USSR 1941

  Chapter 48 Forest

  Shuerka was right in his calculations. After coming out of the swamp, he was indeed near the "Stalin Line of Defense".

  If it is behind the "Stalin Line of Defense", that's okay, after all, the German army has not yet reached the front of the line of defense.

   But that's not the case...

  Shuerka and others walked out of the swamp in the evening of the next day.

   At this point, I have to say that Major Gavrilov's estimation was very accurate, and the soldiers' rations were almost exhausted.

   Before they got out of the swamp, the soldiers realized that something was wrong, because they heard a burst of gunshots and cannons in front of them from a long distance away.

  Major Gavrilov stopped to listen to the voice, and then called the officers for a short meeting:

   "Unfortunately!" Major Gavrilov said: "We seem to have just missed it!"

   "How do you know this?" Commissar Fuming asked a little strangely.

   "Listen to the gunfire!" Major Gavrilov explained: "The gunfire is in the east, two miles away from us, that is... we are about an hour late!"

   "Damn it!" Commissar Fuming cursed.

   Then there was silence.

The soldiers all know what this means. If it was in the past, the soldiers would have thought of breaking through the German defenses and fighting back. After all, they were a force that suddenly appeared from behind the German army, and the moment the German army passed by, it meant They were underprepared, so it was indeed possible to successfully break out and join the main force.

However…

   This Soviet army was besieged in Brest and fought for several days, and then continued to march in the swamp with severe physical exhaustion. (Forty kilometers a day in the swamp can be considered a forced march)

   What's more serious is that during this period, due to the watery and muddy environment in the swamp, guns generally malfunctioned, so that although they had more than 500 people, they did not have much combat effectiveness.

   "We can go around!" Captain Venyakov suggested: "Entering the swamp again, even if there is no food for a day or two, there is no big problem!"

   "No!" Major Gavrilov shook his head and denied this idea: "Although we can indeed continue to march for another day or two when there is insufficient food, the problem is..."

Major Gavrilov drew a circle on the map, and then went on to say: "In order to get around to the front of the Germans, we have to take such a curved route, swampy and longer distance, the result is that when we get out of the swamp, it is still Behind the Germans!"

  Major Gavrilov is right, when the Soviets advanced along the swamp, the Germans also advanced.

  Of course, the German advance will be blocked by the Soviet army and the speed will be slow, but the Soviet army entering the swamp is also not going very fast.

   Then the surrounding fell into silence again.

   After thinking about it, Major Gavrilov made a decision: "Let's take one step at a time and prepare for battle. Let's go in and see the situation!"

  The officers nodded in agreement, and now they can only do so.

  The order to prepare for battle was quickly issued, and the soldiers made a final check of the equipment, but they were not even sure whether their guns would fire.

   "So, is it going to break out again?" the actor asked.

   "Yes!" Shulka replied.

   "I hate breaking out!" The actor smiled bitterly: "Why are we always surrounded by the enemy!"

   Shulka did not answer.

  In fact, there were more than 500 of them. At the beginning of the war, hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops were surrounded and captured by the German army. They were only a small part of it.

  Agata brought her group of female soldiers to join Shulka's team again. While loading her pistol, she said, "I hope you have not forgotten your mission, Comrade Shulka!"

  Shuerka glanced at the group of female soldiers behind him. He originally didn't want to perform this task, but he compromised after seeing the eyes of the female soldiers.

  At that moment, Shulka suddenly understood what these female soldiers were thinking.

They choose "the last moment" more not because of integrity, bravery, etc., but because of exhaustion, boredom, helplessness... In fact, there is not much in this world worthy of their nostalgia. They are just barely alive. It is better to let them die after being humiliated than to leave this world happily.

   So, it was a relief for them.

  Thinking of this, Shulka nodded slightly.

   This shocked Agata, but she said nothing, silently making final preparations.

  It was later that Shulka found out that Agata still had a glimmer of hope. She thought that Shulka would definitely think of a way to escape, so her words were actually a bit insincere.

  But at the moment Shulka nodded, Agata thought it was really over this time, because Shulka had nothing to do.

   In fact, Shulka really can't help it... They are not far from the main force, but there are Germans in the middle.

At the same time, Shulka is also very clear that the German mechanized troops who walk in the front are usually tanks, armored vehicles and the like. .

   There was no time to think about it. Following Major Gavrilov's order, everyone stooped out of the swamp.

  The sky gradually darkened, and the flares that continued to light up in the east once again proved that Major Gavrilov's judgment was correct... The enemy's vanguard surpassed them by about two miles, and they were still advancing.

   After advancing in the dark for more than 20 minutes, miraculously, they did not meet a single enemy, only a few frightened Soviet civilians. They could not tell the enemy from us in the dark and hurried back to the house to close the door.

Of course, Major Gavrilov sent a few people to inquire about the news from them, and the information they got was indeed similar to what they analyzed. The German teams had just passed two hours, and there were at least a dozen tanks and dozens of cars. and armored vehicles…

   This put pressure on the soldiers, because they didn't have heavy weapons, and even grenades and explosive packs were seriously insufficient, and they couldn't deal with German tanks at all.

  A forest appeared in front of them. Major Gavrilov hesitated for a while and stopped the large army to hide in the cornfield.

   "Go and scout!" Major Gavrilov ordered.

  This is correct, because if the entire army is pulled up hastily and there are enemies ambushing in the forest, then the entire army will be wiped out in an instant.

   Unfortunately, it was Pukarev's platoon that was sent to reconnaissance, and Shulka was among them.

  Shuerka had ten thousand reluctances in his heart, but he couldn't refuse.

  Because he knows that encountering the enemy is a matter of time, which cannot be avoided.

  So he could only bite the bullet with his gun in hand and followed the troops into the forest.

  (end of this chapter)