USSR 1941

  Chapter 80 Assistant Instructor

   "Why do you ask that?" Shulka asked back.

"We heard about this in Kyiv!" Leonyev replied: "Some soldiers were wounded and returned to Kyiv, and Kyiv people are very concerned about the situation on the front line. But we don't know the number of this unit, you know, it is Classified. So we don't know for sure..."

   At this time, the veteran was also interested, and he also asked: "So, what did Kyiv say about this army?"

   "They said that this army was surrounded by tens of thousands of Germans in the Brest Fortress!" Leonyev said: "These heroes killed thousands of enemies and broke out from the encirclement..."

   "Wow!" All the soldiers of the 333rd regiment laughed:

   "We're famous!"

   "We killed thousands of enemies!"

  …

   Leonyev and the other recruits stared at Shulka and the others with wide-eyed eyes. After a while, Leonyev said, "So, it's really you?"

   "You guessed it, Comrade Leonyev!" The thief raised his head: "Congratulations, you have joined the heroic army!"

   "It's really you..." Leonyev became a little excited: "Can you tell us what happened?"

   "Of course!" The actor replied: "I can do it for you, but..."

   Speaking of the actor touching his chin with his hand as if thinking about something, Leonyev immediately understood what it meant.

   "Ten cigarettes!" said Leonyev.

   "No, a pack! Otherwise I won't say a word!"

   "Fifteen!" Leonyev replied: "If you don't tell us, I believe others will be willing to tell us!"

   "Okay!" The actor was afraid that others would steal his "business", so he immediately agreed: "You have to know, Comrade Leonyev, it is impossible for others to tell my story. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

   "Because I've been on 'Running Hero'..." The actor glanced at Shulka, and then immediately changed his words: "Oh, no, it should be fighting beside 'Breakout Hero'!"

   "Really?" The actor said so, and the recruits quickly gathered:

   "We've heard about 'runaway heroes'!"

   "We heard that it was his suggestion that allowed the troops to successfully break out!"

   "Who is he, is he also in our army?"

  …

Seeing Shulka's murderous eyes, the actor cleared his throat in embarrassment: "Comrades, this is a serious issue. I must declare that I am a 'breakout hero'! But you don't know that he is right in front of you. ?”

   "Is that you?" Is someone an actor.

   "No, of course not!" The actor patted the recruit's head angrily: "It's our comrade sergeant, you idiots!"

   With a "wow", all the recruits turned their attention to Shulka.

   Then the actor described the previous battle to the recruits vividly.

Of course, at this time, the actor gave full play to his acting talent. He sometimes entered the role of a German and sometimes pretended to be Shulka. These people all laughed out loud.

  But Shulka doesn't think this is a good thing.

  Because he thought it was a bit strange...Why did these recruits know these things from the wounded soldiers instead of the radio?

  If the superior agrees that the 333rd Regiment is a heroic regiment, then they should first publicize it on the radio.

   Sure enough, when the actors were mingling with the recruits, an officer wearing four triangles on his collar badge came over and stopped the actors.

   "Comrade!" The officer said to the actor: "We should discuss the heroic deeds of fighting the enemy, rather than breaking out, understand?"

   "But breaking through is also a battle, isn't it, comrade deputy instructor?" The actor was a little unconvinced.

  Shuerka realized at this time that the four triangles represent deputy instructors... This is the lowest military rank among political workers, and they are usually the deputy of company-level instructors. There was no such rank before, and it was just added three years ago.

  Altu before was a captain-level political instructor with a higher rank among the instructors.

   "You can say that!" The deputy instructor replied: "But we should emphasize sticking to our posts and not retreating a single step! So, I hope you will stop promoting these wars that are not conducive to combat, understand?"

   "Yes, comrade assistant instructor!" The actor stood up and saluted helplessly.

  The deputy instructor nodded, then glanced at Shulka and left.

   This small episode instantly cooled down the active atmosphere. It could be seen that the soldiers were full of grievances and complaints, but they didn't dare to speak out. They just went about their own things silently.

  Shuerka shook his head secretly. Although this system can control and guide speech, it will make soldiers mistrust each other.

  As it is now, what the soldiers are worried about is that someone will make a small report...so they suspect the people around them or even their comrades-in-arms.

  This is fatal to an army, if everyone can't trust their comrades, then the whole army will be like a mess.

   This is probably one of the reasons why the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army was so low in the early days.

   "These bastards!" The actor leaned over to Shulka and complained in a low voice.

   "Shut up, Okunev!" Shulka said: "It's not worth the risk!"

   At this time, a communications soldier ran over and shouted at Shulka: "Comrade Sergeant, the political commissar asked you to go to the headquarters!"

   "Yes, right away!" Shulka responded.

  Shuerka knew what it was about, and so did the soldiers. The deputy instructor must have reported it to the political commissar.

  As expected, as soon as Shulka walked into the air-raid shelter used as the headquarters, he felt that the atmosphere was a little bit wrong.

  Major Gavrilov was there, as well as the deputy instructor and Commissar Fumin, of course.

  "Comrade Shulka!" Commissar Fumin handed Shulka a cup of hot water and asked, "Is it cold outside?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commissar!" Shulka replied.

   "There is something I should explain to you." Commissar Fuming said: "About the 333rd Regiment's application for the Hero Regiment...it was rejected by the superior!"

   "Yes, Comrade Commissar!" Shulka was not surprised at all.

   "Don't you ask why?"

   "No, comrade political commissar!" Shulka glanced at the deputy instructor and said, "Comrade deputy instructor has already told me!"

   Political Commissar Fuming nodded: "Then, you already know each other. This is the deputy instructor just assigned to our army by the superior, responsible for the political work of the third company!"

   "Hello, Comrade Sergeant!" The deputy instructor took the initiative to shake hands with Shulka: "My name is Praskov Olga!"

   "Shuerka!" Shuerka briefly introduced himself, secretly thinking that the days ahead would be difficult.

  (end of this chapter)