Being open and honest with one another

“More than anything, he remembered the sense of togetherness that came into being between his men.

“Everyone had spoken openly about their whole lives, from their earliest childhood, and everyone’s path through life had seemed clearly marked out; people’s characters, their strengths and weaknesses - everything about them became manifest, in word and deed.”

Words spoken in 1942 by Nikolay Grigorievich Krymov, a Red Army Commissar in ‘Stalingrad’ by Vasily Grossman.

The words were spoken as his group of 200 solders found themselves behind German lines near Bryansk. The Germans were heading for Moscow.

They were hungry, hiding in woods, constantly avoiding German capture and trying to join up with their own regiments.

They all believed in ther cause.