Leading these dozen female dependents was a young female officer named Agata...Shulka recognized her as a chief sergeant from her military rank.
Perhaps noncommissioned officers cannot be called officers in the armies of other countries, but in the Soviet army, they can command a platoon or even a company.
Needless to say, the reason was that Soviet officers suffered a large loss for some reason before the war, so that Gavrilov was only a major and could serve as regimental commander, which is generally required in other armies.
At this time, Agata was discussing something with the platoon leader Pukarev, and then Pukarev impatiently shouted to Shulka who was more than ten meters away:
"Shulka!" Pukarev raised his head towards the female relatives: "I'll give you a task to be responsible for their safety!"
"What?" Shulka couldn't help but be startled when he heard this.
If he read correctly, these female relatives were all armed. They all had pistols or even rifles in their hands, and they did not need protection at all.
But Pukarev couldn't help but ordered: "Leave them to you!"
"Yes, comrade platoon leader!" Shulka replied.
The female officer walked towards Shulka generously, extended her hand and introduced herself: "My name is Agata!"
Shulka saluted Agata and replied: "My name is Shulka, sir!"
Agata couldn't help laughing: "You'd better forget the superior-subordinate relationship, Shulka! Otherwise it will be difficult for you to perform your mission!"
This is another point that puzzles Shulka. Agata has a higher military rank than Shulka. Logically speaking, Shulka should obey Agata's orders.
Seeing Shulka's puzzled expression, Agata explained: "Don't doubt it, Shulka, I manage the library and I have never used it before..."
As she spoke, Agata leaned the rifle in her hand against the wall, then sat down and asked her subordinates to do the same.
Agata looked young, in her early twenties, with short hair. She looked very energetic in a military uniform, at least much better than those female relatives who used holes in their sheets as clothes.
"I don't understand!" Shulka said: "Why does the platoon leader look like that? He's like..."
"Dump us like a pile of trash?" Agata laughed and asked, "Do you have any cigarettes?"
Shulka turned his attention to Okunev, who spread his hands. He had used up all his cigarettes before the war.
"Forget it!" Agata sighed: "Let's put it this way, Shulka! Your mission is not actually responsible for our safety, but at the last moment... you understand!"
A look of fear appeared on Shulka's face.
Of course he understood what this meant, but if he was asked to point the gun at these women's heads and pull the trigger, he didn't know if he could do it.
Agata seemed to have seen through Shulka and said: "You have to do it, understand? Every one of us!"
Shulka couldn't help but be speechless. He looked in the direction of Pukarev. Pukarev seemed to feel guilty and avoided Shulka's gaze.
Another difficulty is food... There is no shortage of food in Kobrin Fortress because Shulka found extra supplies. They did bring food with them, but after distributing it to other hungry people, there was not much left.
"We should go look for food!" Major Gavrilov said: "Maybe there is something missing!"
Political Commissar Fuming shook his head and replied: "We have searched everywhere we should look! Unless we can dig up those ruins..."
Several soldiers were rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the basement, hoping to find something useful. The thief Fovalikov was one of them... He once again used his special skills to open the lock of a side door with wire. When he opened it, he heard only
A lot of stuff rolled down with a "clatter" sound.
"Oh, great!" The thief picked one up and put it on his head and said, "Look, we have a gas mask!"
"I would rather it was a pile of bread, thief!" said veteran Matvey.
"Be content, veteran!" The thief casually threw a gas mask at the veteran. The veteran didn't catch it, and the gas mask rolled in front of Shulka.
"Sorry, comrade squad leader!" the thief said.
Shulka did not answer, but picked up the gas mask and looked at it... This is a gas mask with an extension tube. Since poison gas warfare was commonly used by various countries during World War I, gas masks were basically a must-have for the armies of various countries during World War II.
, the German army even had a pair of them.
"What are you thinking about?" Agata asked doubtfully, "Have you never seen a gas mask?"
"No, of course I have seen it!" Shulka replied.
Shulka lied. In fact, he had never seen it, at least not the real one.
"It's useless, Shulka!" Agata said: "The Germans don't need to use poison gas at all, it's a waste for them..."
"No, it might work!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Agata laughed, but when she saw Shulka's serious expression, she gradually stopped smiling.
"What you say can't be true!" Agata said.
Shulka stood up with a gas mask and replied: "Maybe I won't be able to complete the mission, Agata!"
"What?" Agata didn't understand what she meant at first. It wasn't until Shulka left that she realized it was a "last minute" mission.
Shulka found Major Gavrilov, who was discussing something on a map with several battalion commanders, presumably studying where it would be easier or safer to get water.
This quality of Major Gavrilov is very worthy of respect. Even in a critical or even desperate situation, he would not fall into negative emotions and choose to give up on himself. He still energetically boosted morale, organized water collection, looked for food, etc. In short, he did his best.
Even Shulka couldn't do this despite all his efforts to make the best out of a bad deck of cards... Shulka almost gave up.
In fact, Shulka also knew that this was just a small force represented by Major Gavrilov.
Historically, he persisted in the Brest Fortress alone for more than a month with almost no one else... The large-scale resistance in Brest was defeated in about a week, and then he relied on people in the streets and alleys.
Sporadic fighting hidden in the ruins actually lasted for more than a month, until Major Gavrilov was seriously injured and captured.
This is impossible without tenacious perseverance and perseverance. No one can persist in that state for more than a month. Shulka doesn't believe it, because he can't even stand it for a few days.
But a living example is right in front of Shulka.
"Comrade Major!" Shulka saluted Major Gavrilov, then handed the gas mask over and said, "I hope you can take a look at this!"