It soon became clear to Shulka that there was more to his problems than that.

Dinner was still mashed potatoes, and the amount was less than at noon, and in addition to that, each person was given another biscuit, only a small piece three fingers wide, and only one bite if the mouth was larger.

"Is there any more food?" Shulka couldn't help but ask, "We're all hungry!" ”

In the past, maybe because of the effect of adrenaline hormones, I didn't feel hungry at all, but now as soon as the battlefield is quiet and the muscles of my body are relaxed, I immediately feel hungry and panicked with my chest against my back.

At this time, Shulka of course didn't care whether the food would be appetizing, and he even believed that he could eat a bucket...... If the cook is willing to give him a bucket.

"I want to too, comrade!" The cook replied, "If you can give me more potatoes, I can give you more food!" ”

The soldiers couldn't help but laugh, and someone responded: "If there is no food, let's have some vodka!" ”

"You can go there and look for it......" replied the cook, raising his head towards the ruins and broken bricks in the rear, "if you're lucky, you can dig something to eat from there!"

"Forget it!" The soldiers replied stupidly: "All you can find in that place are corpses and rats!" ”

The situation was such that the Soviet army, unprepared for the war, stored all the supplies in warehouses, which were blown up or burned by German bombers at the beginning of the war.

In addition to food, ammunition and water were lacking.

The latter may sound strange, the Brest Fortress was built at the confluence of two rivers, and each sub-fortress was surrounded by artificially dug rivers, which could have been short of water.

But this was normal, as the water pipes were blown up during the bombing and there was no water available, and the area near the river was occupied by the Germans...... So the Soviets could only take advantage of the darkness of the night to take helmets, buckets and wait for water in the river.

Fortunately at the beginning, the Germans had not yet discovered the problem of water shortage in the Soviet army, and at the same time thought that the fortress could be quickly taken in a short time, so it did not implement a targeted blockade.

Two days later, due to the whistleblowing of the captured Soviet soldiers, the Germans soon laid machine guns and artillery fire along the river, which caused the Soviet troops to pay with their lives for every sip of water, almost in exchange for blood.

At this time, with a short whistle, the platoon commander Pukarev shouted more than ten meters: "The second platoon assembles!" ”

A platoon of thirty soldiers jumped up from the ground and formed a formation.

"Our mission!" Pukarev raised his head towards the side of the trench, where there was a pile of buckets.

"Just go to the river and get some water!" Pukarev ordered: "The wounded and the Maxim machine guns are waiting for water, be careful not to let the Germans find out, otherwise they will fill your iron barrels with bullets or grenades!" ”

"Yes, Comrade Platoon Commander!" The fighters replied.

After the disbandment, everyone received an iron bucket from the deputy platoon commander...... In fact, plastic buckets should be used to perform this task.

However, firstly, the Soviet Union was completely unprepared, and secondly, the Soviet Union's heavy industry was developed and light industry was very backward, so it was more likely to use iron buckets.

This made Shulka feel very difficult, because as soon as he moved, the iron bucket in his hand would make a "sonorous" sound, which was obviously telling the Germans his position.

Before leaving, the platoon commander summoned several squad leaders to the front for a short meeting.

"There are probably Germans near or across the river, so we should split up!" "The first class goes to this position, to the right of the dormitory, the second class goes to the cafeteria, and the third class goes to the direction of the church!" ”

Pukarev's decision was of course correct, and to crowd in one place to get water was to get himself in trouble.

The problem is ......

"But comrade platoon commander, where is the dormitory?" Shulka asked.

Pukarev looked at Shulka in a daze, and the other two squad leaders couldn't help laughing.

"God, Shulka!" "Your head won't be blown up by a German shell, will you...... The place where we slept, although it is now a pile of ruins, you will not know its location! ”

"Oh yes, I know where it is!" Shulka lied, and the place where he usually sleeps really shouldn't be unaware.

"Let's go!" Pukarev ordered.

"Yes!"

Several squad leaders answered, and each led his men along the traffic trench towards the target, but Shulka was stopped after only a few steps.

"Where are you going, Shulka?" Pukarev asked angrily.

"Go get water, comrade platoon commander!" Shulka replied.

"But the dormitory is over here!" Pukarev raised his head towards the traffic trench in the other direction, his face full of helplessness.

"Oh yes! Over here! Shulka hurriedly took his subordinates in a different direction.

Pukarev looked at the back of Shulka and his party leaving, and couldn't help but shake his head: "It's unbelievable, he is the one who blew up the enemy tank...... Now it seems that he was lucky that he didn't drop an incendiary bomb on us! ”

Shulka actually found the dormitory by letting Okunev lead the way, and Okunev was used to it, and he even believed that Shulka had a slight concussion or some other superficial injury during the battle.

Arriving at the dormitory, Shulka found that something was wrong, because there were two searchlights on the other side of the river shining back and forth in this direction, and there was a faint sound of some German soldiers talking.

"There are Germans!" "It doesn't look like a proper water pick-up point! ”

"We should change places!" Okunev agreed: "It's too dangerous here!" ”

Several of the soldiers turned their attention to Shulka, but Shulka didn't seem to be listening to them at all.

"Comrade squad leader, comrade squad leader?" Okunev secretly touched Shulka with his elbow.

"What?" That's when Shulka pulled his attention back.

"We're debating whether to fetch water from another place!" Okunev said: "What do you think? ”

"Oh yes, of course in a different place!" Shulka replied.

"Then ......," said Matvey, "we should go downstream along the banks of the river and look for holes in the German blockade!" ”

"I agree!"

"I agree!"

……

As mentioned before, Matvey is a veteran and he has a considerable position in the army.

"Comrade squad leader!" Matvey asked, "What about your orders?" ”

"Do any of you know where the Zhuraf bomb shelter is?" Shulka asked.

"Of course!" Matvey replied.

"We should go there!" Shulka said.

"Go there?" Matvey couldn't help but ask, "But it's an abandoned bomb shelter, and it's in the middle of the fortress, so there won't be water there!" ”

"No, there's water there!" Shulka replied.