Located on the border between Belarus and Ukraine, the Pripyat swamp is about 600 kilometers long from east to west and 200 kilometers wide from north to south.

The Pripyat River originates in northern Ukraine, flows east through southern Belarus, then turns south to merge into the Dnieper River north of Kiev.

The Pripyat River basin is mostly swampy wetlands, covered with dense primeval forests, and railways and roads are built on several "underground bridges" on higher ground. The inhabitants here are mainly Ukrainians, followed by Belarusians, and Poles and Jews belong to the minority.

On the morning of August 7, 1942, a group of special guests stormed into the town of Sabo Roj, just west of the central Pripyat marshes.

The commander of the 8th Waffen-SS Cavalry Division, Major General Figleyin, rode a white steed and was surrounded by his men and marched towards the town.

At the northern junction of the town, a man in a black suit and a bowler hat of the same color, with forty or fifty townspeople, waved enthusiastically to the SS soldiers.

As the soldiers ahead rode through the town on tall horses, young girls greeted sweet smiles and bouquets of red and white flowers.

The young SS cavalrymen were still smiling brightly, and the whole town was immersed in a joyous atmosphere.

Seeing the harmonious scene at the entrance of the town from afar, Fieglein turned to Captain Majer, the commander of the division guard company, and said: "Although it is not the first time I have seen such a scene, I am still excited by this scene, and it feels good to be loved."

"Thanks to the kindness of Mr. Governor, we have received such a welcome, and their cheers will be doubled when we promulgate our law of order."

Feglein smiled and said, "Mr. Governor said that we will play God first. Then play Satan, you have to give candy in one hand and whip in the other hand to get along with them as quickly as possible. ”

Seeing the crowd approaching closer, Captain Majel said, "Then what are we waiting for, let's play God now." ”

The horses of Figlein and Majel stopped at the entrance of the town. The two jumped off their horses, and Captain Majer, speaking Russian, said to the man in a black suit at the head: "You are the mayor of the town?" ”

The man in the black suit, who looked to be in his forties, hurriedly took off his top hat and said respectfully to Captain Majer: "My name is Alexei Ushanov, and I am the mayor of the town here. ”

Majeff pointed at Figlein and said, "This is General Figlein, our supreme commander. ”

Figlein smiled and extended his right hand to Ushanov and shook hands with him warmly.

"Mr. Mayor, I enjoyed your welcome ceremony, and you have won my friendship with practical actions. I will repay you with the same friendship. ”

After listening to Majer's translation of Figlein's words, Ushanov secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, but his face remained unchanged and he still maintained a respectful smile.

"General, you will soon feel the enthusiasm of the Belarusians, even more enthusiasm."

Accompanied by Ushanov, Figlein and Majel turned and walked towards the town.

As soon as the two turned around, Ushanov threw a glance at the crowd.

Two slender girls burst out of the crowd. Run up to Feglein and Majel and present them with bright smiles and bright bouquets.

Watch as the two teenage girls shyly run back into the crowd. "After walking through almost a hundred Belarusian towns, I have to say that Belarusian girls are generally better looking than Germanic girls. Even in such a small town, you can find a girl comparable to a movie star, and there are two. ”

"His Excellency the Governor has long said this, but alas. I'm married. But you still have a chance, because you're single. Majer said.

The two were chatting and followed Ushanov to a courtyard in the middle of the town, by the side of the road.

Walking into Ushanov's house, Figlein saw a square table in the middle of the spacious living room. A white tablecloth was laid on the square table, and in the center was a vase, and on a plate beside the vase lay large pieces of bread and salt.

Figlein put the flowers into the vase and looked into the living room, finally his eyes falling on the three men standing side by side.

A woman about Ushanov's age, with a boy on each side.

The older boys were about as tall as the woman, and the smaller ones were only as tall as the woman's chest.

After Ushanov's introduction, Figlein knew that in the middle was Ushanov's wife, and on the left and right were his second and youngest sons.

After greeting Mrs. Ushanov kindly, Figlein smiled and touched Ushanov's youngest son's head, turned and gestured to the guard behind him.

