else ever drives down that road in a car like that."

Several minutes later a black GAZ M1 entered the village and stopped, with a nicely dressed officer stepping out carrying a large bag over his shoulder.

The two girls greeted their father as he came over towards them by the hut that they live in, running out to him and hugging him who returned it the best he could while lugging the heavy load on his back.

"We missed you so much." Katusha said while still hugging her as tight as she could, almost as if she thought she would lose him if she let go.

"I missed you too." He admitted to them as he held them with his one free hand.

After several moments of the three just taking comfort in each other's embrace. The two girl's father finally let go and looked to the two young girls. "OK, let's go inside." Which both sister agreeing to happily and followed their father as he went into the small hut.

"Katyusha, what has Nonna been feeding you, If you keep it up you'll be picking me up next time!" He said as he picked up his youngest daughter, while Nonna looked over the two happily after they finished a meal of bread, jam, and tea.

As the two played Nonna decided to take her dad's bag to his room. She was always sort of a mother to Katyusha more than a sister, always taking care of her and the household since she was able to take care of herself.

She tried to pick it up, but found that she was unable to. "Dad what on earth did you pack in this thing?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. I got some gifts for you two." He said as he picked up the bag.

"Really, what is it?!" Yelled Katyusha, curious as to what it was.

Her father opened the bag, and placed his hand inside. "Well since my unit had some extra equipment, I was able to get a hold on some of the stuff that was never used."

He first pulled out his gift for Katyusha: A black leather tank men's helmet.

"Oh thank you daddy!" She said as he gave her the helmet and put it on for her.

"You look great Katyusha!" He complimented her before going back into the bag for one more thing. After several minutes of shifting through his bag, he at last found what he was looking for. "Ah, here it is."

Nonna leaned closer towards the bag curious as to what it was. With her father showing her what it was a small red song book.

"Nonna, I know how much you loved to sing before, so I found this in some old crates read for disposal and knew that you would love this."

"I do dad, thank you." Nonna responded as she hugged her father.

"I do expect to hear some of it when I come back next time, but in the meantime we should go out and do some stuff together before I have to go back."

"Let's go!" Katyusha yelled in excitement as they left the hut to go around the rest of the village.


That was almost ten years ago, she used to be the very best singer in the entire village, but times had changed, and she now never had any reason to sing like before.

After several hours of resting the officers were now coming around and rousing the men up, and as she looked forward to what laid ahead for her, she also couldn't help but think back to those golden days of her childhood, and hope for the better that has yet to come after this age of sorrow and loss shared by everyone of not just this country, but of the whole world as well.


Well I hope you like how this is going so far, and for those of you who can't wait for the violence and gore that is to come, it is only at most a few chapters away.

For those of you who wanted a romance, since I had two people say they wanted it, and none that said they don't, I'm going to assume you all want it and it will come later as well.

Thank You, Please Read and Review.