"Private!" the instructor objected: "I must remind you that we just repelled the enemy from this distance..."
"That was just a tentative attack by the enemy, Comrade Artu!" the major interrupted the instructor: "They don't have enough troops!"
Since the major said this, the instructor did not dare to say anything more.
"What's your name, Private?" The major turned his attention to Shulka.
"Uh, Shulka, comrade major!"
"So, Shulka!" asked the major, "at what distance do you think we should fight the enemy?"
"500 meters!" Shulka replied without thinking: "This is the farthest range of the enemy's 50mm mortars. Their mortars and submachine guns cannot work!"
The major thought for a while, then nodded and said: "You are right, Shulka, I will consider this suggestion!"
With that said, the major patted Shulka on the shoulder and left.
The instructor glared at Shulka, as if he wanted to find some other excuse to punish Shulka, but he hesitated and finally gave up.
After the instructor left, the bearded man breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Do you know how lucky you are?"
"What?" Shulka didn't understand how this could be called lucky.
"Transporting ammunition..." Big Beard said: "You will be the first target of German aircraft!"
Then Shulka understood that this was not the most dangerous place.
After being stunned for a while, Shulka asked the bearded man in a low voice: "That major, who is he?"
The reason why he asked in a low voice was because Shulka was worried that the major might be a very familiar person and it would be strange to ask him.
Fortunately, there was nothing unusual on the bearded face. He squatted on the ground rolling tobacco with an old newspaper and replied nonchalantly: "The commander of the 44th Regiment, Comrade Gavrilov, was the one who organized the troops to keep fighting!
"
Shulka's head exploded when he heard the name.
Shulka has heard of this name in modern times, a legendary figure... In the early days of the Soviet-German War, when other Soviet troops were defeated, he led the remaining soldiers to hold on to the Brest Fortress for a month.
"Is this the Brest Fortress?" Shulka asked again.
At this time, the bearded man looked at Shulka in surprise.
"I said, Comrade Shulka!" the bearded man said: "You won't even forget who I am!"
Shulka really didn't know who the bearded man was.
But this is easy to explain, such as being injured by a shell in the brain, so Shulka soon learned that the bearded man was Okunev, Shulka's fellow countryman, and they joined the army together for training and became glorious soldiers.
An infantryman.
As for Shulka himself...he can find out from the Red Army ID card.
Shulka took out the Soviet soldier's ID card from his coat pocket. It was a small booklet with a kraft paper cover, and a red five-pointed star printed on the first page.
According to Okunev, a soldier will receive such a Soviet soldier's card after completing basic training and must carry it with him at all times.
Opening it casually, the first page contains information such as names.
The strange thing is that the place where the photo should be posted is blank.
Later, Shulka learned that this was actually normal... The Soviet army had a chaotic management, and many people were unable to take photos during the war. Until the end of the war, there was still no guarantee that such documents would have photos.
Shulka looked at the soldier's ID card in a daze. He knew it was like a modern ID card, but it was hard to imagine that the ID cards of this era would be so rough. It's no wonder that German spies easily sneaked into the Soviet army.
What makes Shulka even more lamented is that he will exist in this capacity in the future and will have no choice.
At this time, someone suddenly shouted: "Airplane, air defense siren!"
The piercing air defense sirens soon sounded over the trenches, but before anyone else could react, the German "Stuka" bombers descended from the ground with their unique roar.
There was another violent tremor, and then German artillery fire also joined the bombing. Shock waves and heat waves came one after another towards Shulka's position.
However, there was not much danger in the trench where Shulka was located.
As mentioned before, the German attack just now was a fire reconnaissance, so they focused their bombing on a four-story building behind the trench... The Soviet army deployed many firepower points there, and even placed several firepower points on several window frames.
Mark heavy machine guns and sandbags were used to transform it into a bunker, which obviously caused a lot of trouble for the German army.
As a result, aerial bombs fell from the sky and slammed into the building, including many "bombs" that would not explode.
Later, Shulka learned that those were actually not bombs, but oil barrels filled with gasoline... At this time, the Luftwaffe did not have special incendiary bombs. In order to better blow up or burn down buildings, they often fired them at targets.
Throw the gasoline barrel and set it on fire with cannon fire or bombs.
This approach was very effective, because there were bright red flames in the artillery fire, and the surrounding area of the building was soon engulfed in a sea of fire and thick smoke. The fire then ignited the combustible materials in the room and even detonated the ammunition stored by the Soviet army and spread everywhere.
spread.
As a result, a hell-like tragic scene unfolded in front of Shulka: upstairs and downstairs, there were Soviet soldiers ignited by flames. They shouted hysterically, some ran, some jumped, and some
He simply jumped down from the building waving his arms full of flames.
They hope to end their pain in this way, but only some of them can achieve their goals... The floor is too low, and more people fall into more intense flames after jumping down.
Some people seem to want to rush out of the sea of fire, but this approach is obviously futile. The flames are entangled around them like demons, tearing them apart until they are dragged into endless pain and bottomless abyss.
At this time, a "Stuka" swooped in with a sharp roar, and it accurately dropped an aerial bomb on the side of the building... The bomb passed through the wall from the second floor of the building and then hit it hard.
On the load-bearing beams on the first floor, Shulka could even see the splashing cement all around.
With a loud "boom", the entire floor exploded into a ball of flames, wood chips, glass, and even the entire wooden door were blown outward.
The building held on for a while amid the flames and thick smoke, like an old man who had lost his crutches, trembling and swaying, and finally collapsed from bottom to top and turned into a pile of ruins.
"Prepare to fight!" orders came from the soldiers' mouths one after another.
Only then did Shulka realize that this bombing was actually what is often called "fire preparation."