The Zhurav Air Raid Shelter was used to store a large amount of military supplies due to an accident.
Shulka visited the Brest Fortress in modern times, and he remembered that the tour guide once told such a story:
"Before the war broke out, a batch of supplies was delivered to the Kobrin Fortress. But because it was late at night and Captain Herzsky, who was in charge of the warehouse, went to Brest for vacation, the auto soldiers drove the car with the supplies into Zhurav.
The air-raid shelter was temporarily parked, ready to be moved into the warehouse the next day... No one knew about this batch of supplies, and it was not until Major Gavrilov retreated here that he wanted to use this air-raid shelter to hide.
But by then it was too late, Major Gavrilov’s troops had less than a hundred men left!”
With Shulka here at this time, of course he would not let this happen.
"I'm pretty sure there's no water there!" Matvey insisted, "especially that air-raid shelter, they've even become the 372nd Regiment's toilet!"
A few soldiers snickered.
"I'm pretty sure there is water there, Comrade Matvey!" Shulka insisted: "What's more, even if there is no water there, what loss do we have? The biggest loss is to complete the task later, don't you think?
"
After hearing this, Matvey stopped talking.
"Take me there, Comrade Matvey!" Shulka ordered: "If the platoon leader punishes us for this, I bear all the responsibility, and I will say that I ordered you to go!"
"Yes, comrade platoon leader!" Matvey responded helplessly, then turned to the right and rear and said: "We should go in this direction, but we must be careful, because the sentries may think we are deserters!"
Walking backward will indeed be considered a deserter, and usually there is no excuse. Shulka has learned this before.
However, this did not make Shulka change his mind. He insisted that Matvey lead the way.
As Shulka and his party were heading towards the Zhurav air raid shelter, there was a burst of fierce gunfire behind them, which was a German machine gun.
Apparently, there was something wrong with the other two classes getting water.
"What are you doing, Shulka?" Okunev ran to Shulka and said in a low voice: "Maybe you are right, fetching water is indeed dangerous. But you should know that you did not perform the task but chose to hide.
Get up, this may be more dangerous!"
"Don't worry, Okunev!" Shulka said: "Things are not what you think, I am just performing my mission!"
The Zhurav air raid shelter is a bit far away, but Matvey is very familiar with the terrain. Although his eyesight is poor, as he said, he can walk twice in the fortress even with his eyes closed.
This may not be bragging, because the visibility is very poor that night without stars and moon, and Okunev, who is also familiar with the terrain, sometimes hesitates, but Matvey's footsteps do not stop at all... He has a map in his mind
, he even knew where there was a Soviet outpost and how to avoid it.
Twenty minutes later, the group arrived at the Zhurav air raid shelter.
"This is it!" Matvey said and raised his head forward. He was a little surprised when he found that the iron door was locked.
"Strange!" Matvey said: "It's usually not locked!"
"Maybe they knew the Germans were coming!" Okunev said.
Matvey found a stone from the side and was about to throw it at the lock, but was blocked by Shulka.
"Don't do that!" Shulka said. "It will make a lot of noise. They might think we are Germans!"
Matvey couldn't help but glance at Shulka in surprise, with a bit of embarrassment on his face... As a veteran, he didn't expect this.
"Let me try!" A private named Fovalikov volunteered and squeezed forward.
"How to try?" Shulka asked.
Vovalkov didn't say anything. He took out a piece of wire from his hand like a magic trick, put it into the keyhole and tinkered with it for a while. Within a few seconds, he heard a crisp "cough" sound from the lock.
.
"Wow, Fovalikov!" The soldiers, including Shulka, looked at him with admiration. Only Matvey had a strange expression on his face, but said nothing.
Later Shulka found out that Fovalikov's move just now revealed his identity unintentionally... He was a thief. In the past, soldiers often lost this and that for no reason, including Matvey.
.
When I opened the iron door, just as Matvey said, a foul smell hit my nose.
Although they knew there could be no one inside, the group still held up their guns and carefully divided into two rows and walked inside against the wall.
It was very spacious inside, but it was so dark that nothing could be seen until Okunev turned on a flashlight.
Then……
"God, what is this?" Okunev couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's a car, a car with stuff in it!"
This is obvious, because the back compartment of the car is piled high, and although they are all wrapped in military green canvas, you can still see the protruding edges of the boxes.
Matvey looked at Shulka in surprise, then ran up a few steps, pulled out the spurs, cut the rope tied to the canvas, and then lifted it hard, and a cart full of supplies appeared in front of everyone.
"Open it and take a look, Matvey!" Okunev couldn't wait any longer. If he hadn't been holding a flashlight, he would have done it himself.
In fact, there was no need for Okunev to say anything. Matvey had already taken action. He moved a box in and then used a spur to pry open the lid of the box. It turned out to be a mortar.
"Great!" Matvey said: "This is a batch of munitions, we are short of these things!"
"Here is the food!" Vovalkov shouted from the other side: "A whole cart of bread!"
"There is water here!" Another soldier shouted: "Oh my God, there is vodka. Comrade the squad leader is right, we are in the right place!"
"There are more than twenty cars!" Okunev counted them generously, and then exclaimed: "This is simply a treasure trove!"
…
Okunev is right, this is indeed a treasure trove.
In war years, especially when surrounded by enemies and severely short of supplies and ammunition, nothing is as important as these supplies.
So the soldiers couldn't help cheering, and some of them even picked up the bread and took a big bite.
Shulka should have stopped them, because this is the property of the army, and even if he is discovered first, he cannot get the first win. As the squad leader, Shulka has the obligation to stop them, and he can even do some ideological work on them.
.
But Shulka didn't do this. Not only did he not do this, he also joined in... Who cares, if he hadn't discovered these things by himself, everyone would still be hungry, so what if he took a few bites?!