Chapter 22 Summary, Analysis, and Study Guide

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with a stark contrast between the official Soviet narrative—that Sevastopol would never fall—and Lyudmila's private certainty that the city was doomed. In the quiet months of April and May, she hunts nightly in no-man's-land, sleeping through the day, still reeling from the loss of Lyonya. The calm breaks in mid-May when German forces seize the Kerch Peninsula and launch massive air strikes on the Black Sea Fleet's base, turning Sevastopol into a sea of fire and smoke. The main assault begins in the first week of June.

Kostia identifies the attack as psychological warfare, recalling the Romanians' shrieking priest and Napoleonic column. Lyudmila observes the fresh, well-fed German troops—likely the 17th Army transferred from Donetsk—and shoots an officer, believing this batch will fare no better than previous assaults. She remains in the grip of agonized fury, spending six nights a week killing and the seventh writing letters to her son Slavka, folding dried flowers into her dissertation.

For ten or eleven days, the fighting is relentless: five-hour mortar attacks, tanks and infantry pushing toward the Mekenzi Hills railway station, the Nazis nibbling centimeter by centimeter toward the northern bay. Exhausted, Lyudmila stumbles upon a line of boys—some as young as fourteen—led by a Young Communist League organizer. The organizer tells her he has lost two-thirds of his league in nine days, with no ammunition, food, or water coming in. Lyudmila realizes the city will fall. She swears to fight for the boys till the last drop of blood, and they echo the oath.

Returning to her platoon, she orders her men to aim for the second rank and shoot for the gut, not to kill but to maim—to break the enemy's focus, make them hurt, and slow their advance. She, who once prided herself on clean, merciful kills, now shoots to wound. The city holds for nearly a month, costing the Germans 300,000 soldiers, over four hundred tanks, and more than nine hundred aircraft.

On her last day of battle, Lyudmila and Kostia find Fyodor Sedykh pinned under rubble on a bakery roof, his lower face gone, his eyes begging. Kostia asks the unspoken question, and Fyodor nods. Lyudmila speaks the honor of his title and fires a single, merciful shot. They are too numb to weep. As they head to headquarters, a shell hits the dugout, and Lyudmila is knocked unconscious.

She wakes aboard a submarine, the L-4, cruising toward Novorossiysk. Corporal Misha Sternov tells her she was evacuated with the wounded. She learns that Lena Paliy, the medical orderly, is dead from mortar fire on a first-aid station. Lyudmila desperately asks about her platoon, but Sternov can only shrug; his own company was overrun. She tries to insist on returning, but Sternov bitterly calls her “Lady Death,” a name she rejects. She finds her pack, with letters, Slavka's picture, her dissertation, Vartanov's pipe, and a bloodstained, oil-smeared English copy of War and Peace—Kostia's book. She doesn't know if he left it as a farewell or if he died and an orderly tucked it in as a memento. She weeps, clutching it, as the submarine carries her away from the death she would have welcomed.

Twelve days later, in Novorossiysk, Lyudmila meets Major General Petrov. He confirms that Sevastopol was abandoned on 3 July, that her husband Alexei escaped on the last transport and is being decorated, and that the Chapayev division no longer exists—its soldiers burned their papers, buried their seals, and threw their standards into the sea. Petrov looks haunted, and Lyudmila believes the rumor that he tried to shoot himself rather than flee. She asks for a new posting as an officer, saying she has earned it and wants to command troops to save more men and avenge her friends. Petrov tells her she will accompany him to Moscow in three days to receive her new posting.

Key Events

German forces seize the Kerch Peninsula and bomb the Black Sea Fleet base in mid-May.
The main assault on Sevastopol begins in early June.
Lyudmila encounters the Young Communist League organizer and his exhausted boys, realizing the city is doomed.
She orders her platoon to aim for the second rank and shoot to maim, slowing the German advance.
Fyodor Sedykh is mortally wounded; Lyudmila performs a mercy killing.
A shell knocks Lyudmila unconscious; she is evacuated by submarine to Novorossiysk.
She learns of Lena Paliy's death and the loss of her platoon.
General Petrov informs her of Sevastopol's fall, Alexei's escape, and the dissolution of the Chapayev division.
Petrov arranges for Lyudmila to go to Moscow for a new posting.

