Shulka's calculation was correct. He came out of the swamp near the "Stalin Defense Line".
It would be okay if it was behind the "Stalin's Line of Defense", after all, the Germans had not yet reached the front of the line of defense.
But this is not the case...
Shulka and others walked out of the swamp the next evening.
At this point, I have to say that Major Gavrilov's estimate was very accurate. The soldiers' rations were almost exhausted.
Before they even got out of the swamp, the soldiers realized something was wrong, because they heard a sporadic sound of gunfire and artillery far ahead.
Major Gavrilov stopped and listened to the sound, then summoned the officers for a short meeting:
"Unfortunately!" Major Gavrilov said: "We seem to have just missed it!"
"How do you know this?" Political Commissar Fuming asked strangely.
"Listen to the sound of gunfire!" Major Gavrilov explained: "The sound of gunfire is in the east, two miles away from us, that is... we are about an hour late!"
"Damn it!" Political Commissar Fuming cursed.
Then there was silence.
The soldiers all know what this means. If it were in the past, the soldiers would still think of breaking through the German defense line and fighting back. After all, they were a force that suddenly appeared from behind the German army, and the German army had just passed by, which meant that
They were ill-prepared, so they were indeed likely to successfully break out and join the main force.
However……
This Soviet unit was besieged in Brest and fought continuously for several days, and then went on a continuous forced march through the swamp, which severely exhausted its physical strength. (A march of forty kilometers in a day through the swamp can be considered a forced march)
What's more serious is that due to the swampy, watery and muddy environment, guns generally malfunctioned, so although they had more than 500 people, they didn't have much combat effectiveness.
"We can go around it!" Captain Venyakov suggested: "If we enter the swamp again, even if we don't have food, it won't be a big problem for one or two days!"
"No!" Major Gavrilov shook his head and rejected the idea: "Although we can indeed continue marching for one or two days without enough food, the problem is..."
Major Gavrilov drew a circle on the map, and then continued: "In order to get around the Germans, we must take such a winding route through the swamp and the distance is longer. The result is that when we come out of the swamp, we are still
Behind the Germans!”
Major Gavrilov was right, when the Soviet troops were advancing along the swamp, the Germans were also advancing at the same time.
Of course, the German advance would be blocked by the Soviet troops and slow down, but the Soviet troops entering the swamps would not move much faster either.
Then the surroundings fell into silence again.
After thinking about it, Major Gavrilov made a decision: "Let's take it one step at a time and prepare for battle. Let's go in and see the situation before we talk!"
The officers nodded in agreement, and that was all they could do now.
The order to prepare for battle was quickly given, and the soldiers made final checks on their equipment, but they were not even sure whether their guns would fire.
"So, are we going to break out again?" the actor asked.
"Yes!" Shulka replied.
"I hate breaking out!" The actor smiled bitterly: "Why are we always surrounded by the enemy!"
Shulka didn't answer.
In fact, it was not just these 500 people. In the early days of the war, hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops were surrounded and captured by the German army. They were only an insignificant part of them.
Agata brought her group of female soldiers to join Shulka's team. She loaded her pistol and said: "I hope you have not forgotten your mission, Comrade Shulka!"
Shulka glanced at the female soldiers behind him. He originally didn't want to perform this task, but he compromised after seeing the looks in their eyes.
At that moment, Shulka suddenly understood what these female soldiers were thinking.
They choose "at the last minute" not because of integrity or bravery, but because of exhaustion, boredom, and helplessness... There are not many things in this world that are worthy of their nostalgia. They are just barely alive. If
If they were to suffer such humiliation before dying, it would be better to leave this world quickly.
So, this is a relief for them.
Thinking of this, Shulka nodded slightly.
This shocked Agata, but she said nothing and silently made the final preparations.
Later Shulka learned that Agata actually still had a glimmer of hope. She thought Shulka would definitely think of a way to escape, so her words were actually a bit untrue.
But the moment Shulka nodded, Agata thought it was really going to be over this time, because Shulka had no choice.
In fact, Shulka really had no choice... They were not far from the main force, but there were Germans in between.
At the same time, Shulka also knew very well that the German mechanized troops who walked in the front were usually tanks, armored vehicles and the like. For the 500 remnants of the Soviet army, the tired soldiers were just a matter of a few bullets.
.
There was no time to think about it. Following Major Gavrilov's order, everyone ducked out of the swamp.
The sky gradually darkened, and the continuously brightening flares in the east once again proved that Major Gavrilov's judgment was correct...the enemy's leading troops surpassed them by about two miles, and were still advancing.
After marching in the dark for twenty minutes, miraculously, we didn't encounter an enemy, only a few frightened Soviet civilians. They couldn't tell the difference between enemy and friend in the dark, so they hurried back to the house and closed the door tightly.
Of course, Major Gavrilov sent a few people to inquire about the information from them, and the information obtained was indeed similar to what they analyzed. Several groups of Germans had just passed by two hours ago, and there were at least a dozen tanks and dozens of cars.
and armored vehicles…
This greatly increased the pressure on the soldiers, because they had no heavy weapons, and even a serious shortage of grenades and explosive charges, and they were unable to deal with the German tanks.
A forest appeared in front, and Major Gavrilov hesitated for a moment before letting the large army stop and hide in the cornfield.
"Go and do some reconnaissance!" Major Gavrilov ordered.
This is correct, because if the entire army is rashly pulled up and there is an enemy ambush in the forest, the entire army will be wiped out in an instant.
Unfortunately, it was Pukarev's platoon that was sent to conduct reconnaissance, and Shulka was among them.
Shulka was very reluctant, but he couldn't refuse.
Because he knows that encountering the enemy will happen sooner or later and it is inevitable.
So he could only hold the gun and follow the troops into the forest.