"Could that direction be the legendary concentration camp?" Versigola pointed to a middle-aged man: "Hey! Are there any special facilities to the west of this village?"
"Yes! The Germans imprisoned some Jews there! We don't know the specific situation."
"All right!"
Although the troops captured four German soldiers, looking at their disdainful looks, there was no hope of truthfully confessing. Since some villagers knew the existence of the facility, they would be able to find it quickly if they could lead the way.
Versigola made arrangements, and more than 300 people stayed in the village to clean up the battlefield. The communications troops immediately contacted the main force and Balzen's headquarters. He himself took more than 30 people, guided by the villagers, to find
Concentration camp.
On the other hand, Tokov's twenty soldiers have found the concentration camp!
It turned out that when intensive gunfire came from the village, the German guards at the concentration camp who did not know what was going on ordered the militiamen to guard the barracks door and rush to the rescue of the village.
The guards only had one infantry squad with only ten rifles.
Tokov has ten submachine guns and ten SVT40s, and the soldiers are even more expert shooters!
Five of the German troops who were rushing to reinforce were immediately killed, and the rest ran away. However, how could they escape?
Twenty soldiers successfully arrived at the concentration camp. They had noticed a large number of emaciated prisoners clinging to the barbed wire fence, but they were not released immediately. Many soldiers also noticed that these prisoners were completely numb to the sound of gunfire and fighting, just like spectators.
Ordinarily, or they believed that the battle had nothing to do with them, they witnessed the fierce gun battle outside the wall through the barbed wire fence.
All the German defenders here were wiped out. Fifteen Ukrainian militiamen with yellow and blue armbands also threw away their guns and knelt on the ground with their hands raised.
"It's really unlucky. I thought you were determined to work for the Germans. Unexpectedly, you are just a bunch of lackeys who act according to the changing circumstances!" Tokov spat, making the soldiers guard him.
Then, he led five of his men and violently smashed open the iron door with rifle butts.
The gates of the concentration camp were opened and all the prisoners were saved. However, Tokov did not enjoy the happiness of being surrounded by the people, as if he was not a liberator.
These thinly dressed people are all thin, which makes each person's eyes protrude as if they are on a skull.
"If we had gone farther west in May, you would have been saved long ago."
Tokov shook his head helplessly. He estimated that these people's minds had long been numb. Although they were alive, they were almost dead.
However, when he ordered his men to take out the pieces of bread in the bag and display them, the dull prisoners suddenly became excited, stood up without warning, and quickly swarmed over and snatched the bread from the soldiers' hands.
Six people, including Tokov, were besieged by more than a hundred people.
"That's crazy! Aren't you going to starve to death? Why are you still so strong?"
Tokov was extremely depressed, and he could not order the soldiers to beat up the leading men. He raised his submachine gun high and fired more than 20 rounds of warning shots. Taking advantage of the moment when the prisoners were frightened, he ordered his men to withdraw and fired the iron
The door is closed.
The prisoners just behaved like a bunch of zombies!
Of course, people of this era have no idea about zombies. But the behavior of this group of prisoners just now was like the zombies in the movie. Their crazy appearance really frightened Tokov.
"Alas... alas... they are really hungry!" Tokov gasped, congratulating himself on his quick actions.
A soldier asked: "Company commander, shall we give them food again? A brother found some German bread."
"Don't be anxious yet! You go and notify the Ukrainians behind, notify their investigation team leader, and send people here to maintain order!"
When a person is extremely hungry, his survival instinct only inspires the animalistic nature of hunting.
With the arrival of Versigola himself, the commotion in the concentration camp completely ceased.
The iron door was opened again, and the soldiers with live ammunition walked in, immediately separated the prisoners, and then distributed a small amount of bread cubes.
There was no further commotion, all the prisoners had eaten their food and felt much more comfortable.
At this point, the battle in Bukeca Village is completely over.
…
One hundred and thirty Jews were taken out of the horrific concentration camp. In order to vent their anger, the soldiers pushed them against the barbed wire wall. As for the fifteen puppet soldiers who surrendered, they became prisoners.