The guard took out two bottles of Fanta soda from the satchel he was carrying, opened the caps and handed them to Figlein and Majer, who smiled and handed them to the two boys.

The two boys took a sip of the bottle in their hands, and their eyes suddenly sparkled.

After taking another sip, Ushanov's second son handed Mrs. Ushanov the Fanta soda in his hand.

Seeing his actions, Feglein was impressed, turned to Ushanov and said, "Mr. mayor, your son is well educated. ”

Ushanov looked at his sensible second son, and his eyes were full of kindness.

Ushanov let the two children go out to play, and his wife went into the kitchen with interest, and the three of them sat down at the square table.

"Mr. Mayor, let me explain my purpose first. There are a lot of Soviet soldiers who have fled into the Pripyat marshes, and my men and I are chasing them, if you have any clues about them, please let me know immediately.

You must understand that in this swampy area, all the settlements are either our strongholds or the enemy's strongholds.

Our strongholds must not only be cleared of any hostile elements, but should also be made up of inhabitants who sympathize with us and are hostile to the Russians.

If a village meets these conditions, we will ensure that its inhabitants will be able to resist the guerrillas and eventually develop into our base.

I will appoint local governors in our settlements, and form and arm security forces so that they will have the power to protect themselves from the guerrillas.

If you can provide me with information about the guerrillas in my neighborhood, we will distribute the loot according to our needs after I have eliminated the guerrillas.

What I just said. There is only one purpose, which is to keep our friendship alive. From now on, this is already the territory of the Greater German Reich, and you are all the people of the Greater German Reich, and you must adapt to the change of identity as soon as possible. ”

"I understand that I will fully cooperate with you in your work. I also hate those Bolsheviks. Ushanov said.

"From the moment I arrived in this town, I have already felt the sincerity of Mr. Mayor, so I have decided that you will continue to serve as mayor, and this is my first gift to you." Feglein said.

Seeing that his mayor's throne had been preserved, Ushanov got rid of a heart problem and thanked Feglein gratefully.

"Mr. Mayor, the second gift I gave you was ・・・・・・Well, are you a cultist?" Feglein said.

"Uh・・・・・・ I used to be an Orthodox Christian." Ushanov said.

"I saw a church in the town. Is it already deserted? ”

"Yes, when they came, they drove out the priest and the church was converted into the office of the town government." Ushanov said.

"If you need it, I can provide you with a priest to make you feel the glory of the Lord again." Feglein said.

Usanov was pleasantly surprised and said to Feglein: "I want to thank you on behalf of the children of the town, many of whom no longer know what a priest is like, a priest is to them. Just an abstract noun. ”

"Very well, you'll see the priest soon. But you need to restore the church to its original function in advance. ”

"I'll have someone clean up the church and get ready for the priest." Ushanov said.

"What we've just said, I'm going to have people put together a notice and put it on a prominent wall in the town so that the whole town knows about our policy. You arrange people to help us with our work. And also. Remember clearing out a few empty rooms in the church, where I'm going to build the headquarters. ”

Ushanov was so efficient that about an hour later, Figlein led the division into the church.

By this time, Feiglein's notices had been posted on the walls of some of the town's intersections. After learning of the German policy, the hidden vigilance in the eyes of the townspeople was removed.

Four Mercedes trucks drove along the road from Feglein into the town of Sabo Roger and, under the guidance of the town's soldiers, stopped at the entrance of the church.

With the assistance of the soldiers of the guard company, the parcels and various supplies in the back compartment of the truck were quickly unloaded, and then loaded with the soldiers' letters and the wounded and drove to the rear.

Figlein sat at his desk, fiddling with the parcel in his hand, looking at the bottom right corner of the parcel.

"Naval Aviation Command, Sergeant Isaac Nietzsche, isn't he a captain? When did you become a sergeant? ”

Suspicious, Figgle opened the parcel and saw that it contained two identical books.

"Rabe's Diary? What book is this? ”

Curious, Figlein opened the Rabe Diary in his hand and was completely attracted by the contents of the book at a glance.

