Chapter 5: predicament
The communications soldier kept sending out distress signals through the radio, but there was no response, and the radio could not receive any useful information.
Major Gavrilov, who was guarding the radio station, frowned. He didn't know what happened...Although he knew that this was a war and that his opponent was the Germans, where were the other troops? When will reinforcements arrive? What should I do next?
Everything is a question mark, which makes Gavrilov at a loss.
"I think this is a local war!" The instructor said: "The fortress is an important transportation hub. The Germans want to capture it, and then use the fortress as a springboard to attack the Soviet Union!"
"We can't be sure, Comrade Artur!" Major Gavrilov replied: "The only thing we can be sure of is that we are in trouble and need reinforcements!"
After a pause, Major Gavrilov added: "Of course, you can't say that to the soldiers!"
As he said that, Major Gavrilov took off the armed belt from the wall and tied it around his waist, and strode out of the basement that served as the headquarters.
After trotting along the ruins for a while, Major Gavrilov came to the front of the defense line.
The Soviet soldiers in the line of defense all looked at Major Gavrilov expectantly, and they hoped to get good news from Major Gavrilov.
Except for Shulka...he knows that there can be no good news, and even if there is good news, it will be false.
"Comrades!" Major Gavrilov glanced at the soldiers and said, "Bad news, we have not been able to get in touch with our superiors!"
The soldiers were half short when they heard the words.
"But!" Major Gavrilov changed the subject and said, "Believe me, this is not a big deal. We have repelled the Germans' attacks several times. The Germans are not that difficult to deal with, don't you think? ?”
The implication is that these remnants and weak generals in the fortress can repel the German army several times, so other places should be more optimistic.
The soldiers couldn't help but nodded in agreement. They knew in their hearts that the troops in the fortress were not even considered regular troops. By analogy, the Germans must have been defeated by the regular army in battles elsewhere.
Only Shulka knows that this is not the case. Those Soviet regular troops who are considered to be more powerful... are being surrounded and hunted by German armored forces outside the fortress: the Soviet army lost 1,200 aircraft on the first day, 800 of which were not yet It was blown up as soon as it took off. In just 10 days, 30 infantry divisions were wiped out, and 70 divisions lost more than half of their troops.
"So!" continued Major Gavrilov, "don't give up hope, comrades! Maybe their radio is down, maybe they're busy fighting the Germans, but whatever, I believe... tomorrow, as long as Hold on until tomorrow, and our troops will surround these Germans from the outside, and they will be there to watch!"
This was an inspiring speech. The saying that Major Gavrilov could be rescued by resisting until tomorrow quickly spread throughout the army, and the soldiers all set their goals on tomorrow.
"It's not difficult!" Okunev took out a watch from his pocket, glanced at it, and said, "We have held on for five hours, and the Germans have not taken advantage of us. Tomorrow... that is to say Just a few more fights like this and it's over!"
"No, Okunev!" Shulka said, "You're making things simple!"
"What?"
"The battle is not over so quickly!" Shulka said: "It can even be said... I think you should be mentally prepared!"
"Oh, Shulka!" Okunev laughed: "Don't be so pessimistic, my friend. We are soldiers, and we will always encounter battles, right?"
Okunev thought that Shulka would say this because he was frightened by the war.
Shulka didn't explain anything, he knew that even if he told Okunev he wouldn't believe it. Not only did he not believe it, but he might even be suspected of being a spy, because Shulka couldn't explain why he knew the information.
In this respect, Shulka has learned to be smart.
But Shulka is not smart enough.
Because he soon found himself in an unsolvable dilemma...he had to remind the Soviet fortress that it was surrounded, the Germans could siege it for a month, two months or even longer, and one day the fortress of Brest would be exhausted Food is running out.
So, staying in the Brest Fortress is just waiting to die, the only way out is to break through, the sooner the better.
It should be said that the breakthrough of the Brest defenders was still very hopeful a few days ago, because the German encirclement was not tight enough. They rushed to launch a "blitzkrieg" to divide and encircle the deep Soviet army, and the north of the Brest Fortress That is, a large forest stretches all the way to the east. As long as you enter the forest, you are basically safe.
The problem was that the defenders did not know the situation. They waited for reinforcements day after day in the fortress, and they did not break through until the fourth day due to the situation, but by then it was too late.
This makes Shulka very difficult:
If he wanted to save his life, he had to tell the Soviet army something to break out of the encirclement as soon as possible, but in doing so, he might be regarded as a German spy... Neither left nor right, but Shulka was so anxious that he was fidgeting in the trenches .
At this time, two communications soldiers ran up from the traffic trench, one of them raised his head towards Shulka and asked, "Davydov Shulka?"
"Yes!" Shulka replied.
"The major wants to see you!"
"Me?" Shulka was a little surprised, he thought the messenger had found the wrong person.
"Yes!" The communications soldier looked at Shulka vigilantly, took the rifle from his back and held it in his hand, and ordered in a bad tone: "Come with us!"
Shulka and Okunev couldn't help being stunned. They both knew that this trip was not a good thing.
Just as he was about to leave, the messenger stopped him again: "Wait, hand over your gun..."
Without waiting for Shuerka to object, another communications soldier unwittingly disarmed Shurka, searched his body up and down, and untied Shurka's military thorn pinned to his waist.
Okunev said helplessly to Shulka: "Good luck, Shulka, poor friend!"
The nearby Soviet soldiers also looked in this direction, their eyes full of suspicion, sarcasm and disdain, and some whispered:
"I knew this guy was not a good guy!"
"Yes, the instructor has been staring at him for a long time!"
"This shameful traitor!"
…
Some people even spit in the direction of Shulka.
Shuerka felt depressed for a while, and he couldn't figure out what went wrong... Although Shurka did know many things that others shouldn't know, he didn't say it at all.
Now I can only take one step at a time.
(end of this chapter)