In order to survive, these people told Versigola an important piece of information.
Afterwards, three puppet soldiers started digging in a forest plain, and a mass grave was revealed to the world.
Along the way, these soldiers who had moved from Bryansk had seen too many killings. No one was overly shocked when they saw the massacre scene again. They learned that both the living and the dead lived in Petrikov.
Jews.
As for the reason why the German army did not kill these Jewish men, the captured puppet soldiers gave clues.
"Haha! The Germans still want to use the rosin resources here? Are there abundant rosin reserves in the forest?"
Versigola didn't take it seriously, but the fact was that it was rich in reserves. He didn't know much about the uses of rosin. He thought that since the German army was very interested in it, he had reason to take it away.
The Soviet army found more than 20 sacks of rosin in a small warehouse in the village, each bag weighing 30 kilograms!
Also seized were 50 rifles and two ZB6s, and only 5,000 rounds of ammunition were seized.
A truck and two barrels of gasoline were also seized, but it was impossible to drive back to the Guerrilla Republic. It was directly blown up by the soldiers. However, the precious gasoline had to be taken away.
In this battle, the most precious thing the Soviet army gained was population!
When Versigola reunited with Balzen, he brought all the prisoners he had rescued to the village.
At the same time, the trials of traitors and prisoners of war also began.
Balzen said urgently: "The regiment commander gave the order and all the traitors were executed. As for the German prisoners of war, they were kept in safe custody. The large army was heading towards the village as quickly as possible."
Versigola understood the situation clearly and announced the death sentence of the puppet soldiers in front of the gathered villagers.
When the traitors were shot to death in a public execution by the Soviet army, he noticed that the long-lost smiles appeared on the faces of the Jews.
Regarding the final destination of these Jews, of course they were managed by the Guerrilla Republic, and one of the tasks of the Kovpak Corps was to escort them back.
As for the fate of those Ukrainian villagers, Versigola estimated that some of them should join the corps.
The village of Bukca is destined to be abandoned!
The villagers were frightened by the scene of the guerrillas executing traitors, even if some people pleaded for mercy and said that those traitors were their husbands and were forced to serve the German army. However, traitors are traitors, and the death of the traitor scared the villagers into obeying the guerrillas.
They learned that they had to leave the village, even if some were reluctant. The guerrillas told them: "The Germans died here. When they find out about this, they will kill everyone who did not leave." So, who else dares to stay?
The villagers continued to cook mushroom soup, but the people who drank the soup changed from Germans to guerrillas. Many people also took the time to pack their bags. They learned that they would follow the guerrillas eastward at dawn tomorrow.
Kovpak urged the troops to speed up their operations and ordered that they could only set up camp when they reached the village. In order to boost morale, he even said: "The villagers of Bukca Village are cooking for us. When we arrive at the village, everyone will have a full meal."
.”
Finally, the entire regiment arrived at the village at seven o'clock in the evening before nightfall. Because they accepted 200 villagers and 130 Jews, the total number of the regiment reached 4,300. The village could not accommodate so many people.
people, so the sick and wounded were placed in the villagers' homes, while ordinary soldiers had to camp around the village.
But the soldiers were not arranged to set up camp in the concentration camp not far away. It was too unlucky and no one wanted to go there.
Kovpak, who first arrived in the village, immediately called for an emergency military meeting with the officers.
It turned out that while he was marching, the headquarters had sent back a telegram.
"Comrades! The general gave us the highest order. Before the early liberation of Bukeca village, we will use this village as a starting point to return eastward on August 3! The commander ordered us to take away all the loot we can take.
Find as many metal objects as possible and bring them with you. If there are things you can’t take away, bury them temporarily for future excavation.”
As a result, the barbed wire walls of the concentration camps that were pushed up became very important.
Balzen raised his hand and said: "I saw that our soldiers also found a large amount of rosin. We learned from the villagers that the German army had been forcing Jews to go to the forest to collect this!"
"Yes! The general emphasized the rosin!" Kovpak said seriously: "You can bring less metal, but all the captured rosin must be taken away! This is a dead order." (To be continued)