Soviet border guards Dimitri Kononlovich Ravl crawled through the snow pile and rolled into a farmland drainage ditch.

Lying on his back at the bottom of the ditch filled with snow, the soldier gasped and exhaled a mouthful of white mist, then sat up, and shouted to his companions in the row: "I saw the footprints outside. Is it you, Dania, or Yeglev."

"Shut up, you idiot." A voice replied not far away, and Ravl recognized that it was Sergeant Yevrem.

"Blessed by the Virgin, it turns out that it is your platoon leader, I am Dimitri," Ravl replied loudly overjoyed, and then picked up the Mosinnagan rifle that had been thrown aside.

"Don't be so loud, come here." The platoon leader shouted in a low voice.

"Yes, comrade platoon leader." Ralph suppressed the pain of the wound on his leg and slowly crawled towards the platoon leader.

The gunshots were still ringing in the distance, indicating that Ralph's comrades were still fighting. The Red Army soldiers couldn't help but feel a burst of self-blame and ashamed because they didn't have the courage to fight with them.

After climbing through a drain well, the Red Army soldiers saw his sergeant platoon leader at a glance.

The Soviet Red Army had already started to use new military ranks in June 1940s, no longer using the title of platoon company and battalion commander, but replaced it with a military rank corresponding to its position.

At first, the Red Army's platoon-level commander had to be at least a second lieutenant, but as the Red Army troops continued to expand, the number of middle and low-level grassroots officers became seriously insufficient, so the exclusion and command of the army was lowered to the saviors and sergeants. Especially after the start of the Great Purge, the situation of low-level and high-level units became more common.

Sergeant Yevrem looked quite bad at this moment. He leaned against the wall of the ditch, his clean and straight uniform was covered with wet mud, and the green tweed hat was gone. The sergeant was now bare-headed, and his whole face was terrible blue-gray.

"Are you injured, comrade platoon leader?" Ralph climbed in front of the other party with difficulty.

"Yes, Mija (Dimitri's nickname)." Yevrem forced himself to sit up straight, but after struggling for a few times, he gave up this futile effort.

"Come and help me, Mijia." The sergeant asked.

"Wait a minute, comrade platoon leader." Ralph leaned his rifle against the ditch wall, then stepped forward to support the sergeant.

"How is the second team now? Is Comrade Andrev in command? I heard the gunshots very fiercely."

"Sergeant Andrev has died, and I and the others have been broken up, comrade platoon leader." Ralph never dared to lie to the officer, but now the other party is seriously injured...

"Is that true? This guy Andrev is leading the way." Yevrem shook his head with a wry smile.

"You are injured, Mija." The sergeant saw the bandage on Ralph's leg.

"I got a bullet on my thigh, but I can still hold on." Ralph replied.

The hit him was a KB.wz29 rifle equipped by the Polish Army, which is actually the Polish version of the German Mauser K98az carbine. It is only a small difference from the 98K used by the German Wehrmacht. It is also loaded with the German Mauser 7.9mm rifle ammunition.

After the end of World War I, Poland, with the support of Britain and France, embezzled the Prussian Arsenal established by the Second Empire in Danze, and thus had the ability to produce Mauser rifles. The letter KB in the model means Carbin, and the prototype of wz29 is the famous K98az rifle.

After the demise of Poland, both Soviet and Germans seized a large number of WZ rifles. Because they were not much different from the 98K, the German Wehrmacht simply kept them.

The Soviet army sealed the rifles and handed them over to the Polish police in the occupied areas for use. The rifle was seized by the Germans from a police ward.

Ralph was very lucky that the Mauser bullet did not hit the bones on the thighs. In that case, the steel-core armored bullet would crack into pieces with the bones, and at the same time tear the surrounding tendons, nerves and blood vessels of all sizes. Usually, this kind of wound is difficult to deal with. If gangrene is caused by infection, the only way to wait for the injured is amputation.

The German army has equipped new antibiotics, which can effectively inhibit wound infection and aggravation. The Soviet Red Army only had conventional sulfonamide powder on their hands, and it is certain that no country would provide him with penicillin this time, so once the Eastern Front War broke out, the death rate of Soviet wounded soldiers would be more serious than in history.

