shelter.

1941 - The Beginning and Retreat
On June 22, Germany invaded the USSR—Operation Barbarossa. German forces advanced on three fronts: Moscow, Leningrad, and Kyiv. In the first months, the Red Army suffered enormous losses: encirclement near Minsk and Kiev, where hundreds of thousands of soldiers were captured. In September, the Siege of Leningrad began, and on September 30, the Battle of Moscow began. In December, the Red Army launched its first counteroffensive and drove the enemy back from the capital—the myth of the Wehrmacht's invincibility was shattered.

1942 was a difficult year
The winter of 1941–1942 ended with the Rzhev-Vyazma Operation, which was unsuccessful. In the spring, the Germans launched a new offensive in the south. In the summer, the Kharkov disaster occurred, Sevastopol fell, and the front reached the Volga. The Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of the Caucasus began—the battles were now over oil and the country's main waterway. Behind the lines, the war effort was being rebuilt: factories were evacuated to the east, and by the end of the year, industry had surpassed pre-war arms production.

1943 – a turning point
On February 19, Paulus's 6th Army, surrounded at Stalingrad, capitulated—the victory there marked the beginning of a turning point. In July, the Germans attempted revenge at the Kursk Bulge, but failed: after Kursk, the strategic initiative finally passed to the USSR. Kharkov and Smolensk were liberated, and Kyiv in November. That same year, the Tehran Conference took place, where the Allies agreed to open a second front. The siege of Leningrad was broken in January (it was completely lifted in 1944).

1944 – the year of liberation
10 operations that went down in history as "Stalin's ten blows": the lifting of the siege of Leningrad in January, the liberation of Crimea, the defeat of the Finnish army, Operation Bagration in the summer - a gigantic offensive that destroyed Army Group Center, the liberation of Belarus, Lithuania, Poland (troops reached the Vistula), Romania, Bulgaria, and parts of Hungary.

Also, the area near the shelter is bombed quite often.

Full name: Nurosin Fedor Kirillovich.
age: 12 years
Character: exactly the same as his friend Denis: hot-tempered, likes to irritate people for fun, hates Germans, often slightly mocks new kids to see if they are strong or not.
History: my father went missing at the front, and my mother died of hunger.
Friends: Denis Varuntsov.

Full name: Varuntsov Denis Aleksandrovich.
Age: 12 years.
Character: quite complex: hot-tempered, knows how to fight well, difficult to negotiate, picky, hates Germans with all his heart, all of them, even children or those who did nothing.
History: His father died at the front at the beginning of the war, later the village where he was born was occupied by the Germans, and his mother was shot right in front of Denis's eyes. He managed to escape and ended up in an orphanage. Because of the vision of his mother's death, he became so complex.
Appearance: dark brown eyes, dark hair, scar on the right cheek.
Friends: Fedya Nurosin.

She is 48 years old, she has a fair character, when a child needs to be scolded - she scolds, when she needs to praise - she praises, she has her own approach to each child, she already knows how to calm everyone down, she is a teacher.

The teacher, 26 years old, is gentle and kind, tries to get along with the children and almost never scolds them, and even when she does, it's not too harsh. Maria Evgenyevna often tells her she needs to be stricter with them, saying they've gotten out of hand enough already.

Full name: Karutin Ivan Vladimirovich.
Age: 15 years.
Personality: quite calm, but sometimes he can yell at someone, especially at Styopa and his younger brother Borya.
History: his village was occupied by the Germans, he and his brother managed to escape and ended up in an orphanage, now he doesn’t know what happened to his parents, but most likely they have already been killed.
Appearance: almost like Borya, only his hair is not curly, but simply dark, and he has brown eyes.
Friends: Alena.

Full name: Karutin Boris Vladimirovich.
Age: 12 years.
Personality: Exactly the same as Styopa's—restless and reckless, but can sometimes be hot-tempered. He also has an older brother, Vanya. Sometimes at night, Borya has terrible dreams that he's very afraid of, so he often comes to Vanya at such moments, who calms him down.
History: his village was occupied by the Germans, he and his brother managed to escape and ended up in an orphanage, but now he doesn’t know what happened to his parents, but most likely they have already been killed.
Appearance: slightly curly dark hair and brown eyes.
Friends: Styopa Eremin.

