They quickly made their way to the ravine, seven Soviet scouts and a captured Nazi officer with a package. The Germans raised the alarm. One by one the rockets hovered overhead, casting a deathly white light over everything. It became visible as in the daytime and the scouts froze in place without a team. A shootout broke out at the site. There was no need to think about crossing the front line with the prisoner. The ravine led them to a house. In it, as it turned out later, was placed the economic platoon of the Germans. At the back of the house a half-buried entrance led to the basement. There leaked the group of junior lieutenant Bykovsky. Extremely excited, the scouts listened with bated breath to the vague sounds coming to the basement. Fascist patrols, calling to each other, combed the area up and down, but it did not occur to anyone of the Nazis that the Soviet soldiers took refuge in a house occupied by the enemy. The scouts whispered to the prisoner that any attempt of his to send a signal... Oh, of course, he understood, understood well. This was near Vilnius in 1944. The fascists on the eastern front learnt to understand a lot by then… Germans pass by the entrance to the basement every now and then. One of them, talking to a friend, pours garbage out of a bucket on the steps. Five submachine guns are pointed at him in the dark. Two scouts with bowie knives crouched in the doorway. The Germans are leaving... Minutes and hours stretch endlessly. Bykovsky decided to make their way to their friends at night. The prisoner was told that when the group went to the front line, he would “command” it. And a little something -immediately "kaput". Full dark. Gradually everything in the house quieted down. With a caution available to scouts only the group leaves the basement and moves in single file to the front line. Dressed, as always, in German disguises, they walked to their full height. On the chest - captured machine guns. Shoes, knives - also German. The group was “led” by a real fascist. He did not try his luck - and the scouts passed through the enemy's positions without complications. Here is our minefield... And two days later Bykovsky, not believing his luck, went to Moscow in a warm car. He was given a vacation for the prisoner. As the wheels rattled, Nikolay Ivanovich thought about how happy his relatives would be at his arrival at home. He joined the army in the first month of the war when posters appeared with the extremely concise call “Motherland calls!” He graduated from school, commanded a penal battalion and then - a platoon of intelligence. After the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad his 60th guard rifle division liberated Morozovskaya, Millerovo, and Shakhty... In February 1943 in the area of Voroshilovgrad he was called up to the division headquarters and was ordered to conduct a reconnaissance battle. Bykovsky's platoon, reinforced by machine-gunners, sappers and a grenade launcher platoon moved to the fascist positions. A rapid rush, the first enemy trenches, hand-to-hand combat... Not knowing the scale of the operation the Germans open fire from cannons and machine guns. Our artillery hit the firing points that found themselves. Rifle battalions moved from the flanks. Their neighbors supported them. Voroshilovgrad was taken. Bykovsky was awarded the order of the Red Star for scouting the battle. The first time Nikolay was wounded in Zaporozhye, the second time - after crossing the Dnieper. With a broken foot he was sent to far-off Ashgabat. From the hospital came in 3rd Beloruski. Burned cities, blackened chimneys instead of villages, gallows... Grief and death emanate from the ruins. Rage rises in his throat like a heavy lump. Go ahead! The scouts went first. They were the first to be embraced by the liberated Belarusians, the first to tell about the nightmares of the occupation, about their city. On the 6th of April, 1945, after an hour and a half of artillery preparation, our armies moved to Konigsberg. Explosions, the roar of engines, a powerful “Hurrah!” Everything is bubbling and raging. The earth trembles. The city is covered with clouds of dust and smoke. The sky itself seemed to fall on Konigsberg. Lieutenant Bykovsky led a machine-gun troop to the assault, and two days later only a platoon remained... More and more reserves are brought into the battle. It is impossible to stop our troops. The city's commandant, general Otto Lash, accepts the ultimatum. Now all thoughts are about Berlin. Go ahead! Through the torrents of blood, through the torment and suffering, through the filth and horror of war the Soviet people went to Berlin. For the rest of his life lieutenant Bykovsky remembered the last assault, the defeated enemies and the Brandenburg gate, which was shredded by shells. A hardworking worker, he faithfully fulfilled his heavy military duty. Now he was drawn home ... ... Since 1983 Nikolai Ivanovich worked in Zelenograd at the Elion plant as an equipment controller. He worked hard as he fought, on his conscience. In the last years of his life Bykovsky worked in the warranty workshop "Elion" for the repair of tape recorders. Sociable, hardworking, never discouraged, he died unexpectedly for others. "How is it?" asked his friends as if they had forgotten the hell of war that Nikolai Ivanovich had gone through in his youth.