off the speeding train. Alyosha stops her from risking her life. She tells him she is going to see her fiancé, a pilot who is recuperating in a hospital. As the days pass, she loses her fear and mistrust of him. Gavrilkin spots the civilian stowaway, forcing Alyosha to bribe him anew. When the lieutenant discovers the unauthorized passengers, he lets them remain aboard and even makes Gavrilkin return the bribe. At one stop, Alyosha gets out to fetch some water, but the train leaves without him. Frantic, he gets a lift to the next station from an old woman truck driver. He is too late; the train has already departed. However, Shura got off and is waiting for him. The couple then go to see Pavlov's wife. They discover that she is living with another man and leave. Alyosha returns, takes back the soap he had given her, and gives it instead to Pavlov's invalid father. When they finally part, Shura confesses she lied; there was no fiancé, only an aunt. Alyosha realizes too late, after his train departs, that when Shura said she had no one, she was telling him that she loves him. His train is stopped by a blown-up bridge and set on fire by German bombers. With time running out, Alyosha rafts across the river and persuades another truck driver to give him a ride to his rural village, Sosnovka. He gets to see his mother only for a few minutes before having to make his way back to his unit. His mother vows to wait for him. The voiceover tells us that while he could have gone far in life if he had lived, he will always be remembered simply as a Russian soldier. Cast Vladimir Ivashov as Private Alyosha Skvortsov Zhanna Prokhorenko as Shura Antonina Maksimova as Alyosha's mother Nikolai Kryuchkov as the general Yevgeni Urbansky as Vasya Elza Lezhdey as Vasya's wife Aleksandr Kuznetsov as Gavrilkin Yevgeni Teterin as The lieutenant Valentina Markova as Liza (Pavlov's wife) Marina Kremnyova as Zoya (neighbor girl) Vladimir Pokrovsky as Pavlov's invalid father Georgi Yumatov as Sergeant giving bars of soap Gennadi Yukhtin as Private Seryozha Pavlov Valentina Telegina as Old woman truck driver Lev Borisov as Joking soldier on train Yevgeny Yevstigneyev as Truck driver The two lead actors, Ivashov and Prokhorenko, were both only nineteen years old and did not have much acting experience.