Chapter 222 Self-blame
"Kill!" Shulka yelled, and the soldiers rushed out along the hole opened by the tank.
Where would the German anti-aircraft gunners think that the enemy suddenly "broke" out of the flanking buildings as if falling from the sky, and it was a T34 tank as soon as it came out.
Unprepared, they got up from the ground with hands and feet, turned and ran.
But it was too late.
The tank machine gun rang out, and the bullets kicked up a long string of sand on the road, and then knocked down rows of fleeing German soldiers to the ground.
Some German soldiers were in the blind spot of the tank's machine gun, but they were not spared, because a group of Soviet soldiers had drilled out from behind the hole in the wall, raised their weapons and shot them one by one from behind.
After a long while, Kalashnikov laughed "haha".
"We did it, we did it!" Kalashnikov said. "It's unbelievable that in this way...we went through the whole building!"
Then Kalashnikov seemed to remember something, and asked into the microphone: "Hey, what's your name?"
No one answered on the other side of the microphone. Kalashnikov felt that something was wrong, so he called a few more times, but still no one answered.
Shulka knew what was going on.
When he raised his gun and knocked down two fleeing German soldiers, he saw the thief crouching under the corner of the wall.
Shuerka hurried up to check and found that the thief had no gunshot wounds, but his face was pale and his entire face was twisted together due to pain.
"Medical soldiers!" Shulka yelled, but the Soviet medics were always late.
"It's a wall brick!" The thief said intermittently: "I, I can't move..."
So Shulka knew that the thief was injured by falling bricks when the tank passed through the wall.
Shuerka looked to the side and found a broken wall that was connected together and was bigger than the backpack. If it hit the thief...
The thief spurted blood from his mouth, grabbed Shulka's hand in pain, struggled, struggled, then trembled as if frightened, and then stopped moving again.
At this time, the medical soldier rushed up from behind, but he just poked the thief's nose with his hand, shook his head slightly at Shulka with a sorry look, and then walked towards another wounded man.
Actors and others also surrounded them, but they did not move forward... Others were completed by other troops. After this anti-aircraft gun was destroyed, there was no suspense in this battle, and the other anti-aircraft gun would lose its flanks and rear soon. be destroyed.
Shuerka silently took out the Bakelite tube for storing the identity card from the thief's jacket pocket, and opened it... As expected, there was no identity card containing the thief's information, only a sewing needle and a coil of thread.
"He has no family!" The veteran explained: "His parents starved to death, and he was orphaned when he was ten years old, which is one of the reasons why he became a thief!"
After a pause, the veteran went on to say: "Comrade Fovalikov, he often said that he was the person with the least worries. Even if he died, no one would miss him or mourn for him. He just disappeared from this world. !"
Shulka stood up, picked up his rifle and walked away, he was a little afraid to face the thief.
The battle situation was just as Shulka thought, the fourth tank brigade successfully occupied Kling and filled the gap in the second line of defense.
But the 4th Tank Brigade is destined not to stay in Klin for too long... As I said before, the 4th Tank Brigade is a mobile force, and the purpose of their formation is for mobile defense.
Theoretically, they should stay in Moscow at all times, and only when a certain part of the defense line is breached by the Germans, they will go out and launch a counterattack.
So, that night, the Fourth Tank Brigade boarded the train back to Moscow...Klin is only 100 kilometers away from Moscow, and it is not difficult to repair the railway between the two places and restore traffic.
On the train, Shulka silently smoked a cigarette and looked at the scenery passing by in the darkness outside the window. Scene after scene flashed in his mind the last moment before the thief died.
The instructor sat opposite Shulka, handed him a glass of vodka, and said, "That's none of your business, Comrade Shulka!"
Shuerka smiled and said, "Although I really want to think so, do you really think that's none of my business?"
"Of course!" the instructor replied.
"I gave the order!" Shulka said: "I made him lie on the rear armor of the tank to attack, and he died because of it!"
"There is no problem with your order!" The instructor took another cup and poured vodka into it... For a unit like the Fourth Tank Brigade that has won battles, vodka is no longer a rare commodity, and they knew it as soon as they got on the car The ration of 100 grams per person per day for the 4th Moscow Chartered Tank Brigade.
No doubt, this makes every fighter cheer like a festival.
"100 grams per person per day, I heard it right!" Uncle Alek danced happily: "Oh, boys, I knew it would be right to fight with you, can there be anything better than this?"
But only Shulka remained silent.
Before that, he only knew that killing someone for the first time was a bit scary, but he never thought that a subordinate who died in battle would make him so sad... To be precise, he was guilty, because the thief died on Shulka's order .
"You should look at it this way, Comrade Shulka!" The instructor held up the cup and saluted Shulka from a distance, took a sip, and then continued: "Everyone has his mission, everyone, including you and me Inside...From this point of view, every soldier who dies is because of their mission, and also because of their commander's request, that is to say, the commander must pay for every comrade who died in battle Responsible?"
Said the instructor smiled, and then continued: "No, Shulka! You have to know one thing: if your order is wrong, and Comrade Fovalikov died because of your wrong order, then it is indeed... you You should feel guilty and blame yourself for this. But it is not the case. Your order was correct, and we won because of it. That means Comrade Fovalikov’s sacrifice was valuable. He served the country, the troops, Contributed to the Soviet Union, if you blame yourself for this, you have to blame yourself for every comrade who served as your subordinate and sacrificed at the same time, not just Fovalikov!"
Shuerka felt that the instructor was right, and the facts seemed to be exactly what he said, because this is war.
However, the apology still lingered in Shuerka's heart. After all, it was Shuerka's direct order to push the thief onto this road of no return.
(end of this chapter)
