Winter in Stalingrad

Victor took them back to the headquarters on a safe road in the city that had not been trampled by the Germans.

This generation is considered a safe area. There are Soviet guards at many intersections. Usually they are a group of several people guarding a cannon. These soldiers are lighting fire barrels nearby to keep warm.

On the road, you can see some civilians who have not evacuated. Some women are sitting on the side of the road, washing clothes while boiling hot water. Many of them are military uniforms. These women earn some money or a piece of bread from the Soviet soldiers for a living.Seeing the four of them, Victor, they all stopped chatting, and looked at the German who followed the political commissar in the Soviet camp with complicated and suspicious eyes.

During this period, Gennasi unfortunately discovered something.

He no longer had the opportunity to be alone with Bach, not even to speak a few words.The German had previously given Gennasi an easy-going chatterbox, but now he looked like any other German soldier.

As if he had put on a mask called gloomy, his attitude towards Gennasi changed drastically.

The young Soviet artilleryman suppressed the irritability that was gradually welling up in his heart.

He understood the reason for Bach's change of attitude. Showing too much friendship with Gennasi in front of the political commissar would only cause trouble for each other, and it might even cause Gennasi to be labeled a traitor.Bach must be out of such considerations, he is cautious.

patience.

Gennasi said to himself that he would not give up just like that, and must find an opportunity to be alone with Bach again.

The Soviet Army's headquarters in Stalingrad consisted of three adjacent and intact buildings, each with multiple anti-aircraft guns on the top to respond to the German air strikes every day.The Soviets dug a spacious passage underground to connect the underground spaces of the three buildings. This can not only avoid the bombing of the German army, but also be used as a weapon depot.

One of them was a hospital in the city before the war, and it still retains the function of a hospital to accommodate wounded soldiers and civilians.However, the medicines and equipment in the hospital are already in short supply. Many doctors give up treating the seriously injured and refractory wounded, discarding them in the basement, and refusing to send them food.Every day, the hospital would take out many corpses from the basement and burn them, and those vacant positions would soon be filled by new people.

The four of them avoided the pile of smoking patients and walked straight into the more complete and solid building.

Gennasi sullenly followed a group of people through the corridors of the headquarters. He didn't even notice that Bach was being watched and saluted along the way. Those malicious expressions made a calm person like Bach panic.

"I swear I have to change your clothes."

Victor was obviously also one of the people being watched, he said without looking back.

"Thank you very much." Bach breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, the uniforms of the German army were too conspicuous and hateful, and he didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

A group of people arrived at Victor's office.

As soon as he entered the door, Gennaci saw the captain of their stormtroopers, Agavnovich, the old captain who was over the middle of the year. The moment he saw Gennaci, he rushed up excitedly and gave him a firm hug.

"My boy! You're alive!" the old captain stabbed the young man's face with his gray beard.

"Let me go!" Gennasi felt breathless: "Your mouth stinks!"

Everyone laughed, and Bach's ice face that had been kept for several hours finally thawed out.He was relieved to see the old Soviet soldier crying and laughing while hugging his soldier like his own son.

"Come with me!" Agavnovich ordered, and he almost clamped Gennasi with one hand. Gennasi, who was already relatively thin, looked like a child:

"I have to let other people see you, and I told you that you can't die, and they still don't believe it!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Gennasi looked at the political commissar who had the right to control his captain:

"Victor, save me!" For a moment he even forgot to shout to his comrades.

"You go first." The political commissar took off his glasses and wiped them leisurely: "If you are not dead drunk tomorrow morning, remember to come to my office and report to me, and I will arrange the next work for you."

Agavnovich carried him away despite Gennasi's protests, and Gennasi gave Bach a pitiful look before being dragged away.He didn't dare to blatantly stop him in the presence of the political commissar and captain. Bach smiled back and waved at him gloatingly.

The Soviet boy immediately burst into anger:

"Ruthless guy! Don't catch you!!"

With the sound of closing the door, Victor's office finally returned to calm.The political commissar glanced at his subordinates who had followed along, and the Soviet soldier immediately understood and exited the room.

Now only Victor and Bach are left.

Victor put on his glasses again, then walked to his desk, took out a pen and paper and arranged them on the table, and pulled out the chair as a gesture of invitation.Knowing what he was going to do, Bach sat down politely and began to write the letter of surrender.

