With the medal on her chest, Natasha was confident, and she strode forward, as if she had swept away the fatigue of the previous battle. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The whole team was also refreshed by the award, because Lyudbalev, after connecting with the Tchaikov partisans, revealed some details of the troops in the southern swamps. Among those friendly armies there are many battle heroes, and even children have received military merits.

The legendary sniper did not expect to fight side by side with everyone, and some curious warriors frequently followed Natasha in the same way, taking a closer look at her appearance, and then at her strange weapons, and some people were even willing to help her prepare for it.

In the face of these, Natasha kindly refused.

She did not get carried away with the award, after all, in her mind, only receiving the Golden Star Medal and receiving the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was her ultimate goal.

One morning, everyone walked very fast, and Balzen did not want to stop again, so it was better to hurry while everyone was in full swing.

It wasn't until one o'clock in the afternoon that the leading Balzen stretched out his right fist: "The whole army stops, rest in place!" ”

The warriors stopped, and Igor, after putting down his heavy bags, began to prepare dry food for dinner. He was to prepare two servings, a canned meat and a small packet of breadcrumbs and handed them to Natasha, and said, "Why don't you hurry up and eat some, we will march all afternoon!" ”

The whole army stopped to rest and eat, and Balzen decided to distribute some high-quality military rations to women and children, a decision that aroused the opposition of many guerrilla fighters.

The fighters of the reconnaissance company were ordered to take some rations from the guerrilla fighters, which they had not carried for a long time. After the battle, all the fighters began to search for loot, the reconnaissance company soldiers paid attention to collecting ammunition, and the others, they paid more attention to food supplies.

Military rations on the corpses of the Germans, there are biscuits, bread cubes. This pasta was already so precious that the guerrilla fighters did not hesitate to take it for themselves. They hadn't eaten it for a long time, and of course they had to enjoy it after the team rested, but the people of the reconnaissance company actually demanded that everyone hand it over.

The argument happened, and it was even a step away from a fight.

Seeing the noise, Balzen also hurried to the two groups of people who were tense to check the situation. Soon, Tchaikov and Lyudbalev also came.

"You are all discouraged, but because of the food, you can't make a fuss." Tchaikov struggled to appease his men, and only then did he pull the two groups apart. Balzen also restrained his warriors, ordering them not to put on a disdainful expression.

Tchaikov knew the whole story, and one of the soldiers told him: "We haven't had decent food for a long time, and we're tired of gnawing potatoes and bark for a long time!" I finally got the bread cubes, why should I give them to those people. They didn't get involved in the battle! ”

In fact, this was what Tchaikov wanted to say, and taking this opportunity, he said earnestly to Balzen: "Comrade, you have also seen that our fighters are speaking from the bottom of their hearts. I really hope that my soldiers will have a good meal, our army is not more self-reliant than your 284th Division, for a long time we have almost reached the point of grazing. It is not an exaggeration for the fighters to eat a piece of bread and biscuits, why do you have to take these captures away from them? ”

"Because we're soldiers!" Balzen held his chest up with his hands behind his back, and the two medals hanging on his chest made people more confident!

He continued: "Comrade Tchaikov, think about what you joined the army for, you are still a commissar, and think carefully about your position. As soldiers, we must defend our country, our land, our people, and more importantly, our women and children. Now ask yourself, is it not right that I order the soldiers to give them the rations that they have captured from the Germans? ”

"But how can we win a battle if the soldiers starve? If the soldier fails, the result will be a total death, and the women and children will also be killed by the enemy. Tchaikov retorted.

Balzen didn't want to hear this, because judging by this sentence, where is the quality of this person? Could it be that as a political commissar, he went behind enemy lines and simply commanded the guerrillas to fight, rather than protecting his own civilians?

Seeing that this person was a little displeased, Tchaikov lowered his head and said slowly: "In yesterday's battle, my men lost almost half. These precious foods were bought with the blood of the warriors, and the surviving warriors ate them, and perhaps they would die in a new battle. Sometimes we have to face some very bad realities. In the current scarcity of provisions, shouldn't we keep the troops first? ”

And these similar words, Balzen can still remember. That was what Yerenkina said a long time ago, when this woman was as strong as a brute bull, resolutely carrying out the task and did not care about the actual situation, and the result of this dogmatism was naturally a failure, and she was forced to follow the 284th Division all the way.

