Chapter 71

I don't know how long I've been sitting by the bed. Before I saw the operator and sapochuk coming back, I couldn't help but stand up, open the door and go outside.

Standing on the snow outside, I saw many fires in the northeast, which reflected the sky into a purplish red, and from time to time came the rumbling sound of guns, rolling in the sky like summer thunder. But I can't understand the real situation of the war. I don't know whether it was our army or the German army.

Behind the snow to upload the sound of footsteps, from far and near. I turned my head and, with the help of the light coming out of the room, saw that only sapochuk came by himself. There was neither a telegraph operator nor the old lady behind him“ Where's my operator, Orlov? " I asked him in a loud voice.

He pointed to a house in the distance and said, "we've sent the old lady back to her house. Orlov is with him. I'm afraid you're worried. I'll report back to you first."

"What do you think I should do with Aji?" When I saw that there was no outsider around, I would not beat around the Bush and ask him directly.

"Deal with Aji? Why deal with Aji? " He looked at me in surprise and said, "ah Ji just killed a woman sleeping with the German, not a deserter on the battlefield. You have already closed him up. Such punishment is enough. What else should you do with him? "

After listening to what he said, I closed my mouth with interest. There are too many cultural differences and different national conditions, so the ways of dealing with many things are very different. If I had been in another army, I would have been familiar with the way of dealing with Aji, that is, I would have summoned the whole village to the sunning barn first, and then tearfully reviewed the laxity of my defense. Only in this way could such a sad thing happen. In order to enforce military discipline, the murderer must be severely punished. Then he waved his hand again, and immediately two soldiers would escort ah Ji, who was all tied up. When I finished counting his crimes, I would take him aside and shoot him to calm the people's anger. Although some people will plead for him, let me see that he has made great achievements in the war. I hope that his merits and demerits can offset his death and give him a chance to commit crimes. At this time, some villagers may be moved and come out to plead for him. However, in order to show the strict discipline of our army, I will still cut Ma Su with tears in the end. He will never escape death. However, before he died, he would often shout such sayings as "brothers, help me to kill more devils", "burn a few pieces of paper on my grave every Tomb Sweeping Day". But in this country, when this happens, the heaviest punishment for the murderer is to shut up for a few days, and then scold him. There are tens of thousands of people who died in the war. Who will make a fuss about the death of an insignificant woman.

I sighed and said to sapochuk weakly, "go back and have a rest. You'll have to start reconnaissance tomorrow." He saluted me, turned around and was about to leave. I quickly added: "remember to ask Lu Jin to wake me up at four o'clock."

Back in the room, I looked at the wooden bed I had just sat on. Sitting is one thing, but sleeping on it is another. Although the bodies of the German corporal and the young girl have been removed, and the blood stains on the bed and the floor have been cleared, I still feel that there is a strong smell of blood in the room. I don't have the guts to sleep in the bed of a dead person or a murderous person. I'm afraid of having nightmares in the middle of the night. After thinking about it for a long time, I still sat in the armchair in front of the telegraph, and then I lay on the table and closed my eyes.

Sergeant Lukin woke me up at the appointed time. After a brief wash, I went outside and saw that the team had assembled. Except for Aji, who was imprisoned, the other eight soldiers are here.

I walked back and forth in front of the neat team with my gun. Suddenly I felt that it would not take so many people to go for reconnaissance, so I began to issue a series of orders to them: "Orlov, you don't have to go for this reconnaissance. Stay and keep in touch with the group headquarters at any time."

"Yes." He answered me loudly.

"Saskat, Leon, Jeff," I called the names of the other two soldiers at the end of the line.

"Here it is They agreed with one voice and took a big step forward.

"You two stay to guard Aji, and don't let him leave. Do you understand? " I made this arrangement because the two soldiers have been with Aji all the time. They have a better relationship with each other. Let them take care of Aji. I believe they will not embarrass Aji.

"Yes." They gave a very straightforward answer.

After a short walk in the forest, the sky began to snow. The weather is really cold, the wind with snow particles hit my face, like a sharp needle, like a knife cutting face, we are struggling in the knee deep snow. What is waiting for us on this long road? What enemy situation will you encounter? What kind of enemies will you meet, crafty or stupid? It's all unexpected.

"Comrade commander, let's have a rest. It's easy for us to get lost when we are snowing in the dark Sergeant Lukin came up to my ear and reminded me in a low voice.

I looked back at the soldiers behind me. Although I couldn't see their faces clearly, I could clearly hear the heavy breathing of the soldiers behind me. It seemed that everyone was very tired. So I decisively issued an order to the back: "rest in place, wait until dawn."

The soldiers scraped away the snow and began to build the snow wall. I used a telescope to observe the distant terrain, vaguely found that there seems to be a road ahead, but the road is quiet, no vehicles and pedestrians. After the low snow wall was built, we all squatted behind to avoid the cold wind. After a short silence, someone began to whisper to pass the time waiting for the dawn.

"Sergeant Lukin, how long have you been in the army?" Because it is close to the road, although there is no traffic for the time being, I still speak in a low voice to prevent exposure of the target.

"Three years." Lukin answered me in the same low voice.

"Have you ever fought before? I mean, did you fight before this war broke out? "

"Yes, I've been wounded in battle."

"Where? Is it the haraha river? " Hearing that he had fought before, I naturally thought of the battle of Nomenkan, which made Zhukov famous in the first World War.

