Chapter 562: attrition
If Shulka interfered, he told Valery not to interfere too much with the affairs of the Fifth Company.
This made Andrianka a little confused.
"I thought you\'d do something about the Fifth Company!" Andrianka said, "Or at least say something to them!"
"I\'ve said what needs to be said!"
"Then..." Andrianka shrugged: "Are we just waiting? Take them to the battlefield to perform missions? I don\'t say that if there are any bad consequences, they will be criticized by their superiors and entangled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Have you considered it?" Passing this company may bring danger to the entire army!"
"Of course I know!"
Shulka did know that another way out for the "deserters" was to flee to the German side, and this might be a better way out... If you fled to the direction of the Soviet army, you would always be afraid of being found out, and fled to the The Germans can then wait for the war to end as prisoners of war.
Of course, being a prisoner of war also has many uncertain dangers, but compared with being cannon fodder in the "punishment camp", I don\'t know how much better it is.
So, if the "deserters" were ruthless, and at the most intense moment of the battle, they stabbed the 82nd Infantry Regiment from behind and then surrendered to the Germans...it would be a nightmare for the 82nd Infantry Regiment.
Shulka, who was wiping the gun, stopped what he was doing.
This should be said to be something he is also worried about.
You must know that this is a battlefield. Even if he can trust the Fifth Company, he cannot easily hand over the life and death of the 82nd Infantry Regiment to others. He has no right to do so.
But he was relieved the next day.
"Comrade Shulka!" Early the next morning, Valery reported to Shulka: "Six people from the fifth company died!"
"What? What\'s going on?" Shulka immediately thought of enemy agents or spies.
But Valery quickly overturned Shulka\'s idea.
"It hasn\'t been investigated yet!" Valery replied: "They won\'t say anything!"
"What is refusal to say?" Shulka wondered.
"These people were strangled to death!" Valery explained: "The body was found 100 meters away from the Fifth Infantry Company, but everyone answered \'don\'t know\'!"
This is obviously abnormal, because the platoon leader and squad leader will always count their subordinates, and a few people will be found out soon, so at least there will be some clues, such as whether these people are on guard or performing some tasks. Missing one, what time period is Dagai in, and so on.
So, if everyone comes back "don\'t know," that often means that everyone knows but doesn\'t say.
Because Shulka had told Valery not to interfere too much in the affairs of the Fifth Infantry Company, Valery didn\'t know how to deal with this situation.
For this reason, Shulka had to go to the Fifth Infantry Company himself.
The camp of the 5th Infantry Company is set up in a vacant warehouse in the port... due to insufficient stock, there are many such vacant warehouses near the port.
In fact, the 82nd Infantry Regiment is not so idle. They need to be divided into two groups day and night to check the people coming and going in the port.
Search, inquire, and check letters of introduction (Note: civilians do not have soldier ID cards or military officer ID cards, and the way they prove their identity is to carry a letter of introduction from a unit or a street with an official seal).
However, these letters of introduction are very easy to forge, and the effect they can play is very limited.
The reason why the 5th Infantry Company is so idle and placed in an empty warehouse is because they were deserters not long ago. Of course they can\'t suddenly become law enforcement under the nose of the Ministry of Internal Affairs... otherwise this will be messed up.
Shulka met Valery outside the warehouse.
Seeing Shulka, Valery complained while following Shulka\'s footsteps: "Comrade Shulka, I think you should assign this unit to other battalions. They cannot be called an army at all. They have become Instability in the army..."
It is not surprising that Valery would feel this way.
As I said before, soldiers in the "Punishment Battalion" are sometimes not all afraid of death, and they may even be the least afraid of death, because they have already been defined as dead anyway.
On the contrary, it is those regular and normal troops. The reason why they are restrained is because they are worried about this and that. Some want promotion, some want honor, some worry about family members, etc.
So, of course, this fifth infantry company composed of deserters is the most difficult unit to manage.
"I think we should pick a few people out and punish them in front of them!" Valery said: "In this way, we can command this army normally..."
Having said that, Valery didn\'t say any more.
This is not because they have stepped into the warehouse, but because the soldiers in the warehouse got up and saluted very consciously as soon as they saw Shulka enter the warehouse.
Then, following an order, everyone lined up in a neat formation as quickly as possible.
Sokolov quickly ran to Shulka, stood up and saluted, and reported: "Comrade Shulka, all 209 members of the Fifth Infantry Company have assembled!"
Valery stared at everything in front of him with a dumbfounded look. This was not the case when he came here before.
Shulka glanced at the warehouse. The Fifth Infantry Company was obviously not idle, because they set up trenches with sandbags in the warehouse and set up a row of targets... However, due to the problem of ammunition supply, live ammunition shooting was not possible, but they practiced tactics Action is still fine.
"209 people?" Shulka asked: "Comrade Sokolov, I don\'t just give you these people!"
"Unknown loss of six people, Comrade Shulka!" Sokolov replied.
"What is unknown attrition?" Shulka asked.
Sokolov was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "Report to Comrade Shulka, I ordered them to be executed!"
Valery\'s jaw almost dropped when he heard this.
"What mistake did they make?" Shulka asked.
"They tried to escape!" Sokolov replied: "I hang them from the beams!"
Shuerka looked up and saw that there were several wooden main beams across the top, which was indeed a perfect place for hanging.
The use of lynching in the army is strictly prohibited, because it also means that the power of life and death of the entire army will be controlled by someone, and eventually this army will become a private army rather than a national army.
However, different situations should be treated differently.
Now is an extraordinary period, especially for a unit like the Fifth Infantry Company...a unit composed of deserters must never allow deserters to appear again, otherwise it will simply not be able to become a normal unit or even form a combat effectiveness.
(end of this chapter)