Letters from the front (1982)

Interior view of the Central Archive of the Komsomol in Moscow, an archive employee walks between shelves with boxes of documents.

The process of describing and processing front-line letters collected in one of the archive's storage facilities, entering document data onto a card.

Archive employees processing documents.

Soldiers' letters collected in the archive.

Newsreel from 1914-1944: postal workers stamp letters from the front.

A Red Army soldier writes a letter home.

A sister in the hospital writes a letter dictated by a wounded soldier.

Front-line soldiers at the front write letters home in the field.

Red Army soldiers drop letters into a mailbox in one of the front-line towns.

A rural postwoman stops her cart at the gate of a house.

Handing a letter from the front to a woman standing at the gate.

A postman with a bag over his shoulder walks along the street of a populated area, past a destroyed building.

The woman thanks the postman for the delivered letter and kisses him.

Lines from one of the letters from the front.

Photographs of people reading letters from the front.

Frontline "triangle" letters collected in the archive of the Central Committee of the Komsomol.

Letter from Private Fyodor Sentebov, written in 1943. Frontline photograph of pilot-cosmonaut G. T. Beregovoy with a comrade-in-arms.

Lines from the letter.

Newsreel from 1943-1944: air battles between Soviet and German pilots.

The pilot's face.

The plane in the sights.

Lieutenant General G. T. Beregovoy tells about an incident from his combat activity, described in the letter, about leaving enemy territory in a damaged plane and rescuing it and the air gunner by Soviet soldiers (synchronously and off-screen), the story alternates with fragments of newsreels of air battles.

Photographs of Il-2 attack aircraft flying on a combat mission.

Portrait of Beregovoy in dress uniform.

Texts of frontline letters.

Text of the letter of Lieutenant Fyodor Kochezhkov.

Portrait of Kocheshkov.

Newsreel from 1942: combat operations on the Leningrad Front, soldiers and commanders in trenches and shelters.

Faces of Red Army soldiers resting.

The face of Fyodor Kocheshkov's mother, Maria Dmitrievna.

A framed portrait of the deceased Fyodor Kocheshkov on his desk.

Frontline photographs of Fyodor Kocheshkov's mother. M.D. Kocheshkova tells the filmmakers about her combat activities, her frontline service, her sons, with whom she went to the front, and recalls various combat episodes (synchronously and off-screen).

Newsreel from 1941: soldiers of the Leningrad People's Militia divisions march in formation along the city streets.

One of the units is moving to the front line (top).

Photographs of her sons in Kocheshkova's hands.

Kocheshkova's husband talks about the formation of a family mortar crew (synchronously and off-screen).

Frontline photographs in Kocheshkova's hands.

Faces of the Kocheshkovs.

Photo of the Kocheshkovs' mortar crew at their position.

Photos of the Korcheshkovs during visits to military units and meetings with servicemen.

Kocheshkova's face.

The border patrol ship "Brilliant" is sailing along the Kara Sea.

Crew members on the deck.

Breaker astern. "Brilliant" is sailing along the Kara Sea.

The text of the letter of the commander of the patrol ship "Brilliant", who died while protecting a transport convoy during the war, in the hands of his mother, K.V. Makhankova.

Makhankova reads her son's letter aloud (synchronously and off-screen).

Pre-war photographs of Makhankov in the hands of his mother.

Rear Admiral Karpenko F.I. talks about Mikhail Makhankov, with whom he served and fought, about Makhankov's appointment as commander of the "Brilliant", about his character traits (synchronously and off-screen).

Photo portrait of M. Makhankov.

The face of Makhankov's mother.

Portrait of Makhankov during his military service.

Makhankova talks about her son, his love for the sea and his determination in life (synchronously and behind the scenes).

Newsreel from 1942-1944: warships and boats on a campaign.

Ships of a transport convoy are sailing.

Submarine periscope.

German submariner at the periscope eyepiece, the ship in the sights.

Faces of German submariners.

Torpedo launch.

Submarines are heading for a target in the surface position.

German submariners before launching torpedoes.

Torpedoed ship.

Sea battle, burning ships.

Patrol ship on a combat mission.

The patrol ship commander on the bridge gives orders.

Captain 1st Rank M. Reitman talks about the last battle of the patrol ship "Brilliant" and its commander Makhankov, demonstrates a diagram of the convoy route (synchronously and off-screen).

Waves overboard the border patrol ship "Brilliant".

Captain 1st Rank A. Kosmenyuk talks about the crew of the sunken patrol ship "Brilliant", about the continuation of combat traditions by the border patrol ship named in honor of the sunken ship (synchronously and off-screen).

Sailors and officers of "Brilliant" at combat posts during the combat mission to patrol the maritime border of the USSR. Faces of officers and sailors of "Brilliant" standing in formation on the deck after arriving at the site of the sinking of the patrol ship of the same name.

A sailor speaks to his comrades before the ceremony of laying a funeral wreath on the water, the crew of "Brilliant" in formation on the deck, an honor guard at the side (panorama).

Laying wreaths on the water at the site of the sinking patrol ship "Brilliant".

Machine gun salute.

Faces of sailors standing in formation.

Breaker behind the patrol ship's stern. "Brilliant" sails along the Kara Sea.