Balzen frowned and replied solemnly: "We are human, not brutes like the Nazis. Besides, you see that our reconnaissance company also took out its own food, why can't you show it? I'm not telling you to hand over all your food! Women and children are the future of the country, and you men can bear to let them go hungry? As for our wounded soldiers, they should have eaten better! We have already lost too many people, and from a military point of view, long marches are not a problem for professional soldiers, but what about them?

This meal must be eaten well, and you and your warriors should not question anything more. We will have to march in the next few days, and the weakest of them will not be able to get enough food, how will they maintain good physical strength? They will go slower and slower, dragging down the whole team. Unless we throw them down ruthlessly! Is this what you'd love to? ”

Militarily and morally, Balzen criticized Tchaikov. This is not surprising, since the Soviet authorities trained a large number of "guerrilla warfare specialists", who were first and foremost infinitely loyal to the Bolsheviks, were believed to be able to carry out guerrilla warfare in the complex occupied areas. In the beginning, guerrilla warfare was conducted in accordance with regular warfare, making the various guerrilla units more like regular troops infiltrating behind enemy lines, after all, the methods of operation were the same.

The guerrilla war did not immediately turn into an all-round people's war, and a part of the people in the occupied areas had already become armed, and the lack of leadership made it impossible to form a climate. Truly large-scale troops, soldiers often consist of scattered Soviet stragglers and fighters who have escaped from prisoner of war camps. They were often supplied by forcible requisition or looting.

These women and children attached to the Tchaikov guerrilla brigade just wanted to survive. In fact, a little food is already very satisfying, but the long march is painful. Everyone also knows that once they fall behind, they will be the first to freeze to death.

It was when Balzen saw this, and after reprimanding Tchaikov, he finally ordered: "I am the commander of this return operation recognized by the division commander Gomel, and you also admit it. Follow my plan now! ”

Lyudbalev's position at this time was completely on Balzen's side, and he patted Tchaikov on the shoulder: "Everything will be carried out according to his orders." When you arrive at the station of the 284th Division, your soldiers will naturally get high-quality supplies, so why worry about the little food in your hand? ”

Tchaikov nodded, he really shouldn't create any contradictions.

The guerrilla fighters were ordered to bring out some food, seized bread cubes and biscuits, and even some canned food. In addition to the military rations provided by the reconnaissance company, there is still a lot of food that can be distributed to the weakest people, at least everyone can eat half full.

After this episode, women and children finally ate high-quality food, even the "young soldiers" who took up arms on the fly. One by one, they burst into tears, and their mouths were full of excited words.

In fact, those questions just now by Balzen were undoubtedly like knives, poking at the hearts of warriors.

What exactly are we fighting for, in the final analysis, it is not for our compatriots. It is really wrong to throw women and children into dire straits just so that they can evacuate safely.

Everyone continued to eat, and Balzen was no longer entangled in this. He spread out the map and laid it out on the ground, calculated the wrong speed of travel, and determined the direction of travel with the compass, and estimated his position. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it seemed that the troops were about to reach the Dnieper!

"There are about ten kilometers left, I really didn't expect to walk so far in one morning!" He immediately called Tchaikov and Lyudbalev to report the good news!

"It's only ten kilometers away, and we might be able to reach the river when the sun goes down." Lyudbalev couldn't help but think about it, because in the communication with the 284th Division, whether or not it could reach the Dnieper River was the key to this operation. "As long as we follow this river south, we will soon reach the swamp!"

"That's right." Balzen looked at the two with a grin, especially at Tchaikov. "Please continue to appease the warriors for what happened just now. We will move south along the Dnieper, and the large forces of our 284th Division are also heading north to meet them. When we meet, your warriors will be able to eat beef jerky and bread cubes! ”

This is really exciting news, Tchaikov nodded: "I'll go and tell everyone right away, what are we going to do next?" ”

"Of course, send the spearhead to scout first, and then we will march. Thank goodness those women and children must have the strength to move on after a beautiful meal. When we got to the riverside we set up camp, maybe it was still evening, and we could even catch fish. At night, we light a bonfire and we eat grilled fish! Balzen said confidently. (To be continued.) )