UNDER THE BANNER

a band of brothers and world war ii historical fiction collaboration

with AdamantiumDragonfly

Originally uploaded to AdamantiumDragonfly's account.
Now that my lovely co-author is inactive on Wattpad, we agreed it should find a home here, too.

IN WHICH TWO FEMALE SOVIET SNIPERS
find themselves tangled in a web of lies while training to return across the Atlantic Ocean

Svetlana knew how to play the game. She'd been caught in the political drama of Stalin's inner circle since birth. The only child of one of Stalin's closest friends, she grew up in the limelight, scrutinized by friend and foe. With the outbreak of the war, Sveta found a taste of freedom with the snipers.

For Zhanna, her place in the military was the only thing she could be proud of, giving her a tie to the place she called home. With the grace of others looming over her head, Zhanna had only one chance to be more than the blood inside her veins and the prayer on her lips.

But then the Nazis invaded the Motherland. Tasked with reaching the Allies by her father, Sveta once more found herself a political pawn. But she wouldn't go alone. Friend and comrade Zhanna joined her in their flight from Russia. But with the Eastern Front crumbling, the girls found themselves at the mercy of America for a way home. And that way home meant learning to jump with the Airborne.

They were already soldiers. How hard could that be? Zhanna may be able to embrace the company of those around her. But for Sveta, the daughter of a man who represented everything the Allies worked against in the Bolshevik Revolution, it may prove too difficult.

This story is complete. 

I will upload on a twice-weekly basis until all 100+ chapters are posted. For former readers, the couple of chapters that were written as narrative summaries instead of fully fleshed-out chapters due to my health issues should hopefully be complete now—barring another round of brain surgery.

Important Notes

This is not a feel-good story. 

This is a mix of tragedy, thriller, and star-crossed romances. While it is a Band of Brothers fanfiction, this is fully OC-centric. Tags such as Not Even the Good Guys are All Good Guys absolutely applies to this fic. It can be read fandom-blind, and is rooted deeply in the historical events and actions of people in both the Soviet Union and the United States.

The following content warnings apply, though it is not an exhaustive list: familial suicide, suicidality, alcoholism, historically accurate sexual predation and stalking, betrayal, period typical sexism, period typical antisemitism, and the events of World War 2. There is no explicit sex (or sexual violence), but it is alluded to surrounding Lavrentiy Beria of the Soviet Union. 

Please continue with this in mind.