Suddenly I discovered that there are so many rewards, thank you all brothers for supporting me!
**********
Until he returned to the trench, Shulka could not recover from the mental struggle just now. He squatted in the trench in a daze, silently holding his gun in a daze.
"Hey, Shulka...Shulka?"
"Oh!" Shulka woke up only after Okunev shouted.
"Tell me about it!" Okunev asked impatiently: "Is there anything good you can do?"
"Oh, yes!" Shulka replied: "I became the monitor!"
"Squad leader? Are you the squad leader now?" Okunev's eyes widened, and several Soviet soldiers around him turned their heads and looked in this direction upon hearing this.
"Yes!" Shulka nodded.
"Great!" Okunev stood up immediately, then stood up and saluted Shulka: "Comrade squad leader, I'm waiting for your order!"
Then Okunev waved to the side again and said: "Hey, did you all hear it? Shulka is our squad leader!"
There was some reluctance on the faces of those soldiers, which may have something to do with Shulka's previous reputation.
Or maybe they thought Shulka just got lucky and made meritorious deeds.
Among them was especially the soldier wearing glasses. His cheeks were sunken, his nose was as abrupt as an eagle's beak, and a pair of glasses as thick as the bottom of a beer bottle sat on top. Sometimes Shulka wondered why he
will become a soldier.
However, the Red Star Medal hanging on his left chest shows that he is a veteran and has made meritorious service.
"Sorry, we haven't received the order yet!" the veteran replied coldly.
"Matvi!" Okunev said dissatisfied: "What is your attitude? Can you say this kind of thing casually, or do you want the major to come and tell you in person?"
"I still say the same thing, Okunev!" Matvey replied: "We did not receive the order!"
With that said, Matvei wiped the rifle in his hand as usual, and Shulka noticed that he could easily assemble the rifle without even lowering his head.
At this time, an officer wearing boots came over and shouted in this direction: "Squad one, Shulka will be your squad leader from now on!"
Then the officer nodded to Shulka again: "I will keep an eye on you, Shulka. You'd better let each of them blow up a tank like you, otherwise they will kick you to Siberia!"
"Yes, sir!" Shulka replied.
Later Shulka found out that this officer who always spoke with a hint of joking was his immediate superior, Second Platoon Commander Pukarev.
"Comrade monitor!"
"Comrade monitor!"
…
Several Soviet soldiers came up reluctantly and saluted Shulka one by one.
"Comrade Matvey!" Shulka called out to the veteran who was about to leave.
"Do you have any orders, comrade squad leader?" Although Matvey answered like this, his eyes were filled with disdain and even a bit of joking.
"Your Red Star Medal!" Shulka raised his head towards Matvey's left chest with an envious expression and asked, "Can you tell me its story?"
Shulka actually didn't want to hear the story.
But there was no way. He knew that if he wanted these subordinates to be obedient, he must first establish a good relationship with these veterans, because veterans have a certain reputation in the army. They do not need military ranks or positions, and soldiers will spontaneously favor them...
They have combat experience that others don't have.
When asked by Shulka, Matvey felt a little embarrassed.
"Well, this is nothing, comrade squad leader!" Matvey replied: "It was the Winter War. I discovered the enemy's night attack while standing guard, which saved our army from losses!" (Note: The Soviet army called Sufen
The war was the Winter War)
"Wow, you participated in the Winter War!" Shulka showed great interest. He moved a little bit and motioned for Matvey to sit down. He even called a few soldiers in the squad to form a circle.
"I think we should listen to Comrade Matvey's combat experience!" Shulka said: "Because this is likely to appear on future battlefields, and then this experience will save our lives!"
The soldiers all agreed with this. What they didn't know was that Shulka was actually using Matvey to make them obey him.
"It must have been a tough battle, wasn't it?" Shulka asked.
"Yes!" Mavit nodded, and after a moment of silence, he entered into memories: "We thought the war would end soon, and thought that the Finns would surrender to us in just a few days... But that was not the case. They
Instead of fighting us face to face, they used a small force to launch a sudden attack when we were not paying attention, and we suffered heavy casualties!"
"It seems different from the Germans!"
"Of course!" Mavit said: "The Germans are much more difficult to deal with than the Finns!"
At this point, Mavette stopped talking.
Everyone understands what Mavitt means: If the Finns inflict heavy casualties on the Soviet army, then the Germans will be much more difficult to deal with than the Finns...
This hit the soft spots hidden in the hearts of the soldiers. Everyone was more or less thinking about one question: Can they still go back alive?
"Don't worry!" Okunev said: "Tomorrow, tomorrow our troops will come back and rescue us! Right, Shulka?"
"Oh, yes...yes!" Shulka replied: "Tomorrow, hold on until tomorrow!"
This is not the truth, but Shulka was ordered not to tell the truth.
The reason is simple. If the soldiers know the truth, that is, the fortress has been surrounded, the Germans have already reached Slutsk or even Minsk soon, and there will be no reinforcements to save them, many soldiers will collapse.
This is understandable, and Shulka also believes that this approach is correct. After all, the vast majority of the Soviet troops in the fortress are new soldiers, and they do not have much mental endurance at all.
But at the same time, Shulka knew that this was not a long-term solution. If it was delayed day by day, the secret would eventually be revealed.
Matvey seemed to see something from Shulka's expression, but he said nothing.
This made Shulka feel relieved, because Matvey was already cooperating with him, which showed that what Shulka had just done was not in vain.
As night gradually fell, the surrounding area suddenly became quiet. The German army seemed to need a rest after a full day of intense attack, so they stopped the attack.
But that doesn't mean they will let the fortress go.
What will the future hold? Shulka doesn't know.
He only knew that although Major Gavrilov had interrogated the prisoners and believed that the situation in the fortress...from this aspect, a breakout was inevitable.
However, what Major Gavrilov believed was not important, what was important was the attitude of the instructor.