Once more unto the breach

In 1941,an Italian soldier is leaving for the Soviet front.The Fascist army is allied with the Nazi war machine.Victory seems close.The convoy moves forward,men are singing full of hope.The soldier’s mind goes back to the melancholic fairy tales his Russian mother used to tell him.Unlike his younger companions,he has already been to war,in Africa,and is fearful of it.The train crosses Europe,reaching the interminable expanses of the Ukrainian plains.Enthusiasm wanes under the first mortar shells,the cold and snow with the coming of winter.His most heartfelt desire is no longer victory,but rather a warm bed,food,and to return home.The ravaged steppe seems to be inhabited by ghosts.