There are many collective farms in the forests around Minsk, which are relatively poor compared to the villages in the plains.
There are some small beasts in the forest. The villagers mainly engage in farming and occasionally hunt. As for wild animals, the army did not find anything large enough to satisfy their hunger. Perhaps wild deer and the like have been scared away.
The scouts reported that there was a village about five kilometers in front of the camp, and after resting for a night, the entire army headed there.
The soldiers were full of joy. They were in a state of marching and resting for several days after entering the forest. They could have a good rest when they entered the village.
"You can eat some meat when you get to the village. You should be able to buy a few chickens and ducks."
"Come on, we have three thousand people, how many poultry can one village raise? Then the little allowance in your pocket can't buy it at all."
The soldiers whispered to each other, and Yang Mingzhi heard the above conversation. Speaking of it, the food he ate every day since the war started was not very good. There was not much canned meat, and he ate a lot of carbohydrates every day.
He also wants to eat meat, and there are still some war horses in the team. These can satisfy his hunger when necessary. Of course, it must be necessary, and it is better to let these horses continue to carry ammunition.
The troops were kept as orderly as possible, and at the vanguard was the special anti-tank battalion with the most elite equipment. Yang Mingzhi was both the deputy division commander and battalion commander. He had a heavy burden. He had to approach the village first, conduct a reconnaissance, and enter first.
This is a war zone after all, and the enemy may sneak into the forest to look for traces of the Soviet army. The scouts did discover the village yesterday, but did not choose to enter. As soon as they saw the houses in the village, they hurried back to report the news, so in fact
No investigation was done around the upper village.
Yang Mingzhi was already one kilometer away from the main force and kept in contact with each other through radio.
"First company commander, you are responsible for the left wing. Second company commander, you are responsible for the right wing. I am still responsible for the core part."
Yang Mingzhi followed the traditional inverted triangle formation. The number of the first and second companies was slightly smaller than that of the core third company, but their firepower was stronger.
This battalion was very well-equipped before the war started. In addition to the secret weapon RPG rocket launcher, many soldiers were equipped with either SVT semi-automatic rifles or sniper-type Mosin Nagants. They also had a large number of PPSH38 equipment.
The superiors took great care of this unit from the Far East, so they were originally equipped with a small amount of semi-automatic rifles, but Yang Mingzhi was equipped with many.
He ordered the two forward companies: "Encircle this village from both sides. No matter whether there are enemies or not, we must be fully prepared. After we surround three corners of the village, listen to my order form."
The two companies advanced at a gallop. The soldiers carried DP light machine guns and immediately set up machine gun positions after entering the outskirts of the village.
In this era, there were no specially defended wireless walkie-talkies. The most primitive way for the two troops to communicate with each other was to blow the horn or use a flag. Therefore, Yang Mingzhi chose the latter. The forward entered the position waving a small yellow flag.
After Yang Mingzhi entered the position, he scanned it with his telescope and found that the first and second companies had arrived successfully. He looked at his watch and saw that it was now half past nine in the morning.
At this time, Yang Tao crawled over. In addition to carrying a medical bag, she also carried a gun of sand.
"Such a difficult march is really difficult for you." Yang Mingzhi turned to look at his wife. The girl's forehead was covered with sweat and she was grinning at him.
"It's okay. If it's a jungle, I'll get used to it. After all, I'm the daughter of the Orion family."
Yang Mingzhi smiled awkwardly. She made it very clear when we chatted before. The girl born in Baishan Heishui must not be Xiaojiabiyu. Besides, this girl can still fight guerrilla with the Anti-Japanese Alliance for a year. Of course, now that she is a Soviet soldier, she is still fighting guerrilla warfare.
Yang Mingzhi continued to stare at the telescope and scan the village, but it was strange that there seemed to be no human habitation here.
"Strange, did all the villagers evacuate after the war started?"
But the sniper came over and pointed out that the village was very strange. "I thought maybe Germans had entered this village. I saw the appearance of the corpses and the dead cows."
Yang Mingzhi was shocked. Dead man? Dead cow? He stared at the sniper alertly, "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." After that, the sniper took off his high-power telescope. "That's right there. There is a dead cow next to the fence."
Yang Mingzhi observed carefully that it was indeed what he said. When he noticed that thing just now, he thought it was some kind of stone. After careful inspection, he found that it was indeed a dead cow. This was very abnormal. Looking more closely, he saw that next to the wooden carvings, it was clearly a person.
The corpse, or more like the corpse of a child.
"Damn it! There are Germans! Order all troops to load their weapons and maintain first-level combat readiness. Send me a report to report that there is an enemy situation here in the main force."
The large army advanced slowly. After receiving such a report from the front, Yevlov ordered the troops to immediately launch tactics. The old, weak, sick and disabled were placed at the core of the team, and the strongest combat effectiveness of the troops was stared in all directions.
Yang Mingzhi continued to observe and found only corpses so far.
Yang Tao asked: "Husband, let's do it now. In fact, I think the enemy has left, and they may have slaughtered the whole village."
