Yakov's body hung at the joint between the carriages. After successfully unhooking the carriage, he tried to climb onto the roof from the joint.
However, the guerrillas who caught up from behind shot him indiscriminately, and his body was hung by several ropes. The soldiers did not discover it until the end of the battle.
The soldiers untied his body from the rope and carried it flat in the carriage. They hoped to find some signs of life on Yakov. They even gave him first aid, but everything was obviously in vain.
"A brave sergeant!" Major Gavrilov said: "He completed his mission and saved us all!"
What Shulka thought of was what Yakov said not long ago: "I should thank you, Second Lieutenant, there are our families and our friends in Odessa, you saved them!"
It is true that Yakov did not lose his family and friends, but his family and friends lost him.
"Something's happening!" Major Gavrilov shouted at this time.
The soldiers, including Shulka, took up their weapons and prepared for battle at that moment, and several soldiers even climbed onto the roof of the carriage to take advantage of the vantage point.
Looking in the direction indicated by Gavrilov, I saw a few vague flashlight lights in front of the railway, and then suddenly disappeared... This is the correct approach, occasionally use the flashlight to observe the situation and then quickly turn it off to avoid
Become the target of your enemies.
"Maybe it's one of ours!" Shulka said.
Soviet troops were everywhere near the railway tracks. While resisting possible German attacks from the west, they were also responsible for protecting railways and roads.
"Yes!" Major Gavrilov nodded in agreement. The other party seemed to be a quality unit.
Then their suspicions were quickly confirmed, because screams were heard from the opposite side... It was from the wounded guerrillas, who had obviously been in close contact with bayonets.
When the opponent approached, Major Gavrilov revealed his identity.
"One of our own, I am Major Gavrilov! We were attacked by guerrillas! Which section are you from?"
"We are from the 25th Infantry Corps!" A voice shouted from the darkness on the other side: "I am Second Lieutenant Agrip! Are you safe there?"
"Yes, safe!" Major Gavrilov replied: "They were beaten away by us!"
The Soviet troops on the opposite side stood up one by one and turned on their flashlights.
They were a little cautious at first, but when they saw the corpses around the carriage and the military uniforms of Shulka and others, they were completely convinced.
This caution is necessary, after all, it is a rainy night, and the enemy is the Ukrainian rebels who also speak Russian.
"Comrade Major!" Lieutenant Agrip stepped forward and saluted Major Gavrilov, and then asked: "Where are the rest of you? Have you gone after those traitors?"
"Others?" Major Gavrilov didn't understand what Second Lieutenant Agrip meant.
"It's the others!" Lieutenant Agrip said: "You know, misunderstandings can easily occur in the dark. I need to know their location, otherwise it will be bad if there is a fight. I mean... I'm worried that we will
Defeat your men as enemies!"
The Soviet soldiers behind Agripp laughed in unison.
Major Gavrilov replied calmly: "No, Second Lieutenant. We have no one else!"
Lieutenant Agrip's smile froze on his face, and he asked: "Comrade Major, what do you mean there is no one else?"
"No one else means it, just all of us here!"
"Everyone else died?"
"You can put it this way!" Major Gavrilov replied: "Our total force has one platoon, which is divided into three parts: the front, the rear, and the middle of the car. The comrades at the front and rear should have died. The platoon leader
Master Yakov also died heroically, and everyone else is here..."
"You mean..." Second Lieutenant Agrip swallowed hard: "Your total strength is only one platoon?"
"Is there any problem?" Major Gavrilov asked.
"No, there's no problem!" Lieutenant Agrip replied.
But this was obviously not the case, because the eyes of Second Lieutenant Agrip and the soldiers behind him showed shock, and some even looked disbelieving and thought this was a lie.
Among them was an officer next to Second Lieutenant Agrip.
"No, this is impossible!" It was a sergeant, probably the deputy company commander: "Major, do you know how many corpses are here?"
"No, I don't know!" Major Gavrilov replied: "We are only focused on fighting, and we don't have time to count the bodies... Besides, isn't that what you should do?"
Major Gavrilov's last taunting words were obviously in reply to Lieutenant Agrip's provocative words just now, because the major stared at Major Agrip when he said this.
"There are more than a hundred corpses and wounded, Major!" the sergeant said, "Of course this is not an exact number. If we include those who escaped, I think there should be two hundred of them!"
"Oh, really?" Major Gavrilov pretended to have a helpless expression, then looked at Shulka and said, "Shulka, why are you so careless... Look, you killed so many people.
people!"
"It's not my fault, Major!" Shulka joked in a cooperative manner: "I think most of them are here to move supplies, that's why they don't fight."
After saying that, Shulka turned back to look at the soldiers behind him and asked: "Do you think so, comrades?"
"Yes, of course!" The soldiers said something to each other and boasted:
"There are more than two hundred of them? I wouldn't believe it even if they were killed!"
"I'm just warming up!"
"These guerrillas must go to the battlefield hungry!"
…
These words only made Second Lieutenant Agrip and his subordinates' faces turn red and white.
Maybe they still couldn't believe that all this was true, but the corpses everywhere in front of them forced them to believe it.
Finally, Major Gavrilov didn’t want to delay like this any longer, so he asked Second Lieutenant Agrip: “How would you usually deal with such a situation?”
"How to deal with what?" Second Lieutenant Agrip asked: "You mean those guerrillas?"
"No, I mean the train!" said Major Gavrilov. "When will it start running again?"
"I don't think it can start, Comrade Major!" Lieutenant Agrip replied: "They killed the driver and then threw an explosive package into the locomotive!"
"What's next?" Major Gavrilov said, "You can't just leave us all here, can you?"
Lieutenant Agrip said "Oh" and then replied: "We will push the locomotive to the side of the road, repair the railway, and at the same time send a locomotive from Kiev..."