Chapter 12: Through the Times of Yesterday

Colonel Yegorov smashed the radio with the butt of his gun, and then told the soldiers around him, “Stop looking. Gather all the papers and send them to the back.”

"Wait a minute!” Staff Officer Pavlov stopped the soldiers who were about to throw various documents into the basket, pulling out one of the papers, “This document contains the unit number. This is the 54th Infantry Division of the Prosen Twenty-fifth Army Group, which participated in the Carolingian Campaign; the division’s crest has an iris, which is a mark of participating in the Carolingian Campaign.”

Yegorov: “But we still crushed them! The idea of Duke Aleksei turned out to be quite reliable; we really made it to the enemy’s division headquarters without any obstructions!”

Pavlov corrected him: “It’s a count, and you shouldn’t preface a title with a name, you should at least use a patronymic, call him Count Konstantinovich.”

Yegorov waved his hand dismissively: “I’m just a rough man, I don’t understand all your twists and turns! The count’s order was to attack and advance, let’s continue.”

Pavlov exclaimed in shock: “Continue the attack? We have already emerged from the smoke; stumbling upon a division headquarters was unexpected for the enemy! Now they are prepared! And you’ve just...”

Yegorov: “I was just bluffing them! Come look!”

Yegorov pointed at the enemy’s map and said: “The enemy’s headquarters is here, on top of the hill, overlooking the entire city of Ronied. It also controls the highway into the city and can hit the railway that passes through the city. The enemy must think we’re going to attack here!

"But the order we received is to break out, that is, to move to the back—eastward. We have to take this side road out of the city. I know this little path; it’ll lead us through a large thicket. By the time we rush out, it’ll be nightfall, and we can retreat via the small path under the cover of darkness!”

Pavlov: “Are you sure that’s what the count meant? Maybe he wanted to break out and fight to the death.”

Yegorov: “How could that be! We wouldn’t have brought the field hospital then. Trust me, the count definitely wants to break out and survive; it’s just that he happened to discover the breach at the front.”

"But...”

Yegorov placed his hands firmly on Pavlov’s shoulders: “Listen! I really don’t know the count’s intentions, but I do know mine! I’m not planning to die here! The Prussians are indeed hateful, and I want to thrash them too!

"But how can I beat them if I’m dead?”

Pavlov: “You’re just afraid to die, you have no sense of honor!”

"What?”

Pavlov: “I tell you, if the chaplain with the army hadn’t died, he would have sent you to the tribunal by now! The charge would be cowardice and surrender!

"But I remind you, according to the regulations, if the military commander shows any signs of cowardice or surrender, I as the staff officer have the right to strip him of command!”

Yegorov, in a burst of anger, grabbed the staff officer by the collar: “What did you say? Where were you when I was smashing Prussian heads with a grenade just now? And you dare say I’m showing cowardice and surrender?”

Pavlov: “You chose the escape route!”

As the two were at daggers drawn, the sound of a car engine came from outside the door.

Captain Sergey, “I often drive for the Duchess. Leave it to me.”

Wang Zhong remembered something that the sergeant who had been shot had said – wasn’t this Captain Sergey the Duchess’s gigolo?

— Forget it, why do I care about that!

Wang Zhong got straight into the car, “Drive!”

The two guards were agile and jumped into the back of the jeep in an instant, without even opening the rear doors.

Sergey got into the driver’s seat, started the car and barely drove a few paces when he exclaimed, “The feel of driving this is so smooth, much more comfortable than our domestically produced ‘Lada’ cars!”

Lada cars, indeed, that classic Soviet automobile brand whose poor performance had become a part of Soviet jokes.

As Captain Sergey drove through the devastated city, he commented with a hint of sadness, “Such a beautiful city. I quite liked that coffee shop, often accompanied the Duchess there.”

Wang Zhong followed Sergey’s gaze and noticed that only the iron sign hanging toward the street from the coffee shop remained intact; the shop seemed to have suffered a hit from artillery fire of 152 millimeters or larger.

Passing by the front of the coffee shop, one could see that the inside was almost completely destroyed, with coffee pots and the like in shambles.

Sergey gritted his teeth, “Damn Prussians!”

Wang Zhong pursed his lips; truth be told, he still didn’t harbor much hatred for Prussians – after all, it wasn’t his country or his homeland that was invaded.

Up to now, his goal was still to survive the war.

At that moment, soldiers in khaki uniforms began to appear alongside the road, looking as if they had just been through a fierce battle.

There were quite a few corpses in black uniforms lying among the buildings lining the streets and roads.

It seemed Wang Zhong had caught up with the attacking vanguard of the Third Amur Group.

Just then, a roar came from a building ahead:

"What did you say? Where were you when I was smashing a Prussian’s head in with a hand grenade just now? You dare accuse me of cowardice and surrender?”

"But you chose the route of escape!”

Wang Zhong patted Sergey on the shoulder, “Stop in front of that building! The one where people are arguing!”