USSR 1941

Shulka knows one thing very well, if he wants to appease the soldiers' anger and gain their trust, he must tell the truth. If he hides it like this or tries to suppress it, it will only add fuel to the fire... The soldiers are not fools, let alone Willing to be taken for a fool.

"How do you know this?" someone asked Shulka.

"The German prisoners confessed!" Shulka replied: "I was being interrogated as a traitor at the time, so I was lucky to know what they confessed!"

Many people know this, so it is convincing.

"But you didn't tell us!" Another soldier blamed Shulka: "You may be with them!"

Okunev objected on the spot: "Think with your head, comrade, Shulka is of course ordered not to say this!"

The soldiers nodded in agreement. They had more or less similar experiences, so they understood this very well.

"I don't want to justify myself!" said Shulka, "but I think you should consider the major's difficulties... How can I tell you this? Have you ever thought about it! Tell you we didn't Reinforcements? Even the enemy has penetrated more than 100 kilometers into our country? What do you think will happen?!"

The soldiers fell silent for a moment.

"Look!" Shulka spread his hands towards everyone: "The result I told you is like now, everyone is unwilling to fight, and thinks that there is no hope of victory, and then the Germans can easily break through our defense line , put bayonets into our chests, point guns at our heads... or there is another option, that is what the Germans say, they will treat prisoners preferentially, you can use the status of 'captives' as 'honorable' survive!"

Although Soviet soldiers were generally dissatisfied with the Soviet Union's high-pressure policy, they still looked down on those who were greedy for life and afraid of death. Therefore, everyone showed contempt on their faces.

"That is to say, there are two choices before us!" Shulka continued: "Death or captivity! Do you want to die?"

No one answered.

In fact, there is no need to ask, the people standing here don't want to die, otherwise they should point their guns at their own heads in a corner.

"Do you want to be prisoners?" Shulka asked again.

The soldiers shook their heads, and several gave negative answers.

"Then, there is only one way for us to go!" Shulka said: "As the major said, break out at seven o'clock in the evening. You should be very clear that this is the only way to survive..."

"They are liars!" Someone shouted: "They lied to us, why should we obey their orders and fight for them!"

"No, comrade!" objected Shulka. "We did not fight for anyone, not for officers, not for civilians, not even for the Soviet Union!"

Speaking of this, the instructor wanted to stand up and object, but was stopped by Major Gavrilov, who had sharp eyesight and quick hands.

"Don't be stupid, Comrade Artur!" Major Gavrilov whispered in the instructor's ear.

"Don't you understand, comrades!" Shulka continued: "We are fighting for ourselves, in order to be able to live, and what could be more important than living?"

The soldiers were silent for a while, and then someone said: "Shulka is right, we are fighting for ourselves!"

"Yes, for myself to live!"

"If you want to live, you must unite and organize a breakout!"

...

But the soldiers are still a little worried. They are worried that the officers, especially the instructors, will settle accounts later.

Of course Shulka understood this, and he turned his gaze to Major Gavrilov behind him.

Major Gavrilov understood, he stepped forward and said: "I promise, I will not pursue any responsibility for this incident, just pretend it never happened!"

As he spoke, Major Gavrilov winked at the instructor again.

The instructor stood up reluctantly and said, "I promise, I will not pursue any responsibility for this incident, as if it never happened!"

In fact, the soldiers don't need to worry about this at all, at least not right now, because even if they break through, they are close to death, and it is not certain who will survive to the end. Maybe the instructor failed to break through? Or maybe someone shot him in the back?

However, it was a bit of psychological comfort to get this guarantee, and the soldiers dispersed in twos and threes and returned to their posts... Fortunately, the German army did not attack just now, otherwise there would be no need to choose.

Major Gavrilov said nothing, just patted Shulka on the shoulder and left.

Major Gavrilov is very smart, and the taboo at this time is to get too close to him, otherwise Shulka will be suspected of being with him.

"Wow, Shulka!" Okunev said, "I just found out today that you can talk so well..."

"No way, Okunev!" Shulka replied: "I was forced!"

"Forced?"

"I want to live too!"

Okunev nodded in understanding.

If you want to live, you have to do this, but other people's thinking is not as clear as Shulka.

The battle during the day went smoothly, and the Germans launched several more attacks as usual, but after receiving supplies and even adding a dozen mortars, the Soviet defense was significantly improved.

This was beyond the expectation of the German army, so they were repelled again and again, and the defense line did not move an inch. What changed was that there were more corpses of German soldiers on the battlefield, and the Soviet camp also suffered some casualties.

If this continues, things are likely to be as Shulka hoped, and after 7 o'clock in the night, the central fortress and the Kobrin fortress broke through to the north at the same time and caught the Germans by surprise.

Of course, all of them could not break through successfully, especially the army in the central fortress. They had to break through the river bank blocked by the German army to reach the Kobrin fortress, and then continue to break out north along the gap opened by Major Gavrilov.

But on the one hand, the German army was unprepared, and on the other hand, it was only two miles north to enter the forest... Entering the forest almost meant safety.

Therefore, if nothing else, there are still quite a few people who can succeed.

At five o'clock in the evening, the soldiers ate the "Last Supper" under the setting sun.

This time they don't plan to save, because no one is sure whether they will survive to eat the next meal.

Then they silently packed their luggage... Breaking out of the encirclement was different from fighting in normal times. They had to consider the follow-up issues after entering the forest, so they carried more ammunition and food, and even had to choose between the two.

"Compared with food, I will choose to bring a few more bullets!" Matvey shook the bullet in his hand, and then stuffed it into his satchel.

Matvey was right, it was summer, and the warm climate made the forest full of animals and edible plants.

Shulka was about to tell the other soldiers to do the same when gunshots rang out from the other side of the trench...