Red Army soldiers like Ralph usually only get a green linen bandage pack, with a roll of gauze bandage with a hemostatic pad. As for hemostatic or pain-relieving drugs, they can only be obtained from military doctors and medical soldiers. Once a military doctor or medical soldier is killed, the wounded can only rely on firm beliefs if they want to survive.

Sergeant Yevrem was indeed a staunch Bolshevik, but obviously his loyalty was not enough, so he was about to die.

A bullet hit his abdomen, and his organs must have been damaged, and he may have also injured his artery. The internal bleeding is quite serious, which can be seen from his expression. If he had not met Ralph, the sergeant might have sat here like this, waiting for his blood to dry out.

"I can drag you away. As long as we get into the woods, the gangsters will not find us." Ralph suggested.

"No need, Mijia. I know my situation, and there is not much time left. Now I only need you to do one thing, which is also the last order I issued as the platoon leader." Yevrem was already very weak, but he still tried his best to make a majestic look. Cooperating with the pale face like a dead person, the little soldier's heart was so scared that he jumped.

"Yes, comrade platoon leader." Ralph nodded and agreed.

"You have to find a way to survive and report our experience to your superiors. These people are not armed bandits at all, but professional soldiers with strict training. They are Germans, Ralph!" Yevrem burst out with a force from somewhere, and he grabbed the private's shoulder.

"These men are regular troops, this is a long-planned military operation. I don't know why the Germans crossed the border, but it's clear that the Soviets are already in war."

"They are not Polish bandits?! But aren't the Germans our allies? Comrade Sergeant."

"You don't need to understand the reason here. Just report it to your superiors like this." Yevrem let go of Ralph's shoulder.

"Why did the gunshot stop? Is the battle over?" The sergeant tried hard to open his eyes.

"Wait a minute, platoon leader, I'll go up and take a look." The privateer held the platoon leader and sat down on the ditch wall again, then lifted up the rifle that was placed aside.

He dragged his injured leg slowly to the edge of the ditch, leaned out with a rifle and looked out. He only saw a pile of corpses in gray coats lying on the snow-covered slope on the roadside. These were border guard soldiers who were killed at the beginning of the battle.

The infantry platoon he was in originally set up blocking positions on both sides of the highway, preparing to ambush a Polish guerrilla team that fled to the border here.

Because the information given to them above said that some Polish gangs who hated the Soviets suddenly attacked a checkpoint near the border. As for the number of these gangs, the armed forces and the means of transportation they were equipped, the enemy information notice was not mentioned.

How could they know that these bandits were wearing the uniforms of the internal affairs force, driving a truck with a red flag in an open manner, and a DP machine gun was also mounted on the front of the car.

At least half of the people here were killed by the DP machine gun. These people were summoned by the internal affairs forces to line up on the roadside. Just as the border guard soldiers were unprepared, these internal affairs forces suddenly opened fire in the queue, and more than a dozen people were killed on the spot. The others fled in horror, and then they were shot dead in the snow by the other party like rabbit hunting. This was simply a cold execution and a bloody massacre.

The platoon leader was shot at the beginning of the battle, and then lost his traces in the chaos. At this time, there were two infantry squads left in the platoon that were fortified on the west side of the highway, commanded by Sergeant Andrev, and Ralph was one of the riflesmen.

Sergeant Andrev immediately led his troops to fight fire with the opponent, and even personally led an infantry squad to charge at the enemy, but bravery did not always bring victory, at least this time Andrev did not succeed.

The opponent had a rare ferocious firepower, and this infantry squad, including Andrev himself, was almost killed on the way to charge.

Almost what is said here is because it does not include the lucky Ralph. The soldier miraculously rushed onto the highway, and his whole body was completely unscathed.

But he did not continue to attack the enemy. The automatic firepower had scared him half his life, so he crossed the road and rushed to the wilderness on the other end.

The Germans did not intend to let him go. The infantryman was shot to the ground next, perhaps thinking that he had been killed by one shot. The Germans who shot him turned their heads and turned to the fire with the border guards on the other side, which made Ralph save his life.

"They are getting on the truck. It seems that these people are not going to clean the battlefield, the platoon leader." Ralph retracted his head and whispered to the platoon leader.

"Platform leader?...Platform leader!" Facing Yevrem who had stopped breathing, Ralph lowered his head and fell to his knees in the mud at the bottom of the ditch.
Chapter completed!