Sometimes, for junior officers, the binding force of a bet is often much more useful than military regulations or some vague and lofty ideals.
For example, "for the motherland", "for the people"...these slogans have been shouted to the point of numbness, especially the deserters of the 5th Infantry Company. They obviously cannot and are unwilling to be bound by these slogans, otherwise they would not be deserters.
But it is a bet, and it is a clear fact in front of you. If you cheat on it, it will affect your personal credibility and loyalty.
On the contrary, these are what the Soviets care more about.
So when Sokolov returned to the army and organized his men, his attitude was completely different.
"We lost!" Sokolov said to his men.
The subordinates all lowered their heads. Sokolov didn't need to say this, they all saw it.
"What should we do now?" one of his subordinates asked.
"What else can we do?" Sokolov replied: "Obey the order, understand? Don't forget our bet!"
After thinking about it, Sokolov laughed instead.
"That's a good thing for us, isn't it?" Sokolov said.
The subordinates couldn't help but look at each other, and one of them asked in confusion: "We lost the bet and must obey orders completely from now on. How can this be a good thing?"
"Because..." Sokolov replied: "If Comrade Shulka wanted to push us to the front and die, he didn't need to do it at all! I mean, he didn't need to use this bet and let us learn
These tactics are superfluous to him! In other words, he does treat us as an ordinary army, a normal combat force!"
The subordinates couldn't help but nod their heads when they heard this.
"Yes, Comrade Shulka did not betray us!"
"We misunderstood him!"
"Comrade Shulka is worthy of trust. He will not let us make meaningless sacrifices!"
…
This is a kind of trust. Trust between superiors and subordinates in the army is very important, which directly determines whether orders can be effectively implemented.
Otherwise, "there are policies above and countermeasures below", and you can find a hundred reasons at any time if you want to squander foreign workers.
It was not until this time that the 5th Infantry Company could truly be considered part of the 82nd Infantry Regiment.
Shulka got the news from Valery.
Valery reported to Shulka on the phone: "It's unbelievable, comrade captain! Just now Sokolov apologized to me and asked me to assign tasks to the Fifth Infantry Company!"
"Very good!" Shulka said, "How do you answer that?"
"I agree!" Valery said: "I assigned them to guard the third floor of the building. Am I doing the right thing?"
"Of course!" Shulka said: "They are your soldiers, you can decide whatever you want!"
"I have to say..." Valery sighed: "You conquered them, Comrade Shulka! I always thought that these people had no cure except to do hard labor or something under the supervision of rifles.
Saved. But you changed them!"
"Continue to observe!" Shulka said: "I'll give you a suggestion, don't rush to abolish their lynching!"
"Understood!" Valery replied.
Although "lynching" does not comply with military regulations, it is very effective against deserters and can even be regarded as a cardiotonic.
In addition, for the top brass of the Soviet army, these "deserters" could be shot at any time. What they cared about was only whether these "deserters" died. As for when they died and by whom, it didn't matter.
From this aspect, it is not considered inconsistent with military regulations.
Then, that afternoon, the Fifth Infantry Company got a chance to perform.
They performed very bravely, resisting the German attack like other troops and calmly dealt with the enemy's indiscriminate bombing, until the German army had to decide to blow up these buildings before they calmly withdrew.
This surprised Major Mikhailovich, who had always been vigilant.
"Not long ago I was worried that they would escape!" Major Mikhailovich said: "But now I find that this is obviously unnecessary, none of them escaped!"
This performance even surpassed that of other units of the 82nd Infantry Regiment... When the Second Battalion was stationed on the second floor of the building, several soldiers fled the building without receiving orders because the building was crumbling.
This should be said to be inevitable in actual combat. There will always be times when a few people are mentally fragile or make mistakes in judgment.
But the Fifth Infantry Company had none.
Or there were, but they were "lynched" by themselves.
However, this was just a small test of the skills of the 5th Infantry Company. When the 82nd Infantry Regiment launched a counterattack against the Germans that night, the 5th Infantry Company took the lead and broke into the German troops with bayonets drawn. A burst of indiscriminate killing and slashing caused the Germans to be in chaos, leaving the 82nd Infantry Regiment in disarray.
The successful attack not only recovered the defense line lost during the day, but also continued to advance more than 200 meters.
When Shulka asked Sokolov about it later, Sokolov said he was also surprised.
"Originally, I thought it would be good if it could reach the combat effectiveness of other troops!" Sokolov said: "I didn't expect that they would be so cruel when they made up their mind to participate in the battle, and everyone would risk their lives!"
This may be a shift from one extreme to another, or it can also be said that they have already died once when they are about to be shot, and they are better able to see through life and death at this time.
However, if we look closely, this may also have something to do with the fact that they are all equipped with rifles.
The fifth infantry company is composed of deserters. If it is equipped with submachine guns and machine guns like other troops, plus mortars, rocket launchers... the mix of various equipment will definitely require coordination with each other.
This kind of coordination cannot be achieved without a certain period of unified training.
This is not a problem that can be solved by reaching a new level of ideological realm. This is a real problem.
Therefore, if their equipment is complex, they may not be able to exert their combat effectiveness at all, but will instead be handcuffed.
But due to equipment restrictions, they can only be equipped with rifles, all rifles. If there is any other equipment, it is grenades.
This meant that they hardly needed coordination on the battlefield. They could mount their bayonets, throw a few grenades, and then charge in the dark with a shout, simply and crudely catching the Germans off guard.
Soon, the results and performance of the 5th Infantry Company were placed on the table of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
This is not what Shulka reported, but as mentioned before, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will track the situation of these "traitors to the motherland" until they die.
This result surprised the captain of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"They actually became a combat force?" The captain asked his subordinates holding the documents: "Are you sure these are true?"
"Yes, Comrade Captain! They are very brave on the battlefield!"
"Brave? Those cowards became warriors in just a few days?" The captain couldn't believe this.