Battalions Ask For Fire

Battalions Ask For Fire (Russian: Батальоны просят огня) - a television film based on the story of the same name by Yuri Bondarev. The film was shot on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The film completely, with only minor deviations, reflects the content of the story, in contrast to the previous film adaptation - the second episode of the epic film “Liberation” (“Breakthrough”) of 1969, which was shot on the same story and partially reflects the plot.

It is known that most battle scenes were shot near the village of Malopolovetskoye, Fastovsky District, the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine), where whole shooting platforms were built on the banks of the Sobot River.

Plot
The plot of the film is based on an important stage of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet forces crossing the Dnieper during the summer-autumn campaign of 1943, namely the events on the Bukrinsky bridgehead south of Kiev.

Two battalions of the 85th Infantry Regiment under the command of Major Bulbaniuk and Captain Maximov should force the Dnieper in order to create a bridgehead south of the city of Dnieper (fictitious name) in the area of ​​the villages of Novomikhaylovka and Belokhatka for the subsequent offensive of the division - this was the combat mission. An order was given to the battalions: having strengthened themselves on the bridgehead and started a battle, to signal the “ask for fire” division — and all the divisional artillery would strike at the enemy, and the division itself would go on the offensive after artillery preparation. The battalions should be supported during the crossing and the start of the battle due to the battery of the infantry regiment of Colonel Gulyaev, which was commanded by Captain Ermakov before being wounded. But since after a previous unsuccessful attempt to cross the Dnieper from 4 guns in the battery, only two remained, to make up for losses from the artillery regiment, a platoon of two guns was allocated with the calculations under the command of Lieutenant Eroshin.

That was the plan. But the command suddenly changes the whole plan of the offensive, ordering the divisions to withdraw from their positions, move north of the Dnieper and, combined with another division, which recently suffered heavy losses in battle, attack the city from the north. The battalions that had already entered the battle were ordered not to retreat - now their actions are distracting. Fulfilling the order of the command, the division commander Colonel Iverzev urgently recalls all regiments, including artillery, leaving the battalions without fire support and thereby dooming them to certain death. To support battalions on the right bank there are only two guns of the same battery, which was previously commanded by Ermakov, and after his wound - senior lieutenant Kondratyev. The battery’s order to support the battalions comes too late when both battalions are surrounded. During this time, they several times gave a signal asking for fire, but there was no fire.

From the first minutes of the battle, communication with the battalions is lost. Therefore, Kondratiev has no information about the location of the battalions, and he cannot open fire. The whole battery patiently waits for the order of the regiment commander Gulyaev, as soon as the coordinates from the signalmen are received. Meanwhile, the battalions are surrounded, the Germans are pulling more and more forces into the Novomikhailovka area. The guns attached to the battalions were defeated, Lieutenant Eroshin was killed, and Captain Ermakov, with the remnants of artillerymen, came to the command post of the Bulbanyuk battalion, ready to command any of the infantry units. But since the commander of the battalion Bulbanyuk is seriously wounded, the chief of staff Orlov and captain Ermakov together take command of the battalion. When it becomes obvious that there will be no support by fire, and there is nowhere to wait for help, both commanders and the wounded Bulbanyuk realize that the battalion is doomed. Then Ermakov orders Colonel Gulyaev Zhorka, the orderly, to go through all the trenches and tell the soldiers that the long-awaited advance of the division began an hour ago. Ermakov goes to this lie to keep hope in the soldiers until the last. Orlov with a group of fighters retreats to the flank of the defense in order to try to repulse the attack of German tanks on the position of the battalion, but the tanks nevertheless break through - and Orlov, with everyone who was with him, dies. Then Ermakov decides to break out of the encirclement with the remains of people (about 20 people from the entire battalion) back to the Dnieper. By this moment, Bulbanyuk, realizing that his battalion would inevitably die, and his wound was fatal, shot himself.

Meanwhile, the battery commander Kondratyev, tired of waiting for the order, asks Colonel Gulyaev to allow him to open fire at the old coordinates of the battalions. Gulyaev at first does not allow, knowing that if the coordinates have changed, the fire of the battery can cover its own. But at the same time, both he and Kondratyev understand that further delay can cost the lives of the last surviving fighters of the battalions. Kondratyev is ready to take full responsibility for the mistake and open fire without an order, but at the last moment Gulyaev still gives this order. The battery shoots at the old coordinates and helps the Maximov battalion at Belokhatka. Only four soldiers and captain Yermakov remained from the Bulbanyuk battalion, who nevertheless takes these last survivors from the encirclement. Kondratyev’s battery, having opened fire to support the battalions, found itself in front of the enemy and was defeated by German artillery, while Kondratyev himself was injured and was sent to the hospital.

Immediately after returning to the regiment, Ermakov came to Colonel Gulyaev, who no longer hoped to see him alive, and demanded that he be brought to the division commander Iverzev. Arriving at the divisional commander, Ermakov tells him everything that he thinks about him, having thrown two battalions to death, and calls him “a cracker,” whom he can no longer “consider a man and an officer.” Ermakov was arrested for insulting a senior in rank. But he still did not fall under the tribunal. After the successful capture of the Dnieper, Colonel Iverzev, who personally led the people in the attack, was wounded and experienced on himself what it was like to command a battalion in battle, forgave Ermakov and even included him in the list of those presented for awards, as well as the dead Bulbanyuk and Orlov. In the end, Ermakov returns from arrest and meets his beloved woman at the crossing, the nurse Shura from the battery of Kondratiev. Silently, hugging, they walk across the bridge across the Dnieper.

Cast

 * Alexander Zbruev - Battery Commander Captain Ermakov
 * Oleg Efremov - regiment commander Colonel Gulyaev
 * Alexander Galibin - battery commander senior lieutenant Kondratyev
 * Vadim Spiridonov - Division Commander Colonel Iverzev
 * Igor Sklyar - orderly Gulyaev Senior Sergeant Zhorka Vitkovsky
 * Nikolai Karachentsov - Senior Lieutenant Orlov
 * Elena Popova - nurse Shura
 * Vladimir Kashpur - battalion commander Major Bulbanyuk
 * Vyacheslav Baranov - Lieutenant Eroshin
 * Borislav Brondukov - foreman Tsygichko
 * Alexander Feklistov - Sergeant Elyutin
 * Alexander Abramov - Private Sklyar
 * Vadim Andreev - Private Derevyanko
 * Vladimir Sklyarov - Private Bobkov
 * Evgeny Pashin - Private Luzanchikov
 * Alexander Pankratov-Cherny - Quartermaster
 * Yuri Dubrovin - Head of the railway station, Major Perov
 * Gennady Frolov - Colonel Alekseev
 * Victor Chebotaryov - Major Denisov
 * Mikhail Mokeev - Lieutenant Katkov
 * Gennady Korolkov - Major Semynin
 * Larisa Bobenko - mistress of the hut
 * Lyudmila Stoyanova - Lidia Andreevna Iverzeva, wife of Colonel Iverzev
 * Yaroslav Baryshev
 * Oleg Budankov
 * Les Serdyuk - machine gunner
 * Vladimir Talashko - Streltsov
 * Ivan Matveev - soldier