The text was written by Mikhail Matusovsky in 1963, with music by Veniamin Basner, and is one of the themes of the war-based movie "Silence" (Russian: Тишина, Tishina), released in 1964.
The song is based on true historical events and glorifies three lucky soldiers, surviving out of an eighteen-soldier infantry squad.
The height concerned the one located near the Rubezhenka settlement in the Kuybyshevsky District, Kaluga Oblast while the soldiers, mentioned in song, were a part of Soviet 139th infantry division.
Eighteen newly arrived factory workers from Novosibirsk were given a task to stealthily occupy a height behind enemy lines in the vicinity of today's settlement Rubezhonka in Kaluga Oblast.
Sergeant Vlasov was captured as a prisoner, but was later able to escape to partisans; Private Lapin was found among the dead by the advancing elements of Soviet Armed Forces.