USSR 1941

Pripyat swamp.

It is formed due to the low terrain of this area... Every winter the Soviet Union is covered with ice and snow. Once the weather gets warmer and the ice and snow melt, the water will naturally flow towards the low-lying places, thus forming this 600-kilometer-long, wide 200 km of swampland.

The escaped Soviet troops were going south, which was more fortunate, because it meant they only had to go 200 kilometers.

Of course, this is a theoretical distance.

In fact, the German army is also advancing in the south, so in order not to fall into the encirclement of the German army when passing through the swamp, they should cross the swamp diagonally, so the distance will be much farther than imagined.

But the Soviet army was not in a hurry to enter the swamp, because they had to do one thing before that.

Artur was escorted out of the car by two people and brought to Major Gavrilov.

Not far away, the major's two guards found a tree, a dead tree for unknown reasons, without a leaf, only a few black branches stretching towards the sky like devil's claws.

The guard took out the rope, threw it through the middle of the branch, and tied a loop at one end...

As soon as Artur saw this posture, he knew what they were going to do.

"No, Major!" Artur looked at Major Gavrilov in horror, and said in a crying voice, "You can't do this, Major! I am willing to be interrogated..."

"Artu!" Major Gavrilov interrupted Artu: "You think I'm going to risk my life to take you out of the swamp? No, you're not worth it!"

"I beg you……"

Artu wanted to say something more, but Major Gavrilov shook his head at the guard, and the guard gagged Artu's mouth again.

"Comrades!" Political Commissar Fumin stood on a stone and said to the gathered soldiers: "Altu betrayed us, he not only surrendered to our enemy, but also provided the enemy with a lot of information that is not good for us. Many comrades have died at the hands of the Germans because of this. This kind of behavior of betraying the motherland and the people is shameful, ugly, and absolutely intolerable..."

While listening to these words, Shulka understood Major Gavrilov's intention to bring Artur here alive.

He wanted Artur to be executed in front of the soldiers.

On the one hand, this is for the anger of the common people, so that they will not unite to launch a mutiny like before... This is what they fear most during the war, because they will not live long anyway, so there is nothing they dare not do.

On the other hand, it can boost the morale of the troops and warn them not to follow the path of Artur.

Because time was running out, the Germans might chase him at any time, so Commissar Fomin cut a long story short, and after loudly announcing Artur's execution, the guards took him under a tree.

Altu had a strong desire to survive, and he kept struggling, but after the guards gave him two punches, he realized that it was all futile... He could only let the guards put the rope around his neck, Because of extreme fear, Altu's feet trembled like leaves blown by the wind, and he looked helplessly at this person and then at that person, as if hoping that someone would stand up and speak for him.

But the result was obviously going to disappoint him. Altu had always been arrogant and domineering on the soldiers' heads, and no one would pity him.

Commissar Fuming nodded. Altu knew that this was his last moment, so he whimpered in despair, but the two guards at the other end had tightened up the rope with all their strength. go in the opposite direction...

The whimpering stopped abruptly, and Al was hoisted like a heavy object. Amid the "long" sound of straining the rope, he kicked his feet wildly hoping to step on something, and soon it became a burst of pain. Convulsions, and finally the whole body loosened and the whole person collapsed like a pile of rags.

The soldiers cheered,

The guard tightened the rope and tied the other end to the tree trunk. When passing under Artu’s body, he deliberately dragged his feet and swayed it so that it would hang under the tree trunk and sway in the wind. This made the Soviet soldiers scream. laugh.

Shulka did not laugh.

He felt a burst of fear for no reason. Although Altu deserved it, it was still difficult for Shulka to adapt to this atmosphere... They easily deprived a person's life, even with a little joke, which is the same as Shulka's reception in modern times. The education and outlook on life that respect life are incompatible.

But Shulka knew he had to get used to it, because these were the war years.

"Does anyone speak German?" Gavrilov asked.

Soldiers, you look at me, I look at you, no one stood up.

"Forget it!" said Major Gavrilov. "I think the Germans will bring an interpreter, and they will try to figure it out!"

As he spoke, he wrote a few words on a piece of white cloth in Altu's handwriting: "The end of the traitor!"

So Shulka knew that Gavrilov had another meaning in doing this...to humiliate the German army.

Shulka could almost imagine seeing Artur, who was hanging from a tree and swaying slightly, when the German pursuers arrived here.

Shulka guessed right, Colonel Lucas led the troops here personally, when he saw this scene, he who was always calm and regarded himself as a gentleman was also irritated.

"Damn Russians!" Colonel Lucas was trembling with anger: "They actually humiliated me in this way, using the body of a Russian traitor... They thought I would care! They thought I would care!"

Although Colonel Lucas said he didn't care, his behavior has already revealed the answer... Colonel Lucas may really not care about the life and death of a Russian traitor. The problem was that this Russian traitor was his captive and was under his protection, but he was caught by the enemy from the host and hung before him, which was intolerable.

On the other hand, Shulka and others distributed the supplies on the car and walked into the depths of the swamp.

At first, Shulka thought that the swamp was not as scary as it was described in movies and TV.

It looked like a flooded place, some land, some shin deep.

The scary thing is that there are some "traps"... Some places are empty, but because they are all covered by sewage or mud, there is no difference on the surface, and they fall into these "traps" as soon as they step down.

If it’s just sewage, it’s okay, but if it’s mud, it will make it impossible for people to break free, and even the more they struggle, the deeper they sink until the whole person is swallowed up.

However, if a group of people advance, this danger basically does not exist, and comrades in arms will soon use ropes to pull you out of the mud "trap".

But soon, Shulka knew that the danger in the swamp was not limited to this.