It was clear that if Shulka's company had charged like the others, the result would have been the same...... Squadrons of soldiers and tanks rushed up, and then squadrons were destroyed and knocked down.

Under the double suppression of German artillery bombardment and anti-tank gun locks, the Soviet T26 was like made of tofu without any protection.

If anything, it was the smoke that came out of the destruction to provide a little cover for the charging infantry.

Therefore, Shulka's advice is right, and the battlefield should also be able to adapt to local conditions...... It's just that not long after the outbreak of the war, the Soviet army was still under strong dogmatic constraints, so the front-line commanders did not have much freedom.

The Germans were much better at this, they set strategic goals more from their superiors, and let them play freely as to what to do. This is one of the reasons why German officers are not held accountable for disobedience on the battlefield, and it also makes the German army's combat as flexible as art.

Of course, as the battle became more and more difficult, Hitler, who thought he was a military genius, interfered more and more with his troops, especially after a fortuitous leak of an offensive plan, and in order to keep it secret, Hitler did not even allow German officers to know information outside of his mission...... This was tantamount to strangling the command art of the German officers at the front in the cradle.

These are all off-topic.

Shulka believed that if it weren't for the fact that his previous advice was effective, Second Lieutenant Davydov would not have accepted his advice on this 100,000-strong front.

Needless to say, there are risks involved...... It is likely that Second Lieutenant Davydov will be saddled with the whole black cauldron because the whole battalion has failed to join the attack, and the third company chose to play dead.

What's more, even if he accepted Shulka's advice, he might not be able to break through the German defense line smoothly, and even if he succeeded in breaking through the German defense...... In the end, maybe you will still end up disobeying.

So, why did Davydov accept this suggestion? Choosing to execute a command will be much easier and easier!

Later Shulka learned that the reason why Second Lieutenant Davydov chose to accept the advice instead of carrying out the order was not entirely because of Shulka's reputation.

"It's simple, Comrade Shulka!" Second Lieutenant Davydov said to Shulka with emotion: "Of course, your reputation is a reason, if it were an ordinary sergeant, I would probably give him a few slaps in the face and send him back to his unit!" But that's you, our 'escape hero'......"

"Is there any other reason?" Shulka asked.

"Of course!" Second Lieutenant Davydov replied thoughtfully: "At that moment I knew what was going to happen, and I knew that if we continued to fight like this, we would all die there!" In this case...... I mean, it's all death anyway, so why don't I give it a try? ”

That's a good reason indeed, it's all death anyway, so what's there to worry about?

Disobedience?

It's just death!

Even disobedience can live a little longer.

Therefore, if you think about the same thing from different angles, you will get two completely opposite conclusions.

So the plan unfolded smoothly.

At the moment when the German artillery sounded, Davydov gave the order to fire smoke bombs.

Because of the smoke of artillery shells and the cover of explosions, the Germans did not even realize that the Soviets had fired smoke bombs, but felt that the smoke on the battlefield seemed to be thicker.

Then Second Lieutenant Davydov led three companies of more than 100 people, plus seven tanks, to take refuge in the anti-tank trenches...... Because they had received orders before, they did not scatter and flee like the other troops.

Of course, there were losses in this, as a tank was hit by shrapnel before hiding in an anti-tank trench and broke down and stopped in place.

Fortunately, the tank crew was more flexible, and immediately abandoned the tank and hid in the anti-tank trench with the infantry.

It should be said that the anti-tank trench is not an ideal hiding place, because it is too wide...... The width of the anti-tank trench is generally about three meters, and it is too narrow to play the role of blocking the tank, which can be easily crossed.

A width of three meters means that more shells will hit the anti-tank trench directly.

That is, hiding in it does not mean safety.

However, it can be said that no place on the battlefield is truly safe, and in any case, it is much safer to be located in the lower part of the anti-tank trench than in other places.

Shulka only felt patches of muddy water rushing towards his place...... This made it impossible for him to stay on his stomach anymore because the muddy water would flood his mouth and nose and make it impossible for him to breathe.

But at the same time, Shulka did not dare to get up, because getting up would mean bearing more shrapnel and paying the price of his life.

Therefore, he can only prop up his upper body like a push-up, and at the same time constantly spit out the mud that splashed into his mouth...... In this case, you can't breathe through your nose.

Painfully, sometimes it's not just mud, it smells of blood.

Shulka didn't dare to think about it, because he was afraid that he would vomit all of yesterday's dinner.

I don't know how long it took, but the sound of the cannon finally weakened.

However, Shulka still didn't dare to act rashly, because their mission was to play dead...... So Shulka cautiously looked around, and when he was sure that it was a blind spot, he rolled over and let himself squat.

Carefully rubbing his sore arm, Shulka turned his gaze to search for his comrades.

The results of the search terrified Shulka, as he found almost no one alive.

It wasn't long before Shulka learned that this was a misunderstanding...... The muddy water kicked up by the shells gave everyone a natural protective color, and it was not easy to spot them in the smoke.

Of course, this was beneficial to the Soviet troops, because the farther away the Germans would find it even more difficult to find that there was a company "playing dead" and staying in an anti-tank trench just over two hundred meters away from their defensive line...... Anti-tank trenches dug by the Germans.

Even tanks are no exception.

Six tanks managed to hide in the anti-tank trench, but the anti-tank trench was not deep enough and the entire turret was exposed. (Note: T26 is 2.4 meters high)

But that doesn't stop it from "playing dead", as layers of mud cover it, and there are even blood, corpses, and severed arms.

It can be said that as long as it does not move, everyone will believe that it is "dead".

Look at the attacking Soviet troops, they have already retreated...... In fact, it was beaten back, leaving behind a large pile of corpses and tank wreckage.

A "clay man" crept up cautiously, and Shulka almost didn't recognize it as Davydov.

"You're right!" Davydov whispered: "We should have died now!" ”