This book is about little researched pages of the Great Patriotic War. The famous Soviet poet Yevgeny Dolmatovsky talks about the feat of the soldiers of the 6th and 12th armies. Together with other armies, they took the first blow of the fascist hordes, with their selfless courage they detained the enemy in Ukraine on the outskirts of the industrial regions of the country. The author - an eyewitness to the events - supports his story with documents, testimonies of other participants in the battles, materials of young trackers. Addressed to a wide range of readers.