Russian author Grigory Baklanov, famous for his novels about the Second World War, died Wednesday in Moscow. He was 86.

Baklanov was also editor of Znamya, a leading literary monthly, during the period when Mikhail Gorbachev reformed Russia.

Among the books he reviewed was Alexander Solzhenitzyn's 200 Years, which he criticized for painting an inaccurate picture of Jewish participation in Second World War battles.

While Solzhenitzyn made references to Jewish cowardice, Baklanov pointed out the number of Russian Jews who were decorated for valour or who died in battle.

Baklanov's most famous novel translated into English was Forever 19, the story of a teenaged soldier forced into maturity by the rigours of war.

A New York Time review praised the translation by Antonina W. Bouis, which was issued in 1989, 10 years after the Russian original.

Only one of graduating class to survive war

"Teenagers quickly became officers amid the unending Soviet casualties and we see the contrast between the young lieutenant's adult military responsibilities and his previously immature understanding of everyday life," the review said.

Baklanov was 17 when the Nazis invaded his country and he was recruited immediately into the Red Army. He was the only one of the 20 boys in his high school graduating class to survive the war, although he was wounded in combat.

In his introduction to Forever 19, he called the book a tribute to his classmates. ''I wanted people living now to care about them as friends, as family, as brothers,'' he wrote.

Baklanov's other works included An Inch of Land, July 1941 and The Dead Shouldn't be Shamed, all of which tapped into his war experiences.

The Foothold, a 1962 book that was translated for a British edition, examined fatalism and loss of confidence in authority figures during fighting in 1944, again from the point of view of a young lieutenant.

Baklanov won the prestigious State Prize of the Soviet Union for his work, which was widely published overseas.