Within hours they were prisoners. As the two entered Tskhinvali about 1 a.m. on Aug. 9, they sang patriotic tunes to avoid being shot by the Georgian soldiers they expected to be lurking in the dark.

"We thought that when we arrived at the front, they would have to give us weapons," Monasalidze recalled, chain-smoking Lucky Strikes in the living room of the house of Kharadze's parents in Tbilisi.

Instead of Georgian troops, however, they attracted the attention of a group of South Ossetian soldiers.

"They asked what we wanted," Monasalidze said. "I said: 'I'm Georgian and this is our land. We want Tskhinvali.' "