Full name: Eremin Stepan Gennadievich.
Age: 12 years.
Character: restless, he always needs to get somewhere, active and kind, despite the situation in the country.
History: My father was taken to the front, as was my older brother, and my mother died of hunger.
Appearance: dimples, blonde hair and green eyes.
Friends: Borya Karutin.

Full name: Vasiliev Roman Grigorievich.
Age: 8 years.
The story: my father went to the front, and my mother went there too, to work as a nurse in a medical battalion, leaving her son with his brother, who soon died in a bombing, and Roma ended up here.
Character: a kind and good boy, but sometimes he can be naughty, often remembering his parents and starting to feel sad.
Appearance: red hair, freckles, funny and at the same time sweet smile.
Friends: Kolya.

Full name: Nurantsova Alena Lvovna.
Personality: Fair and quite kind, but sometimes strict, even shouting when the younger children get on her nerves. Responsible. Teachers often leave her in charge; she's good at stopping the children's mischief and generally keeping an eye on them.
The story: she lived in Leningrad, her mother and youngest 8-year-old died of hunger, her father burned alive in a tank at the front, and she ended up in an orphanage.
Appearance: brown eyes, dark hair cut in a bob.
Friends: none, but communicates well with Vanya Karutin.

Full name: Popova Nina Maksimovna.
Age: 13 years.
Personality: Versatile—depending on how a person treats her or the situation. For example, if a person gets along well with her, she will be exactly the same, and so on.
The story: my father went to the front at the very beginning of the war, my older 19-year-old brother did the same two months after my father, my mother did not have enough money to support the child, and so she sent Nina to an orphanage, promising that as soon as the situation improved, she would take her back.
Appearance: green-gray eyes, medium-length red hair.
Friends: Katya Duganova.

Full name: Duganova Ekaterina Pavlovna.
Age: 14 years.
Personality: Katya is a rather quiet and obedient girl, but if she thinks that someone is wrong, etc., she will say so, but carefully and cautiously.
The story: my father died at the front, my mother died in a bombing, and my mother’s friend sent Katya to this shelter.
Appearance: Light hair, always braided into a neat pigtail.
Friends: Popova Nina.

Full name: Rykanov Nikolay Sergeevich.
Age: 8 years.
Personality: curious and kind, very good as a friend, communicates well with everyone, mainly with Roma and Zina.
The story: his father went to the front, and his mother, out of grief, began drinking and neglecting her parental responsibilities, which is why she was deprived of parental rights and Kolya was sent to an orphanage.
Appearance: dark hair, often disheveled, grey eyes.
Friends: Roma and Zina.

Full name: Gisonova Margarita Vasilievna.
Age: 9.5 (nine and a half) years.
Character: active, kind and cheerful like Natasha, but a little quieter.
The story: she lived in the village with her parents. They decided to go mushroom picking in the forest, thinking nothing would happen, but Rita wasn't taken. They never returned from the forest: the forest is full of dangers, especially during a war. Rita's neighbor found out about this and sent her to a shelter, knowing it was for the best.

Full name: Natalia Andreevna Solomina.
Age: 10 years.
Character: She is a rather cheerful girl, happy and active, but sometimes she remembers her parents and becomes sad.
History: her father went missing at the front, her mother was caught in a bombing and died, as a result of which Natasha was sent to an orphanage.
Appearance: brown hair, brown eyes, also has bangs.
Friends: Rita.

Full name: Ringomina Zinaida Vitalievna.
Age: 7 years.
Character: Zina is naive, kind and does not wish harm to anyone, but is timid.
History: Zina lived with her older 16-year-old sister and her parents in an ordinary town. Everything was fine until the war broke out. Her father was drafted to the front just a month later; it was later discovered he died trying to save his comrades. Two months later, her mother died – caught in a bombing raid. A week later, her sister died of starvation, and Zina was taken to an orphanage.
Appearance: green eyes; light hair, always braided into two beautiful pigtails; thin, although eats normally;
Friends: no specific friends, but gets along well with Kolya, Natasha and Rita.