Chapter 397 What is the purpose of being a soldier
With a medal hanging on her chest, Natasha was extremely confident. She took long strides forward, as if the fatigue from the previous battle had been swept away.
The whole team was also in high spirits because of the award, because after contacting the Tchaikov guerrillas, Lyudbarov revealed some details about the troops in the southern swamps. Many fighting heroes emerged among those friendly troops, and even
Even children have received military honors.
Unexpectedly, the legendary sniper actually fought alongside everyone. Some curious soldiers frequently followed Natasha to take a closer look at her appearance and her strange weapons. Some were even willing to help her carry and prepare them.
Facing these, Natasha kindly refused.
She did not get carried away because of the medal. After all, in her mind, only receiving the Gold Star Medal and being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union were her ultimate goals.
Everyone was walking very fast all morning, and Balzen didn't want to stop anymore. It would be better to hurry up while everyone was still momentum.
It wasn't until one o'clock in the afternoon that the leader Balzen stretched out his right fist: "Stop the whole army and rest where you are!"
The soldiers stopped one after another. After Igor put down his heavy luggage, he began to prepare dry food for dinner. He wanted to prepare two portions, a canned meat and a small bag of bread crumbs, and handed them to Natasha, and said: "No.
Hurry up and eat some, we'll be marching all afternoon!"
The whole army stopped to rest and eat, and Balzen decided to distribute some high-quality military rations to women and children. This decision aroused the opposition of many guerrilla fighters.
The soldiers of the reconnaissance company were ordered to take away some military rations from the guerrilla fighters. In fact, these foods were not carried by them for a long time. After the battle, all the soldiers began to search for loot. The soldiers of the reconnaissance company paid attention to collecting ammunition, while others, they
Pay more attention to food supplies.
There were biscuits and bread cubes among the military rations on the corpses of the Germans. These pastas were already too precious, and the guerrilla fighters took them for themselves without hesitation. They had not eaten these for a long time, and of course they had to enjoy them after the team rested. As a result, the reconnaissance
The people from the company actually asked everyone to hand it over.
A dispute broke out, and it was even one step away from a fight.
Seeing the commotion, Balzen also hurriedly went to the two groups of people who were at war with each other to check on the situation. Soon, Tchaikov and Lyudbarev also came.
"You all calm down, it's just because of the food, don't cause any trouble." Chaikov tried hard to appease his men, and then he separated the two groups. Balzen also restrained his soldiers and ordered them not to show disdain.
expression.
Tchaikov knew the whole situation. A soldier told him: "We haven't had decent food for a long time. We have been tired of eating potatoes and tree bark for a long time! We finally got the bread cubes, why?
Give it to those people. They didn’t participate in the battle!”
This is actually what Chaikov wanted to say. Taking this opportunity, he said sincerely to Balzen: "Comrade, you have also seen that our soldiers speak from the bottom of their hearts. I very much hope that my soldiers can have a good meal."
Okay, our army is no more self-reliant than your 284th Division, and for a long time we have almost reached the point of eating grass. It is not too much for the soldiers to eat a piece of bread and biscuits, why do you have to take these seizures away from them?"
"Because we are soldiers!" Balzen raised his chest with his hands behind his back, and two medals hanging on his chest made him more confident!
He continued: "Comrade Chaikov, think about why you joined the army. You are still a political commissar, and then think carefully about your position. As soldiers, we must protect our country, our land, and our people.
It is also to protect our women and children. Now ask yourself, is it wrong for me to order the soldiers to distribute the rations seized from the Germans to them?"
"But if the soldiers starve, how can we win the war? If the soldiers fail, the outcome will be total death in battle, and women and children will also be killed by the enemy." Chaikov retorted.
Balzen didn't want to hear this, because judging from this sentence, what is the quality of this man? Could it be that he went deep behind enemy lines as a political commissar and simply directed the guerrillas to fight instead of protecting the civilians of his country?
Seeing that this man was a little unhappy, Tchaikov lowered his head and said slowly: "In yesterday's battle, I lost nearly half of my people. These precious grains were obtained with the blood of soldiers. The surviving soldiers will eat them."
, maybe there will be sacrifices in new battles. Sometimes we may have to face some very bad realities. In the current situation of lack of supplies, shouldn’t we save the troops first?”
Balzen could still recall words similar to these. They were spoken by Yelentina a long time ago. At that time, this woman was as stubborn as a bull and resolutely carried out tasks regardless of the actual situation. The result of this dogmatism was naturally a failure.
