Shurka soon realized that there was no need to worry about the accidental injuries of the new recruits, because there would be much more "accidental injuries" in this battle than imagined...
Gunshots continued to advance into the trenches, and Soviet deserters crossed the trenches and fled back in groups.
Then Shulka felt the danger: it was night, and if things continued like this, the German troops would follow the Soviet deserters and capture the trenches effortlessly.
"Comrade Second Lieutenant!" Shulka looked in the direction of Davydov.
Second Lieutenant Davydov also felt this. He gritted his teeth and replied: "Get ready for battle and wait for orders!"
"Yes, prepare for battle, waiting for orders!" Shulka passed the order down, and the veteran and several squad leaders passed the order down again.
Of course, the squad leader had to do more than just that. They also had to drag the frightened recruits out of the trenches and make them raise their guns.
Three hundred meters.
Several rounds of illumination bombs slowly rose into the air, illuminating the position ahead.
This distance can already be used to fire... As mentioned before, due to the light forcing range, the Soviet army is actually more suitable to start fighting at a distance of 300 meters.
But this time the Soviet army could not start fighting. The reason was very simple. The dark area in front of them was full of Soviet deserters, and the bullets had to go through them first.
Two hundred meters.
Shulka even felt that the Germans did this intentionally, because they could clearly mount machine guns and shoot down all the Soviet deserters, but they did not do so... They held bayonets and followed the Soviet army unhurriedly.
The deserters pushed forward from behind, shooting a few shots at the deserters' backs or throwing a few grenades from time to time.
One hundred meters.
That was the location of the anti-tank trench. If the Soviet deserters were smart enough, they should use the anti-tank trench as a defensive line to counterattack. Even if they only counterattacked for a while, they could survive.
But they were in extreme fear and had lost the ability to think. They only knew how to escape and get further away from the German army.
Therefore, the deserters crossed the anti-tank trench and continued to attack the trench behind it.
They thought that the trenches in front were the way to survive. They thought that they would be safe if they crossed over. They thought that their own people would not shoot at them.
but……
The deserters never thought about it. If this continues, the Soviet defense lines will collapse one after another. No sober commander will let it develop like this.
"Fire!" Major Gavrilov shouted.
Suddenly, intensive gunfire rang out, and bullets flew out of the soldiers' guns, knocking down groups of Soviet deserters who rushed towards the trenches.
Screams came one after another, the injured Soviet deserters yelled and cursed, and some shouted:
"Don't shoot, it's our own!"
"Are you crazy? We are our own!"
…
The smart ones know to lie down at this time, although this will not be of much use, because the following German troops will turn this area into a real battlefield.
Shulka was also pulling the trigger and shooting, even though he didn't want to.
The reason is simple: he is a platoon leader, and his thirty or so subordinates are always looking up to him, especially the recruits. If Shulka is soft-hearted, he cannot accuse the recruits of disobeying orders.
At this time, a Soviet deserter crawled in from the front of the trench on his hands and knees. This startled Shulka. He pointed his rifle at his head out of habit, but the next second he realized that he needed to
The person who blocked the muzzle of the gun was shot.
Shulka was about to turn his gun, but was caught by the deserter.
"No, don't shoot!" The deserter begged Shulka almost in tears: "They are our own people and my comrades-in-arms. Please, tell them not to shoot..."
Shulka hesitated for a moment, but soon broke away from the deserter.
"Get away!" Shulka ordered loudly.
But the deserter still refused to give up, so Shulka gave him a rifle butt and knocked him unconscious.
Shulka could not imagine what he was like at that moment. Looking back after the war, he could hardly believe that he would do that.
But thinking about it seriously, Shulka thinks that if this happens again, he is afraid that he will still do it.
Because if you don't do this, it is very likely that you will lose your life in the next moment.
Therefore, Shulka gritted his teeth, aimed at the fleeing Soviet soldiers, and kept pulling the trigger.
One, two, three...
It wasn't until he knocked down the fifth one that he saw the German soldier's helmet and the black muzzle of his gun.
This made Shulka breathe a sigh of relief.
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and Shulka knocked a German soldier to the ground.
This German soldier's bayonet was covered with blood, and it was even bleeding. It was obvious that he had lost several lives.
"Bang!" There was another gunshot, and another German soldier fell.
I don't know why, but at this time, Shulka felt better every time he defeated an enemy, as if he was paying off a debt or avenging the Soviet deserter he just killed.
But then Shulka felt a little funny. This was war, a life-and-death war. If a few people under his command deserved death, then Shulka himself would not be immune.
"Bang!" This time Shurka killed a German officer.
Due to the lighting problem, Shulka failed to recognize his rank. He was commanding the troops to change their formation and launch a charge... Shulka knew that killing such a frontline commander would often slow down the German army's response.
Sure enough, the German army separated from the Soviet deserters by a certain distance at this time, which also gave some surviving Soviet deserters a chance to escape back to the defense line.
The German offensive also slowed down, especially when they found that there was an anti-tank trench blocking their way... The German charge relied on the coordination of multiple arms. If the tanks could not advance, they would hardly send infantry to charge randomly.
German commanders know that excellent soldiers are a kind of wealth, so they rarely let soldiers sacrifice needlessly on the battlefield.
Shulka sat back in the trench, and then thought of the deserter he had knocked unconscious just now. When he turned his head, he found that he had woken up and was looking at the battlefield in tears.
"You'd better pull your head back!" Shulka said: "Otherwise it won't be the butt of the gun but the German bullet that hits it!"
"Go away!" the deserter shouted at Shulka: "You bastards, cold-blooded animals, traitors... How can you shoot at your own people..."
"We have no choice!" the veteran interrupted.
"No, of course you do!" the deserter retorted: "You can wait until the Germans get closer before fighting, why can't you let us pass!"
"You can't get through!" Shulka replied: "If you go a little further, the Germans will throw rows of grenades into our trenches, and then we will have to die with your comrades!"