The church was built very solidly, and it stood firm under such circumstances, but it only lasted for a moment. Just when everyone was breathing a sigh of relief, they saw the church collapse from bottom to top, and the topmost spire fell to the ground.
At that time, it even vaguely remained standing in the ruins.
As soon as the church fell, the Soviet troops attacking on the other side lost their cover, so shells roared into the river one after another, and then bursts of water pillars burst into the sky amidst bursts of roars.
The originally very calm Bug River was suddenly filled with "turbulent waves". Some rafts were directly blown to pieces by cannonballs, some were shaken to pieces by shock waves, and others were overturned... After a while, the river was full of waves.
They were all corpses, fragments of rafts, and injured soldiers struggling to cry for help.
Major Gavrilov tried to organize a rescue of soldiers, but the sound of gunfire and artillery quickly stopped them.
When the sound of cannons stopped, the entire river turned red, and only a dozen of the two hundred people who had good water ability swam back with injuries.
At this time, there were many lights of cars and motorcycles on the other side... It was obvious that another batch of German reinforcements had arrived, and they further strengthened the defenses along the coast.
"Retreat!" Major Gavrilov ordered loudly.
Retreating is of course the right thing to do. It is no longer possible to break out from here in this situation. Any attempt is a waste of life.
but……
Where can we retreat to?
At this time, even the Kobrin Fortress was occupied by the German army. In other words, the Soviet army was firmly surrounded in the central fortress and was unable to move.
The basement of the Officers' Club is one of the three basements in the central fortress that can hide from shells.
The air was filled with the smell of fear and blood. The human-powered generator was buzzing not far away, causing the only chandelier in the basement to flicker on and off to illuminate the nearby Soviet soldiers...
The faces of the soldiers were full of despair. They all knew that it was basically impossible to break out of the encirclement now, so they were all silent and thinking about their thoughts. The only sounds were the orders of the doctors at the temporary hospital in the deepest part and the shouts of the wounded.
There was a table directly under the chandelier. Political Commissar Fumin was pacing back and forth in front of the table, while Major Gavrilov was quietly staring at the map on the table, as if trying to find a way out of the map.
Shulka leaned against the wall holding his rifle tightly.
Shulka couldn't imagine that he always thought that he could lead his comrades out of here with his advanced knowledge, but he didn't expect that various unexpected situations would make things worse... If it was like before, Gavri
Major Love's troops are holding on to the Kobrin Fortress, and Commissar Fomin's troops can hold on to the central fortress for a while longer. After all, there is more space for the two fortresses to respond to each other.
But now, more than a thousand people, including family members, are all surrounded in the central fortress, and even basic food and drinking water are a problem.
"Shulka!" Major Gavrilov called after a long time.
Okunev touched Shulka, who was in a daze, and Shulka came to his senses. He hurriedly responded and ran to the major.
"Sorry, Major!" Shulka said: "The plan failed, and it was all my fault!"
"No, Shulka!" Major Gavrilov replied: "This has nothing to do with you!"
Seeing Commissar Fomin's confused eyes, Major Gavrilov explained: "This is the soldier who made the breakout plan!"
Political Commissar Fuming said "Oh", then stepped forward to straighten Shulka's collar, patted his shoulder and encouraged: "Major is right, Comrade Shulka, this has nothing to do with you. You make the decision
The plan was very good, and we almost succeeded...it failed only because we got a shameful traitor!"
"Don't worry, Shulka!" Major Gavrilov said: "I didn't call you here to hold you accountable, I just wanted to know if you have a backup plan!"
Shulka shook his head helplessly.
Strictly speaking, Shulka is not a soldier, let alone a qualified commander, so he will not think in advance what to do if any situation arises, as Major Gavrilov thought.
In fact, Major Gavrilov was also acting as a doctor, and he knew very well that there could be no plan in this situation.
"There is no other way out than to hold on!" Political Commissar Fu Ming said.
Major Gavrilov nodded in agreement.
In fact, what should be done in this case is to surrender... There is no point in continuing to fight, except for the death of more people on both sides.
But they are Soviet troops, and the Soviet troops are never allowed to discuss the option of "surrender" at any time.
At this time, a German voice amplified with a loudspeaker came from outside the basement:
"Soviet soldiers, put down your weapons and surrender, we will ensure your safety. Otherwise, I guarantee that more 'super bombs' will be launched on your heads, giving you one hour..."
"Bang" a gunshot sounded, coming from the basement.
Looking in the direction of the gunfire, a soldier committed suicide with a rifle. Because the rifle was too long, he even pulled the trigger with his foot. He also held a bloody photo in his hand.
"What's going on?" Political Commissar Fuming couldn't help but jump up, and then shouted angrily at several soldiers nearby: "Why didn't you stop him?!"
"Comrade Political Commissar, we did not realize that he wanted to do this!"
"We thought he was just getting up and stretching!"
…
This is indeed not their fault. If they are determined to commit suicide, there is nothing they can do to stop it.
From this, we can also see how desperate they are. Being slowly tortured by despair is the most difficult thing, so some people choose to end it.
"Don't do this!" Major Gavrilov ordered: "This is an escape. Even if we die, we will fight with the enemy until the end. Soldiers should die under the enemy's gun, at least kill a few enemies! Understand.
?"
"Yes, Comrade Major!"
The soldiers answered one after another.
But these words cannot have much effect, because everyone knows in their hearts that these will be meaningless after death.
Just when Major Gavrilov was about to walk back, someone raised objections.
"I cannot agree, Comrade Major! Let me end this like him!"
Following the sound, I saw the wounded lying on the ground.
Major Gavrilov couldn't help but be stunned. If there was still a glimmer of hope for others, or if they could fight to the end and kill a few more enemies, then there was no hope for these wounded.
Major Gavrilov looked at the military doctor, who shook his head slightly.
There is a lack of medicines and medical equipment, and there is nothing the military doctors can do.
There is only one outcome for the wounded, which is to suffer torture and then die.