Defending Leningrad: Women Behind Enemy Lines

This book includes a remarkable diary of an ordinary Soviet middle-class teenager named Ina Konstantinova (1924–1944). She ran away from home to join the partisans and avenge her boyfriend's death. At times Ina served alongside her father; his poignant "Story of a Daughter" complements her diary. ​Ina perished while covering the retreat of fellow partisans. She served with another girl, of working class background, Masha Poryvayeva, who was caught and executed by the enemy. The third young woman covered in the book, Zoya Kruglova-Baiger, whose parents were farmers, supplied important intelligence to Soviet army which, in the long run, assisted the Western powers in defeating the Nazis.