Half an hour later, Fieglein walked out the door and gave a copy of Rabe's Diary to Lieutenant Colonel Gale, the division's chief of staff, with a blank face.

Lieutenant Colonel Gale just glanced at the cover of the book and returned it to Feglein.

Seeing that Feglein was at a loss, Lieutenant Colonel Gale said, "The package I just received contains two copies of Rabe's Diary, which you can give to others. ”

Feglein nodded, turned around and was about to leave, when Lieutenant Colonel Gale suddenly stopped Feglein.

"Where did you get this book?"

"The parcel I just received was sent to me by Sergeant Nietzsche of the Naval Aviation Command." Feglein said honestly.

"What a coincidence, my book was also sent by Sergeant Nietzsche, and you know him well?" Lieutenant Colonel Gale asked.

"I've only met a few times, and I met him through Mr. Governor, but he used to be a captain, when did he become a sergeant?"

"I don't know him well, why did he send us books?" Lieutenant Colonel Gale said.

"I don't know."

"How do you feel after reading this book?" Lieutenant Colonel Gale asked.

"I feel like my stomach is upset, and besides, I want to punch someone."

"I feel the same way."

Five minutes later, the Rabe Diary in Figlein's hands was transferred to Captain Majer.

At nightfall, because of the fatigue of the day's march, Feglein slept very deeply, and it was thrilling.

"Majer, that group of dwarves rushed up again, let the twenty-millimeter anti-aircraft guns prepare, let them taste the taste of anti-aircraft gun flat fire."

In the distance, in the tropical jungle, a group of soldiers who seemed to Feigrain to be extremely short, but with rifles taller than their own height, rushed to their positions.

"Kill to ・・・・・・"

"On-board ・・・・・・ on-board ・・・・・・・"

The shouts of killing filled the battlefield, activating the killing factor hidden in Feiglein's blood.

"Fire and kill that scum."

In the church bedroom, Feglein shouted, sat up from the bed, and gasped for air.

Covering his sweaty forehead, Fieglein kept recalling the scene from the dream, only to find that all he could remember was a vague picture.

With his other hand, he lifted the quilt and looked at his raised panties, feeling a strong urge to urinate.

Getting up and walking out of the bedroom, after a hearty release of water, Fegelain was about to go back to the bedroom when he suddenly stopped and listened to the sounds outside the church.

After listening for a few seconds, Feglein ran back to his bedroom, and soon ran out of the church again, looking at the starry night sky with his binoculars.

The deafening sound of engines swept through the southern sky.

Feglein soon saw a huge group of planes approaching the town in the sky, and nearly 100 planes roared over the town like crows until they disappeared from Fieglein's sight.

"Those who come from the south are definitely not their own people."

Figgle turned around and ran into the church, rushed into the bedroom, and woke up his roommate, Lieutenant Colonel Gale.

Listening to what had happened to Figlein, the sleepiness in Lieutenant Colonel Gale's eyes swept away.

"We had to raise the alarm to the rear, and my gut told me that this group was not an ordinary bomber group."

"What could that be?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure that this group appeared too suddenly, and it's definitely not a good thing."

・・・・・・

Thousands of miles away in Moscow, the operational command room of the Soviet High Command was not quiet because it was late at night, but was busier than during the day.

Vasilevsky pointed to the map with a whip and said: "The Western Front under the command of Comrade Zhukov has been launching an offensive against the German Army Group Center for almost a week, and the Bryansk Front under the command of Comrade Yeremenko was also engaged in battle yesterday, and the enemy's attention has been drawn to the Smolensk region. So far, our plan is well executed. ”

Stalin put down his pipe and exhaled a puff of white smoke.

"How is Operation Budyonny's Guillotine going?"

"The 1st Airborne Corps carried out its first airdrop tonight, and the process went smoothly and was not intercepted by the Luftwaffe. The vanguard of the Central Front was already about to cross the Pripyat marshes, and they were guided by the partisans along the way, and the process was going well. ”

"Very well, our guillotines will be stained with German blood tomorrow." (To be continued.) )