The Slinger

In the autumn of 1944 Soviet soldiers come across a liberated concentration camp and find a Czech boy there called František Bureš. They send him to a Czechoslovak unit located near Dukla. Lieutenant Zlonický assigns him as an unsalaried employee to work in a laundry at the front. The laundry soldiers – "laundrymen" – take a liking to the boy. The slinger – the soldiers' nickname for him which was used to describe the youngest Hussite warriors – doesn't care for life in the laundry. He also wants to fight. When Slinger proves himself as a reliable messenger, the soldiers train him in military conduct. One day Slinger meets a little Slovak girl called Marijka from Porúbka whom her grandfather has sent with his only cow into the mountains. Marijka is forced to stay with the laundrymen when fighting breaks out. She is missing her grandfather, so František offers to take a letter to Porúbka for her. On the way he encounters four Germans dressed as Russian soldiers. František goes back to inform the laundrymen who are able to thwart the spies' plans. The soldiers are decorated for their efforts and Slinger also receives a medal. Shortly afterwards the Czechoslovak unit breaks through the Dukla pass. At the rear of the advancing army the laundrymen soon march into their beloved country.