USSR 1941

  Chapter 44 Humiliation

   Pripyat Marsh.

It is formed due to the low terrain of this area...every winter, the Soviet Union is covered with ice and snow. Once the weather gets warmer and the ice and snow melt, the water will naturally flow towards the low-lying areas, thus forming a 600-kilometer-long, 200-meter-wide kilometers of swampland.

  The escaped Soviet troops were going south, which was more fortunate, because it meant they only had to go 200 kilometers.

   Of course, this is the theoretical distance.

  Actually, the German army is also advancing in the south, so in order not to fall into the encirclement of the German army when passing through the swamp, they should cross the swamp diagonally, so the distance will be much farther than imagined.

   But the Soviet army was not in a hurry to enter the swamp, because they had to do one thing before that.

  Altu was escorted out of the car by two people and brought to Major Gavrilov.

   Not far away, the major's two guards found a tree, a dead tree for unknown reasons, without a single leaf, only a few black branches stretching towards the sky like devil's claws.

  The guard takes out the rope, throws it through the middle of the branch, and puts a ring on one end...

  As soon as Altu saw this posture, he knew what they were going to do.

   "No, Major!" Artur looked at Major Gavrilov in horror, and said in a crying voice, "You can't do this, Major! I am willing to be interrogated..."

   "Artu!" Major Gavrilov interrupted Artu: "You think I will risk my life to take you out of the swamp? No, you are not worth it!"

"I beg you…"

  Altu wanted to say something more, but Major Gavrilov shook his head at the guard, and the guard gagged Altu's mouth again.

"Comrades!" Political Commissar Fumin stood on a stone and said to the gathered soldiers: "Altu betrayed us, he not only surrendered to our enemy, but also provided the enemy with a lot of information that is not good for us. Many comrades died at the hands of the Germans because of this. This kind of behavior of betraying the motherland and the people is shameful, ugly, and absolutely intolerable..."

  While listening to these words, Shulka somewhat understood Major Gavrilov's intention to bring Artur here alive.

  He wanted to execute Altu in front of the soldiers.

   On the one hand, this is for the anger of the common people, so that they will not unite to launch a mutiny like before... This is what they fear most during the war, because they will not live long anyway, so there is nothing they dare not do.

  On the other hand, it can improve the morale of the troops and warn them not to follow the path of Artur.

  Because time was running out, the Germans might come after him at any time, so Commissar Fomin cut a long story short. After loudly announcing that Artur was hanged, the guards escorted Artur under a tree.

Altu had a strong desire to survive, and he kept struggling, but after the guards gave him two punches, he realized that all of this was futile... He could only let the guards put the rope around his neck, because Extremely frightened, Altu's feet trembled like leaves blown by the wind, and his helpless eyes looked at this person and that person, as if hoping that someone would stand up and speak for him.

   But the result will obviously disappoint him. Altu has always been arrogant and domineering on the soldiers' heads, and no one will pity him.

Commissar Fuming nodded. Altu knew that this was his last moment, so he whimpered in despair, but the two guards at the other end had tightened up the rope with all their strength. go in the opposite direction...

The whimpering stopped abruptly, and Al was hoisted like a heavy object. Amid the "long" sound of straining the rope, he kicked his feet wildly hoping to step on something, and soon it became a burst of pain. Convulsions, and finally the whole body loosened and the whole person collapsed like a pile of rags.

The soldiers cheered, and the guard tightened the rope and tied the other end to the tree trunk. When passing under Artur’s body, he deliberately dragged his feet and shook it so that it would hang under the tree trunk and sway in the wind. The Soviet soldiers let out a burst of laughter.

   Shulka did not laugh.

He felt a burst of fear for no reason. Although Altu deserved it, it was still difficult for Shulka to adapt to this atmosphere... They easily deprived a person of life, even with a little joke, which is similar to what Shulka received in modern times. Education and the outlook on life that respect life are incompatible.

  But Shulka knew that he should get used to this, because these were the war years.

   "Does anyone speak German?" Gavrilov asked.

  Soldiers, look at me and I look at you, but no one stood up.

   "Forget it!" Major Gavrilov said: "I think the Germans will definitely bring an interpreter, and they will find a way to figure it out!"

   As he spoke, he wrote a few words on a piece of white cloth: "The end of the traitor!"

   Hang it on Artur when you're done.

  So Shulka knew that Gavrilov did this for another purpose...to humiliate the German army.

  Shuerka can almost imagine that when the German pursuers arrived here, he saw the scene of Artur hanging from a tree and shaking slightly.

  Shuerka guessed right, Colonel Lucas personally led the troops here, when he saw this scene, he, who had always been calm and regarded himself as a gentleman, was also irritated.

   "Damn Russians!" Colonel Lucas trembled with anger: "They actually humiliated me in this way, using the body of a Russian traitor... They thought I would care! They thought I would care!"

  Although Colonel Lucas said he didn't care, his behavior has already revealed the answer... Colonel Lucas may really not care about the life and death of a Russian traitor. The problem was that this Russian traitor was his captive and was under his protection, but it was intolerable that the enemy had taken him from the host and hung him before him.

  On the other hand, Shulka and others distributed the supplies on the car and walked into the depths of the swamp.

  At the beginning, Shulka thought that the swamp was not as scary as it was described in movies and TV.

  It looks like a flooded place, some places are land, and some places are as deep as the calf.

  The scary thing is that there are some "traps"... Some places are empty, but because they are all covered by sewage or mud, there is no difference on the surface, and they fall into these "traps" with one step.

  If it’s just sewage, it’s okay, but if it’s mud, it will make it impossible for people to break free, and even the more they struggle, the deeper they sink until they swallow the whole person.

  However, if a group of people advance, this danger basically does not exist, and comrades will soon use ropes to pull you out of the mud "trap".

   But soon, Shulka knew that the danger in the swamp was not limited to this.

  (end of this chapter)