For the Motherland! For Stalin!

'A valuable document ... unusually candid and humane.' * The Sunday Telegraph * 'Like its ironic title, For the Motherland! is a subtle, thoughtful account of an ingenuous young Russian-Ukrainian on the Eastern Front. Bogachev avoids the conventional portrayals of Red Army soldiers as either grunting subhumans or square-jawed supermen, describing his comrades humanely, yet unromantically--as very ordinary people living through hell.' -- Owen Hatherley, author of 'Landscapes of Communism' and 'The Ministry of Nostalgia' 'This informative, poignant memoir of a man who went straight from school into battle is a must-read for anyone interested in the horrors and pities of war, particularly on the brutal Eastern Front. Bogachev's story is harrowing in places, but his humility and humanity make it impossible to put down.' -- Jonathan Smele, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, Queen Mary University of London and author of 'The Russian Civil Wars' 'Raw, eyewitness testimony to the callous incompetence of the Soviet regime, which squandered hundreds of thousands of its citizens' lives in the battles of World War II.' -- Arch Tait, translator of Ivan Chistyakov's 'The Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard' 'A candid and powerful account of life in the Red Army. Bogachev, a serving junior officer throughout World War II, was a front-line artilleryman and engineer for two extended periods. His memoirs offer vivid descriptions of combat and unique insights into the attitudes of both fighting men and post-war veterans.' -- Evan Mawdsley, Honorary Professorial Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, and author of 'Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War'