USSR 1941

  Chapter 32 Despair

The church was built very solidly, and it stood upright in this situation, but it was only for a moment. When everyone was relieved, the church collapsed from bottom to top, and the topmost spire fell to the ground At times, he even faintly kept standing in the ruins.

  As soon as the church fell, the Soviet army attacking on the opposite bank lost cover, so shells whizzed and smashed into the river, and then burst into sky-high water columns amidst roars.

The Bug River, which was originally very calm, was full of "turbulent waves" in an instant. Some rafts were directly blown into pieces by shells, some were smashed to pieces by shock waves, and some were overturned... After a while, there were rafts everywhere in the river. It was corpses, fragments of rafts, and wounded soldiers struggling for help.

  Major Gavrilov tried to organize the rescue of the fighters, but gunfire and artillery soon stopped them.

   When the gunfire stopped, the entire river turned red, and only a dozen or so of the more than two hundred people with good water quality swam back with injuries.

   At this time, there were many lights of cars and motorcycles on the other side... Obviously, another batch of German reinforcements arrived, and they further strengthened the defense along the coast.

   "Retreat!" Major Gavrilov ordered loudly.

   It is of course correct to retreat, it is no longer possible to break out from here in this situation, any attempt is a waste of life.

but…

   Where can I retreat to?

   At this time, even the Kobrin Fortress was occupied by the German army, that is to say, the Soviet army was firmly surrounded in the central fortress and could not move.

  The basement of the officers' club, one of three basements in the center of the fort that can be sheltered from shells.

  The air was full of fear and the smell of blood. The human generator was beeping not far away, driving the only chandelier in the basement 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, so they were all silent and thinking about their own thoughts. Only the orders of the doctors in the deepest temporary hospital and the shouts of the wounded were heard.

   There was a table directly under the chandelier. Political Commissar Fuming paced 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 from the map.

   Shulka leaned against the wall, holding the rifle tightly.

Shulka didn't dare to imagine, he always thought that he could lead his comrades out of here with advanced knowledge, but he didn't expect that things would get worse because of various unexpected situations... If it was like before, Gavrilo Major Fu's troops stick to the Kobrin Fortress, and Commissar Fumin's troops stick to the central fortress. After all, there is more space for the two fortresses to echo each other.

  But now, more than a thousand people, including their families, are all surrounded in the central fortress, and even basic food and drinking water are problems.

   "Shulka!" Major Gavrilov called after a long time.

  Okunev touched Shulka, who was in a daze, and Shulka woke up, and hurriedly ran to the major in response.

   "Sorry, Major!" Shulka said: "The plan failed, and I caused all this!"

   "No, Shulka!" Major Gavrilov replied: "It has nothing to do with you!"

   Seeing Commissar Fuming's puzzled eyes, Major Gavrilov explained: "This is the soldier who made the breakout plan!"

Political Commissar Fumin said "Oh", then stepped forward and straightened Shulka's collar, patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him: "The major is right, Comrade Shulka, this has nothing to do with you. The plan is very good, we almost succeeded...the failure is only because we have a shameful traitor!"

   "Don't worry, Shulka!" Major Gavrilov said: "I didn't call you here to pursue responsibility, but 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 about what to do if something happens in advance, as Major Gavrilov thought.

   In fact, Major Gavrilov is also a dead horse as a living horse doctor, and he is also very clear that it is impossible to have any plan under this situation.

   "There is no other way out except to stick to it!" said Commissar Fuming.

   Major Gavrilov nodded in agreement.

  Actually, what should be done in this situation is to surrender... There is no point in continuing to fight, except that more people will be killed on both sides.

   But they were the Soviet Army, and the Soviet Army was never allowed to discuss the option of "surrender" at any time.

  At this time, the voice of the Germans amplified by a loudspeaker came from outside the basement:

   "Soviet soldiers, put down your weapons and surrender, we guarantee your safety. Otherwise, I promise more 'super bombs' will be launched on your heads, and I will give you an hour..."

   A "bang" gunshot came from the basement.

  Looking in the direction of the gunshots, a soldier committed suicide with a rifle. Because the rifle was too long, he even pulled the trigger with his feet. He still held a photo with blood in his hand.

   "What's going on?" Commissar Fuming couldn't help jumping up, and then angrily shouted at several soldiers nearby: "Why didn't you stop him?!"

   "Comrade Commissar, we didn't realize he wanted to do this!"

   “We thought he was just up and stretching!”

  …

   It's really not their fault. If you make up your mind to commit suicide, you can't stop it.

   From this, we can also see what kind of despair they are in. The most difficult thing is to be tortured by despair slowly, so some people choose to make a break.

"Don't do this!" Major Gavrilov ordered: "This is a kind of escape. Even if we die, we must fight the enemy to the end. Soldiers should die under the enemy's guns, at least kill a few enemies! Understand ?"

   "Yes, Comrade Major!"

  The soldiers answered one after another.

   But these words can't help much, because everyone knows in their hearts that after death these things are meaningless.

   Just as Major Gavrilov was about to walk back, someone raised objections.

   "I can't agree more, Comrade Major! Let me end this like him!"

  Following the sound, he saw the wounded lying on the ground.

  Major Gavrilov couldn't help being stunned. If there was still a glimmer of hope for the others, or if they could fight to the end and kill a few more enemies, then these wounded had no hope.

   Major Gavrilov looked towards the military doctor, who shook his head slightly.

   There is a lack of medicines, no medical equipment, and military doctors are helpless.

   There is only one outcome for the wounded, torture and die.

  (end of this chapter)