Chapter Fifty-Four
Do not grieve about this,
death in fact is neither high nor low.
It is not death that is greater,
but the thought of the road to death
that overcomes death itself.
- Belgi
Yuriy Loginov, one of Belgi Abutov’s fellow students at the Chirchik tank academy recalls:
“Reporting with all due brevity, there are two incidents from our academy life concerning student Abatov that have stuck in my memory. The first incident was on a twenty-five kilometre forced march, when our platoon slacker Linnik suddenly grabbed hold of his appendix side and stopped running, and in this irregular situation student Abutov, taking the initiative, and I, joining him, were obliged to take student Linnik in tow, in the underarm and across the shoulder position, and drag him all the way to th