This report will determine his fate, and he dare not neglect it.In addition to stating his identity, position, and will, he must also provide strong intelligence.

Victor poured him a cup of hot water, and found some old clothes from his closet. He didn't rush to ask Bach to put them on, but just placed them where he could see them. The German looked up Glancing at the clothes.

"You will change them later, these are my old clothes, they may be a little small."

"It's okay, I'll just change the upper body." Bach glanced at Victor's figure and made a relatively appropriate judgment.

"Alright." The political commissar nodded. He actually didn't like other people wearing his pants.

Victor sat down by the window and waited patiently for Bach to write his surrender.

It was almost evening, and he looked at the sunset outside the window. This dirty city finally had a little warmth. On the pier of the Volga River in the distance, some transport soldiers were unloading several boxes from the truck.Those little people and cars moving around looked like the black and white cartoons that the political commissar had seen on TV when he was a child.

Ever since the river froze, the creative Soviets began to use trucks to transport supplies on the ice, but there were always incidents of trucks sinking, and the drivers quickly learned the new way of driving, opening the doors halfway He leaned against the outside of the car, holding the steering wheel with only one hand, and slowly drove across the river in first gear.

Every day, many trucks sank to the bottom of the river with supplies. Adding those in Leningrad last year, the Soviets lost about 1000 trucks.Only a small number of materials can cross the river smoothly. As long as there is a way, no matter how much it costs, the Soviet Red Army will do it without hesitation.

"It is not Leningrad that fears death, but death that fears Leningrad."

This is what General Zhukov said last year after he replaced the then commander-in-chief. His will was very firm. Since then, the Soviet Union has never lost a city.

Even though Stalingrad has been surrounded by more than 80.00% of the German army, Victor, like many soldiers, no longer feels that his troops will lose.

"To bother you."

Bach handed the written surrender letter to Victor.

"Go and change your clothes." The latter came back to his senses and said while taking the stack of papers.

Bach stepped aside and began to take off his clothes. He didn't go to a corner where Victor couldn't see to change, because he probably guessed that the political commissar would not like a suspicious German prisoner hiding from him.

But Victor's attention was completely focused on the surrender document. He hurriedly scanned the pile of nonsense written by Bach on the first page (mostly the surrender declaration in very official words), and jumped directly to the following part. The information provided on the pages above.

It contains a lot of information about new weapons that the German army will use in the future, as well as several plans for a future invasion of the Soviet Union.The detailed location, form, and name of the action are also written in the report.

"Scorched earth policy?" Victor frowned.Of course he is familiar with this name, which is an allusion to a famous period in the history of the Soviet Union. As early as when Napoleon invaded Moscow, he lived in the Kremlin with full confidence.At night, the Russians destroyed the fire protection system, burned down their own city, and drove Napoleon away. Taking this incident as an opportunity, the Russians fought back all the way until they occupied Paris.

An unknown fire burned in the heart of this political commissar, and he knew that the name was extremely ironic.

"Yes." Bach said in a low voice: "The German army is also prepared for the possibility of losing in the future. They plan to do less damage to the entire occupied area while conducting any retreat..."

Now the whole of Ukraine is the territory of the German army, and everyone understands how evil this plan is.

Bach clasped his hands tightly to suppress his trembling.

"As long as you can think of it, the Nazis can do any inhumane thing."

Victor tightened the report in his hand into the file bag, and after hesitating for a second, he decided to pat Bach on the shoulder to express his comfort.He can think in another way. He imagined that if his country was proud of destroying other races, he would probably be like Bach now.In fact, since he became a political commissar, he has seen a lot of bad things about his country.

Sometimes he even wants to thank this kind of war, because it gave those capable and patriotic people a chance to step onto various stages, and maybe the world will miss this era after many years.

Victor walked to the door, and he was about to hand over the documents in his hand to his superiors immediately.When he touched the doorknob, he turned his head again and took out his pocket watch from his coat pocket.

"You may be late for dinner."

Bach shrugged and said it didn't matter.

"Then I'll have someone bring it to you later. If you don't mind, I'll lock the door. This is for safety reasons, you know."

"of course."

The political commissar opened the door and left.