"No, it's in Brest."

"Brest? What are you doing there, beating the Germans? " Brest left me a deep impression. The garrison in the fortress was still fighting until the last man, so I was very surprised to hear this place name.

"On the contrary, comrade commander. We are not going there to fight the Germans, but to join them and destroy our common enemy, Poland. " At this point, he began to try to recall: "I remember that day was September 17, 1939, when we and the German defense forces met victoriously in Brest, captured tens of thousands of Polish soldiers, and held a joint parade on the 25th."

"Ah What he said surprised me. What's the matter? How could the Soviet and German armies join forces in Polish territory? Haven't Brest Fort always been the leader of the Soviet Union?

Before I could think of a reason, suddenly the sound of a car motor came from far and near, which interrupted my thinking. I quickly got up and went along the road, only to see a few trucks with awning coming from a distance, strong headlights, in the dark night, shooting far away. The trucks first drove down the road for a while, then suddenly turned around and headed for our hiding place.

"Strange, what do these Germans want to do?" I couldn't help saying to myself.

"No, we decided to hide here temporarily. The Germans would never have guessed that we would be here." Lu Jin leaned over me, looking at the enemy's vehicle and whispered to me, opening the safety of his submachine gun.

I lowered my head and whispered to the soldiers squatting behind the snow wall: "everyone, get ready for battle!"

"Yes The soldiers agreed to go around the snow wall and lie on the snow. They opened the insurance of their weapons one after another.

"No one is allowed to shoot without my orders." Although I have just ordered you to prepare for the battle, I don't know how many people are on the German trucks. I'm afraid that anyone can't help shooting rashly. Once our hidden place is exposed, we will have to fight a hard to hard encounter with the superior German army, which is not worth the loss. That's why I would like to add that I intend to observe the situation and see you later.

The truck with the light on is driving slowly in the forest. With the help of the light of the car, I was surprised to find that there is such a large open area in the middle of the forest.

The truck came to a stop after a staggering distance. The four trucks were lined up, their lights were not off, and the snow in front of them showed a broad and pale fan.

Many German soldiers in military coats, helmets and submachine guns jumped out of the car. After they got out of the car, they quickly ran to the front of the car and stood in a row.

"What are they doing?" Lukin asked softly in my ear.

Seeing the formation of the German army, I was confused. I couldn't figure out what they wanted to do. I just held the submachine gun tightly in my hand and stared at the German soldiers in front of me without saying a word.

At this moment, five ragged people came out of the back of the car. Because they were far away and the light was dim, they could only barely see that they were soldiers of our army. As for who they were, they could not see clearly. Some of them had bandages on their heads, some had crutches on their legs, and were forced by the German soldiers with guns. They walked hard and slowly in the knee deep snow.

"Ah! They want to kill people. What shall we do? " Lu Jin's voice was low and anxious.

I just stare at the front, still silent. I know clearly in my heart what tasks I am shouldering and what I should and should not do under such circumstances. There are at least 50 German soldiers in front of us. Can we beat them with six of us? If we allow our feelings to act, the consequences will be unimaginable. But when I saw everything in front of me, I couldn't help but feel my heart beat faster. I held the submachine gun hand and trembled because of nervousness.

Five men, with their backs to us, stood in a row in front of the German truck. At this time, I heard from the right that it was political workers, and everyone was silent. I understand the reason why everyone was suddenly silent. In the whole Soviet German war, political workers were always a thankless role. They knew nothing about military affairs, but they had absolute command of the army. The reason why some battles have been lost so miserably is also inseparable from the blind command of some political workers on the battlefield.

I remember meeting a tank lieutenant in a restaurant when I was recovering in a military hospital in Leningrad. He once talked to me about the blind command of political workers. At that time, the regiment was ordered to fight back against the German army, but because of the lack of fuel and ammunition, the troops were unable to launch an attack after they assembled. Just at this time, a political commissar came to the army, involuntarily called the commander to get rid of the smell, scolded him and shot him dead. Then the deputy commander took over the command of the regiment and immediately launched an attack on the German position. The deputy commander had no choice but to lead all the tanks to launch a suicide charge. Many tanks were forced to stop in the middle of the battlefield because there was no fuel when they drove half the way, becoming targets of German aircraft and anti tank fire. The second lieutenant's tank was also destroyed by German antitank fighters, and all the crew members except him were killed. The day after I told this story, the tank captain disappeared, and I didn't hear from him until I was discharged“ What shall we do? " Lu Jin asked, probably because he found that the political workers who had just been sacrificed were not likable, so he became hesitant“ After all, they are all our comrades. "Although I hate these political workers in my heart, as a school level officer, I still have to say a lot about the scene:" dig a hole and bury them. " I'll arrange for aguminte and sapochuk to guard the road before the rest of us dig. Lesdayev and sgoria worked together to dig out the thick snow with an engineering shovel, and then to dig out the frozen hard soil. It took nine oxen and two tigers to dig out a shallow pit that could hold five people. Lu Jin joined hands and put the remains of five political workers into the pit one by one. They buried their bodies and marked their graves so that they could be identified in the future. After all this, I assembled the team. Standing in front of the tomb, I took the lead in offering a solemn military salute to the comrades who sacrificed themselves. After the other people finished the salute, I led the team to move on to the unknown destination.