[1][2][3] In the center of the plot is a detachment that managed to deliver gunpowder from Kronstadt to Leningrad, despite an attack by artillery and aircraft.
Nikolai Pavlovich Nikonov (played by Yuri Belyaev), a representative of the People’s Commissariat of State Control, is summoned to Smolny and tasked by A.
Nikonov leads a team, including military and scientific experts on gunpowder, to Kronstadt by boat, where they begin loading the powder onto barges amidst relentless Luftwaffe bombing.
To divert the enemy, Nikonov proposes a decoy operation, and German aircraft focus on bombing a fake loading site, allowing the real barges to be filled without incident.
The Red Banner Baltic Fleet’s ships fend off the assault, but during the bombings, Nikonov is concussed and falls overboard, only to be rescued by a soldier.