Aleksandr Fadeev

The Young Guard (Russian: Молодая гвардия) is a 1946 Russian-language young adult historical novel (rewritten in 1951)by Soviet writer Alexander Fadeyev. The novel describes the operations of the Young Guard, an anti-German resistance organization operating in 1942–1943 in and around the city of Krasnodon in the eastern Ukraine. Many of the Young Guard were executed by the Germans. Most of the main characters of the novel – Oleg Koshevoy, Juliana Gromova, Lyubov Shevtsova, Ivan Zemnukhov, Sergei Tyulenin, etc. - were actually existing people, although aspects of their characters, actions, and dialogues were invented or creatively embellished by the novelist, and there are also fictional characters in the novel. The Young Guard was the second most popular work of children's literature in the Soviet Union for the period 1918-1986, with total sales over 276 editions of 26,143,000 copies. (Source: Wikipedia)

"Defeat" is the third book of the "Last republic" trilogy. What were Stalin's plans before the war? Did he expect Hitler's invasion? Contrary to the conventional opinion, the author asserts that Stalin himself was preparing an attack on Germany.