Ivan Yakushin survived the Siege of Leningrad, fought at the Battle of Kursk and pursued the retreating German army through Russia, Belorussia, Poland and into Germany itself. His vivid recollections of his experiences as an artillery man, then a cavalry officer on the Eastern Front that are at the heart of this rare memoir. He describes what combat was actually like for ordinary Soviet soldiers, and his detailed, first-hand record of cavalry operations during this highly mechanized war gives his book its special value.