Character Development

Lyudmila undergoes a profound transformation in this chapter. Her grief over Lyonya has hardened into a cold fury, but the encounter with the young boys forces her to confront the human cost of the war. Her decision to shoot to maim—abandoning her principle of clean, merciful kills—shows how far she has been pushed by desperation and hatred. The mercy killing of Fyodor, however, reveals that she still retains a core of compassion, even as she is forced to act as both executioner and comforter.

Her evacuation triggers intense survivor's guilt. She feels like a rat fleeing a doomed city, and she clings to Kostia's War and Peace as a fragile link to her partner and her past. Her grief for Lena, Fyodor, and Lyonya fuels her determination to become an officer—not for rank, but to take responsibility for her men and to avenge the dead. Her bluntness with General Petrov shows a new maturity; she is no longer the young sniper seeking glory but a battle-hardened soldier who understands command.

Kostia, though present only in the early scenes, is defined by his quiet stoicism and his book, which becomes a symbol of their bond. Fyodor's death and Lena's off-screen demise underscore the relentless toll of the siege. General Petrov, haunted and weary, represents the shattered leadership of a defeated army, yet he still offers Lyudmila a path forward.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Official vs. unofficial truth: The chapter opens with the contrast between the official memoir and Lyudmila's private knowledge. This theme recurs in the Pravda announcement of the city's abandonment versus the reality of the division's destruction.
Loss of mercy: Lyudmila's shift from clean kills to shooting to maim highlights the moral erosion caused by war. The mercy killing of Fyodor is a stark counterpoint—she retains mercy for her own, but not for the enemy.
Survivor's guilt: Lyudmila's anguish on the submarine, her wish to return to Sevastopol, and her weeping over Kostia's book all stem from her feeling that she abandoned her comrades.
Memento and memory: Kostia's War and Peace serves as a physical reminder of her partner and their shared past. The book is both a practical tool and a symbol of the intellectual life the war has destroyed.
Oath of loyalty: The oath Lyudmila swears to the young boys—and their echoing response—underscores the weight of promises made in extremis. It also foreshadows her later commitment to command.
Psychological warfare: Kostia's observation about the German tactics and Lyudmila's counter-order to maim are both examples of using fear and pain as weapons.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a turning point in Lyudmila's war. The fall of Sevastopol is a historical catastrophe, and the novel uses it to strip away any remaining illusions about victory. Lyudmila loses her partner, her platoon, and her sense of purpose, yet she emerges with a new resolve to fight as an officer. The chapter also deepens the theme of memory—the division's standards thrown into the sea, Kostia's book, and the graves left behind all emphasize what is lost. It sets up Lyudmila's next phase: her journey to Moscow and, eventually, her role as a symbol of Soviet resistance.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Lyudmila order her men to aim for the second rank and shoot to maim rather than kill?

She realizes the city is doomed and that the Germans will take it regardless. By wounding rather than killing, she aims to break the enemy's formation, cause chaos, and slow their advance. The screams of the wounded in the second rank trip up the third rank and disrupt the column's unity, buying precious time for the defenders. It is a desperate, brutal tactic born of hatred and the knowledge that she cannot stop the assault, only make it costlier.

2. What does Kostia's copy of War and Peace symbolize for Lyudmila in this chapter?

The book represents her bond with Kostia—their shared stakeouts, his habit of using it as a rifle rest, and his grandmother's legacy. When she finds it in her pack, it becomes a memento of her partner, whether he left it as a farewell or died and an orderly packed it. It also symbolizes the intellectual and cultural life that the war has shattered, and it becomes a tangible object of grief and memory, prompting her to weep as she clutches it.

3. How does General Petrov's news about the Chapayev division affect Lyudmila's decision to become an officer?

Petrov tells her the division no longer exists—its soldiers burned their papers and threw their standards into the sea to prevent them from becoming German trophies. This news deepens Lyudmila's sense of loss and her desire to avenge her fallen comrades. She asks for an officer's post not out of ambition but because she believes she has learned to command and wants to save more men in the future. The dissolution of her division strengthens her resolve to continue the fight in a new capacity.