Batu is a short story about a Mongolian sheep herder who is drafted in the Soviet People's Army. Batu and other Mongols fight under General Belov in the battles of Moscow and Kiev.
Because of the winter weather, trucks, tanks and guns are all but useless. Batu and his cavalry unit fight much as their ancestors had fought under Genghis Khan. Indeed, they reconquer some of the same territory as when Genghis Khan's son, Ogodei, had ordered his son, Batu, to the west "Take a reconnaissance in force."