They Fought for Their Motherland

In July 1942, in the Second World War, the rearguard of the Russian army protects the bridgehead of the Don River against the German army while the retreating Russian troops cross the bridge. While they move back to the Russian territory through the countryside, the soldiers show their companionship, sentiments, fears and heroism to defend their motherland.

• Sergey BondarchukDirector
• Sergey BondarchukWriter
• Vyacheslav OvchinnikovOriginal Music Composer

• Vasiliy ShukshinPyotr Lopakhin
• Vyacheslav Tikhonovpvt. Nikolay Strel'tsov
• Sergey Bondarchukpvt. Ivan Zvyagintsev
• Georgi Burkovpvt. Alexander Kopytovsky
• Yuriy Nikulinpvt. Nekrasov
• Ivan Lapikovsergeant Poprischenko
• Nikolai Gubenkolieutenant Goloschyokov
• Andrei Rostotskycorporal Kochetygov
• Nikolay Volkovpvt. Nikiforov
• Mykola Shutkocook lisichenko
• Evgeniy SamoylovColonel Marchenko
• Nonna MordyukovaNatalya Stepanovna