USSR 1941

Sometimes, for grassroots officers, the binding force of a bet is often much easier to use than military regulations or some vague and lofty ideals.

For example, "for the motherland", "for the people"... These slogans have been shouted to the point of numbness, especially the deserters of the 5th Infantry Company. Obviously they will not and are unwilling to be bound by these slogans, otherwise they would not be deserters.

But it's a bet, and it's a clear fact in front of you. If you cheat, it will be related to your personal credit and loyalty.

On the contrary, these are what the Soviets care about more.

So when Sokolov returned to the army and organized his men, his attitude was completely different.

"We lost!" Sokolov said to his men.

The subordinates all lowered their heads. Sokolov didn't need to say that, they all saw it.

"What shall we do now?" asked one of his subordinates.

"What else can I do?" Sokolov replied: "Obey orders, understand? Don't forget our bet!"

After thinking about it, Sokolov laughed instead.

"It's a good thing for us, isn't it?" Sokolov said.

The subordinates couldn't help looking at each other, and one of them asked in puzzlement: "We lost the bet, and we must fully obey the order in the future. How can this be a good thing?"

"Because..." Sokolov replied: "If Comrade Shulka wants to send us to the front to die, he doesn't need to do it at all! I mean, he doesn't need to take this bet and make us learn These tactics. This is superfluous for him! In other words, he does treat us as an ordinary army, a normal combat army!"

The subordinates could not help but nod their heads.

"Yes, Comrade Shulka did not betray us!"

"We misunderstood him!"

"Comrade Shulka is trustworthy, he will not let us sacrifice meaninglessly!"

...

This is a kind of trust. The trust between the superior and the subordinate in the army is very important, which directly determines whether the order can be effectively implemented.

otherwise,

"There are policies and there are countermeasures." If you want to work abroad, you can find a hundred reasons at any time.

It was only then that the 5th Infantry Company could truly be considered part of the 82nd Infantry Regiment.

Shulka got the news from Valerina.

Valery reported to Shulka on the phone: "Unbelievable, Comrade Captain! Just now Sokolov apologized to me and offered to ask me to assign tasks to the Fifth Infantry Company!"

"Very well!" said Shulka, "how do you answer?"

"I agree!" Valery said, "I assigned them to guard the third floor building, am I right?"

"Of course!" Shulka said, "They are your soldiers, and you can make whatever decision you want!"

"I have to say ..." Valery exclaimed: "You subdued them, Comrade Shulka! I always thought that there was no medicine for these people other than some drudgery or something under the supervision of a rifle Saved. But you changed them!"

"Continue to observe!" Shulka said: "Let me give you a suggestion, don't rush to abolish their lynching!"

"Understood!" Valery replied.

Although "lynching" does not comply with military regulations, it is very effective against deserters, and it can even be regarded as a booster.

In addition, for the high-level Soviet army, these "deserters" could have been shot at any time. What they cared about was whether these "deserters" died. As for when they died and who killed them, it didn't matter.

In that respect, it's not out of line.

Then, the 5th Infantry Company got an opportunity to perform that afternoon.

They behaved bravely, resisting the German attack like other troops and coping with the enemy's indiscriminate bombing calmly, until the German army had to decide to blow up these buildings before withdrawing calmly.

This surprised Major Mikhailvich, who had always been vigilant.

"Not so long ago, I was worried that they would run away!" Major Mikhailvich said, "But now I find that this is obviously unnecessary. None of them escaped!"

This performance is even better than other units of the 82nd Infantry Regiment... When the second battalion was stationed on the second floor of the building, several soldiers fled the building without orders because the building was crumbling.

This should be said to be inevitable in actual combat. There will always be a few people who are mentally fragile or make mistakes in judgment.

But the 5th Infantry Company had none.

Or there were, but were "lynched" by themselves.

However, this was just a small test of the 5th Infantry Company. When the 82nd Infantry Regiment launched a counterattack against the German army that night, the 5th Infantry Company rushed into the German army with a bayonet at the head. The successful attack not only recovered the line of defense lost during the day, but also continued to advance more than 200 meters.

When Shulka asked Sokolov about it later, Sokolov said he too was surprised by it.

"At first, I thought it would be good to be able to reach the combat effectiveness of other troops!" Sokolov said, "I didn't expect them to be determined to participate in the battle, and they all became ruthless, and everyone wanted to die!"

This may be a shift from one extreme to another, or it may also be said that they have already died once before they were about to be shot, and at this time they are more able to see through life and death.

But if you look closely, it may have something to do with their uniformly equipped rifles.

The fifth infantry company is composed of deserters. If it is equipped with submachine guns and machine guns like other troops, plus mortars, rocket launchers... all kinds of equipment must be mixed and coordinated with each other.

And this kind of synergy cannot be achieved without a certain period of unified training.

This is not something that can be solved by reaching a new level of thought, it is a real problem.

Therefore, if their equipment is complicated, they may not be able to exert their combat effectiveness at all, and instead will be tied up.

But due to equipment restrictions, they can only be equipped with rifles, all rifles, and if there is any other equipment, it is grenades.

This made them hardly need to cooperate on the battlefield, bayonet, throw a few grenades, and then charge in the night with a shout, simply and rudely beating the German army by surprise.

Soon, the results and performance of the Fifth Infantry Company were on the table of the Ministry of the Interior.

This was not reported by Shulka, but as said before, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will track the situation of these "traitors of the motherland" until they die.

This result surprised the captain of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"They actually became a fighting force?" The captain asked his subordinates with the document: "Are you sure these are true?"

"Yes, Comrade Captain! They are very brave on the battlefield!"

"Brave? Those cowards became fighters in just a few days?" The captain couldn't believe this.