Colonel Ilya Grigorievich Starinov - recognized mentor of thousands of partisan miners, organizer of many mine explosive barrage operations. I.G. Starinov served in the Soviet Army for more than thirty years. His life is full of interesting events. He was a volunteer in Spain, was near Brest in the early days of World War II, with the help of a radio bomb blew up the residence of the fascist military commandant in Kharkov... The book describes exciting meetings with D. M. Karbyshev, I. E. Yakir, M. N. Tukhachevsky, Dolores Ibarruri, with major military and political figures of our country.