"Well, that may be the case, but we can't take it lightly."
In this way, the leading soldiers of the two squads bowed their backs and left the ambush point. They maintained a high degree of alert and rushed forward 800 meters into the village.
Yang Mingzhi watched closely until these people raised a small flag symbolizing safety, and then he ordered the troops to advance forward.
The team entered the village on alert. They passed through potato fields and newly harvested wheat fields before finally arriving at the village.
Now, all the officers and soldiers of the Special Anti-tank Battalion were shocked. There were indeed Germans here, because the villagers were massacred.
This was the scene of a massacre. The dead included old people, children, men and women. They seemed to have been forcibly gathered together and then killed uniformly.
Why is this scene so familiar? Yang Mingzhi feels that there are many scenes like this in anti-Japanese movies in that dimension, and now that he sees this, it is obviously a true portrayal.
"These damn Germans! Where are they? I will kill them all with my own hands." A soldier said angrily.
The soldiers' anger was spreading, and many of them were holding their guns tightly, but Yang Mingzhi, as the commander, had to remain calm. Obviously, the German invaders were no different to the Soviets than the little devils were to the Chinese.
He squatted down to check and found that about sixty villagers had been shot dead. Compared to the size of the village, they were probably all the people in the village. He noticed that there were several children among the dead, who were also shot.
Confusion was still written on his young face. He was killed by the Germans at an innocent age.
He suddenly thought of something and turned around suddenly to see Yang Tao's dull face.
Yang Mingzhi stood up, walked to Yang Tao and shook her violently, bringing the girl back to reality.
"Xiao Tao, you shouldn't look at this."
"Husband, I'm fine. I just remembered what happened before." As she said this, the girl's face was full of tears.
She must have remembered what happened in the past. Yang Mingzhi sighed. If her parents hadn't thrown her into a dry well to escape the disaster, she would have turned into bones. No! She is a woman, a German devil and a Japanese devil.
Just like a beast!
"Soldiers! Check all villages urgently to see if there are any other corpses and see if there are any survivors."
Yang Mingzhi ordered a search and ordered soldiers to collect the victims. A group of soldiers were already digging holes with engineering shovels, and some borrowed shovels from villagers.
Information had been sent to the army through the radio. Not only had the enemy been found here, but the village had been massacred. Yevlov was shocked. It was obvious that there were German troops in the forest. He immediately ordered everyone to open their eyes.
Yang Mingzhi looked at the dead and shook his head helplessly, then loaded his weapon. "Xiao Tao, follow me. And **sha is loaded and following me."
A farmhouse was ajar, and Yang Mingzhi kept his guard up and gently opened the door. Two soldiers rolled over and entered, with their guns pointed forward. When they came back to their senses, they were immediately shocked. There was indeed someone here, and she was a woman.
and has been killed.
Yang Mingzhi put away his gun and ordered the soldiers outside to keep an eye on Besica (Carambola) and not allow her to enter.
In the dim light it could be seen that the deceased was a young woman. "Obviously, the Germans had defiled her. These Germans also carved SS on her body," the soldier said.
Seeing all this, Yang Mingzhi only felt that his three views had been refreshed. Could it be that the German army could still be so cruel? It must be the SS who could do these things. He did not understand German, and this German word was definitely not a good word.
Yang Mingzhi ordered the soldiers to treat the deceased with dignity and put clothes on the body.
Outside, Yang Tao saw the soldiers pulling out a female corpse, and she understood why she was not allowed to enter.
Cruel memories replayed in the girl's mind. Both her parents were dead. She had experienced so many tragic things and now she had to face new ones.
Yang Mingzhi knew that his wife must be in a bad mood, but this was war. The Germans treated the people in the conquered areas, especially the Soviet citizens, completely as livestock or slaves.
The soldiers were still trying to find survivors until a soldier tapped the ground with the butt of his rifle and discovered the cellar.
A soldier staggered up to Yang Mingzhi, saluted and said: "Batalion Commander, we found a place where we can hide people!"
"Okay! I'll take a look at the way ahead."
When he arrived at that place, several soldiers had gathered. One soldier regretfully reported that the cellar was very strange. There was clearly a large space below, but the wooden board could not be opened.
"Is it locked?" Yang Mingzhi asked casually, and suddenly became alarmed. "There must be someone down here. Everyone pay attention, we will smash the board."
A soldier held the farmer's forest ax and smashed it more than a dozen times. The wooden board was smashed and the lock was removed. The soldier shouted into the cellar but there was no response.
"I guess he was frightened." Yang Mingzhi shrugged. There was no electric light in this dark cellar, and of course it was impossible to have one. He decided to go down to see for himself, and ordered someone to find a candle to light it, and then went down the ladder to the cellar.
This was a slightly larger space, but there was still some lack of oxygen. He felt a little tight in his chest. The air was a bit dirty, and there was even some odor here.
It smelled of feces and urine! Yang Mingzhi walked forward slowly and finally discovered the presence of people, two children. He hurriedly ordered the soldiers to come down, and finally the two children, a boy and a girl, were rescued from the cellar.