He walked through the office area to the ordinary soldier camp. The sun had completely set, but it was still very lively here.Although they don't know whether they will survive such a night tomorrow, Soviet soldiers cherish every second they are alive.

Someone was shaving, someone was reading the diary and letters, and Victor also saw several soldiers gathered together, listening carefully to the news and music broadcast by the Soviet radio station.

He walked to the camp of the more lively Second Assault Squad.

There are singing and dancing here, and they are obviously celebrating the return of their comrades-in-arms.

"Is Gennasi still awake?" Victor asked right away, he was so used to the temperament of this group of soldiers who fought between life and death all day long, all of them were drunk today.

"Still awake, but it's almost the same." Agavnovich replied, spraying the smell of alcohol on the political commissar, Victor just frowned, he didn't mean to disturb these people's revelry .

"I'm going to borrow him," he said.

"You can try it." A soldier smiled and pointed to Gennaxi on the side.

That child...had already drunk and lay down.

"Beforehand, we didn't force him down. This kid has always been willing to die when he sees alcohol, but he can't drink enough. It's like this after two bottles." The soldier patted Paganasi's thigh, and the latter whimpered in protest , What a capitalized drunkard.

"Is there any way to wake him up?" Victor was about to give up.

Agavnovich stood up and said to Victor: "Good question, please wait a moment, Comrade Political Commissar."

The old captain walked up to Gennasi, put his arm around his shoulders, and led him to the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Agavnovic returned with Gennasi, who was already standing on his own.

"Okay, Comrade Commissar. You can take him away now."

Victor didn't know what you did to him after all?He asked this question, because he had already guessed all kinds of things from the action of the boy wiping his mouth. Anyway, this kind of thing is something that the old captain who treats him as his son can do.

"Come with me," Victor said.

"Yes!" Gennasi replied, his tongue curled up.The other soldiers laughed wickedly, and Gennasi himself bowed his head in shame. The boy's cheeks were as red as tomatoes, and he didn't know if it was because of the smell of alcohol or because he was really ashamed.

Victor began to understand why even Bach liked such a little boy. He had a special aura, which made those who were a few years older than him unable to help but want to take care of him.Seeing that the kid was a little unsteady, Victor kindly grabbed his arm to keep him from falling.

The political commissar couldn't help thinking of his younger brother who was admitted to Moscow University in his hometown. They were all the type who looked good but always made people worry.

The two walked all the way to the cafeteria.

"Have you had your supper yet, Gennasi?"

"I've been drinking."

The donkey's head in the answer was wrong, but Victor was also surprised that he could translate these nonsense immediately.

Gennasi had evidently not eaten his supper.

They came to the cafeteria built with temporary sheds. Today’s dinner ration is a piece of bread and a bowl of broth. For the Soviet soldiers who had to go to the city to fight the Germans during the day, such a small amount was simply too much for their teeth. seam, but better than nothing.There have been cases where food cannot be transported into Stalingrad before, and some soldiers have learned a strange way to fight hunger: take a sip of vodka, and then smell the oil on their cuffs to satisfy their hunger.

The political commissar did not use his identity to jump in line, they waited patiently for more than ten minutes.When it was Victor's turn, he ordered three and packed two of the broth into a steel lunch box.

"I have to go to the conference room. If I'm not lucky, I won't be able to sleep tonight."

Victor handed Gennasi a hot ration for two and the key to his office.

"I have two tasks for you to do now.

First, this is dinner for you and Bach tonight, you are in charge of delivering it to him, and he is in my office.

Second, protect Bach well. Believe me, if you don't lock him up properly, there will be troublemakers who will trouble him.Giving you the key is to ask you to watch him alone. The only thing I can rest assured about doing this right now is you. "

Gennasi took the food and the key, he was still drunk, and his mind was in a daze for a while.

Then, after he had fully digested the intention of the political commissar's explanation, this young and energetic boy suddenly felt as excited as several horses galloping across the grassland.

he!Can!And Bach!Spend the night alone!

"Comrade Sidorov, did you understand what I said?" Victor began to regret asking this kid. Is it true that he has too much alcohol to use?

"Understood!" Gennasi immediately saluted, he really understood, now his little self-control is used to suppress the excitement in his heart, he doesn't want to show Victor how happy he is.

The political commissar nodded in relief, and left alone with dinner.