«ZUGZWANG OF OBER LIEUTENANT BRUNO THEVS» 120 b

«Zugzwang is a chess term meaning forcing a disastrous move».

— The story about a young ober-lieutenant of the Bundeswehr of Germany, Bruno Thevs, who serves in the KSK special operations forces unit.
Bruno was one year old when his father, a Soviet soldier, was killed in Afghanistan in 1986.
— In 1989 Bruno, along with relatives from the Volga Germans, was moved from the USSR to Germany for permanent residence.
— Having grown up and become a professional soldier, despite the spell of his mother, Bruno appeals to the command with a request for rotation in the special anti—terrorist unit «TASK FORCE-47» TF-47 in the German ISAF forces in Afghanistan, fighting the radical Taliban movement.
— After rigorous testing and selection, Bruno arrives at the Mazar-I-Sharif military base in Afghanistan.
He is motivated, assertive, and brusque; everything about Bruno is subordinated to a single goal — fighting the rebels and avenging his father.
— While solving anti-terrorist tasks in Afghanistan, Bruno involves his friend, Otto Grinberg, a reporter for a leading Western publication, whom Bruno released from Taliban captivity, in one of the special operations, during which Otto pays for the cynicism of the TF-47 command with his life.
— The death of a comrade shocks Bruno. Bruno will not be able to prevent the death of his beloved Afghan girlfriend Seeta Ahmadzai, who dies in an ISAF airstrike on the hospital of the MSF Doctors Without Borders humanitarian mission.
— Participating in special operations against the Taliban, Bruno is in the midst of dramatic events, the epicenter of the mass casualties of the Afghan population.
— A recent apologist for Western values, convinced of the rightness of the actions of the ISAF fighting international terrorism, Bruno will experience a psychological breakdown and a transformation of his worldview, blaming the victims on Afghan civilians — ISAF and his commanders.
— Not wanting to remain a part of the brutal military machine anymore, Bruno resigns from the Bundeswehr and goes to his historical homeland in Russia. There, Bruno searches for his late Father's friends who survived the battles.
— The events in Russia will fill Bruno's life with new meaning.