, she was also forced to move in with the 284th Division.
Balzen frowned and responded seriously: "We are human beings, not beasts like the Nazis. Besides, look at our reconnaissance company also bringing out its own food, why can't you show something. I'm not asking you to
Hand over all the food! Women and children are the future of the country. You men can bear to let them go hungry? As for our wounded soldiers, they should eat better! We have lost too many people, from a military point of view
It is said that long-distance marches are no problem for professional soldiers, but what about them?
Women and children must eat this meal well. You and your soldiers should not question anything. We will be marching in the next few days. The weakest of them cannot get enough food. How can they maintain good physical strength? They will march further and further.
Slow down, slowing down the entire team. Unless we abandon them cruelly! Is this what you want?"
Militarily and morally, Balzen criticized Tchaikov. This situation is not surprising, because the Soviet authorities trained a large number of "guerrilla warfare experts" who were first infinitely loyal to the Bolsheviks, so that they were believed to be able to fight against the Bolsheviks.
Guerrilla warfare was carried out in complex occupied areas. At the beginning, guerrilla warfare was carried out according to regular warfare, making each guerrilla group more like a regular force that had penetrated behind enemy lines. After all, the tactics were the same.
Guerrilla warfare did not immediately turn into a full-scale people's war. Some people in the occupied areas had already armed themselves, but it was ineffective due to the lack of leadership. The truly large-scale troops and soldiers often came from scattered Soviet stragglers and those who escaped from prisoner-of-war camps.
Composed of warriors. The way they obtain supplies is usually through forced requisition or robbery.
These women and children who are attached to Tchaikov's guerrilla brigade just want to survive. In fact, they are very satisfied with a little food, but the long march makes them miserable. Everyone knows that once they fall behind, they will
Be the first to freeze to death.
Balzen saw this and after reprimanding Chaikov, he finally ordered: "I am the commander of this return operation recognized by Commander Gomel, and you also admit it. Now execute according to my plan
!”
Lyudbarev's position at this time was completely on Balzen's side. He patted Chaikov on the shoulder: "Everything will be carried out according to his orders. When we arrive at the station of the 284th Division, your soldiers will naturally
If you get high-quality supplies, why do you have to worry about the little food in your hand?"
Tchaikov nodded, he really shouldn't create any conflicts.
The guerrilla fighters were ordered to bring out some grains, seized bread cubes, biscuits, and even some cans. Together with the military rations provided by the reconnaissance company, there was still a lot of food to distribute to the weakest people, at least each person could eat half a piece.
full.
After this episode, the women and children finally ate high-quality food, including the "young soldiers" who temporarily took up arms. Tears filled their eyes and their mouths were filled with excited words.
In fact, the questions Balzen just asked were undoubtedly like knives, piercing the soldier's heart.
What we are fighting for, in the final analysis, is not for our compatriots. It is really wrong to throw women and children into dire straits just so that we can evacuate safely.
Everyone continued to eat, and Balzen no longer struggled with this. He spread out the map on the ground, calculated the wrong progress, and determined the direction of travel with the compass, and estimated his position. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it seemed that
The troops are almost reaching the Dnieper River!
"There are about ten kilometers left. I didn't expect to walk so far in one morning!" He immediately called Tchaikov and Lyudbalev to report the good news!
"There are only ten kilometers left. We may be able to reach the riverside as soon as the sun sets." Lyudbarev couldn't help but think of it, because in the communication with the 284th Division, whether we can reach the Dnieper River is the key to this operation. "As long as we can reach the Dnieper River."
We go south along this river and will soon reach the swamp!"
"That's right." Balzen looked at the two of them with a smile, especially for Chaikov. "Please continue to appease the soldiers about what happened just now. We will go south along the Dnieper River, and our 284th Division's large troops
We are also heading north to meet you. When we join forces, your soldiers will be able to eat beef jerky and bread cubes!"
This is really exciting news. Chaikov nodded: "I will tell everyone right away, what should we do next?"
"Of course, we sent out the leading soldiers to investigate first, and then we moved on. Thank God, those women and children had a good meal, and they must have the strength to continue moving forward. When we reached the river, we set up camp. Maybe it was still evening, and we could even catch fish. At night
Let’s light the bonfire again and let’s eat grilled fish!” Balzen said confidently. (To be continued.) 8