This book is a war memoir written by Baghramyan (1897-1982), a famous Soviet military general, hero of the Soviet Union, and Marshal of the Soviet Union, based on his personal experience in the early days of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War in World War II. Before the war broke out, the author was recommended by Zhukov to the Kyiv Special Military Region (renamed to the Southwest Front Army after the war broke out) as the chief of operations of the group army, and was soon promoted to the deputy chief of staff and chief of operations of the military region.After the outbreak of the war, he successively served as chief of staff and commander of the front army.After the war, he successively served as Deputy Minister of National Defense, Dean of the Military Academy of the General Staff, and Minister of General Logistics.

In the early days of the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War, Baghramyan’s Southwest Front suffered heavy losses from the sudden German attack, especially in the Battle of Kyiv. The four armies of the Front were encircled, and only a small group of troops succeeded in breaking through. The commander of the Front, members of the Military Commission, The chief of staff and others were all killed in battle, and Baghramyan was one of the few leaders who stood out from the encirclement.In his memoirs, as a witness, he cited a large number of documents, records, correspondence and other archival materials, and introduced in detail the preparation measures of the Kyiv Military Region to deal with the German attack on the eve of the war, and the defeat of the Southwest Front Army in the first few months of the war. It describes the activities of senior Soviet commanders, including Timoshenko, Zhukov, etc., affirms Stalin's contribution in the war, analyzes the reasons for the defeat of the Soviet army during the war, and praises the The heroic deeds of Soviet soldiers and civilians in the Anti-Fascist War.These materials are of certain reference value for readers inside and outside the military to study the historical lessons of the early days of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War.

In addition, Baghramyan introduced the work of the Soviet High Command during the war and the preparation and organization process of various battles in a large space in this book, reflecting many views of the Soviet Army, which can be used by military readers to study the Soviet Army Battle law and even strategic guiding ideology reference. In order to enable readers inside and outside the military to read this book smoothly, the translator made some notes.If the translation and annotations are inappropriate, readers are expected to correct them.