Shurka soon discovered that the problems he faced were far more than these.
Dinner is still mashed potatoes, and the amount is smaller than at noon. In addition, each person is given a biscuit, which is only a small piece three fingers wide. If you have a big mouth, you can only take one bite.
"Is there more food?" Shulka couldn't help but ask: "We are all hungry!"
When I was fighting before, maybe it was because of the effect of adrenaline hormones that I didn't feel hungry at all. Now, as soon as the battlefield quieted down and my muscles relaxed, I immediately felt like my chest was pressed against my back and I was so hungry.
At this time, Shulka certainly didn't care whether the food would suit his appetite. He even believed that he could eat a bucket...if the cook was willing to give him a bucket.
"I think so, comrade!" the cook replied: "If you can give me more potatoes, I can give you more food!"
The soldiers couldn't help but burst into laughter, and someone responded: "If there's no food, let's have some vodka!"
"You can go there and look for it..." The cook soldier raised his head towards the ruins and broken bricks at the rear and replied: "If you are lucky, you can dig some food out of it!
"Forget it!" the soldiers replied angrily: "The only things you can find in that place are corpses and rats!"
The situation was like this. The Soviet army, which was unprepared for this war, stored all its supplies in warehouses. These warehouses were blown up or burned down by German bombers at the beginning of the war.
In addition to food, ammunition and water are also lacking.
The latter may sound a bit strange. The Brest Fortress was built at the confluence of two rivers, and each sub-fortress is surrounded by artificially dug rivers. There is actually a shortage of water.
But this is actually normal. After the water pipes were blown out during the bombing, there was no water available, and the area near the river was occupied by the Germans... So the Soviet army could only wait in the dark with helmets and buckets to get water from the river.
Fortunately at first, the German army had not discovered the problem of the Soviet army's water shortage. At the same time, they thought they could quickly capture the fortress in a short time, so they did not implement a targeted blockade.
Two days later, due to reports from captured Soviet soldiers, the German army quickly deployed machine guns and artillery fire by the river. This caused the Soviet soldiers to pay with their lives for every sip of water they drank, almost in exchange for their blood.
At this time, with a short whistle, platoon leader Pukarev shouted from a dozen meters away: "Second platoon gather!"
The entire platoon of thirty soldiers jumped up from the ground and got into formation.
"Our mission!" Pukarev raised his head to the side of the trench, where there was a pile of buckets.
"Just go to the river to get some water!" Pukarev ordered: "The wounded and the Maxim machine guns are waiting for water. Be careful not to let the Germans discover it, otherwise they will fill you with bullets or grenades.
of iron barrels!”
"Yes, comrade platoon leader!" the soldiers replied.
After disbanding, everyone received an iron bucket from the deputy platoon leader... In fact, a plastic bucket should be used to perform this task.
But firstly, the Soviet Union was completely unprepared, and secondly, the Soviet Union's heavy industry was developed but its light industry was very backward, so it mostly used iron barrels.
This made Shulka feel very embarrassed, because whenever he moved, the iron bucket in his hand would make a "clang, clang, clang, clang" sound, which was obviously telling the Germans his position.
Before departure, the platoon leader summoned several squad leaders for a short meeting.
"There are probably Germans near the river or on the opposite side, so we should act separately!" Pukarev said: "Class 1 will go to this location, on the right side of the dormitory, Class 2 will go to the cafeteria, and Class 3 will go to the direction of the church!"
Pukarev's decision was certainly correct. Crowding in one place to get water was causing trouble for himself.
The problem is...
"But comrade platoon leader, where is the dormitory?" Shulka asked.
Pukarev looked at Shulka blankly, and the other two squad leaders couldn't help but laugh.
"God, Shulka!" Pukarev said: "Your head will not be blown up by German shells, right? The dormitory... the place where we sleep, although it is now a pile of ruins, but you also
It’s not like you don’t know its location!”
"Oh, yes, I know where it is!" Shulka lied. He really shouldn't know where he usually sleeps.
"Let's go!" Pukarev ordered.
"yes!"
Several squad leaders responded and led their men along the communication ditch towards the target, but Shulka was stopped after taking only a few steps.
"Where are you going, Shulka?" Pukarev asked angrily.
"Go get water, comrade platoon leader!" Shulka replied.
"But the dormitory is over here!" Pukarev raised his head towards the traffic trench in the other direction, with a helpless expression on his face.
"Oh, yes! Over here!" Shulka quickly led his men to change directions.
Pukarev looked at the back of Shulka and his group as they left, and couldn't help but shook his head: "It's unbelievable, he was the one who blew up the enemy tank... Now it seems that he didn't drop the incendiary bomb on us.
Consider yourself lucky!”
Shulka actually asked Okunev to lead the way to find the dormitory. Okunev was used to this. He even believed that Shulka had a slight concussion during the battle or something else that could not be seen on the surface.
of injuries.
After arriving at the dormitory, Shulka found that the situation was not good, because there were two searchlights shining back and forth on the other side of the river, and there were also the faint sounds of some German soldiers talking.
"There are Germans!" Matvey said. "This doesn't look like a suitable water point!"
"We should change a place!" Okunev agreed: "It's too dangerous here!"
So several soldiers turned their attention to Shulka, but Shulka didn't seem to be listening to their discussion at all.
"Comrade squad leader, comrade squad leader?" Okunev secretly touched Shulka with his elbow.
"What?" Shulka finally brought his attention back.
"We are discussing whether to find another place to get water!" Okunev said: "What do you think?"
"Oh, yes, of course we have to change places!" Shulka replied.
"Then..." Matvey said: "We should go downstream along the river bank and look for loopholes in the German blockade!"
"I agree!"
"I agree!"
…
As mentioned before, Matvey is a veteran and has a considerable status in the army.
"Comrade squad leader!" Matvey asked, "Where are your orders?"
"Does any of you know where the Zhurav air raid shelter is?" Shulka asked.
"Of course!" Matvey replied.
"We should go there!" Shulka said.
"Go there?" Matvey couldn't help but ask doubtfully: "But it is an abandoned air raid shelter, and it is in the middle of the fortress, there will be no water there!"